Katherine Hughes
Founding Member of the Canadian Women's Press
Club
(Cont'd)
French agents keeping an
eye on the congress reported the activities of Katherine which appears
to have been quite significant including a mixture of organising the
congress as well as enacting her own journalistic duties such as
conducting interviews and recording proceedings within the congress.
She was recorded by the French agents as: employing typists for the
congress and keeping the keys to the filing cabinets with her when
leaving the office; she also interviewed several people, mostly Irish
people who had become domiciled in France. The reports even provide
minute details of her movements and details of the names of the people
she spoke with, the number of her hotel room and the prices that she
and others paid for their rooms. The fact that she was watched so
intimately by these French agents reveals the perceived and actual
strength of her connection to and immersion in the Irish cause or the
‘Irish Question’ as these agents called it.
"She speaks as a Canadian
, first, last and all the time"?
This quote is taken from
The Sentinel after Katherine’s address to the Winnipeg Irish
which resulted in 500 new members joining the Irish patriotic movement
in Canada. This took place at a time when Katherine’s allegiance
to Canada as opposed to Ireland was being staunchly questioned by her
contemporary press especially those not supportive of the Irish
independence movement and its leakage into Canada. In particular
Katherine’s loyalties were later called into question by The
Sentinel newspaper who hailed her as: ‘one of the greatest
troublemakers of the west’.
.
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It
is also significant to note that although Katherine contributed to
improving conditions for minorities such as native Indians and Irish
emigrants she also acted quite contradictorily. Two main examples being
how she opposed the suffrage movements (the struggle for a
woman’s right to vote). As well as how she was judged to have
turned her back on Canada her native homeland. This did not go
un-noticed or unpunished as noted by Padriag O’Siadhail in his
biographical profile of her. On her return to Canada in the late 1920s
she was shocked to find that the authorship of her biography of William
Van Horne (the famous railroad builder) had been stolen from her by
Walter Vaughan. She was convinced that she was being punished by the
Canadian establishment for her allegiance to the Irish cause. Padraic
O’ Siadhail hailed Hughes as: a significant figure in the
‘Irish Republican Propaganda movement in North America’ and
also as eventually turning her back completely on Canada.
Overall Katherine appeared to possess and exert an adept skill at
committing herself to a cause and then effectively stimulating and
organizing support for it worldwide. She appeared to utilize every
opportunity and initiative available to her predominantly in later
years to seek support for the Irish cause. It is inferred through
several records that she had an effective way of communicating with men
in power to progress forward to achieve feats for those without the
advantage of her status and voice. Despite her sometimes contradictory
beliefs on equality which were possibly influenced by her devout,
repressive Catholic upbringing which tended to greatly undervalue
women’s rights. She still worked determinedly to share her
advantages in various high-standing positions with those struggling to
achieve a right that many people at that time took for granted;
independence. Padraic O’ Siadhail recognized Katherine as having
a complex sense of identity and allegiance identifying her as
Irish-Canadian.
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She
fought for her adopted Irish cause until the very end which came about
in New York City on 26th April 1925. She died of cancer and is
buried in an unmarked grave in St. Raymond's cemetery in the Bronx.The
reality of her being buried far from both her native Canada and Ireland
the country to which she later assigned her allegiance to speaks
significant volumes in regard to her tenacious loyalty to her causes.
----
About Martina Gannon
 During 2012-2013 Martina
was an international student from Ireland studying English and
Psychology at the University of Ottawa for one year. She wrote a
profile about one of our club’s founding members –
Katherine Hughes – for the university’s volunteer program
and also attended a number of Media Club meetings.
Before leaving Canada for home Martina said
I have
quite fallen in love with Canada much like Katherine Hughes fell in
love with Ireland however I do not see myself switching from my Irish
allegiance just yet! I was delighted to uncover the opportunity to
research and write a brief biography of this courageous woman and in
doing so improve my knowledge of both Canadian and Irish history.
During my year here I have had my love of
writing cemented that much deeper to the point where I hope to return
to complete a masters in English in Canada in the not too distant
future.
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