Anglican Women in Dublin: Philanthropy, Politics and Education in the Early Twentieth

A fascinating account of the public activities of women members of the Church of Ireland living in Dublin during a time of upheaval and rapid change in Ireland. Oonagh Walsh discusses key aspects of their lives, including charitable work, education and politics. She shows that the reaction of the women to the creation of the Irish Free State was for the most part pragmatic, tempered by a determination to maintain a strong Protestant identity in the new state. Their roles came to be increasingly public ones, though for the most part within the limits of their Anglican world and, in common with Catholic women, found that their full participation in public life was not encouraged.