Mary Ann McCracken

Mary Ann McCracken was born in Belfast on 8 July 1770 and was educated at David Manson's school in Clugston's Entry, Belfast. She collected Irish harp music and was closely involved with the establishment of the United Irishmen. She was present when her brother, Henry Joy McCracken, was hanged in 1798. In partnership with her sister she started a muslin business which closed in 1815. She was a prolific writer and worked energetically for the poorhouse which had been designed and built by her uncle Robert Joy. A Ladies' Committee was formed in 1827 to supervise the treatment of women and children there, and she was its secretary for twenty-five years. All her life she actively opposed slavery and campaigned against the use of small boys as chimney sweeps. She was president of the committee of the Ladies' Industrial School for the Relief of Irish Destitution which was established in 1847 to assist famine victims. She believed in the equality of women. In her nineties she assisted Dr R. R. Madden in the writing of the history of the United Irishmen. She died on 26 July 1866 and was buried in Clifton Street Cemetery, Belfast.

Born:	8 July 1770
Died:	26 July 1866