0:00:05 > 0:00:10"I hope the present era will produce some women of sufficient talent
0:00:10 > 0:00:13"to inspire the rest with a genuine love of liberty
0:00:13 > 0:00:16"and a just sense of its value."
0:00:18 > 0:00:22'The woman who wrote these words was born and reared in Belfast -
0:00:22 > 0:00:25'the privileged daughter of a wealthy merchant family
0:00:25 > 0:00:28'who was involved in one of the biggest revolutionary moments
0:00:28 > 0:00:30'of the 18th century.'
0:00:31 > 0:00:34'She was a political radical who risked everything'
0:00:34 > 0:00:37when the men she loved were on the run from the British authorities.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41The failed rising of 1798 marked her
0:00:41 > 0:00:44life with violence and tragedy.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Her name was Mary Ann McCracken...
0:00:49 > 0:00:53..younger sister of United Irishmen Henry Joy McCracken.
0:00:54 > 0:01:01She has an undoubted claim to be Ireland's first determined feminist.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05And how modern can you get?
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Mary Ann McCracken is a woman of deeply-felt principles,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12who feels that she has to act upon those principles.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Mary Ann McCracken was a different kind of rebel -
0:01:16 > 0:01:20she was a visionary, a tireless supporter of the disenfranchised,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24a women of supreme loyalty and of deep faith,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28a woman quite simply ahead of her time.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Yet, history has largely forgotten her.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33It's time to change that story.
0:01:43 > 0:01:44This is the only photograph
0:01:44 > 0:01:46we have of Mary Ann McCracken,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49a woman whose life spanned two centuries.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54This remarkable woman witnessed Belfast's citizens march
0:01:54 > 0:01:56to celebrate the French Revolution.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00She wept for men condemned to death as traitors
0:02:00 > 0:02:04and saw the suffering of the poor as a different kind of revolution,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08which turned Belfast into an industrial colossus.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Mary Ann's life story is stitched together
0:02:12 > 0:02:16from her extensive correspondence with historian Richard Madden -
0:02:16 > 0:02:20the first proper chronicler of the United Irishmen.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23His history drew from Mary Ann's letters
0:02:23 > 0:02:27to many of the period's key players and to her brother in particular.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34'The historical treasure trove known as the Madden Papers
0:02:34 > 0:02:37'is held here in Trinity College Dublin.'
0:02:39 > 0:02:43We're extraordinary lucky that, you know,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Mary Ann's correspondence with
0:02:46 > 0:02:49her brother Henry Joy survived.
0:02:49 > 0:02:55Of course, it's all down to Richard Madden.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58If it hadn't been for him, you know,
0:02:58 > 0:03:03the real texture of the lives these people lived
0:03:03 > 0:03:07and, in particular, Mary Ann McCracken would have been lost.
0:03:09 > 0:03:16As an actor, it's my job to create a character through words.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21And you will read anything you can get your hands on,
0:03:21 > 0:03:25whether it's a script or if it's in a book, whatever.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27But here I am in the privileged position
0:03:27 > 0:03:30sitting in a Trinity library,
0:03:30 > 0:03:36reading the very letters that Mary Ann McCracken wrote herself.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41And from her words, from her penship, you get a wonderful
0:03:41 > 0:03:46sense of who this strong, amazing,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49ahead-of-her-time woman was.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53It's an incredible privilege to be sitting here reading these.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02HORSES TROT
0:04:07 > 0:04:11It all began when she was born in Belfast in 1770.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15The McCrackens were a very close-knit, respectable
0:04:15 > 0:04:19middle-class Presbyterian family who lived in High Street.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21Mary Ann was the fifth of seven children.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28The McCracken family were a classic
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Presbyterian Belfast merchant family
0:04:32 > 0:04:36with, in their own right and through family connections,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39a finger in very many crucial pies.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43The Joy family, to whom they were related,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46were the founders of the Belfast News Letter.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Her father was a sea captain but owned his own ships
0:04:50 > 0:04:54and, you know, traded with the world.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56During Mary Ann McCracken's lifetime
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Belfast was a town that very much looked outwards.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02It's looking across the Atlantic,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04but it's also looking back as well towards Scotland.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09Visitors who are coming to Belfast at this time
0:05:09 > 0:05:13often comment on the sense of
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Scottishness of the place -
0:05:16 > 0:05:18of the Scottish sounding accents.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25Presbyterian ministers travel to Scotland to receive their education
0:05:25 > 0:05:30and they come back to Ulster and they bring certain ideas with them.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33So you have a sense in Belfast at this time of a town that's
