Maud Gonne
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Maud Gonne MacBride (21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an English-born Irish revolutionary, feminist and actress, best remembered for her turbulent relationship with William Butler Yeats.
Edith Maud Gonne was born at Tongham Manor, near Farnham, Surrey, eldest daughter of Captain Thomas Gonne (1835-1886) of the 17th Lancers and his wife, Edith Frith Gonne née Cook (1844-1871). Her mother died while Maud was still a child, and so she was sent to France to be educated. In 1882 her father, an army officer, was posted to Dublin. She accompanied him and remained with him until his death. She returned to France after a bout of tuberculosis and fell in love with a politician. They agreed to fight for Irish freedom and the regaining of Alsace and Lorraine for France. She returned to Ireland and worked tirelessly for the release of Irish political prisoners from jail.
In 1890 she returned to France where she once again met the politician Lucien Millevoye. Between 1893 and 1895 the couple had two children together. The second, a girl named Iseult Lucille Germaine, survived. During the 1890s Maud travelled extensively throughout England, Scotland and the United States campaigning for the nationalist cause. In 1899 her relationship with Millevoye ended. At Easter 1900 she founded Inghinidhe na Éireann, a revolutionary women's society. In April 1902 she took a leading role in a play by William Butler Yeats entitled Cathleen Ní Houlihan. She gave a powerful acting performance in that production, written specially for her and about her.
In the same year Maud joined the Catholic Church. After having refused Yeats's many marriage proposals, she married John MacBride in Paris in 1903. The following year, their son Sean MacBride was born. However the marriage was a failure and her husband returned to Ireland. Maud remained in Paris until 1917. In 1918 she was arrested in Dublin and imprisoned in England for six months. During the War of Independence she worked with the White Cross for the relief of victims of violence. In 1921 she opposed the Treaty and advocated the Republican side. She finally settled in Dublin in 1922. Maud Gonne MacBride published her autobiography entitled A Servant of the Queen (i.e., Ireland) 15 years before her death in Dublin in 1953. She is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.fr:Maud Gonne