Mary Ann McCracken remembered in Belfast
Today marks the 251st anniversary of the birth of Belfast woman Mary Ann McCracken, a titan in Republican politics; a feminist, abolitionist and social reformer. Unable to gather at her grave to mark the 250th, a small number of Lasair Dhearg activists this year marked the occasion in a fitting manner.
Speaking from her graveside, Lasair Dhearg’s Nicola Nic Gabhann gave the following oration:
“Today, on the anniversary of her birth, we commemorate the life and legacy of Mary Ann McCracken.
What is commonly remembered about Mary Ann is how as a young woman, she walked with her brother, Henry Joy McCracken, to the gallows where he was executed for his part in the 1798 rebellion. After her brother’s death, Mary Ann adopted his illegitimate daughter Maria, raising the child as her own, in defiance of many family members and societal propriety.
For too long however, Mary Ann’s legacy has lay hidden in the shadow of her brother’s. Her grave remained unmarked until 1909, when Henry Joy McCracken’s remains were exhumed and placed by his sister’s. The inscription on her grave read, ‘she wept by her brother’s scaffold’.
But Mary Ann McCracken was so much more than the sister of her famous brother. Born in 1770 to the liberal Presbyterian McCracken family, Mary Ann was raised radically – her parents sent her to a school where physical punishment was forbidden, and boys and girls were educated the same way, in the same space.
With such an education and coming from a family of social reformers and humanitarians, Mary Ann McCracken became a radical of her time. There is an anecdote of Mary Ann standing at the Belfast docks, “the little frail, bent figure”, just days away from her 89th birthday, continuing to hand out anti-slavery leaflets to emigrants leaving for the United States. Mary Ann warned passengers at the docks, that America, “considered the land of the great, the brave may more properly be styled the land of the tyrant and the Slave”. This anecdote is a testament to the strength of Mary Ann’s radical compassion and politics, which she embodied throughout her life.
During her long life, Mary Ann McCracken lived through many major events in Irish history, including the 1798 rebellion, the Act of Union, Catholic Emancipation, and an Gorta Mór.
As a successful businesswoman in Belfast, running a muslin business with her sister Margaret, Mary Ann prioritised her workers over profit, as during times of financial hardship, she refused to sack anyone, stating she “could not think of dismissing our workers, because nobody would give them employment”.
Mary Ann McCracken dedicated her life to helping improve the lives of others, whether that was at home in Ireland, or further abroad. In Belfast, Mary Ann became a voice for the disenfranchised, fighting for the rights of poor women and children. Having been involved with the Belfast Charitable Society since her youth, Mary Ann later established the Ladies Committee, and acted as its secretary between 1832 and 1855. Through his work, Mary Ann fought to improve conditions within the Poor House in Belfast, as she demanded better diets and sanitation for those within its walls, and provided candles so that the children could read at night. Mary Ann stressed the importance of education, working as a teacher in non-denominational Sunday schools, and campaigned rigorously against the practice of using young working-class boys as chimney sweeps.
Mary Ann McCracken was also an ardent abolitionist, who fought throughout her life to keep the spirit of radicalism and abolitionism alive in Belfast. She was extremely active in anti-slavery groups and campaigns, creating and distributing anti-slavery literature, and even refusing to consume sugar, as it was a product of the slave trade, imported from the West Indies plantations.
Mary Ann McCracken has been described as having outlived her generation – after the failure of the 1798 uprising, radicalism and the ideals of the Enlightenment lost momentum in Belfast, and Ireland as a whole. But just one aspect of the importance of Mary Ann McCracken’s life is that she kept these ideals alive – through her work, her campaigning, and in her writing.
To remember and honour Mary Ann McCracken, we must remember and live by her words:
‘The world affords no enjoyment equal to that of promoting the happiness of others’.”
