Born in Cork 1879 , her early years there saw her involved in teaching, the Literary revival movement where she developed a love of the Irish language, Gaelic games and drama. She married Patrick Buckley in 1906 and went to Dublin where he worked as a civil servant. It was in Dublin that her administrative skills and her political activism were really engaged. Margaret joined Sinn Fein and Cumann na mBan in the early years, served as a Dail Court judge during the War of Independence and became leader of Sinn Fein in 1937; she was thus the first female leader of a political party in Ireland.During the Civil War Margaret was imprisoned several times and she wrote a fascinating account of her experiences in a book called The Jangle of the Keys. She was also a trade union activist of some note and regarded highly for her work in organising and representing female workers. She continued to work with the ITGWU long after she retired from Sinn Fein. She also was a journalist writing many articles during the years of the Free State government pointing out their failures re employment law. Although a great friend of DeValera's, she disagreed totally with him about the articles relating to women in his 1937 constitution, the subject of a forthcoming referendum.
Margaret Buckley died in Dublin in 1962, but requested that she be buried in her native Cork.
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