0:05:33 > 0:05:37actually developing its own identity but certainly an identity
0:05:37 > 0:05:40and a sense of self that is informed
0:05:40 > 0:05:43by Scotland and by those links with Scotland.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Unlike many others of her generation,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Mary Ann's first experience of education
0:05:49 > 0:05:53was in a small school were boys and girls learned side-by-side.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Her teacher, David Manson, left a lasting impression on Mary Ann,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02helping to instil that fierce sense of equality and belief
0:06:02 > 0:06:07in the ability of woman, which would characterise her entire life.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14You won no rights in David Manson's school unless you had earned them,
0:06:14 > 0:06:19which was very much the essence of Presbyterian virtue.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Mary Ann's early life was a happy one.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28She was idealistic, educated, she had the support of her family,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31the prospect of making her own way in business,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34the chance of doing good work and helping others.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37But the world she knew was changing -
0:06:37 > 0:06:40revolution was in the air.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43The next ten years would shake her heart and soul
0:06:43 > 0:06:46and set her on a path she could never have imagined.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58In the second half of the 18th century,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02Ulster's prosperity was on the rise.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06But the commercial success of many Presbyterians was not matched
0:07:06 > 0:07:09by any political or civic power.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13'This injustice was a source of growing discontent.'
0:07:15 > 0:07:17They were still largely seen as
0:07:17 > 0:07:20second-class citizens within Ireland
0:07:20 > 0:07:22because they were not members of the
0:07:22 > 0:07:24established Church of Ireland.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26But the laws of the land stated that if you weren't
0:07:26 > 0:07:30a member of that state church, then you were subject to legislation
0:07:30 > 0:07:34which barred you from full access to political life.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37In July 1789, the News Letter
0:07:37 > 0:07:40which was founded by Mary Ann's grandfather,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43electrified the citizens of Belfast
0:07:43 > 0:07:46with reports of a remarkable event -
0:07:46 > 0:07:49the French Revolution.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53These momentous happenings in France became a powerful driver
0:07:53 > 0:07:55for many Ulster Presbyterians.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00They too wanted to play their part in shaping their own future.
0:08:02 > 0:08:08How does this inherently respectable family, like many others,
0:08:08 > 0:08:13become involved in a radical cause,
0:08:13 > 0:08:18which by 1792 makes Belfast -
0:08:18 > 0:08:23the relatively small town of Belfast with a population of 20,000 -
0:08:23 > 0:08:27the most revolutionary centre in the British Isles?
0:08:34 > 0:08:38The McCrackens worshipped in one of three Presbyterian Churches
0:08:38 > 0:08:40that once stood on this street,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43though the church which they belonged to is long gone.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49'The Rosemary Street churches became associated
0:08:49 > 0:08:52'with the Presbyterian radicalism
0:08:52 > 0:08:55'and many of them would join a new society,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59'a group of young men who wanted to give their allegiance to Ireland.'
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Mary Ann knew these young men well.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06They called themselves the United Irishmen.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10It's believed her beloved brother, Henry Joy,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12was one of the founding members.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19The United Irishmen began as a liberal political organisation
0:09:19 > 0:09:22seeking reform of the Irish Parliament,
0:09:22 > 0:09:27but by 1794 it had evolved into a revolutionary movement.
0:09:28 > 0:09:35From then on, it's very clear that the movement is
0:09:35 > 0:09:41set on a revolutionary trajectory, an armed struggle.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56'The leaders of this new society met in Crown Entry,
0:09:56 > 0:09:58'at Peggy Barclay's Tavern.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03'They were all respectable middle-class Presbyterians.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07'Here they plotted to end Britain's rule in Ireland
0:10:07 > 0:10:08'and by the late 1790s,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12'their plans for armed rebellion were at an advanced stage.'
0:10:16 > 0:10:18Believing that the rebellion would begin in the north,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22the authorities took swift action.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Many members of the United Irishmen were rounded up and imprisoned
0:10:26 > 0:10:29in what was an 18th-century form of internment.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Among them was Mary Ann's brother Henry Joy
0:10:33 > 0:10:35who was held in Dublin's Kilmainham Gaol.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50While Henry Joy languished in jail, Mary Ann wrote to him regularly.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55These letters demonstrate her deep commitment to the cause.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02"Dear Harry, I therefore hope it is reserved for the Irish nation
0:11:02 > 0:11:04"to strike out something new
0:11:04 > 0:11:08"and to show an example of candour, generosity
0:11:08 > 0:11:11"and justice superior to any that have gone before."
