A Decade of Centenaries Exhibition Researched and Curated by Sharon Slater, Historian.
In collaboration with Dr Sinéad McCoole, Historian with the Commemorations Unit, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Commissioned by Limerick Museum.
This exhibition examines the role of women in the Limerick of 1921, paying particular attention to four Limerick women whose experiences demonstrated different aspects of the revolutionary period. On 14 May, 23 year old Winnie Barringon, daughter of the popular local landowner Sir Charles Barrington of Glenstal Castle, was accidently shot dead during an IRA ambush, highlighting the fate of innocent civilians in the fighting. On 21 May, Alderman Maire O’Donovan became acting Mayor of Limerick in the absence of the Mayor in the USA, thus becoming the first female head of a Limerick local authority. On 24 May, her sister Kate O’Callaghan, widow of the murdered Mayor O’Callaghan, was elected the first ever female TD representing a Limerick constituency, while on the same day, Kathleen Clarke was returned as TD for the Dublin Mid constituency.
