History and the Politics of Memory: Winifred Carney, 1887-1943-2017 by Helga Woggan, MI Visiting Fellow

Winifred Carney was an active feminist and a significant figure of the 1916 Rising. Born in County Down, she became James Connolly’s personal secretary after he was appointed Belfast organizer of the ITGWU. She arrived in the GPO on Easter Monday with a typewriter and a Webley revolver, and held the rank of adjutant throughout the week of the Rising. On her release from prison, she returned to active politics in Belfast, standing for Sinn Féin in the 1918 general election, and subsequently joining the Socialist Party. In this seminar, Dr Woggon will present Winifred Carney’s biography in the light of some new material and of the changing perceptions of her life.

Helga Woggon is a historian of Irish labour, Central American cultures and National Socialist terror. Her works include a study of James Connolly’s politics and impact (Integrativer Sozialismus und nationale Befreiung, in German, 1990); Silent radical – Winifred Carney, 1887-1943 : a reconstruction of her biography, and (ed.) Ellen Grimley (Nellie Gordon): Reminiscences of her work with James Connolly in Belfast (both Dublin 2000).