Josephine Ryan

Min Ryan

Min Ryan and husband Richard Mulcahy
Born Mary Josephine Ryan
(1884-12-29)29 December 1884
Tomcoole, Wexford, Ireland
Died 16 April 1977(1977-04-16) (aged 92)
Dublin, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Other names Josephine Mulcahy

Mary Josephine Ryan (29 December 1884 – 16 April 1977) was an Irish nationalist. She was a member of Cumann na mBan and the honorary secretary of the executive committee. She took part in 1916 Easter Rising and War of Independence.

Background

Born Mary Josephine Ryan in Tomcoole, near Taghmon in Co. Wexford to John Ryan and Eliza Sutton. She was better known as Min to her friends. She was educated in both the Loreto Abbey in Gorey and Dublin. She later attended the Royal University of Ireland taking English, German and French, graduating in 1908 from the National University having spent some time in both France and Germany.[1][2] Her family was very much a nationalist house with several of her 11 siblings involved in the Easter Rising and subsequent wars. Her brother James went on to become an Irish politician while two of her sisters, Mary Kate and Phyllis were married to Seán Ó Ceallaigh, second President of Ireland.[2][3]

She met Seán Mac Diarmada, the man who became one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, while she was in college but after her graduation she moved to London to attend the London University and gain her teachers certification. In 1914 she founded the local Cumann na mBan branch there. In 1915 she returned to Dublin to teach German at the Rathmines Technical School. Mac Diarmada asked her to go to Germany because of her facilitation with the language but on her sisters advice she didn't go. Joseph Plunkett was sent instead.[2][3]

Ryan was engaged to Seán Mac Diarmada, he described her as the woman he would have married had he lived. She was one of the last people to visit him before he was executed by the British after the Rising.[1][2][3]

1916 involvement

Ryan was present at the house where the some of the leaders of the planned insurrection met and it was decided, by them, to call off the event for Easter 1916. Ryan was sent to Wexford with the message that there would be no Rising. She delivered the message but hoping that in fact the rising would still take place she told the men in Wexford her opinion and returned to Dublin to see what would happen. Despite being involved with one of the leaders of the Rising, Ryan was unaware of the plans. Only that she could tell something was to happen and that her fiancée was extremely busy and stressed.[4][3]

During the Rising itself Ryan was used to transport messages to the wives of three captured British officers and to other members of the rebellion. She witnessed The O'Rahilly giving orders to treat the captives in the GPO with dignity and fairness. The prisoners themselves confirmed this later telling how he had ensured their good treatment and safety.[4][3] After the surrender Ryan was not arrested as she wasn't present in any of the locations, she had returned home when a sniper had shot a dog in front of her while she was headed back to the GPO and passing in front of the College of Surgeons. She and Louise Gavan Duffy went to Jacob's Factory on the Sunday morning to witness the final surrender of the men there. Again, none of the women in that location were arrested. The British officer on the site wasn't interested in the women.[4][3]

After the Rising

Ryan was sent to America to give John Devoy a first hand account of the Rising. She had also Ryan married General Richard Mulcahy on 2nd June 1919 in Dublin. They had six children, Padraic, Seán, Risteárd, Elizabeth, Neilli, and Maura. During the War of Independence her husband spend a significant amount of time on the run and the family lived in the old buildings used by Pearce for St Enda's School. Eventually his mother asked them to leave as the frequent Black and Tan raids on them were causing damage to the house. In September 1920 where she stayed with her sister, Agnes, in Belfast for some months. After Michael Collins' death, they moved to Lissenfield House, next to Portobello barracks because Collins had held meetings in several of their previous addresses and it wasn't considered safe to remain there.[5] Mulcahy took over leadership of the Army at that time.[6] Mulcahy was later the become commander-in-chief of the Irish Army[1] and leader of Fine Gael 1944-48.[6]

Mulcahy died at the age of 85 in 1971. After his death Ryan lived with another woman from Wexford in her son Seán's house where she was based until she died at the age of 92 in 1977.[5][3]

References and sources

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 Ryan.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Brian Feeney 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bureau of Military History.
  4. 1 2 3 Brian Barton 2011.
  5. 1 2 National Library of Ireland.
  6. 1 2 Irish Independent 2015.
Sources

External links

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