Reprieved primarily on the grounds of gender, the redoubtable Constance became the first woman to be elected to the House of Commons in 1918 (she refused to take the seat) and sat as a Minister of Labour in the first Dáil Eireann the following year.
This Lissadell House memento from an emotive Irish politician went to an Irish private buyer at €4000 (£2800) at the Christie’s/Hamilton Orbourne King sale.
Constance Gore-Booth’s father was Sir Henry Gore Booth whose primary interest was hunting. In between whaling in the Arctic and big game hunting in South Africa, his pet
project, begun in the early, 1870s, was the creation of a roe deer herd in Co. Sligo – the only roe deer to have been introduced to Ireland.
The first animals died but six or seven years into the experiment it became clear that, such was the abundance of vegetation, the Lissadell roe deer were growing much heavier and larger than Scottish roe deer.
The first animal was shot in 1878 and its mighty head mounted on a plaque inscribed Shot at Lissadell 1878 Primus in Hibernia.
It was a fairly moth-eaten specimen but was sold here at €1700 (£1190).
Another of Sir Henry’s trophies was this equally war-weary brown bear, right, which, his diary of 1864 records in a lengthy entry, was shot during his first visit to the Pasvig, Norway.
It will remain in the house having sold to the new owners of Lissadell, Edward Walsh and Constance Cassidy, at €4000 (£2800).
Historic links to the family
BY family tradition, this pair of steel handcuffs, right, were used to shackle Lissadell’s best known inhabitant, Constance Gore-Booth (then Countess Markievicz) shortly after her prominent role in the 1916 rebellion. Having fought with the insurgents, she was imprisoned as Dublin came under military rule and an effort was made to execute her for both treason and murder for her part in the action at The College of Surgeons, Saint Stephens Green.
