Madam, – I am researching the life and political career of Leila Garcia de Cadiz, who was an Irish citizen who lived in Dublin, and I am hoping that readers of your newspaper might be able to help in this quest.
Leila had a sister Rosalind (who died in 1964) and together they joined the Irish Women’s Franchise League (IWFL) in Dublin. They were both active for the league, taking part in militant demonstrations in Dublin. The two sisters went to London in 1911 and continued their militancy with the Women’s Social and Political Union under Sylvia Pankhurst, later being imprisoned in Holloway Prison, where Leila went on hunger strike and was force-fed.
On their return to Ireland they were accused by the IWFL of being disloyal to the Irish League by working for the WSPU in London. The sisters continued their demonstrations in Dublin and were incarcerated at Mountjoy Prison in 1912 with Mrs Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington (one of the founders of the IWFL). While in prison they wrote an open letter to the IWFL declaring their loyalty to the League, but were expelled none the less. This eventually resulted in a famous court case lodged by the sisters before the master of the rolls against the committee members of the IWFL. The case was dismissed. During the first World War, both sisters joined the Red Cross and VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) and served in France, Rosalind suffering from a spinal injury.
That is the end of my information so far. I would be grateful to your readers if they could fill in any of the remaining story of Leila or her sister, or point me in the right direction for further investigation. I would particularly like a photograph of either of them. – Yours, etc,