Rebel Heart - The Life of Mary Ann McCracken Groundbreakers

"I hope the present era will produce some women of sufficient talent

"to inspire the rest with a genuine love of liberty

"and a just sense of its value."

'The woman who wrote these words was born and reared in Belfast -

'the privileged daughter of a wealthy merchant family

'who was involved in one of the biggest revolutionary moments

'of the 18th century.'

'She was a political radical who risked everything'

when the men she loved were on the run from the British authorities.

The failed rising of 1798 marked her

life with violence and tragedy.

Her name was Mary Ann McCracken...

..younger sister of United Irishmen Henry Joy McCracken.

She has an undoubted claim to be Ireland's first determined feminist.

And how modern can you get?

Mary Ann McCracken is a woman of deeply-felt principles,

who feels that she has to act upon those principles.

Mary Ann McCracken was a different kind of rebel -

she was a visionary, a tireless supporter of the disenfranchised,

a women of supreme loyalty and of deep faith,

a woman quite simply ahead of her time.

Yet, history has largely forgotten her.

It's time to change that story.

This is the only photograph

we have of Mary Ann McCracken,

a woman whose life spanned two centuries.

This remarkable woman witnessed Belfast's citizens march

to celebrate the French Revolution.

She wept for men condemned to death as traitors

and saw the suffering of the poor as a different kind of revolution,

which turned Belfast into an industrial colossus.

Mary Ann's life story is stitched together

from her extensive correspondence with historian Richard Madden -

the first proper chronicler of the United Irishmen.

His history drew from Mary Ann's letters

to many of the period's key players and to her brother in particular.

'The historical treasure trove known as the Madden Papers

'is held here in Trinity College Dublin.'

We're extraordinary lucky that, you know,

Mary Ann's correspondence with

her brother Henry Joy survived.

Of course, it's all down to Richard Madden.

If it hadn't been for him, you know,

the real texture of the lives these people lived

and, in particular, Mary Ann McCracken would have been lost.

As an actor, it's my job to create a character through words.

And you will read anything you can get your hands on,

whether it's a script or if it's in a book, whatever.

But here I am in the privileged position

sitting in a Trinity library,

reading the very letters that Mary Ann McCracken wrote herself.

And from her words, from her penship, you get a wonderful

sense of who this strong, amazing,

ahead-of-her-time woman was.

It's an incredible privilege to be sitting here reading these.

HORSES TROT

It all began when she was born in Belfast in 1770.

The McCrackens were a very close-knit, respectable

middle-class Presbyterian family who lived in High Street.

Mary Ann was the fifth of seven children.

The McCracken family were a classic

Presbyterian Belfast merchant family

with, in their own right and through family connections,

a finger in very many crucial pies.

The Joy family, to whom they were related,

were the founders of the Belfast News Letter.

Her father was a sea captain but owned his own ships

and, you know, traded with the world.

During Mary Ann McCracken's lifetime

Belfast was a town that very much looked outwards.

It's looking across the Atlantic,

but it's also looking back as well towards Scotland.

Visitors who are coming to Belfast at this time

often comment on the sense of

Scottishness of the place -

of the Scottish sounding accents.

Presbyterian ministers travel to Scotland to receive their education

and they come back to Ulster and they bring certain ideas with them.

So you have a sense in Belfast at this time of a town that's

actually developing its own identity but certainly an identity

and a sense of self that is informed

by Scotland and by those links with Scotland.

Unlike many others of her generation,

Mary Ann's first experience of education

was in a small school were boys and girls learned side-by-side.

Her teacher, David Manson, left a lasting impression on Mary Ann,

helping to instil that fierce sense of equality and belief

in the ability of woman, which would characterise her entire life.

You won no rights in David Manson's school unless you had earned them,

which was very much the essence of Presbyterian virtue.

Mary Ann's early life was a happy one.

She was idealistic, educated, she had the support of her family,

the prospect of making her own way in business,

the chance of doing good work and helping others.

