This lunchtime series of 3 lectures will be run by the Military Archives and hosted by Rathmines Library commencing Tuesday 26th May 2015.

The Department of Defence, as part of the Government Centenary Commemoration programme, is cataloguing and partially digitising the Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC) in the custody of the Military Archives.

Key to understanding and researching the period, context and the events of the period from 1916 -1923 is the MSPC. Described as the single most important archival collection relating to Irelands revolutionary period, the collection provides a significant insight into not only military activities but also social, economic and political aspects of the participants in the struggle for independence. The first in this series is by Ms. Cecile Gordon.

Lecture 1 “Women in the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection.

A Reassessment and New Sources”

Ms Cecile Gordon

Ms Cecile Gordon is a graduate from the school of History and Archives, UCD. Cecile is an archivist with the Military Service Pensions Collection.

The Military Service Pensions Archive Project (MSPC) is an ongoing project. It has already revealed fascinating profiles of women involved in the Revolutionary period (1916-1923). Many known names are present within the collection and despite being documented in secondary sources, files from the collection provide us with an additional understanding of their roles and work but also reveal their struggle to be recognised as lawful pensioners.
Researching the role of women has been problematic for a variety of reasons: lack of sources and insufficient data, indifference and lack of motivation to include them in the main narrative. The MSPC brings a great amount of information to the table and thanks to this project, many women, so far unknown, are finally being heard.

The talk will explain how important this new data is and what it means for historical writing. The events that took place between 1916 and 1923 impacted on women’s lives around the country, whether they were active participants or merely caught in the events due to family ties. These crucial landmarks in Irish history were going to set the tone for the years that followed.

Some examples directly derived from the files of individual members of Cumann na mBan, the Irish Citizen Army and the Hibernian Rifles will be analysed in order to gain an understanding of their profile and motivations. The talk will also present new voices of female participants who did not join any particular organisation in order to carry out very specific intelligence work.