author
Margaret Skinnider
A Scottish-born teacher who became one of the most remarkable women of the 1916 Easter Rising, she carried messages and explosives, fought as a sniper, and later stayed active in labor and republican causes. Her life links women’s activism, Irish independence, and working-class politics in a vivid, human way.
1 Audiobook
Doing My Bit For Ireland
by Margaret Skinnider
About the author
Born in Scotland to Irish parents, Margaret Skinnider trained and worked as a mathematics teacher before becoming deeply involved in political activism. Sources agree that she was active in both the suffrage movement and Irish republican circles, and that her family ties to County Monaghan helped shape her commitment to Ireland.
She is best known for her role in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. She carried dispatches and detonators, took part in combat operations, and was wounded during the fighting; accounts from the sources describe her as the only woman injured in the Rising. She later wrote about those events in Doing My Bit for Ireland, giving a rare first-hand account of a woman in armed rebellion.
Skinnider’s story did not end with 1916. She continued her work as a teacher and remained involved in trade union and republican activism for decades afterward. That longer life of public commitment makes her especially compelling: not only a revolutionary figure, but also an educator and organizer who kept working for political and social change long after the headlines had faded.