Françoise Henry was born in Paris in 1902 & grew up in #France, where she studied art & archaeology. She came to Ireland in 1926 to research her thesis on Irish medieval carving, & became deeply fascinated with early Christian #Irish stonework and art. 1/5 #IrishWomenInHistory
Her work helped to raise awareness of the richness of this artistic tradition and laid the ground for future researchers in the field. Françoise went on to become the Director of Studies in #archaeology and the #history of #European#painting. 3/5 #IrishWomenInHistory
She also carried out extensive field work at archaeological sites all over the country, & was on the Board of Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1962 & was one of the first 4 women to become members of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) in 1949. 4/5 #IrishWomenInHistory
Louisa Westropp (born 1858), following a marriage characterised by constant domestic violence, sued her husband for divorce on the grounds of cruelty. Before Irish independence, cruelty was, in theory, legal grounds for divorce..... 1/9 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan
..... but men were considered to have the right to physically 'chastise' their wives, as women at that time had few rights (including the right to custody of their own children) cruelty was almost never cited in #divorce proceedings. 2/9 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan
It was the first time an #Irish#woman sued her husband for divorce on grounds of cruelty, and it set a legal precedent. Terrible as things were for Louisa, they were much worse for women from less wealthy backgrounds. 3/9 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan#LegalTwitter
On #NollaigNamBan we'll be raising a glass/cup of tea to all the women we've featured this year, to honour their victories and challenges as well as their long and short lives. What will you do? Here's a thread with some ideas. 1/7 #IrishWomenInHistory
1) If you have children in your life, you could spend some time with them telling stories about your and/or their female ancestors. Keeping their stories alive in the most traditional of Irish ways; through storytelling. 2/7 #NollaigNamBan#IrishWomenInHistory
2) If you're on your own, maybe take some time to reflect on your own female ancestors - do you know much about them? What pieces of stories are missing and why? Is there some research you'd like to do to know more about them? 3/7 #IrishWomenInHistory#NollaigNamBan