Constance was born at Buckingham Gate in London on 4th February 1868, the eldest child of Henry William Gore Booth, fifth Baronet of Sligo (1843-1900), and his Yorkshire bride, Georgina Mary Hill, whom he had married at Tickhill Parish Church in April 1867. Lady Gore Booth was the daughter of Colonel John Hill of Tickhill Castle, Yorkshire and his portrait still hangs in the dining room in Lissadell. Constance was to have four siblings: Josslyn (later the 6th Baronet) born in 1869, Eva in1870, Mabel in1876 and Mordaunt in 1878. Sir Henry was an intrepid traveller and his voyages to the Arctic Ocean between 1873 and 1898 earned him acclaim from the Royal Geographic Society. It is interesting to note that there is an island named Lissadell within the Arctic Circle. It was perhaps from her father (whom she adored) that Constance was to inherit her sense of adventure and challenge. The young Constance on her pony outside the porte Cochere in Lisadell Constance spent her childhood in Lissadell on the shores of Drumcliff Bay in Sligo. The name ‘Lissadell’ or ‘Lissadill’ comes from the Irish 'Lios an Daill' which, roughly translated, means 'fort of the blind man'. The Lissadell in which Constance spent her youth is perhaps best described in the extract taken from an account written in 1862 and entitled: "The West of Ireland: its Existing Condition and Prospects. By Henry Coulter, correspondent of Saunders’s News-Letter". "One of the most interesting places in Sligo is Lissadill, the beautiful seat of Sir Robert Gore Booth, the senior member for the county. No more striking example can be had of the immense improvement which may be made in the appearance of the country and in the quality of the soil, by the judicious expenditure of capital, than that afforded by the estate of this estimable gentleman. Lissadill is situated about seven miles to the north-west of Sligo, and a large portion of the property lies along the shores of the inlet known as Drumcliffe Bay. Within a comparatively recent period it was as wild, miserable, and poor-looking a district as could be found in the entire country: but Sir Robert has transformed it into one of the most highly-cultivated and beautiful estates in the United Kingdom. The demesne is kept with exquisite neatness and taste, resembling in that respect the parks and pleasure-grounds of England, and contrasting strongly with the carelessness and neglect that too often characterise the country seats in the West of Ireland. Lissadill House is a fine massive structure, and the stables, which have been only recently finished, are perhaps the largest and best in Ireland. If the excellent example set by Sir Robert Booth as a resident country gentleman, living at home and devoting himself to the improvement of his property, were more generally followed by Irish landlords, then, indeed, the cry of distress which is so often raised – sometimes in a spirit of gross exaggeration, but generally with some foundation of truth would never more be heard in the West of Ireland. Sir Robert’s lands are let at reasonable rents: he encourages his tenants to improve their holdings, and recognizes the principle of tenant-right, so that his tenantry have the greatest confidence in him. The result is, that they are for the most part comfortable and prosperous, the cottages neat and clean, their farms tolerably well tilled; and though, in common with all others of their class, they must have suffered from the unfavourable harvests of the last two years, there have as yet been no indications of distress even amongst the poorest of them." Constance excelled in horse-riding, and it was in this that she first displayed a strong independent streak. She was given her first pony when she was four. Her father, concerned for her safety, arranged for a groom to lead her on the lawn outside the house, with instructions that she should not be permitted to undertake anything more than a gentle trot. Not satisfied with this, Constance kicked her heels into the side of the pony and galloped off, to the consternation of the groom. She progressed rapidly and was soon allowed to ride out on the public road with her groom. Her feats of horsemanship were such that she prevailed upon her parents to relax this supervision even more. Constance would be out on horseback as soon as she was released from lessons by her governess, and became a well known sight, fearlessly galloping across the countryside. A neighbour, Mr E. Rowlette of Cash in Sligo, remembers the young Constance: "My first recollections of Ms Gore Booth go back as far as the late 1870’s when as a little girl her hair flowing about her shoulders, mounted on a small pony, I first saw her hunting with the County Sligo Harriers. I remember watching a good hunt in Ballincar when she rode right up with the huntsman, giving him perhaps somewhat less "law" at his fences than the strict etiquette of the occasion prescribed. Never indeed allowing his horse more than a couple of lengths lead during any part of the run. I remember some of the fences they jumped. I have sometimes seen them jump since, but never without considerable self-congratulation by the few who got over safely. I remember the groom who was out to take care of the child, looking far from happy as he tried rather hopelessly to get a little closer to his charge. And I remember the delighted exclamations of some of the country people on foot – "My God! Look at little Miss Gore-Booth! Isn’t she great!" "From that time on Ms Goore-Booth quickly developed into an exceptionally high class rider to hounds. It is my considered opinion that I have never known any woman whose