Muriel MacSwiney

Muriel Frances Murphy MacSwiney (8 June 1892 – 26 October 1982) was an Irish nationalist and left-wing activist, and the first woman to be given the Freedom of New York City. She was the wife of Terence MacSwiney, mother of Máire MacSwiney Brugha and sister in law of Mary MacSwiney.

Muriel Frances Murphy MacSwiney
Born
Muriel Frances Murphy

(1892-06-08)8 June 1892
Cork, Ireland
Died26 October 1982(1982-10-26) (aged 90)
Maidstone, United Kingdom
NationalityIrish
Spouse(s)Terence MacSwiney
Parents
  • Nicholas Murphy (father)
  • Mary Gertrude Purcell (mother)

Early life

Muriel Frances Murphy was born on 8 June 1892 to a wealthy Cork family. Her father was Nicholas Murphy and her mother Mary Gertrude Purcell of Carrigmore, in Montenotte, Cork city. MacSwiney was sent away to school, to a convent in Sussex.

At Christmas 1915 MacSwiney attended an evening at the Fleischmann home where she met Terence MacSwiney. Her family did not want the couple involved and didn't approve of her growing interest in nationalism and socialism. In 1917 she married MacSwiney in St Joseph’s Church, Bromyard, Herefordshire, while he was interned due to his involvement in the Easter Rising of 1916. Her bridesmaid was Geraldine O’Sullivan and his best man was Richard Mulcahy. The couple had waited until she had come of age at 25 so that she was financially independent of her parents. They had a daughter, Máire MacSwiney Brugha.

MacSwiney saw very little of her husband during their married life as he was often arrested. He died due to his hunger strike on 25 October 1920 as Lord Mayor of Cork.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Widowed
MacSwiney's welcome to New York

Her husband's death had a huge impact on MacSwiney's life, being a public event as well as a personal loss. She completed a lecture and interview tour of the US, over nine months, with his sister Mary. MacSwiney was the first woman to be given the Freedom of New York City, in 1922.

MacSwiney was part of a group posing as a Red Cross delegation who broke Annie M. P. Smithson from Mullingar prison with the help of Linda Kearns MacWhinney.

MacSwiney began to suffer from depression and took her daughter to Germany, leaving her there while she traveled Europe. She eventually lost custody of her child; by 1934 she no longer had any involvement in her daughter’s life.[2][3][4][5][9][6][10][11][7][12]

Later life

MacSwiney spent a lot of time in Paris, where she continued to be engaged with politics, typically those of left-wing, including communist, groups. She became involved with Pierre Kaan and they had a daughter, Alix, who was born on 5 May 1926 in Germany. Kaan was sent to a concentration camp by the Gestapo and died 18 May 1945 as a result of his treatment there.

MacSwiney was critical of American foreign policy on Vietnam, calling the USA a "world imperialist power".[13]

MacSwiney never resolved her relationships with either her own daughter or her family. She was paid a pension as the widow of Terence MacSwiney from 1950. MacSwiney was living in Tonbridge in Kent with her daughter near the end of her life. She died on 26 October 1982 at Oakwood Hospital, Maidstone.[2][3][4][5][6][7][14]

References and sources
  1. "Wedding gift on display 100 years after marriage of Muriel Murphy and Terence MacSwine". West Cork People. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  2. ""Mary, Annie and Muriel MacSwiney – Extraordinary Women in Extraordinary Times." – The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival". The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival – Shandon, Cork City, Ireland. 22 July 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  3. "An Irishwoman's Diary". The Irish Times. 21 March 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  4. "Life in 1916 Ireland: Stories from statistics".
  5. Dwyer, Fin (22 November 2018). "LISTEN: The first woman to receive the freedom of New York, part II". IrishCentral.com. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  6. "Muriel Frances Murphy MacSwiney (1892-1982) Find..." Find A Grave (in Dutch). 26 October 1982. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  7. "History of IrelandIrish History, Culture, Heritage, Language, MythologyMuriel MacSwiney". Stair na hÉireann | History of Ireland. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  8. O’Riordan, Sean (8 June 2017). "Terence MacSwiney wedding gift on public display for first time". irishexaminer.com. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  9. "Person Page". Main Page. 10 May 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  10. McGarry, F. (2011). Rebels: Voices from the Easter Rising. Penguin Books Limited. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-14-196930-5. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  11. "A Revolutionary Life: Muriel MacSwiney Part I • Irish history podcast". Irish history podcast. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  12. Bayor, R.H.; Meagher, T. (1997). The New York Irish. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 372. ISBN 978-0-8018-5764-5. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  13. McNamara, Robert (2003). "Irish Perspectives on the Vietnam War". Irish Studies in International Affairs. 14: 75–94. doi:10.3318/ISIA.2003.14.1.75. JSTOR 30001965.
  14. "Macswiney (Pension) Act, 1950, Section 1". Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
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