Constance Georgine Markievicz (Polish: Markiewicz [marˈkʲɛvitʂ]; née Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the first woman elected to the Westminster Parliament, and was elected Minister for Labour in the First Dáil, becoming the first female cabinet minister in Europe. She served as a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South constituency from 1921 to 1922 and 1923 to 1927. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Dublin St Patrick's from 1918 to 1922.
A founding member of Fianna Éireann, Cumann na mBan and the Irish Citizen Army, she took part in the Easter Rising in 1916, when Irish republicans attempted to end British rule and establish an Irish Republic. She was sentenced to death, commuted to life imprisonment on the grounds of her gender. On 28 December 1918, she was the first woman elected to the UK House of Commons, though, being in Holloway Prison at the time and in accordance with party policy, she did not take her seat. Instead, she and the other Sinn Féin MPs (as TDs) formed the first Dáil Éireann. She was also one of the first women in the world to hold a cabinet position, as Minister for Labour, from 1919 to 1922.Markievicz supported the anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War. She continued as (abstentionist) Dáil member for Sinn Féin until 1926 when she became a founding member of Fianna Fáil. She died in 1927.
1918Dec, 28
Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway prison, became the first woman to be elected MP to the British House of Commons.
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Events on 1918
- 3Mar
World War I
Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi. - 2May
Chevrolet Motor Company
General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware. - 24Jun
Montreal
First airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto. - 4Jul
Nicholas II of Russia
Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date). - 9Nov
Wilhelm II, German Emperor
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, and Germany is proclaimed a Republic.