Kathleen Clarke

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Kathleen Clarke (Irish: Caitlín Uí Chléirigh; 11 April 1878–29 September 1972) was an Irish Sinn Féin and later Fianna Fáil politician who served for as a TD for the Dublin Mid constituency and was the first female Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Born Kathleen Daly in Limerick, she was the widow of Tom Clarke, one of those executed for his part in the 1916 Rising and preferred to be known as Caitlín Bean Uí Chléirigh (Mrs Tom Clarke) and had this inscription on her headstone. Tom Clarke had met her uncle, John Daly, while in prison, and married Kathleen, 21 years his junior, on his release in 1898. Her younger brother Edward Daly was also executed for taking part in the rising.

After her marriage she became active in politics was a founder of Cumann na mBan in 1914. She was elected unopposed as a Sinn Féin TD to the Second Dáil in the May 1921 elections. She failed to be re-elected in the 1922 general election but was re-elected to the short-lived 5th Dáil in the June 1927 election. She again lost her seat in the September 1927 election and did not regain it. She contested the 1948 general election on behalf of Clann na Poblachta.

Following her failure to be elected to the Dáil in 1927 she was elected to the Free State Seanad Éireann in 1928 and retained her her seat in two subsequent elections until it was abolished in 1936. She was Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1939–1941. Following her death aged 94 in 1972 she received the rare honour of a state funeral.