Máirín Cregan
| Máirín Cregan | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 27 March 1891 Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland |
| Died | 9 November 1975 (aged 84) Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland |
| Pen name | Máirín Ní Chriagáin, Máirín Cregan, Mrs James Ryan, Máirín Ryan |
| Occupation | Nationalist, Writer |
| Nationality | Irish |
Máirín Cregan (27 March 1891 – 9 November 1975) was an Irish nationalist who was involved in the 1916 Easter Rising and Irish War of Independence. She later made her name writing for children, as well as writing plays and novels for adults.
Mary Ellen Cregan was born on 27 March 1891 in Killorglin, County Kerry to Morgan Cregan and Ellen O'Shea. Her father was a stonemason from Limerick. The family were strong believers in the Gaelic revival movement and Cregan herself learned Irish and performed songs at Gaelic League concerts. Although she went to primary school locally, she went away to secondary school to St. Louis Convent in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan. After finishing school, Cregan became a teacher, working in Goresbridge, County Kilkenny from 1911 to 1914.
In September 1914 she went to Dublin to study music in the Leinster School of Music, under Madame Coslett Heller. It was while she was in Dublin that she became friends with the Ryan family, who were strong nationalists as well as interested in the Gaelic League and Sinn Féin. She began to sing for concerts which were fundraisers for the Irish Volunteers. The last concert was just two weeks before the Easter Rising.
During Easter week she was sent to Tralee with "automatics and ammunition" by Seán Mac Diarmada. While she was carrying a violin case of munitions, Cregan was also carrying details for the wireless technology needed for communicating with the Aud, the boat which was carrying more weapons for the rebellion. The communications with the Aud went wrong when the car carrying the Volunteers went off a pier and the occupants were drowned. Cregan was still in the area to assist with the surviving Volunteer, who unfortunately knew nothing of the details for the Aud. She wasn't easily able to get back to Dublin, because owing to the Rising the city was cut off. By the time she got back, her friends had been arrested. When she was going to school in Dublin she was also working in a school in Rathmines. Like many of the teachers, she lost her job after the rising because of her connection to the rebels. However, she was able to get new positions over the next few years in both Ballyshannon and Portstewart until she married. In Ballyshannon she experienced the early expressions of support and sympathy, but Portstewart was a Unionist enclave with many houses flying union flags on polling day in 1918.
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