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