But the world she knew was changing -

revolution was in the air.

The next ten years would shake her heart and soul

and set her on a path she could never have imagined.

In the second half of the 18th century,

Ulster's prosperity was on the rise.

But the commercial success of many Presbyterians was not matched

by any political or civic power.

'This injustice was a source of growing discontent.'

They were still largely seen as

second-class citizens within Ireland

because they were not members of the

established Church of Ireland.

But the laws of the land stated that if you weren't

a member of that state church, then you were subject to legislation

which barred you from full access to political life.

In July 1789, the News Letter

which was founded by Mary Ann's grandfather,

electrified the citizens of Belfast

with reports of a remarkable event -

the French Revolution.

These momentous happenings in France became a powerful driver

for many Ulster Presbyterians.

They too wanted to play their part in shaping their own future.

How does this inherently respectable family, like many others,

become involved in a radical cause,

which by 1792 makes Belfast -

the relatively small town of Belfast with a population of 20,000 -

the most revolutionary centre in the British Isles?

The McCrackens worshipped in one of three Presbyterian Churches

that once stood on this street,

though the church which they belonged to is long gone.

'The Rosemary Street churches became associated

'with the Presbyterian radicalism

'and many of them would join a new society,

'a group of young men who wanted to give their allegiance to Ireland.'

Mary Ann knew these young men well.

They called themselves the United Irishmen.

It's believed her beloved brother, Henry Joy,

was one of the founding members.

The United Irishmen began as a liberal political organisation

seeking reform of the Irish Parliament,

but by 1794 it had evolved into a revolutionary movement.

From then on, it's very clear that the movement is

set on a revolutionary trajectory, an armed struggle.

'The leaders of this new society met in Crown Entry,

'at Peggy Barclay's Tavern.

'They were all respectable middle-class Presbyterians.

'Here they plotted to end Britain's rule in Ireland

'and by the late 1790s,

'their plans for armed rebellion were at an advanced stage.'

Believing that the rebellion would begin in the north,

the authorities took swift action.

Many members of the United Irishmen were rounded up and imprisoned

in what was an 18th-century form of internment.

Among them was Mary Ann's brother Henry Joy

who was held in Dublin's Kilmainham Gaol.

While Henry Joy languished in jail, Mary Ann wrote to him regularly.

These letters demonstrate her deep commitment to the cause.

"Dear Harry, I therefore hope it is reserved for the Irish nation

"to strike out something new

"and to show an example of candour, generosity

"and justice superior to any that have gone before."

It is a cold, cold damp place.

So this is the scene -

this is where they're bringing Henry Joy McCracken.

Basically she got to share

the raw reality of Kilmainham

and Henry Joy's imprisonment for the time

that she was with him at the first visit.

DOOR CREAKS

He was known as Henry Joy, the handsome rebel.

To his younger sister, he was her dear Harry -

racked with rheumatism after a year spent in the damp

and cold of a prison cell.

She obviously worried for him,

so when she sat down to write her letters

she must've tried so hard to find words to keep his spirits up.

Mary Ann's letters to her brother also reveal the true

forcefulness of her character.

You know, there's very much a sense

of a woman in the driving seat there -

telling him that she doesn't actually approve

of separate women's societies of United Irishmen,

that she believes that women should be

fully admitted into the organisation.

And that she hopes, if the time comes,

that Henry Joy will give a proper place to women

in the future of the country.

She couldn't have known it but in her letter to him

on 26 March 1797, Mary Ann predicted what would happen to her brother.

She wrote, "If Ireland's cause should demand the blood of some

"of her best patriots, they will meet their fate unappalled.

"Whether it be on the scaffold or on the field,

"convinced that in the end truth must prevail."

It is a letter saying effectively,

you've got to be prepared to spill your blood in this business.

If necessary, you've got to be ready to die on the scaffold.

Henry Joy McCracken was released from Kilmainham Gaol after a year.

