Eva Gore-Booth

Eva Gore-Booth
Image by An Chomhairle Leabharlanna

Eva Gore-Booth was an Irish poet and dramatist who was born in Lissadell House in Sligo in 1870. She was the younger sister of Constance Gore-Booth, who would later become Constance Markiewicz. Even though both women had a wealthy and privileged upbringing, they spent a lot of time helping the poor and disadvantaged.

Women's right to vote

Eva was also a committed suffragist, which meant that she worked towards the right of women to vote in Ireland. In 1890, she started along with Constance, a suffrage society in Sligo. At that time, women were not allowed to vote but that changed in 1894 when New Zealand became the first country to actually give women the right to vote.

Eva Gore-Booth
Copyright Sligo County Library.

Illness

After becoming ill with tuberculosis in 1895, Eva moved to Italy to help herself get better. It was there that she met her life partner Esther Roper and they moved back to Esther's home of Manchester the following year. During her time there, Eva saw how awful the working and living conditions were for lots of families and she became involved in the trade union movement. She also worked towards reform in prisons and the end of Capital Punishment.

As her health declined, Eva had to take a step back from these activities and she focussed on her poetry. Her first collection, 'Poems' was published in 1898.