A contribution to The Irish Story, published 9th July 2016.
Muriel MacDonagh, wife of executed 1916 leader Thomas MacDonagh, outlived him by just one year. By Gerard Shannon
On 9th July 1917, just over a year following the execution of Thomas MacDonagh for his part in the Easter Rising, the MacDonagh family would be rocked by another tragedy with the sudden death of Thomas’ widow, Muriel that would leave both their children suddenly orphaned.
Muriel was an activist in her own right, with strong family ties with the radical politics and cultural revival of the period, and had herself been active in Maud Gonne’s radical nationalist women’s organisation, Inghinidhe na hÉireann (‘Daughters of Ireland)’.