Mary MacSwiney, Irish Patriot, Dies

Mary MacSwiney (27 March 1872 – 8 March 1942) was an Irish republican activist and politician, as well as a teacher. Born in London to an Irish father and English mother, she returned to Ireland with her family at the age of six and was educated at St Angela’s School in Cork.

MacSwiney was thrust into both the national and international spotlight in 1920 when her brother Terence MacSwiney, then the Lord Mayor of Cork, went on hunger strike in protest of British policy in Ireland. Mary, alongside her sister-in-law Muriel MacSwiney kept daily vigil over Terence and effectively became spokespeople for the campaign.

Terence MacSwiney would ultimately die in October 1920, and from then on Mary MacSwiney acted as an unofficial custodian of his legacy, becoming a dogged and zealous advocate of Irish Republicanism.

Following the Sinn Féin/Fianna Fáil split in 1926, she became deputy leader of Sinn Féin in 1927.

MacSwiney suffered a heart attack in 1939, which would ultimately contribute towards her death on 8 March 1942 aged 69. De Valera offered to attend, but her sister Annie blankly refused.