View source for Aoife de Búrca

{{short description|Red cross nurse during the Easter Rising}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name             = Aoife de Búrca
| honorific_suffix =
| image            =
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| native_name      =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name       = Eva Burke
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1885|10|3}}
| birth_place      = Carbury, County Kildare, Ireland
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1974|12|1|1885|10|3}}
| death_place      = Rathfarnham, County Dublin, Ireland
| nationality      = Irish
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'''Aoife de Búrca''' (3 October 1885 {{ndash}} 1 December 1974), [[GPO nursing contingent|one of the few nurses]] stationed in the Hibernian Bank and the [[General Post Office, Dublin]] during the [[Easter Rising]], de Búrca was one of those who treated [[James Connolly]] before his arrest.
==Biography==
She was born Evaline Mary Burke on 3 October 1885 to Mary Kelly and Henry J. Burke. Her father Henry had been born in [[Albany, New York]] to Irish parents. He moved back to Ireland where he married, and settled in [[Carbury, County Kildare]], Ireland. The couple had 5 children. de Búrca attended school in the Dominican Convent on Eccles street in [[Dublin]].<ref>{{cite web |title=National Archives: Census of Ireland 1901 |url=http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Inns_Quay/Eccles_Street/1324376/ |website=www.census.nationalarchives.ie}}</ref> She went on to study nursing.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911 |url=http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Pembroke_West/Eastmoreland_Place/12151/ |website=www.census.nationalarchives.ie}}</ref><ref name="Kildare">{{cite web |title=EVA BURKE – A KILDARE WOMAN IN THE GPO |url=http://www.kildare.ie/ehistory/index.php/eva-bourke-a-kildare-woman-in-the-gpo/ |website=www.kildare.ie}}</ref>
She came from a republican family. Her younger brother [[Frank Burke (dual player)|Frank Burke]] was one of the Irish volunteers and was stationed in the GPO. When de Búrca heard of the insurrection she immediately went into the city centre to find out what was needed. She returned to her lodgings, packed a bag and hired a car to take her and her luggage to the action. There she was given a position across the road from the GPO. She remained in the buildings of the Hibernian hotel treating the wounded, including treating Captain [[Thomas Weafer]] where he died, until the wounded were evacuated through the walls of the basement and across the road. From then on she was stationed in the GPO itself. de Búrca spent one night at home during the rising and worked as a messenger for [[Patrick Pearse]] on her way out of the centre of the city. She returned the following day and served there aiding in treating the injured until the building was collapsing due to the fire caused by shelling. At that point all wounded were evacuated to the [[Jervis Street Hospital]]. de Búrca remained there over night and returned to her lodgings in the morning.<ref name="Kildare"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Kilmainham Tales |url=http://kilmainhamtales.ie/courage-under-fire.php |website=kilmainhamtales.ie}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Melbourne |first1=Méabh O’ Leary in |title=Twelve forgotten Irish women who risked their lives to save others in 1916 |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/twelve-forgotten-irish-women-who-risked-their-lives-to-save-others-in-1916-1.4226224 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Volunteer Women: Militarized Femininity in the 1916 Easter Rising |url=https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=war_and_society_theses |publisher=Chapman University}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Durnin |first1=David |last2=Miller |first2=Ian |title=Medicine, health and Irish experiences of conflict, 1914–45 |date=28 October 2016 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-1-5261-0823-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LG-5DwAAQBAJ&q=%22Aoife+de+Burca%22+war&pg=PT80 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Grayson |first1=Richard S. |title=Dublin's Great Wars: The First World War, the Easter Rising and the Irish Revolution |date=23 August 2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-02925-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DJlDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Aoife+de+Burca%22+war&pg=PA152 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McKenna |first1=Joseph |title=Voices from the Easter Rising: Firsthand Accounts of Ireland's 1916 Rebellion |date=9 June 2017 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-6823-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9GQoDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Aoife+de+Burca%22&pg=PT206 |language=en}}</ref>
de Búrca spent her life working for [[Dublin Corporation]] as a nurse. She lived in [[Drumcondra, Dublin|Drumcondra]] until she moved in with her brother Frank in [[Rathfarnham]] where she died in November 1974.<ref name="Kildare"/> The Red Cross armlet and apron that she wore is on display in the [[National Museum of Ireland]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Cumann na mBan |url=https://www.historyireland.com/volume-22/cumann-na-mban-2/ |website=History Ireland |date=2 May 2014}}</ref> Her memoir of the event was written the same year as well as being updated in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Irish Medals |url=http://www.irishmedals.ie/The-GPO.php |website=www.irishmedals.ie}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=1916 and the battle of the airwaves |url=https://www.historyireland.com/volume-25/issue-2-marchapril-2017/1916-battle-airwaves/ |website=History Ireland |date=27 February 2017}}</ref> Her story was covered in a television production called ''Seven Women'' for [[RTÉ]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harrison |first1=Bernice |title=Television: Rising from obscurity – the women airbrushed out of Irish history |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/television-rising-from-obscurity-the-women-airbrushed-out-of-irish-history-1.2587070 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref>
==References and sources==
{{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:de Burca, Aoife}}
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[Category:Female wartime nurses]]
[[Category:Irish nurses]]
[[Category:Women in 20th-century warfare]]
[[Category:Women in war in Ireland]]
[[Category:Health professionals from County Kildare]]
[[Category:People from Albany, New York]]
[[Category:People from Carbury, County Kildare]]