Carmel shows her colours

As I got older, I became more interested in things. I am by nature an inquisitive person. I simply cannot get enough information,” Carmel Kelly Palmer enthuses.

The 79-year-old spent the previous 10 minutes talking about the life of Margaret Skinnider, a woman who fought with Cumann na mBán in 1916.

Carmel only came to know her – or rather, study her – earlier this year, after a friend showed her a picture of a dress inspired by Skinnider in a national paper.

“A friend showed me the picture of the dress in the Independent back in April. A student had designed it to help celebrate the women who fought in the 1916 Rising. It was because of what this dress represented, I became so intrigued by this lady who had fought for Ireland,” Carmel says.

The green dress that caught Carmel’s eye was designed by Roisín Bowling, a second-year fashion design student at Griffith College, as part of a college exhibition entitled Uniformity.

Behind the dress

The dress manifested itself so much in Carmel’s imagination that not only did she get a replica made, but also began to investigate the lady behind the dress.

Carmel took the photograph to Aneta Kowalczyk, her local dressmaker in Roscommon, and asked her to make something similar.

Every detail of the dress is connected to Skinnider’s story. Even the bullet holes on the right shoulder symbolised where she was shot three times on 26 April, as she led an arson attack on Harcourt Street against the British army.

The material itself was found in Hickey’s fabric shop in Galway and the olive green gabardine was carefully selected to represent the same colour the Cumann na mBán women had worn.

Parading her patriotism

From the day Carmel collected the dress in May, it hung in her wardrobe until 8 October, when she wore it at the launch of a history anthology in Roscommon town as part of the festival SiarScéal. It was a fitting occasion, because Carmel contributed a 500-word piece to the anthology about Skinnider.

“I already knew about Countess Markievicz, but I knew nothing about Margaret Skinnider,” Carmel confesses. “She came from Scotland and was born in 1892, but her parents were Irish. She was invited over to Ireland the Christmas before the Rising took place and asked to take part.

“She would come to Ireland and visit Monaghan, where her parents were from. It angered her to see the landlord’s houses, and she was sensitive to the situation. She felt a connection to Ireland.”

A shared connection

In ways, one can see a similarity between the two women.

Carmel, who was born in Roscommon, left to work in England and returned much later in her life, having that same love for Ireland that emigrants often adopt when living abroad for a long period.

Likewise, Skinnider had a love for the land, which perhaps she inherited from her immigrant parents.

“Margaret Skinnider said, Scotland is my home but Ireland is my country,” Carmel says proudly.

“These women are the reason we are as we are today, and hopefully we are passing this spirit on to the next generation.

“Before, we had no vote and we had to leave civil service jobs once we were married. Now things have changed. I believe in freedom for everyone, not just for women.”