skill in riding to hounds equals that of Ms Goore-Booth. I am doubtful whether I ever knew any man who was an all round better rider." In her ordinary studies she did not excel, her teachers saying that she was … "as good as one could expect". Her parents learned to be modest in their expectations of Constance, except for her very early interest in art, perhaps inspired in part by the visits at that time to Lissadell of the noted portrait painter, Sarah Purser who launched her own career with the now iconic painting of Constance and Eva Gore-Booth as young girls in the woods at Lissadell. This portrait embodied the idyllic side of the sisters’ childhood: the long summer days when the children played in the woods and on the beach, paddling, bathing and shrimping, eating picnic teas of cockles and shrimps, sailing in the bay. Many years later Casimir Markievicz, no doubt influenced by Constance expressed herself through action, being always generous hearted, restless and outgoing. Eva was gentle, thoughtful and subtle, a dreamer and a scholar. She read Greek and Roman history and knew Latin. She became an admired poet and a social worker. Her lifelong friend and colleague, Esther Roper records her opinion that Eva was not altogether happy as a child… "[H]er enjoyment of the beauty of life was tempered by a passionate sympathy for suffering and injustment and a strange feeling of responsibility for life’s inequalities." Eva herself in an extract from a two hundred line early poem dedicated to "Con" holds the retrospect of a young girl filled with innocent poetic fantasy: Who shall venture to intrude In the dim secluded wood Where the birds have hushed their song, Fearing to do silence wrong, And the wind breath scarcely stirs In the midst of shadowy furs: Hush, the silence grows intense, Soon a shade shall issue hence; Some fair Goddess white and tall, Shadowy-limbs, majestical; Leaning on her bow and spear, Cynthia’s self might venture here;… Down to where the great waves are Breaking on the sandy bar, Surely we shall find the vision, Of the sunset land Elysian, Where the clouds and mountains go In the dreamy after glow- Hush-The silence grows immense ‘Til a Presence issues thence; High she sits, alone, serene, Holy, Universal, Queen, Snowy limbed and white and nude Ocean Maiden Solitude. Emerging Artist A Sketch byConstance made in 1880 when she wasonly twelve:Lissadell Collection Under the guidance of Sarah Purser, Constance developed an impressive artistic talent, as is shown in her charcoal drawing "a study of Sarah Purser, head and shoulders": From the time of Sarah Purser's visit in 1880, Constance was to continue with her interest in art and was to become a reasonably accomplished artist. Her family appeared to be relieved that Constance had developed such an interest in art. In 1886, she spent six months in Florence chaperoned by her favourite governess, a Miss Noelle, known affectionately as "Squidge". When Constance was not occupied in drawing or Italian lessons, she harassed the devoted Squidge with the jokes and pranks which spark through her life story like fire crackers. Constance's drawing of Sarah Purser now hangs in the Ante Room at Lissadell On her return to Lissadell, Constance occupied herself with her two passions, hunting and drawing. She also enjoyed charades. Interestingly she preferred the role of a beggar woman to princess; on one occasion she went disguised as a beggar to the back door of Lissadell (the sunken courtyard) and was sent away, unrecognised, by the servants. Coming Of Age Constance in formal court dress (left) and ball dress (right) Constance was presented to England’s Queen Victoria in 1889 and was soon to make her mark as "the new Irish beauty". At Ascot she was noticed in a "pale blue gown draped with old lace", and later she is reported to have worn a red dress slashed with black satin stripes and crowned by a black hat with three ostrich feathers. Thus Constance commenced her entrée into the closed society of Victorian England, assisted by her large cousinhood which threaded its way through the families of Scarborough, Dunraven, Zetland, Bradford, Bolton, Westminster and Carlisle. From presentation at the Court in London she soon became an habituée of Dublin social life, which had as its focus Dublin Castle with its levées, drawing rooms, State Balls and the much sought after small dances in the throne room with its fluted columns and plaster wreaths. The official Castle season was short, extending from February to the Saint Patrick’s Ball. The opening of the season commenced with the Lord Lieutenants levée, followed the next day by the ladies’ drawing-room, where the young girls in their white plumes sat in carriages which lined Dame Street waiting to receive their seal of entry into Vanity Fair, namely a kiss from the Viceroy. Lady Fingall in an extract from Seventy Years Young wrote… “It was a friendly world; Irish society was too small to have the circles and cliques of All this season I have worked four hours daily with Ms Nordgren…and I have got on beyond my wildest dreams and am encouraged to see success at the end if only, if, if, if…three years hard work and no money to do it on and no hopes of getting it. Nothing but the burden of Dreams and Ideas…If I was sure of myself and I knew I could succeed for sure and make a name or money I would bolt and live on a crust. But to do all that with the chance of having no return and throw oneself on the charity of ones family, a miserable failure is more than I can screw up courage to face. So many people begin with great promise and greater hope and end in nothing but failure."
