Rosie Hackett
Aged 17 at the time of the 1911 Census
Photo: Rosie Hackett
Census 1911 Address: 3, Abbey Street, Old (North Dock, Dublin)1
The 1911 Census return shows Rosanna (Rosie) Hackett working as a Packer in paper stores and living with her step-father Patrick Gray and her mother Rosanna Gray. She had a sister Christine aged 16 and three step-brothers Thomas aged 7, Patrick aged 3 and Denis aged 1. There is also a boarder James Dunne living in the house.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/North_Dock/Abbey_Street__Old/29111/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000068339/
Born on the 25th July 1893, Rosie (or Rosanne) was an active trade unionist, nationalist and workers’ rights activist. She was the eldest daughter of Joseph Hackett and his wife Rosanna, whose maiden name was Dunne. She had a yonger sister Christine. In 1895, Joseph Hackett died, her mother remarried and had three more sons, Thomas, Patrick and Denis before the 1911 Census and another son James after 1911. The family lived in Abbey Street close to the Abbey Theatre, Rosie' uncle James also lived with them. Rosie co-founded the Irish Women’s Workers Union which protested at the rough conditions in which women were expected to work. She was among the workers who went on strike at Jacobs biscuit factory in 19132. After the Lockout she lost her job at the factory and took a job working as a clerk in the IWWU in Liberty Hall, working alongside activists such as Helena Molony. It was through this that she became connected with the Irish Citizen Army. After the Lockout she trained as a printer. She was part of a small group that printed the Proclamation and delivered it to James Connolly. During the Easter Rising Rosie was assigned to the first-aid unit of the Irish Citizens army Stephen's Green garrison under the command of Michael Mallin and Countess Markievicz. Rosie worked in the first-aid station set up in the southwest corner of the Green.
“I was stationed at the first-aid post in the park. It was very exciting there. We were under very heavy fire from late on Monday evening3".
After the surrender she was held in Kilmainham Gaol for 10 days.
"A few escaped before the actual surrender took place. I did not feel like going out, and I was arrested with the crowd3".
On the first anniversary of Connolly’s death a large poster to honour him had been removed from the roof of Liberty Hall. Rosie, together with Helena Molony, Jinny Shanahan and Brigid Davis went to Liberty Hall and barricaded themselves in on the roof to honour his death.
Molony had another poster of Connolly which they placed on top of a parapet. The police were mobilised and thousands of people gathered to watch as four hundred policemen tried to remove the four women from the roof.
In 1970 she received the gold medal for serving sixty years in the Trade Union movement. She died in 1976 at the age of 84.
In 2013, the centenary of the Lockout, the new light-rail bridge in Dublin was named after Rosie Hackett. It is the first of the twenty-one Liffey bridges in the city to be named for a woman.
Sources:
Go to Rose McNamara
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