Blackwell Reference Online

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Edith Maud Gonne was an Irish revolutionary, feminist, and actress. Of Anglo-Irish descent, she actively promoted the cause of Irish nationalism and other social causes throughout Europe, particularly in France and America. Gonne also founded Inghinidhe na hEireann (Daughters of Erin), an Irish nationalist organization for women. Gonne was born to an upper-class English family in Surrey in December 1866. She spent the early years of her childhood in Ireland, where her father, Captain Thomas Gonne of the 17th Lancers, was stationed. Following the death of their mother in 1871, Gonne and her sister Kathleen moved several times before ending up in France under the care of a governess. At the age of 17 Gonne rejoined her father, who was once again stationed in Ireland. Gonne moved among the circles of Dublin high society for the next three years until her father's death in 1886. In 1887 Gonne returned to France where she began a relationship with the radical politician and journalist Lucien Millevoye that would last until 1899. She would bear him two children: George (b. 1890), who died in infancy, and Iseult (1894–1954). Millevoye enlisted Gonne's help in support of the Boulangist cause – a French nationalist movement of somewhat right-wing character that aimed at restoring the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to France – and he encouraged her to work for the Irish nationalist cause ... log in or subscribe to read full text