Constance’s younger sister Eva was her primary confidante and closest friend throughout her life. Eva was more diffident than Constance and from an early age her character and disposition provided the perfect counterfoil to that of her sister.
Alphonse Legros sketch "The Cardinal" (left)and Constances painting of "Eva in a blue dress" (right) from the Lissadell Collection.
Constance also continued her work with the Swedish artist Anna Nordgren in Anna’s studio at 16 Bolton Studios in Redcliffe Road, London. Anna Nordgren (who became a close friend to Constance) was anxious that she should be elected a member of the 91 Club and she prevailed upon Constance to submit paintings and sketches i to promote this. It was during this time that Constance encountered Sean O’Faolain who was to later publish the first biography of Constance Markievicz in 1934. He described his impression of Constance at this first meeting…
"It was in one of a long row of London studios - The Bolton’s- of the Fulham road, that I first saw Constance Goore Booth. She was in her first freshness of youth and beauty. Into their midst sailed Constance Gore Booth in some long frock of the period which I can only remember as part of an enchanting picture. She worked hard and seriously for some hours each day, drawing from life. And later on when Ms Nordgren came to stay at Lissadell and they painted out of doors together, a work gained constantly in technique and light and colour."
FIRST POLITICAL STIRRINGS
It was in December 1886 at Ballinful schoolhouse that one finds the first record of Constance’s interest in political activity which was in the cause of women’s suffrage.
Mr Rowlette writes that the three sisters, Constance, Eva and Mabel, had become so occupied with the issue that little less was discussed even between runs on a day’s hunting. Constance and Eva decided that talking was not enough and decided to form a Committee representative of the whole County. Sir Henry and Lady Gore Booth were not best pleased by this development. The more ambitious project was abandoned, and it was decided to begin with a parish committee in the hope of gaining "the active support of Nationalist M.P.’s". The first meeting was held in December 1896 in Ballinful school house with Eva in the chair. A further meeting was held at Drumcliff in the same month. Constance, in the chair as President of the Association, commenced:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, you have no doubt heard…a good deal about Women’s Suffrage…I have been told amongst other things that it will cause women to ape the other sex, to adopt their clothes, copy their manners and peculiarities; that it will cause women to neglect their homes and duties, and worst of all prevent the majority marrying. You all know that the first step is to form Societies to agitate and force the Government to realise that a very large class have a grievance, and will never stop making themselves disagreeable till it is righted.. John Stewart Mill said thirty years ago that the only forcible argument against giving women the Suffrage was "that they did not demand it with sufficient force and noise"…Now one of the many sneers I have been accustomed to hear against women is that they make too much noise; and yet we are told the principal argument against our having votes is that we don’t make enough noise. Of course it is an excellent thing to make a good deal of noise but not having done so seems hardly a good enough reason for refusing us the franchise." (Loud cheers and laughter).
Constance noted that the number of women signing a petition Parliament had increased from 11,000 in 1873 to 257,000 in 1893. There was brisk interchange between Constance and a man in the audience… "If my wife went to vote she might never come back"… "She must think very little of you then"… The meeting concluded with a resolution advocating the extension of the franchise to women, carried amidst frenzied cheers.
Constance studied in the famous art school of Rodolphe Julian in the Rue Vivienne. She enjoyed a small allowance from home, and initially resided in the smart Park Monceau district. Later she became a co-boarder with Daisy Forbes-Robertson in an English pension in the Rue de Rivoli. Her friends describe Constance (following a meeting in the Cremerie Le Obolt Robert) as
"A tall thin slip of a girl, with tawny red-gold hair which she wore à la mode over her ears under her sailor hat" and "a pink cotton blouse much open at the collar from which a long throat rose triumphantly. She was nick- named "Velo" because each morning she arrived at the studio on her bicycle. She wore a ring and declared herself married to art. She was much teased and her English speaking mimicked. Her revenge on her chief tormentor came straight from her tomboy past. She seized the girl, marched her to a tap and held her head under it in the way she would have treated her brothers to teach them a lesson."