Josephine ‘Josie’ McGowan was the first Cumann na mBan (Women’s Council) member to be killed during the Irish Revolution. At a protest against British rule, she was beaten up by a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. She died a few days later on 29 September 1918. The death certificate stated that she died of pneumonia, but her family and community maintained that her death was a result of the beating at the protest.