Plaque unveiled for Irish woman who shot Mussolini
At a glance
Dublin city council have put up a plaque to Violet Gibson
She came close to assassinating fascist leader Benito Mussolini during a speech in the 1920s
She has been seen as a forgotten heroine after she spent the rest of her life in an English mental health facility
- Published
A memorial plaque has been unveiled for an Irish woman who shot the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
One of the bullets fired by Violet Gibson grazed the fascist leader's nose.
The plaque was unveiled on Thursday at her childhood home at 12 Merrion Square in Dublin.
It was proposed by independent Dublin city councillor Mannix Flynn, who described her as an anti-fascist revolutionary.
Ms Gibson made the attempt on Mussolini's life on 7 April 1926, three years into his rule, as he was making a speech in Rome.
Ms Gibson, who was 50-years-old at the time, stepped out from the crowd and fired a shot at the Italian leader.
While the first shot grazed his nose, Ms Gibson's gun jammed on a further attempt before she was taken away by police.
After some time in an Italian prison, she was deported to England, where she was placed in St Andrew's Hospital, a mental asylum in Northampton, until her death in 1956.
Siobhán Lynam, who made a radio documentary about Ms Gibson, external, told RTÉ News at the plaque unveiling that she performed a "highly political" act and it suited British and Italian authorities to portray her as "mad rather than bad".
The gunshot grazed Mussolini's nose
Ms Gibson was born into a privileged Anglo-Irish family and had been a debutante in the court of Queen Victoria.
She converted to Catholicism in her 20s and had a strong commitment to social justice.
Mr Flynn said: "Violet Gibson is a feminist; she's a woman; she's an extraordinary individual and you can place her with any of the martyrs of males and she is an equal."