'When the rising was declared in May 1798,

'Henry Joy, an inexperienced commander,

'led the rebel forces in The Battle Of Antrim.'

The Battle Of Antrim begins relatively well

for the United Irishmen but the Crown forces quickly seize

the initiative and the United Irishmen are quickly disbursed -

largely because these are not properly trained soldiers.

After bloody defeat at Antrim, Henry Joy McCracken went on the run,

hiding out for a month at Cave Hill.

Here he wrote to his sister,

"These are the times that try men's souls."

And women's too.

While Henry Joy hid up here,

in the city below Mary Ann was risking everything for her brother,

managing in the teeth of a manhunt

to get him passage to America and freedom.

But despite her best efforts,

he was arrested as he tried to board the ship.

It was 8th of July, Mary Ann's 28th birthday.

Once more, Mary Ann rushed to her brother's side.

She was with him in his cell on the day the fate

she had predicted for him came to pass.

'After a short trial by a judge unsympathetic to the cause

'of the United Irishmen, only a guilty verdict was assured.

'The judge ordered a public hanging to be carried out

'later the same day.'

'The stage was now set for one of the most dramatic days

'in Belfast's late 18th-century history,

'right here in Cornmarket.'

The execution of Henry Joy in High Street Belfast is obviously

a big occasion in the city.

The key thing that it shows, in terms of our story,

is Mary Ann's commitment to her brother.

HECKLING

She tries everything she can pleading his cause.

It shows a depth of connection between brother and sister,

which is really quite moving.

"I took his arm and we walked together to the place of execution

"where I was told it was the General's orders

"that I should leave him.

"Harry begged I would go.

"Clasping my hands around him, I did not weep till then.

"I said I could bear anything but leaving him.

"But fearing any further refusal would disturb

"the last moments of my dearest brother,

"I suffered myself to be led away."

The important thing is that she holds herself together

throughout the whole of that agonising day.

It's only when her brother is finally dead

that she allows herself to weep,

to weep the tears of a loving sister.

How wonderful - this is what I've secretly been hoping to see.

Inside here is a lock of Henry Joy's hair

that Mary cut off on the day of his execution.

She asked a young prison guard who was on duty that day

to go and get her a pair of scissors.

He went off to get them and when he returned

he hesitated to give them to her.

"I asked him indignantly if he thought

"I meant to hurt my brother," she wrote.

"He then gave them to me and I cut off some of Harry's hair."

This is yet another little treasure

that marks the enduring bond between this special sister and brother.

I think she was just such a very warm person.

The warmth that is suffused in all the letters,

I think it's innate to her.

She has a sense of clarity.

I think she values truth hugely and her sensitivity shines through.

And this is where history left her -

the sorrowing sister living out the rest of her life in the shadow

cast by her brother's legacy.

But it didn't end here.

For Mary Ann another fight was about to begin.

In death Henry Joy left behind him a secret,

he had fathered an illegitimate daughter.

Presbyterian minister Steel Dickson

relayed the shocking news to Mary Ann.

It's interesting that however progressive Henry Joy may have been

he didn't dare to tell his own sister that he had this daughter.

But the mould-breaking bit is that not only does Mary Ann

defy the wishes of, certainly, her brother John,

but she defies convention.

You know, this is still an intensely moral society

in which illegitimacy is frowned on.

So she defies that with her own morality

that it is our duty to take this child in.

And, yes, no doubt, it did represent a bond with her brother.

'Within five years of her brother's hanging,

'another of Mary Ann's close associates,

'leading United Irishmen Thomas Russell,

'also suffered the same fate.'

The dreams and ideals of the United Irishmen now lay in ruins.

Disheartened, Mary Ann found fresh purpose in her life by concentrating

on the muslin business she had started with her sister Margaret.

The sisters worked just across the road from here

at number 37 Waring Street.

The building is now long gone.

Mary Ann was a talented businesswoman

but she was always fixed on a higher price, be that the funding

of political radicals or the diligent care of her loyal workers.

