Grace
Eveleen Gifford was born March 4, 1888 at her family home in Rathmines,
an affluent Dublin suburb. She was the second youngest of twelve children.
Her father, Frederick Gifford, was a wealthy solicitor (attorney) and
a Catholic. Isabella Burton Gifford, her mother, was Protestant. The
daughters were raised in their mother's faith and the sons were raised
as Catholics.
In 1904, at the
age of sixteen, Grace entered the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art,
where her talents for caricature were soon discovered. One of Grace's
instructors was the well-known artist, William Orphen, who considered
her one of his best students and often sketched her portrait. One of
his paintings of Grace was included in his series titled "Young
Ireland".
Among Grace's classmates
was Willie Pearse, Padraic's younger brother, who was training to be
a sculptor.
After spending 1907-08
studying at the Slade School of Art in London, she returned to Dublin
to work as an illustrator and caricaturist. Since work for an artist
was difficult to find, Grace considered emigrating to America but decided
against doing so.
Grace's younger
sister, Sydney Gifford
Czira,
began her writing career by submitting articles to Arthur Griffith's
newspaper, Sinn Fein. (The name was later applied to the political
party.) Through another Irish journalist, Mrs. Dryhurst, the Gifford
sisters were introduced to future leaders of the 1916 Rising, such as
Constance Markievicz, Thomas MacDonagh (who married Grace's sister,
Muriel), Padraic Pearse and Maud Gonne.