0:11:17 > 0:11:19It is a cold, cold damp place.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21So this is the scene -
0:11:21 > 0:11:24this is where they're bringing Henry Joy McCracken.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25Basically she got to share
0:11:25 > 0:11:28the raw reality of Kilmainham
0:11:28 > 0:11:30and Henry Joy's imprisonment for the time
0:11:30 > 0:11:32that she was with him at the first visit.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34DOOR CREAKS
0:11:34 > 0:11:37He was known as Henry Joy, the handsome rebel.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41To his younger sister, he was her dear Harry -
0:11:41 > 0:11:44racked with rheumatism after a year spent in the damp
0:11:44 > 0:11:46and cold of a prison cell.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48She obviously worried for him,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51so when she sat down to write her letters
0:11:51 > 0:11:55she must've tried so hard to find words to keep his spirits up.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Mary Ann's letters to her brother also reveal the true
0:12:00 > 0:12:03forcefulness of her character.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07You know, there's very much a sense
0:12:07 > 0:12:09of a woman in the driving seat there -
0:12:09 > 0:12:14telling him that she doesn't actually approve
0:12:14 > 0:12:19of separate women's societies of United Irishmen,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21that she believes that women should be
0:12:21 > 0:12:25fully admitted into the organisation.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28And that she hopes, if the time comes,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32that Henry Joy will give a proper place to women
0:12:32 > 0:12:34in the future of the country.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44She couldn't have known it but in her letter to him
0:12:44 > 0:12:50on 26 March 1797, Mary Ann predicted what would happen to her brother.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54She wrote, "If Ireland's cause should demand the blood of some
0:12:54 > 0:12:58"of her best patriots, they will meet their fate unappalled.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02"Whether it be on the scaffold or on the field,
0:13:02 > 0:13:07"convinced that in the end truth must prevail."
0:13:07 > 0:13:10It is a letter saying effectively,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14you've got to be prepared to spill your blood in this business.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17If necessary, you've got to be ready to die on the scaffold.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Henry Joy McCracken was released from Kilmainham Gaol after a year.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39'When the rising was declared in May 1798,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43'Henry Joy, an inexperienced commander,
0:13:43 > 0:13:47'led the rebel forces in The Battle Of Antrim.'
0:13:47 > 0:13:50The Battle Of Antrim begins relatively well
0:13:50 > 0:13:55for the United Irishmen but the Crown forces quickly seize
0:13:55 > 0:13:59the initiative and the United Irishmen are quickly disbursed -
0:13:59 > 0:14:02largely because these are not properly trained soldiers.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08After bloody defeat at Antrim, Henry Joy McCracken went on the run,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11hiding out for a month at Cave Hill.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Here he wrote to his sister,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17"These are the times that try men's souls."
0:14:17 > 0:14:20And women's too.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22While Henry Joy hid up here,
0:14:22 > 0:14:27in the city below Mary Ann was risking everything for her brother,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30managing in the teeth of a manhunt
0:14:30 > 0:14:33to get him passage to America and freedom.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35But despite her best efforts,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38he was arrested as he tried to board the ship.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43It was 8th of July, Mary Ann's 28th birthday.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53Once more, Mary Ann rushed to her brother's side.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55She was with him in his cell on the day the fate
0:14:55 > 0:14:58she had predicted for him came to pass.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20'After a short trial by a judge unsympathetic to the cause
0:15:20 > 0:15:25'of the United Irishmen, only a guilty verdict was assured.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28'The judge ordered a public hanging to be carried out
0:15:28 > 0:15:30'later the same day.'
0:15:30 > 0:15:35'The stage was now set for one of the most dramatic days
0:15:35 > 0:15:38'in Belfast's late 18th-century history,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40'right here in Cornmarket.'
0:15:44 > 0:15:47The execution of Henry Joy in High Street Belfast is obviously
0:15:47 > 0:15:49a big occasion in the city.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53The key thing that it shows, in terms of our story,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56is Mary Ann's commitment to her brother.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59HECKLING
0:15:59 > 0:16:02She tries everything she can pleading his cause.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05It shows a depth of connection between brother and sister,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07which is really quite moving.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14"I took his arm and we walked together to the place of execution
0:16:14 > 0:16:17"where I was told it was the General's orders
0:16:17 > 0:16:19"that I should leave him.
