On 14 December 1918, Constance Markievicz became the first woman ever elected to the House of Commons, winning the Dublin St Patrick's seat for Sinn Féin.
On 14 December 1918, in the UK general election held immediately after the First World War, Constance Markievicz stood as the Sinn Féin candidate for the Dublin St Patrick's constituency while imprisoned in Holloway Jail. She won the seat, making history as the first woman ever elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
This election took place shortly after the Representation of the People Act 1918 had granted some women over 30 the right to vote and stand for parliament for the first time. Markievicz's victory was a landmark moment in the history of women's political representation in the British Isles, coming even before women achieved full electoral equality.
True to Sinn Féin's abstentionist policy, Markievicz never took her seat at Westminster, refusing to swear the oath of allegiance to the British Crown. This distinguishes her achievement from that of Nancy Astor, who in 1919 became the first woman to actually sit in the Commons. Nonetheless, Markievicz's election remains a defining feminist and nationalist milestone — proof that a woman, and moreover an imprisoned revolutionary, could triumph at the ballot box against the male political establishment. Her win paved the way for future generations of women in British and Irish politics.