Despite outliving him by 68 years, Mary Ann McCracken’s legacy is overshadowed by that of her more famous brother, executed United Irishman Henry Joy McCracken. She was, however, an abolitionist, a social reformer and an activist who fought for the rights of women and Belfast’s poor throughout a long life that encompassed the most turbulent years of Irish history. As treasurer, secretary and chair of the Ladies Committee, she helped girls from the Poor House learn crafts that would provide them with livelihoods. Dedicated to championing Belfast’s poor, she was President of the Ladies Industrial School and she campaigned to abolish the use of climbing boys in chimney sweeping. Mary Ann was involved in early women’s suffrage campaigns and prison reform schemes and was a passionate member of the Women’s Abolitionary Committee. In her late eighties, she could be found on the docks, handing out anti-slavery leaflets to emigrants embarking for the slave-owning United States. The motto of this remarkable woman, which accurately sums up her character, was, better ‘to wear out than to rust out’. But her radical, humanitarian zeal and generous strength of character were indefatigable, and her contribution to Belfast life is still felt and celebrated today.

Revised new paperback edition of the classic biography of Belfast abolitionist and social reformer, Mary Ann McCracken.Reissued to mark 250th anniversary of her birth.Long overshadowed by her United Irishman brother, Henry Joy, but her story is more relevant than ever.

A fascinating biography of an Irishwoman who was an early revolutionary, social reformer and advocate of women's rights.

Mary Ann McCracken was an abolitionist, a social reformer and an activist who fought for the rights of women and championed Belfast's poor throughout a long life that encompassed the most turbulent years of Irish history. Her legacy, however, is overshadowed by that of her brother, the executed United Irishman Henry Joy McCracken, despite outliving him by sixty-eight years. Through the Poor House Ladies Committee, she helped to educate children, allowing them to secure apprenticeships that would provide them with livelihoods. She was President of the Ladies Industrial School, and she campaigned to abolish the use of climbing boys in chimney sweeping. Mary Ann was deeply involved in early women's suffrage campaigns and prison reform schemes, and she was a life-long abolitionist. In her late eighties, McCracken could still be found on the docks, handing out anti-slavery leaflets to emigrants embarking for the United States. The motto of this remarkable woman, which accurately sums up her character, was it is 'better to wear out than to rust out'. But Mary Ann McCracken's radical, humanitarian zeal and generous strength of character were indefatigable, and her contribution to Belfast life is still felt and celebrated today. Both Mary Ann McCracken and her biographer, Mary McNeill, were tireless activists for children and the disadvantaged throughout their respective lives.

Margaret Skinnider enters and exits the history books as the female rebel who was wounded commanding a military action in the 1916 Rising. In a re-evaluation of Skinnider's long and politically active life, this biography considers the life of a woman who deserves her place in Irish social, political and trade union histories.Coming of age among the Irish diaspora in a Glasgow where militancy in socialism, feminism and Irish nationalism were inspirational ideologies, Skinnider was a suffragette, trade union activist, socialist, and militant Irish nationalist. Arriving in Dublin in 1916 and brimming with commitment to the causes that had suffused her childhood and adolescence, Skinnider would go on to give much service to her adopted country, Ireland. During the next five decades of her life, she remained an active feminist, trade union activist and Irish republican. The study also looks at Skinnider's, until now, more hidden history, her committed relationship with her lifelong partner, fellow Cumann na mBan member and feminist activist, Nora O'Keeffe.Among the newest additions to the Life and Times New Series, this monograph considers the importance of researching and writing political women's biography, of fully considering the roots of their ideologies, and of understanding their lifelong commitments to activism.

Belfast Charitable Society was established in 1752 with the purpose of raising funds to build a poorhouse and hospital for the poor of Belfast; twenty years later, the foundation stone of the Poorhouse was laid. From here the Society would go on to assume increasing responsibility for a range of matters relating to health, welfare and public order, and its members would play a key part in the civic life of Belfast. It continues to provide vital social services to this day and its Poorhouse, now Clifton House, is still one of the finest buildings in the city. During the century following the establishment of the Society, Belfast was transformed from a relatively small mercantile town into a major industrial city, a transformation that was accompanied by political upheaval and the major societal challenges associated with rapid industrialisation and urban growth. Taking as its focus the work of the Society, the global connections that influenced its thinking and the societal issues it sought to address, this fascinating volume provides valuable insights into the wider social, economic and political life of the nineteenth-century Irish town of which the Society became such an iconic part.

An accessible and innovative look at Irish history by some of today's most exciting historians of Ireland This book brings together some of today's most exciting scholars of Irish history to chart the pivotal events in the history of modern Ireland while providing fresh perspectives on topics ranging from colonialism and nationalism to political violence, famine, emigration, and feminism. The Princeton History of Modern Ireland takes readers from the Tudor conquest in the sixteenth century to the contemporary boom and bust of the Celtic Tiger, exploring key political developments as well as major social and cultural movements. Contributors describe how the experiences of empire and diaspora have determined Ireland’s position in the wider world and analyze them alongside domestic changes ranging from the Irish language to the economy. They trace the literary and intellectual history of Ireland from Jonathan Swift to Seamus Heaney and look at important shifts in ideology and belief, delving into subjects such as religion, gender, and Fenianism. Presenting the latest cutting-edge scholarship by a new generation of historians of Ireland, The Princeton History of Modern Ireland features narrative chapters on Irish history followed by thematic chapters on key topics. The book highlights the global reach of the Irish experience as well as commonalities shared across Europe, and brings vividly to life an Irish past shaped by conquest, plantation, assimilation, revolution, and partition.

Surveys the history of the province from the plantations of the early seventeenth century to partition and the formation of Northern Ireland in the early 1920s, and onwards to the 'Troubles' of recent decades. A major contribution to the history of Ireland and to Ulster's contested place in the British and the wider world.

Containing the writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone - barrister, United Irishman, agent of the Catholic Committee and later an officer in the French revolutionary army - this edition contains all his writings. It consists of Tone's diaries, correspondence, autobiography, pamphlets, public addresses, and miscellaneous memoranda.