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Meeting political activist Esther Roper in Italy in 1986, where Eva was sent to recover from respiratory ailments, was a deciding factor in Eva’s active involvement in women’s rights of the suffrage movement. The two women formed a strong attachment during the weeks spent together at the villa of writer George MacDonald and his wife in Bordighera which led to a partnership, privately and professionally, until Eva’s death in June 1926. How intimate her relations were with Roper is controversially discussed, however, letters and poems Eva dedicated to Esther suggest a romantic love between the two women Tiernan, 2011 ..One of those poems appears in a collection of Eva’s poetic work “The Travellers, To E.G.R” which was published by Roper in 1929 in which Eva uses analogies of music and song to express how deeply she was struck by Esther’s personality and charisma.

After years of playing a lead role in the Women’s Suffrage Movement and fighting for equality of women’s rights in the UK as well as staying true to her literary roots, Eva and Esther relocated to London from Manchester in 1913 due to Eva’s deteriorating respiratory health. During World War I, Eva and Esther were actively involved in the British Peace Movement along with fellow suffragists, such as Sylvia Pankhurst and Emily Hobhouse. At the Women's International Congress which took place at the city of Hauge in 1915, she jointly composed an open Christmas letter entitled "To the Women of Germany & Austria" urging to "...join hands with the women of neutral countries, and urge our rulers  to stay further bloodshed..." and appealing to a sense of sisterhood to prevent further atrocities and the war from escalating.

Just weeks after the 1916 Rising, Eva travelled to Dublin accompanied by Esther and was pivotal in the efforts to reprieve the death sentence of her sister Constance Markievicz awarded for her instrumental role in the 1916 Rising ,which was successfully converted to a life sentence. Her poetry composed during this period reflect the personal trauma and horror she was exposed to visiting her sister in solitary confinement. She further campaigned to abolish the death sentence overall and to reform prison standards and attended the trial of Irish nationalist and fellow poet Roger Casement thus showing solidarity and support for the overturning of his death sentence  .

During the remaining years of her life, which was claimed by cancer on 30th June 1926,  she remained devoted to her poetry, dedicated time to her artistic talents as a painter, studied the Greek language and was known as a supporter of animal rights. Eva passed away in her home in Hampstead, London she shared with Esther until her passing.

References:

Gifford, L. (1988). Eva Gore-Booth and Esther Roper: a biography. Pandora.

Tiernan, S. (2011). Challenging Presumptions of Heterosexuality: Eva Gore-Booth, A Biographical Case Study.Historical Reflections, 37, 2. doi: 10.3167/hrrh.2011.37020

Gore-Booth, E. (ed. Roper, E.) Poems of Eva Gore-Booth: Complete Edition. London, 1926

McGuire, J. I., Quinn, J., & Royal Irish Academy. (2009).Dictionary of irish biography: From the earliest times to the year 2002. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.