Cooney sisters
The Cooney sisters were three Irish sisters, notable for their involvement in Irish Nationalism and Cumann na mBan.
Biographies
Anne, Lily and Eileen were born in Dublin to Michael Cooney and Mary Higgs who lived in Usher's Quay, Dublin. Their father was an engine driver.The three sisters were involved with the nationalist movement in Ireland. This involvement was through the people who lived in and visited their house on a regular basis on the years leading up to the 1916 Easter Rising, like Christopher Byrne and Con Colbert. They joined Cumann na mBan in 1915 and were trained as usual in all the first aid and military training which took place on Harcourt and Camden streets. Along with Byrne and Colbert, Joe McGrath and Phil Cosgrave frequently visited the house and were senior officers in their branches of the Volunteers. The house was used to store ammunition in preparation for the Rising and used as a distribution centre in the days leading up to it. A younger brother, Thomas, was used in the Rising as a runner.
Con Colbert was one of the leaders of the rebellion and was executed by the British for his involvement. He set out for the events of the Easter Rising from the Cooney house in Usher's Quay.
All three women were members of the Inghinidhe branch of Cumann na mBan. The eldest girl involved was just 18 when they joined the Cumann. They all served in the Marrowbow Lane garrison during the Easter Rising with others like Marcella Cosgrave. Their father was arrested during the Rising when he tried to supply the garrison with food. He was kept in Kilmainham jail for the duration and for some time after the Rising. He was then sent to Wakefield in Britain before eventually being sent back to Dublin. All three sisters were arrested with the other women after the Rising and sent to Richmond Barracks initially and then on to Kilmainham jail. They were all released with the others on 8 May 1916.
After the Rising all three sisters were involved in the Irish National Aid Association and Volunteer Dependants' Fund, their own family being one of the dependants as a result of their father's arrest. They appear in the photo taken in the garden over the summer. They continued their involvement through the Irish War of Independence and into the Irish Civil War where they were Anti-Treaty. All three sisters recalled carrying weapons from the scene of an ambush in the Harcourt Street area of Dublin.
A quilt was created to remember the 77 women of Richmond Barracks and the three Cooney sisters are part of that memory, stitched with a green shamrock on their squares.