This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by James G. Ryan. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
Born: 27 March 1891, Ireland
Died: 9 November 1975
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: NA
Cregan, Máirín (1891–1975), republican and writer, was born 27 March 1891 in Killorglin, Co. Kerry, the second of four daughters of Morgan Cregan, a stonemason originally from Newcastle West, Co. Limerick, and Ellen Cregan (née O’Shea). She was a child of the Gaelic revival, and an interest in the Irish language and heritage was encouraged by her mother and teachers and continued throughout her life. Máirín was also a gifted singer and performed widely as a young girl. A 1903 news cutting records ‘little Miss Cregan’ displaying a ‘brilliant performance’ of singing and dancing at a Gaelic League concert in the Round Room of the Rotunda, Dublin. She attended primary school in Killorglin, and boarding school at St. Louis, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan. On leaving school, Cregan became a teacher, although without any formal training for the role. She taught in the Brigidine school in Goresbridge, Co. Kilkenny, from 1911 until September 1914 when she went to Dublin to study at the Leinster School of Music. She became part of a group of Gaelic League and Sinn Féin enthusiasts, who met in the home of Kit Ryan (who was later to marry Seán T. O’Kelly). Kit was a sister of James Ryan, then a medical student and also a republican activist, whom Máirín would later marry. This group included a mix of cultural and republican enthusiasts such as Seán MacDermott, Pádraic Ó Conaire (1882–1928) and Fr Patrick Browne. Cregan sang at fund-raising concerts for the Irish Volunteers, and also acted as a courier. Her last singing appearance was at a ‘grand concert’ for the 1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade, of the Irish Volunteers on 9 April 1916, just two weeks before the rising. In the days before Easter week, Cregan was sent by Seán MacDermott to Tralee with munitions and messages for Austin Stack. These included instructions for a wireless apparatus to contact the Aud, the arms ship carrying Roger Casement. The next day, while home in Killorglin, she heard about an incident in which a car carrying four Volunteers, on their way to meet the Aud, had lost its way and gone over the quay in Ballykissane. Three of the occupants were drowned. Cregan was involved in helping the sole survivor, Tommy McInerney, and later published an account of this incident. Following the rising, Cregan was dismissed from her teaching post in St Louis, Rathmines, because of her republican sympathies, and found a new post in Ballyshannon and later (September 1917) in the Dominican College in Portstewart.
On 23 July 1919 Cregan married Dr James Ryan in Athenry, Co. Galway, and went to live in Selskar, Wexford town. Her first son, Eoin Ryan, was born in June 1920. In Wexford, Cregan joined Cumann na mBan and was involved in local republican activities. She was imprisoned in February 1921 and ordered to pay a fine for refusing to display a proclamation of martial law on her house. When released with seven days to pay the fine, Cregan decided (in consultation with her husband, who was imprisoned in Kilworth at the time) to sell their house and furniture and go ‘on the run’. She went to Dublin where she worked with Robert Brennan in the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Sinn Féin government; her duties included acting as courier to London and Paris.
After the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, the couple moved to Kindlestown House in Delgany, Co. Wicklow, where daughter Nuala (latterly, Colgan) and son Seamus Ó Riain were born and Máirín’s writing career began. Her first major work was the children’s book Old John ((MacMillan, USA, 1936; Allen and Unwin, UK, 1937; Browne and Nolan, Ireland, 1938), a fairy story that borrows heavily from the folklore of Kerry and has been republished in many languages. An Irish-language edition, Sean Eoin, translated by Tomás Ó Faoláin and illustrated by Jack B. Yeats, was published by the Government Stationery Office (1938). Cregan’s second book, Rathina (MacMillan, USA, 1942; George Allen and Unwin, UK, 1944), was loosely based on her own family life. In 1943 it won the Downey Award in the USA as ‘the finest children’s book in the catholic tradition’. The prize was accepted on her behalf by her old colleague Robert Brennan, who was then the Irish ambassador to the United States. He formally presented the prize to her in 1945 on his return to Ireland after the war. Rathina was serialised for radio by the BBC (Belfast) in 1946. Other of her writings for children included the plays ‘Seamus and the tinker’ (1938) and ‘Seamus and the robber’ (the latter broadcast on Radio Éireann in September 1943), and many short stories published in a variety of periodicals.
Her writings for adult audiences included articles on history and current affairs, including ‘Carrying the message in Easter week: a courier’s thrilling story’, which recounted her own experiences and was published in the Christmas supplement of the Irish Press (25 December 1934). She also wrote two plays: ‘Hunger strike’ (1933), based on experience of her husband’s involvement in such a strike, which was broadcast on Radio Éireann on 5 May 1936, and ‘Curlew’s call’ (1940). Her papers have been donated to NLI. She is included in the project ‘Irish Women Writers of Children’s Literature 1870–1940’ conducted by UCD. Máirín Cregan died 9 November 1975 in St Vincent’s hospital, Dublin, and is buried in Redford cemetery near her home in Co. Wicklow.