She was increasingly concerned for the poor and, in particular,

the working conditions faced by many children which she found

to be totally unacceptable.

In a letter to her grandfather's paper the News Letter in 1803

she wrote, "A very serious responsibility attaches to

"those who employ children."

"For if the morals of children become depraved,

"from what sources are we to procure virtuous men and virtuous women?"

Mary Ann focuses her energy on social improvement and reform

in the early 19th century.

In 1814 she becomes a member of The Ladies' Committee

of the Belfast Charitable Society,

which was, of course, set up by two of her uncles

in the previous century.

It's really in terms of social reform,

in terms particularly of the rights of women and the rights of children,

that Mary Ann McCracken really forges her name in the 19th century

as a committed and active social reformer.

This beautiful building was the dream

of Mary Ann's uncle, Robert Joy.

A house where the destitute, the sick and the poor of Belfast

could find refuge.

'As so often in her life, Mary Ann was driven

by a genuine concern for others,

a guiding impulse that came from her family background.

Through Mary Ann McCracken's role in The Ladies' Committee,

a group of socially motivated, concerned women who dominated

Belfast's social reform agenda,

she was a major player in the crucial day-to-day running

of this institution for almost half a century.

Certainly Mary Ann McCracken's commitment to social reform

and social justice is remarkable.

We're looking at a period, of course, before the welfare state,

before the National Health Service,

where voluntary alleviation of distress

was actually, in many ways, the only way that many people

could actually deal with the trials of life.

Throughout her life, Mary Ann continued her uncle's legacy,

working to support young people

and, in particular, the education and employment of girls and women.

By the mid-19th century, Belfast was a significant industrial port,

trading with the rest of the world.

And as many left for America from the Belfast docks,

they were stopped by a very elderly lady handing out leaflets

that warned of the evils of the slave trade -

a cause very dear to Mary Ann's heart.

Slavery was an issue in which Mary Ann McCracken

remained true to the cause right to the last at a great old age

and increasingly in the face of changing public opinion.

America, she wrote, "Considered the land of the great and the brave

"may more properly be styled

"the land of the tyrant and the slave.

"Belfast, once so celebrated for its love of liberty,

"is now so sunk in its love of filthy lucre

"that there are about 16 or 17 female anti-slavery advocates

"but not one man in Belfast.

"And none to distribute papers to the American immigrants

"but an old women within 17 days of 89."

'She lived out her final years in straitened circumstances

'but she was not alone.

'Throughout her long life, the memory of her beloved brother

'was never far from her.

'She found a home with his daughter Maria,

'the child that Mary Ann had raised as her own.'

In this house on 26 July 1866

Mary Ann McCracken died peacefully.

She was 96.

Fittingly, a plaque outside bears her name.

She outlived all of her immediate family.

In many ways, Mary Ann McCracken had outlived her generation.

She witnessed Belfast's transformation

from a town into an industrial powerhouse -

as these new economic ties, once a threat

to her deeply held political ideals,

now strengthened Belfast's links with Britain forever.

'She is buried here in this beautiful old cemetery,

'surrounded by the graves of many other Patriot United Irishmen,

'in the shadow of the poor house

'for which she worked so hard and so long.'

She is buried beside the brother she loved so much.

Rebel hearts, united in death.

She may have wept by her brother's scaffold,

but this incredible woman did so much more than that.

Mary Ann McCracken represents a significant section of society

that often does not have a voice, and that is, of course, women.

She demonstrates that the male dominated narratives that we

have of Irish history are inadequate to fully understand the experience.

As a consequence of that, Mary Ann McCracken

is an incredibly significant figure in the history of Belfast

and in particular of the history of Belfast that is committed

to liberal and radical causes.

She was a crusader and she wanted to make the lives of others better.

From all I've learned about Mary Ann's life,

the quiet search her own truth and her insistence

on sincerity in all her dealings,

truly define this woman.