Aoife de Búrca

Aoife de Búrca (3 October 1885 – 1 December 1974), one of the few nurses stationed in the Hibernian Bank and the General Post Office, Dublin during the Easter Rising, de Búrca was one of those who treated James Connolly before his arrest.

Aoife de Búrca
Born	Eva Burke (1885-10-03)3 October 1885 Carbury, County Kildare, Ireland
Died	1 December 1974(1974-12-01) (aged 89) Rathfarnham, County Dublin, Ireland
Nationality	Irish

Biography

She was born Evaline Mary Burke on 3 October 1885 to Mary Kelly and Henry J. Burke. Her father Henry had been born in Albany, New York to Irish parents. He moved back to Ireland where he married, and settled in Carbury, County Kildare, Ireland. The couple had 5 children. de Búrca attended school in the Dominican Convent on Eccles street in Dublin.^[1] She went on to study nursing.^[2][3]

She came from a republican family. Her younger brother Frank Burke was one of the Irish volunteers and was stationed in the GPO. When de Búrca heard of the insurrection she immediately went into the city centre to find out what was needed. She returned to her lodgings, packed a bag and hired a car to take her and her luggage to the action. There she was given a position across the road from the GPO. She remained in the buildings of the Hibernian hotel treating the wounded, including treating Captain Thomas Weafer where he died, until the wounded were evacuated through the walls of the basement and across the road. From then on she was stationed in the GPO itself. de Búrca spent one night at home during the rising and worked as a messenger for Patrick Pearse on her way out of the centre of the city. She returned the following day and served there aiding in treating the injured until the building was collapsing due to the fire caused by shelling. At that point all wounded were evacuated to the Jervis Street Hospital. de Búrca remained there over night and returned to her lodgings in the morning.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

de Búrca spent her life working for Dublin Corporation as a nurse. She lived in Drumcondra until she moved in with her brother Frank in Rathfarnham where she died in November 1974.^[3] The Red Cross armlet and apron that she wore is on display in the National Museum of Ireland.^[10] Her memoir of the event was written the same year as well as being updated in the 1960s.^[11][12] Her story was covered in a television production called Seven Women for RTÉ^[13]

References and sources

1. "National Archives: Census of Ireland 1901". www.census.nationalarchives.ie.
2. "National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911". www.census.nationalarchives.ie.
3. "EVA BURKE – A KILDARE WOMAN IN THE GPO". www.kildare.ie.
4. "Kilmainham Tales". kilmainhamtales.ie.
5. Melbourne, Méabh O’ Leary in. "Twelve forgotten Irish women who risked their lives to save others in 1916". The Irish Times.
6. "Volunteer Women: Militarized Femininity in the 1916 Easter Rising". Chapman University.
7. Durnin, David; Miller, Ian (28 October 2016). Medicine, health and Irish experiences of conflict, 1914–45. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-1-5261-0823-4.
8. Grayson, Richard S. (23 August 2018). Dublin's Great Wars: The First World War, the Easter Rising and the Irish Revolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-02925-5.
9. McKenna, Joseph (9 June 2017). Voices from the Easter Rising: Firsthand Accounts of Ireland's 1916 Rebellion. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-6823-9.
10. "Cumann na mBan". History Ireland. 2 May 2014.
11. "Irish Medals". www.irishmedals.ie.
12. "1916 and the battle of the airwaves". History Ireland. 27 February 2017.
13. Harrison, Bernice. "Television: Rising from obscurity – the women airbrushed out of Irish history". The Irish Times.