Rosie Hackett

On 22 August 1911 Hackett helped organise the withdrawal of women's labour in Jacob's factory to support their male colleagues who were already on strike.[5] With the women's help, the men secured better working conditions and a pay rise. Two weeks later, at the age of eighteen, Hackett co-founded the Irish Women Worker's Union (IWWU) with Delia Larkin. During the 1913 Lockout Hackett helped mobilise the Jacob's workers to come out in solidarity with other workers, they, in turn, were locked out by their own employers. This did not stop Rosie Hackett's work to help others, and she along with several of her IWWU colleagues set up soup kitchens in Liberty Hall to help feed the strikers. However, in 1914 her Jacob's employers sacked her over her role in the Lockout.[6]

Hackett began work as a clerk in the printshop in Liberty Hall, and it was here she became involved with the Irish Citizen Army. Hackett was involved in preparations for the 1916 Rising, working in a union shop, helping with printers, and making first-aid kits and knap-sacks.

Irish Republic Flag

If other members of the ITGWU were looking for James Connolly, she aided in bringing them to him.[7] Hackett "worked as canvasser and traveller and was called on to carry out many confidential jobs".[8]

She took up first aid training provided by Dr. Kathleen Lynn for six months before the rising and attended night marches organised by the Irish Citizen Army.[7] According to her own account, Hackett said "A week before Easter, I took part in the ceremony of hoisting the challenge flag over Hall".[7] Like other girls and women who were involved in the Rising, she carried messages and guns, and prepared uniforms and food for Irish Republican Army members "and sometimes risky work".[9]

Three weeks before the Easter Rising, the Royal Irish Constabulary raided a shop where Hackett was working. She was alone when they came and they were looking for a copy of "Gael". She said to them "wait till I get the head"[7] and she called for Connolly. The police were stopped by Connolly and Helena Molony who were armed, and Hackett immediately hid everything, so that when the police came back they could not get anything. Because of that event, the police knew that they were armed and they had to double up work, so Rosie was in Liberty Hall all the time.

Easter Proclamation of 1916

Hackett was part of the group that printed the first proclamation.[10] Through her experience of working in the printshop she helped to print the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. She was in the printing room in Liberty Hall as a trusted messenger in 1916 when the Proclamation was printed and it was the first time she was allowed in. However, she knew about their technical difficulties: “they hadn't much type, (...) the type was short and they had to patch it up a bit (...) and they worked at night".[11] She remembers that three men were there when she entered the room and one came over to her, shook her hand and congratulated her. It made her very proud; especially that no one else was allowed to get in. She subsequently told family members of handing it still wet to James Connolly before it was read out by Padraic Pearse on the steps of the GPO.[12]

Hackett was an active member of the Irish Citizen Army. On Easter Tuesday, under the command of Constance Markievicz, Hackett took part in the 1916 Rising and was located in the area of St Stephen's Green and the Royal College of Surgeons. This position was heavily attacked with guns, short of first-aid and "looked like a death trap".[13] However, after moving from an initially overlooked position in Stephen's Green, it was one of the last positions to surrender.[14] In the Royal College, Rosie Hackett as a first-aid practitioner was allowed entry to the lecture room sanctioned to the Red Cross only.[13] Another first-aider, Aider Nora O'Daily, later reported that during those days: “I have a very kind remembrance of Little Rosie Hackett of the Citizen Army, always cheerful and always willing; to see her face about the place was a tonic itself”.[13]

After surrendering, the rebels were taken to Dublin Castle. Hackett was imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail for ten days.[7][15]

Postcard of Liberty Hall with a banner reading "James Connolly Murdered May 12th 1916"

In 1917, on the anniversary of Connolly's death, Hackett together with Helena Molony, Jinny Shanahan and Brigid Davis printed and hung a poster detailing the anniversary, "James Connolly, Murdered May 12th, 1916." After the first poster displayed by the ITGWU members was taken down by the police, they worked to ensure that their poster would stay on Liberty Hall much longer – by staying on top of the roof to defend it. They barricaded the door using a ton of coal and nails on the windows. The poster was hanging there until 6 pm and thousands of people could see it. Hackett has reported that, "it took four hundred policemen to take four women"[7] and only to avoid embarrassment in the public eye was the reason why they were not arrested. She described their revolutionist feelings about this action: “We enjoyed it at the time – all the trouble they were put to.”[7][16]

After the Rising, Hackett returned to the IWWU which, at its strongest, organised over 70,000 women. After the 1945 laundry strike, they won an extra week of paid holidays for the workers. She attended many important labour union events such as the opening of the new Liberty Hall on 2 May 1965 and Arbour Hill memorial services.[17] Until her retirement, she ran the trade union shops resulting in over 5 decades of active participation in the Irish trades union movement work to improve conditions for Irish workers.[17] In 1970 she was awarded a gold medal for fifty years of ITGWU membership.[6]