Lizzie Keown?

What ever happened to Lizzie Keown?

I am researching internment in Fermanagh in 1922-4 using Internment files at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), the Military Archives’ Military Service Pension Collection and local newspapers (e.g. obituaries) to write up short profiles of each of the 60-70 internees from the county. In most cases, all three sources provide ample information that can be cross-checked. But in the case of the only female internee, Lizzie Keown, I am drawing a blank, with the exception of her PRONI file… any help appreciated!

Lizzie Keown, 25, Primary School Teacher

Lizzie Keown, Belleek was arrested on September 26, 1923 and released on March 1, 1924. She was a primary school teacher at Mulleek National School outside Belleek. Police accused Ms Keown of being a local organiser for Cumman na mBan and acting as a dispatch carrier for republicans. The particular claim was that she carried messages to republicans across the border in Ballyshannon, Donegal. The Police description of Keown was;

‘An ardent republican….She held a high rank and wore her uniform publicly and took a prominent part in this organisation [Cumman na mBan] until it was suppressed….She is also an active member in the campaign of intimidation against the Police. At the end of August she cautioned a young lady named Mary C______against talking to the Police.’

Lizzie Keown denied all involvement in republican activity claiming her family were ‘the most law abiding people in the district’ and ‘loyal subjects to his Majesty.’ She further pointed out that, unlike other teachers, she never took wages from the southern authorities. The Keowns were ‘unpopular in the district’, she said, ‘because we would not join the Sinn Féiners.’ Her only trips to Ballyshannon were for ‘music lessons with the nuns.’ Keown claimed to know Mary C____but denied warning anyone about associating with Police. Despite twice appearing before the Advisory Committee, which heard applications for release, Keown’s request for bail was denied, with local Police opposing her release on both occasions.

On November 2, 1923, Lizzie Keown wrote from Armagh jail to a local priest, Fr Coyle, claiming that Mary C____ was the cause of the arrest. Mary C_____was described by Police as ‘extremely loyal’ and unpopular with neighbours and fellow pottery workers as a result. The priest, accompanied by a colleague, visited Ms C___, also a Catholic, and conversed on the issue. The Police report on this conversation (presumably informed by Ms C___) was that the priests warned the young woman about associating with Specials (Police) and said that ‘three years from now she would see the result…..if they left, you would have to go with them but they would not want her.’ Subsequently, Mary C____ required Police protection. 

There is no mention that I can find of Lizzie Keown in either Donegal or Fermanagh Cumann na mBan records or details of her post-release life. 

Any help appreciated!

PRONI file on Lizzie Keown can be accessed at HA 5/2463.

This research is support by a Royal Irish Academy Decade of Centenaries Bursary