Rose Dugdale: The English heiress who joined the IRA
- Published
Rose Dugdale, pictured in Dublin in 1974, was born into a wealthy English aristocratic family
"If it wasn't true, it's hard to believe - you could barely make it up".
That is how the makers of a new film about Rose Dugdale, who died on Monday aged 83, describe her life. Dugdale, an English heiress turned IRA member, was once the UK's most wanted woman.
The aristocrat and debutante became involved in the IRA during the Troubles and masterminded an £8m fine art heist.
She also made a failed attempt to bomb a police station in Strabane using a helicopter hijacked in County Donegal.
In 1974 she was sentenced to nine years in prison for her involvement with the IRA after the art heist.
Alongside IRA gunmen, she carried out an armed raid on Russborough House in County Wicklow where they stole 19 masterpieces, including a Rubens, Goya and Vermeer.
Sinn Féin said Ireland had lost a "comrade".
"Rose was a committed republican and was unflinching in her beliefs. Ireland has today lost a committed republican and activist, and Sinn Féin a valued comrade," said TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
However there has been criticism on social media that media coverage is glamorising Dugdale.
Writing on X, Ann Travers, whose sister was killed by the IRA, said that Dugdale was "not a rebel heroine".
"She was a terrorist, bomber and murderer. Thinking of all of her victims, who weren't afforded the natural death that she was," wrote Ms Travers.
Presented to the Queen
Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, the writers and directors of Baltimore, which stars Imogen Poots as Dugdale, said the film can be seen as a "story of radicalisation".
Speaking on Sunday with Steven Rainey, the day before her death, Lawlor said Dugdale's transition from English aristocrat to "militancy" had been a gradual process, building from a young age.
"When she was a debutante she was angry about the occasion where you had to be presented in front of the Queen and called it a 'pornographic affair'.
Russborough House in County Wicklow has been targeted in a number of art thefts
"So even at the age of 17, she looked at the world differently to her family," he told the programme.
"One wonders where that perspective came from.
"She went to Oxford, she became a Marxist."
While studying at Oxford, she and former Tory MP Edwina Currie shared an economics tutor, Peter Ady, with whom Dugdale reportedly had an affair., external
She later told author Sean O'Driscoll Ady had been the "love of her life".
"She was scruffy - which was unusual in those days - terribly well spoken and laid back, well-off and rebellious," Mrs Currie told BBC's Talkback programme.
"We knew Rose was a rebel in the '60s. She saw everything in stark terms - and that was before the radicalisation."
Christine Molloy said the couple stumbled across her story while researching the history of Russborough House for a documentary.
"We were surprised that we hadn't really heard of the story before - it kind of took hold of us and wouldn't let go," she said.
Rose Dugdale, pictured at an election count centre in the 2016 Irish elections
Homemade bombs
Before her death, Dugdale had lived in Dublin for many decades and, according to Sinn Féin, was an active member of the party.
In the book 'Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber: The Extraordinary Life of Rose Dugdale' she told author Sean O'Driscoll that the happiest day of her life was the Strabane bombing.
She and Eddie Gallagher hijacked a helicopter in Donegal, forced a civilian pilot to fly it, and dropped homemade milk churn bombs out of the helicopter.
O'Driscoll also said that there is evidence that she was involved in the development of arms.
He told Talkback that she used to go to an IRA safe house in County Mayo which had a beach where they would test weapons.
"In the Army museum in London you can see a biscuit launcher where digestives were placed in the back of it to absorb the gas that would come out - which later became the rice launcher - she developed that," he added.
"It was her idea to deconstruct Semtex into PETN and RDZ - its component explosives - to make a new type of fuse."
Imogen Poots, whose father is from Belfast, plays Rose Dugdale in the movie Baltimore
For filmmaker Joe Lawlor the film has been a "difficult balancing act", but he maintains it is not a biopic.
He said Baltimore was neither an attempt to "glamorise her [Dugdale], or damn her".
"We genuinely attempt not to do either of those things, but merely present the details of her life - to try to understand her as a human being," he added.
"I hope people can see we have tried to strike a right balance."
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