United Irish feminist and social reformer
Ruth Taillon chronicles the life of Mary Ann McCracken whose
political commitment began in the early days of the United Irish
movement
The life of Mary Ann McCracken, democrat and social reformer, has
been overshadowed by the life of her more famous brother, Henry
Joy, although she outlived him by 68 years and was politically
active until just a few years before her death at the age of 96.
Mary Ann was born in 1770, at a time when Belfast, like the rest
of the country, was experiencing enormous industrial disruption
and social change. Irish industry was being systematically
destroyed by economic policies designed to protect the interests
of English and Scottish industrialists. Mary Ann's family,
however, were relatively prosperous and by the time of her birth
well established and prominent in Belfast social and commercial
life. Mary Ann's liberal and far-sighted parents sent her to
David Masson's progressive co-educational school, where `young
ladies' received the same education as the boys: Mary Ann
excelled at mathematics.
As a young woman - in her early twenties - Mary Ann and her
sister Margaret started a small muslin business. They employed a
number of handloom weavers working at home. Mary Ann applied her
arithmetic skills as book-keeper to the business.
The independent parliament in Dublin - dominated by the landed
gentry - was a great disappointment to the Belfast mercantile
community. The McCrackens were very much involved in the
agitation for political reform. In 1791, Mary Ann's brother Henry
Joy, with Thomas Russell, Samuel Neilson and Wolfe Tone,
established the first Society of United Irishmen. Mary Ann was a
confidante of her brother and his comrades, and shared both their
ideas and their work. On 10 October, 1796, her brother Henry Joy
was arrested.
Mary Ann's political commitment and acumen are demonstrated in
her letters to Henry Joy in Kilmainham Jail. They show that she
was keenly aware of the contemporary feminist thinkers, had
assimilated them into her own views about the democratic
movement, and that she had no hesitation about being forthright
in those views. She referred in one letter to a mutual friend
being sworn into the United Irishmen, and commented, ``I hope his
sisters will soon follow so good an example...'' Her letters are
full of political commentary, and news of raids, arrests and arms
seizures which show that she was very much involved in the events
around her. The letters demonstrate an advanced and well
developed feminist consciousness. She talks of her ``great
curiosity'' to visit some female societies of the United Irish
movement, but objects to the fact that they are for women only:
``...as there can be no other reason for having them separate but
keeping women in the dark and certainly it is equally ungenerous
and uncandid to make tools of them without confiding in them. I
wish to know if they have any rational ideas of liberty and
equality for themselves or whether they are contented with their
present abject and dependent situation, degraded by custom and
education beneath the rank in society in which they were
originally placed; for if we suppose woman was created for a
companion in man she must of course be his equal in
understanding...
``Is it not almost time for the clouds of error and prejudice to
disperse and that the female part of Creation as well as the male
should throw off the fetters with which they have been so long
mentally bound and conscious of the dignity and importance of
their nature rise to the situation for which they were designed,
as great events at least display, if they do not create, great
abilities. I hope the present Era will produce some women of
sufficient talents to inspire the rest with a genuine love of
Liberty and just sense of her value... no argument produced in
favour of the slavery of women that has not been used in favour
of general slavery and which have been successfully combatted by
many able writers. I therefor hope it is reserved for the Irish
nation to strike out something new and to show an example of
candous generosity and justice superior to any that have gone
before them...''
In another letter, Mary Ann sent Henry Joy a book by Mary
Wollstoncraft, and shows that she is not embarrassed or reticent
about discussing matters of sexuality and personal relations. She
discusses Wollstoncraft's views on marriage and Wollstoncraft's
having married despite her previous ``contempt for the ceremony''.
Mary Ann attributes this to her having earlier been in a
relationship with a man who she then discovered to be ``living
publicly with an actress''.
Margaret and Mary kept their muslin business going despite all
the personal and political upheaval affecting their lives,
including the arrest of some of their weavers. Their brother
William also depended upon them to oversee his own factory while
he was in prison. More and more people were being rounded up, and
Mary Ann's letters are full of news as prisoners were being
brought in from all over Ireland.
On 23 May, 1798, the signal for the rising was given. Thousands
mobilised, but there was chaos in the north. Henry Joy McCracken
was commander in chief when the rebels marched on Antrim. They
were easily routed. Henry Joy wanted to try to get to Wexford,
but was unable to get away safely. Mary Ann arranged for him to
be taken on board a boat to America, but on the way to his
rendezvous, he was recognised and arrested. It was 8 July, one
month after the battle of Antrim and Mary Ann's 28th birthday.
On 16 July, Henry Joy was brought to Belfast; his court martial
took place on 17 July. Mary Ann and her father were the only
family members there to support him. The prosecutor offered a
private deal in which Henry Joy would be given clemency if he
would name others; it was refused outright and he was condemned
to die.
