League agitator Michael Davitt. In 1912, he and Hanna co-founded the Irish Women's Franchise League. He was made co-editor of the League's newspaper, The Irish Citizen. The Irish Women's Franchise League agitated for votes for women; members included his brother-in-law Tom Kettle and his friend Thomas MacDonagh, as well as all of the non-nationalist suffrage activists of the day. (Nationalist women tended to avoid it, on the basis that the IWFL was seeking to get into the British Parliament, while nationalists were trying to get out). In 1909 Francis and Hanna had a son, Owen. They were much criticised for refusing to have him baptised. In April 1911, Francis took part in an amusing protest at a meeting of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. The chamber was holding a public meeting to organise a welcoming ceremony for King George V on his visit to Dublin later that year. To open the meeting, the president of the chamber proposed that "a Citizens' Committee be formed for the purpose of arranging a suitable welcome and preparing and presenting a loyal address to the Most Gracious Majesties the King and Queen, on their approaching visit to Dublin". Francis counter-proposed that the word "not" be inserted after the words "be formed", and argued that ignoring the visit was the best compromise to satisfy both supporters and objectors to the visit. "Sean Milroy – a future minister in the Irish Free State – stood to second Sheehy Skeffington's motion, while the chairman, the Earl of Mayo, attempted to maintain order over cries of 'Hear hear!' and 'Put him out!' In an effort to silence the dissenters, Mayo called a vote on Sheehy Skeffington's amendment; 36 supported it while 'some hundreds' voted against." After this, Countess Markievicz proposed another counter-resolution which led to further uproar. Francis was on friendly terms with Countess Markievicz: for instance he once escorted her to a police court after she had kicked a police officer during a Socialist Party meeting, which Francis had also attended. During the 1913 Dublin Lock-out, he became involved in the Citizens' Peace Committee, a group formed by various people including Tom Kettle and Thomas MacDonagh, with Joseph Plunkett as secretary, whose goal was to reconcile the employers and workers. The workers were willing to negotiate, but not the employers. Francis Sheehy Skeffington joined and then became a vice-chairman of the Irish Citizen Army when it was