Inghinidhe na hÉireann

Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Irish pronunciation: [ɪnʲiːnʲiː n̪ˠə ˈheːɾʲən̪ˠ], English: "Daughters of Ireland") was a radical Irish nationalist women's organisation led and founded by Maud Gonne from 1900 to 1914, when it merged with the newly formed Cumann na mBan.

The Inghinidhe originated from a meeting of 15 women in the Celtic Literary Society Rooms in Dublin on Easter Sunday 1900. While the meeting's original purpose was to provide a gift for Arthur Griffith for defending Maud Gonne from an accusation that she was a British spy, it turned to planning a "Patriotic Children's Treat" in response to the Children's Treat in the Phoenix Park which had been part of Queen Victoria's April visit to Dublin. One aim of the royal visit was to encourage Irishmen to enlist in the British Army to fight in the Boer War, whereas Griffith, Gonne and others were sympathetic to the Boers. Over fifty women joined the organising committee for the Patriotic Children's Treat, which took place in July on the Sunday after the Wolfe Tone Commemoration. It involved 30,000 children parading from Beresford Place to Clonturk Park, followed by a picnic and anti-recruitment speeches. The funds left over after the Patriotic Children's Treat were used to establish Inghinidhe na hÉireann as a permanent organisation.

Most founders were middle-class Catholics, though Helena Molony wrote in its magazine, Bean na hÉireann, "Now there were some young girls in Dublin, chiefly members of the Irish classes of Celtic Literary Society… They were (with one exception) all working girls.They had not much gold and silver to give to Ireland. Only willing hearts, earnestness and determination." They originally met on Easter Sunday after noon Mass, she wrote, with the intention of presenting an inscribed blackthorn stick to (an unnamed) Arthur Griffith, who had thrashed a newspaper editor for maligning Maud Gonne. They went on to plan a picnic for 30,000 children as an alternative to the planned celebrations of a recruiting visit of the British monarch to Ireland. As they had no money, they raised subscriptions all over Dublin, coming together in an association named Daughters of Ireland, or (in deliberately antiquated spelling) Inghinidhe na h-Éireann.

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