'"No Conscription Now! Or after the harvest”: Women and anti-conscription in Ireland and England’

This chapter examines the rebellious activities of female pacifists in Ireland and Britain during the pro-militant age of the Great War. This research traces the anti-war activities of women during that period 1914 -1918 ranging from the Open Christmas Letter sent to the women of Austria and Hungary, the mass meeting of an International Congress of Women at the Hague to the female management of the No Conscription Fellowship. The chapter culminates in an examination of women’s reactions to the extension of military conscription to Ireland in 1918. Women were at the very centre of actions during the conscription crisis in Ireland organising a Woman’s Day to recruit for the campaign against conscripting Irishmen into the British army. Irish women’s activities intensified after they forged an unlikely bond with female activists in Britain during a turbulent time in Anglo-Irish relations. This research challenges our views of anti-war campaigners and on interactions between Irish and British feminists at this time. Ultimately, this chapter places women as a central focus of the conscription crisis in Ireland. By their complete lack of compliance, Irish women played a pivotal role in overturning the extension of the conscription bill to Ireland