Gobnait Ní Bhruadair

Gobnait Ní Bhruadair (born Albinia Lucy Brodrick; 17 December 1861 – 16 January 1955) was an Irish republican and lifelong radical. She campaigned passionately for causes as diverse as the reform of nursing, protection and promotion of the Irish language and the freedom of Ireland from British rule.

Background She was born the Hon. Albinia Lucy Brodrick on 17 December 1861 at 23 Chester Square, Belgrave, London, the fifth daughter of William Brodrick, 8th Viscount Midleton (1830–1907), and his wife, Augusta Mary (née Freemantle), daughter of the 1st Baron Cottesloe. She spent her early childhood in London until the family moved to their country estate in Peper Harow, Surrey in 1870. Educated privately, she travelled extensively across the continent and spoke fluent German, Italian and French, and had a reading knowledge of Latin.

The polar opposite of Ní Bhruadair, he was, in the words of one biographer, 'consistent in his low opinion of the Irish [and] he held imperialist views that warmly embraced much of the jingoism associated with social Darwinism. where she followed the example of other republicans and went on hunger strike. She was released two weeks later. Following the formation of Fianna Fáil by Éamon de Valera in 1926, Ní Bhruadair continued to support the more hardline Sinn Féin.

In October 1926 she represented Munster at the party's Ardfheis. She owned the party's semi-official organ, Irish Freedom, from 1926 to 1937, where she frequently contributed articles and in its later years acted as editor. Her home became the target of the Free State government forces in 1929 following an upsurge in violence from anti-Treaty republicans against the government. She and her close friend Mary MacSwiney left Cumann na mBan following the decision by its members at their 1933 convention to pursue social radicalism. The two then established an all-women's nationalist movement named Mná na Poblachta, which failed to attract many new members.

Death She continued to speak Irish and regularly attended Conradh na Gaeilge branch meetings in Tralee. Although sympathetic to Catholicism, she remained a member of the Anglican Church of Ireland, and regularly played the harmonium at Sneem's Church of Ireland services. Described by a biographer as 'a woman of frugal habits and decided opinions, she was in many ways difficult and eccentric', Gobnait Ní Bhruadair died on 16 January 1955, and was buried in the Church of Ireland graveyard in Sneem, County Kerry.

In her will she left most of her wealth (£17,000) to republicans "as they were in the years 1919 to 1921". The vagueness of her bequest led to legal wrangles for decades. Finally, in February 1979, Mr Justice Seán Gannon ruled that the bequest was void for remoteness, as it was impossible to determine which republican faction met her criteria.