Executive of Cumann na mBan

Born on Henry Street, Limerick in February 1877 into a prominent Fenian family. She was the second eldest daughter of Edward Daly and his wife Catherine O’Meara. 

She had eight sisters and one brother Edward (known as Ned). Her father took part in the 1867 Fenian Rising alongside his brother John. The death of the 41 year old Harbour Weightmaster in 1890 ended the childhood of the eldest three girls.

Her brother Edward Daly was later Commandant of the 1st Dublin Battalion of the Irish Volunteers. Her sister Kathleen married Tom Clarke. Both Edward and Tom were executed for their part in the 1916 Rising.  

Named Margaret, after her Daly grandmother, she was always known as Madge. She was academically gifted and for a time she worked as a teacher in school where she had been a pupil, the Presentation Convent in Sexton Street. She was trained as a Milliner in Cannock’s Department Store in Limerick City.

By 1901 the head of the household was Uncle John, who was then Mayor of Limerick, also residing in the home was her grandmother Margaret Daly, 90, her daughter Ellen, Madge’s mother Catherine, her eight sisters and her brother.  By then she had joined the staff of her Uncle’s bakery in William Street. She took over the running of the business when he became ill. She maintained a highly successful business for the remainder of her working life. It is said that it was her business acumen that made the family wealthy. 

Madge Daly joined Maud Gonne’s Daughters of Ireland (Inghinidhe na hÉireann) in 1900. She was a founding member of Cumann na mBan in Limerick. She was appointed as the first President of the Cumann na mBan branch in Limerick City upon its foundation in 1914. 

By 1921, as Madge described through their ‘own industry’ she purchased ‘Ardeevin’ on the Ennis Road. The business by then had a bakery, a confectionary business and a flour business on Sarsfield Street. The Dalys were subjected to continuous raids both in their home and business during the revolutionary period. They were fined, their premises were set on fire. On 9 April 1921 the family were subjected to a brutal and violent attacked by masked and armed men. The content of their home was burnt by military order. The Dalys were only able to save photographs.  

She played an active role in Cumann na mBan during the revolutionary period, fund-raising, arranging safe-houses, and issuing propaganda, amongst other activities. 

Madge was actively involved in the White Cross and the American Commission for Relief in Ireland.

She was opposed to the Treaty and during the fighting in Limerick in July of 1922 she was one of the last to leave New Barracks which had been occupied by Anti-Treaty forces. 

Madge Daly retired as President of the Limerick branch of Cumann na mBan in 1924.

In 1930s Madge was involved in the establishment of the Limerick Shoe Company. The family moved to a larger house with gardens, Tivoli on the North Circular Road. During the Emergency, due to Madge’s declining health, the family decided to move to Dublin to be close to specialist treatment. Madge died there in 21 January 1969 aged 91. She is buried in Mount Saint Lawrence Cemetery in Limerick.

Her papers including an unpublished memoir form part of the Daly Papers in the special collections at the Glucksman Library, University of Limerick.