0:16:19 > 0:16:20"Harry begged I would go.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26"Clasping my hands around him, I did not weep till then.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30"I said I could bear anything but leaving him.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33"But fearing any further refusal would disturb
0:16:33 > 0:16:36"the last moments of my dearest brother,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38"I suffered myself to be led away."
0:16:48 > 0:16:52The important thing is that she holds herself together
0:16:52 > 0:16:56throughout the whole of that agonising day.
0:16:56 > 0:17:02It's only when her brother is finally dead
0:17:02 > 0:17:05that she allows herself to weep,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09to weep the tears of a loving sister.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24How wonderful - this is what I've secretly been hoping to see.
0:17:25 > 0:17:32Inside here is a lock of Henry Joy's hair
0:17:32 > 0:17:36that Mary cut off on the day of his execution.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40She asked a young prison guard who was on duty that day
0:17:40 > 0:17:43to go and get her a pair of scissors.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46He went off to get them and when he returned
0:17:46 > 0:17:48he hesitated to give them to her.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54"I asked him indignantly if he thought
0:17:54 > 0:17:58"I meant to hurt my brother," she wrote.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02"He then gave them to me and I cut off some of Harry's hair."
0:18:09 > 0:18:14This is yet another little treasure
0:18:14 > 0:18:18that marks the enduring bond between this special sister and brother.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25I think she was just such a very warm person.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28The warmth that is suffused in all the letters,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30I think it's innate to her.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32She has a sense of clarity.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37I think she values truth hugely and her sensitivity shines through.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44And this is where history left her -
0:18:44 > 0:18:47the sorrowing sister living out the rest of her life in the shadow
0:18:47 > 0:18:49cast by her brother's legacy.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52But it didn't end here.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55For Mary Ann another fight was about to begin.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09In death Henry Joy left behind him a secret,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12he had fathered an illegitimate daughter.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Presbyterian minister Steel Dickson
0:19:15 > 0:19:18relayed the shocking news to Mary Ann.
0:19:19 > 0:19:26It's interesting that however progressive Henry Joy may have been
0:19:26 > 0:19:34he didn't dare to tell his own sister that he had this daughter.
0:19:34 > 0:19:40But the mould-breaking bit is that not only does Mary Ann
0:19:40 > 0:19:43defy the wishes of, certainly, her brother John,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47but she defies convention.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54You know, this is still an intensely moral society
0:19:54 > 0:19:57in which illegitimacy is frowned on.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04So she defies that with her own morality
0:20:04 > 0:20:08that it is our duty to take this child in.
0:20:09 > 0:20:15And, yes, no doubt, it did represent a bond with her brother.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27'Within five years of her brother's hanging,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30'another of Mary Ann's close associates,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33'leading United Irishmen Thomas Russell,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37'also suffered the same fate.'
0:20:37 > 0:20:41The dreams and ideals of the United Irishmen now lay in ruins.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50Disheartened, Mary Ann found fresh purpose in her life by concentrating
0:20:50 > 0:20:55on the muslin business she had started with her sister Margaret.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58The sisters worked just across the road from here
0:20:58 > 0:21:00at number 37 Waring Street.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04The building is now long gone.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Mary Ann was a talented businesswoman
0:21:06 > 0:21:10but she was always fixed on a higher price, be that the funding
0:21:10 > 0:21:15of political radicals or the diligent care of her loyal workers.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20She was increasingly concerned for the poor and, in particular,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24the working conditions faced by many children which she found
0:21:24 > 0:21:26to be totally unacceptable.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34In a letter to her grandfather's paper the News Letter in 1803
0:21:34 > 0:21:39she wrote, "A very serious responsibility attaches to
0:21:39 > 0:21:41"those who employ children."
0:21:41 > 0:21:44"For if the morals of children become depraved,
0:21:44 > 0:21:50"from what sources are we to procure virtuous men and virtuous women?"