Mary Ann managed to see Henry Joy in the barracks, and heard him
being informed he was to be immediately executed. After his
death, and against the family's wishes, Mary Ann fulfilled her
unspoken promise to him and brought his four-year old daughter,
Maria, to live at the McCracken family home. The child's mother
and her family were assisted by Mary to go to America. Maria was
to live with Mary Ann until the end of her life.
In the years following the suppression of the rising, Mary Ann
continued to follow political developments closely. She was
acutely aware of the implications of the defeat of the democratic
movement. She was opposed to the Act of Union; she was concerned
about the effects it would have on poor people.
She continued also to develop her business. She was a progressive
employer. In 1803, she wrote a letter to the Belfast Newsletter
about factory hygiene and conditions of employment:
``Workers... ought to be provided with warm coats and cloaths so
as to be protected against the evil effects of wet and cold, when
going to and returning from their work; sufficient time should be
allowed for amusement in the open air... A very serious
responsibility attaches to those who employ children.''
The same year, Thomas Russell returned to Belfast. He was in
charge of organising in the north for another rising. The
northern leadership of the United Irishmen advised the movement
against the planned rebellion. Russell realised that a rising in
the north was impossible. Before he could return to Dublin,
however, Robert Emmet had started to fight in Dublin. Russell was
forced to issue a proclamation, but only a handful in the north
responded and the rising was crushed. With financial help from
Mary Ann, Russell returned to Dublin to try to help Emmet escape.
He arrived too late, and was himself arrested. Mary Ann
immediately became involved in efforts to get Russell released.
Her last letter to him demonstrated once again her refusal to bow
to convention in personal matters. With Henry Joy's situation
clearly on her mind, Mary Ann went on in her letter to Russell,
``to request if there are any other who have claims on your
affection, that you will not through motives of false delicacy
scruple to mention them.''
Mary Ann also took an active part in the cultural life of
Belfast. In particular, she supported her foster-brother, Edward
Bunting's work in collecting Irish music - both financially and
by acting as his unofficial secretary. She was also a founding
member of the Belfast Harp Society. The Society contributed to
the revival of interest in the Irish language, poetry and
literature.
The McCracken sisters struggled to keep their business open
throughout the economic depression of the early 19th century.
Mary Ann wrote that she could not think of dismissing the workers
because no one else would employ them. In 1815, however, the
sisters decided that the failing business must close. When their
debts were paid, there was very little left. In a letter to a
friend, Mary Ann remarked on how difficult life could be: ``...the
sphere of a woman's industry is so confined and so few roads lie
open to her, and those so thorny...''
Mary Ann's connection with the British Poorhouse had started when
she was just a child, and she maintained her family's
philantrophic links with the Poorhouse into her 81st year. In
1827, inspired by a visit to Belfast by prisons reformer
Elizabeth Fry, a group of local women came together to work on
behalf of the women and children in the case of the Belfast
Charitable Society. Mary Ann was treasurer of the group for some
years and in 1832 was elected secretary. They organised training
in embroidery and other skills for girls, including
apprenticeships with local businesses and also did after-care
visits for the girl apprentices. Education, generally geared
towards employment, was provided for older girls and they set up
an infant school in the Poorhouse.
Mary Ann's interest in young people, and in particular the
education and employment of girls and women, was pursued through
other channels as well. She helped to establish the Ladies
Industrial School in 1847, which was set up by the Belfast Ladies
Association for the Relief of Irish Destitution. The association
was a response to the Irish Famine; Mary Ann was President of the
association when she died. Her philanthrophic work included
membership of the Belfast Ladies Clothing Society and the Society
for the Relief of the Destitute Sick. She was also on a committee
to abolish the use of climbing boys in chimney sweeping. At the
age of 88, she was still collecting for a number of charities.
Her political commitment likewise did not falter. She had been a
supporter of the anti-slavery movement from its early days, when
the United Irishmen had called for a boycott of sugar products
from the West Indies. The 89 year old Mary Ann herself stood
leafleting emigrants departing for America, and she deplored the
lack of anti-slavery activists in Belfast where there had once
been such strong support. In the last 20 years of her life, she
maintained a correspondence with Dr Madden, and made a major
contribution to his definitive history of the United Irishmen. On
26 July, 1866, just a few weeks after her 96th birthday, Mary Ann
McCracken died.
This article is based on the book by Mary O'Neill, Mary Ann
McCracken, Her Life & Times, published by Blackstaff Press, 1960,
reprinted 1997.
Ruth Taillon is a founder member of the Mary Ann McCracken
Historical Society.
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