0:21:50 > 0:21:55Mary Ann focuses her energy on social improvement and reform
0:21:55 > 0:21:58in the early 19th century.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01In 1814 she becomes a member of The Ladies' Committee
0:22:01 > 0:22:03of the Belfast Charitable Society,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06which was, of course, set up by two of her uncles
0:22:06 > 0:22:08in the previous century.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11It's really in terms of social reform,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15in terms particularly of the rights of women and the rights of children,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18that Mary Ann McCracken really forges her name in the 19th century
0:22:18 > 0:22:21as a committed and active social reformer.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33This beautiful building was the dream
0:22:33 > 0:22:37of Mary Ann's uncle, Robert Joy.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40A house where the destitute, the sick and the poor of Belfast
0:22:40 > 0:22:42could find refuge.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50'As so often in her life, Mary Ann was driven
0:22:50 > 0:22:53by a genuine concern for others,
0:22:53 > 0:22:57a guiding impulse that came from her family background.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Through Mary Ann McCracken's role in The Ladies' Committee,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09a group of socially motivated, concerned women who dominated
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Belfast's social reform agenda,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14she was a major player in the crucial day-to-day running
0:23:14 > 0:23:19of this institution for almost half a century.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24Certainly Mary Ann McCracken's commitment to social reform
0:23:24 > 0:23:27and social justice is remarkable.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29We're looking at a period, of course, before the welfare state,
0:23:29 > 0:23:31before the National Health Service,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34where voluntary alleviation of distress
0:23:34 > 0:23:39was actually, in many ways, the only way that many people
0:23:39 > 0:23:41could actually deal with the trials of life.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Throughout her life, Mary Ann continued her uncle's legacy,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49working to support young people
0:23:49 > 0:23:54and, in particular, the education and employment of girls and women.
0:24:03 > 0:24:09By the mid-19th century, Belfast was a significant industrial port,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11trading with the rest of the world.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14And as many left for America from the Belfast docks,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18they were stopped by a very elderly lady handing out leaflets
0:24:18 > 0:24:21that warned of the evils of the slave trade -
0:24:21 > 0:24:23a cause very dear to Mary Ann's heart.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Slavery was an issue in which Mary Ann McCracken
0:24:29 > 0:24:34remained true to the cause right to the last at a great old age
0:24:34 > 0:24:39and increasingly in the face of changing public opinion.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46America, she wrote, "Considered the land of the great and the brave
0:24:46 > 0:24:48"may more properly be styled
0:24:48 > 0:24:51"the land of the tyrant and the slave.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54"Belfast, once so celebrated for its love of liberty,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58"is now so sunk in its love of filthy lucre
0:24:58 > 0:25:03"that there are about 16 or 17 female anti-slavery advocates
0:25:03 > 0:25:06"but not one man in Belfast.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09"And none to distribute papers to the American immigrants
0:25:09 > 0:25:13"but an old women within 17 days of 89."
0:25:25 > 0:25:30'She lived out her final years in straitened circumstances
0:25:30 > 0:25:32'but she was not alone.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36'Throughout her long life, the memory of her beloved brother
0:25:36 > 0:25:38'was never far from her.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41'She found a home with his daughter Maria,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44'the child that Mary Ann had raised as her own.'
0:25:46 > 0:25:50In this house on 26 July 1866
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Mary Ann McCracken died peacefully.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55She was 96.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Fittingly, a plaque outside bears her name.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01She outlived all of her immediate family.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13In many ways, Mary Ann McCracken had outlived her generation.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17She witnessed Belfast's transformation
0:26:17 > 0:26:20from a town into an industrial powerhouse -
0:26:20 > 0:26:23as these new economic ties, once a threat
0:26:23 > 0:26:25to her deeply held political ideals,
0:26:25 > 0:26:29now strengthened Belfast's links with Britain forever.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37'She is buried here in this beautiful old cemetery,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41'surrounded by the graves of many other Patriot United Irishmen,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43'in the shadow of the poor house
0:26:43 > 0:26:47'for which she worked so hard and so long.'
0:26:54 > 0:26:58She is buried beside the brother she loved so much.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Rebel hearts, united in death.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09She may have wept by her brother's scaffold,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13but this incredible woman did so much more than that.
0:27:19 > 0:27:25Mary Ann McCracken represents a significant section of society
0:27:25 > 0:27:28that often does not have a voice, and that is, of course, women.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32She demonstrates that the male dominated narratives that we
0:27:32 > 0:27:37have of Irish history are inadequate to fully understand the experience.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40As a consequence of that, Mary Ann McCracken
0:27:40 > 0:27:43is an incredibly significant figure in the history of Belfast
0:27:43 > 0:27:47and in particular of the history of Belfast that is committed
0:27:47 > 0:27:49to liberal and radical causes.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53She was a crusader and she wanted to make the lives of others better.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03From all I've learned about Mary Ann's life,
0:28:03 > 0:28:06the quiet search her own truth and her insistence
0:28:06 > 0:28:09on sincerity in all her dealings,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12truly define this woman.