Our forgotten heroes

Sir — I refer to the article by Mary O’Rourke titled ‘Mystery of the woman forgotten by Irish history’ (Sunday Independent, January 27).

Not only Anna Parnell, but all of the women of the Ladies’ Land League are forgotten. The most forgotten and overlooked, even though she played a central role, is Anne Deane, president of the Ladies’ Land League.

After her husband died, she inherited her mother’s family business, Monica Duff ’s, in Ballaghaderreen. She was highly educated — uncommon in the 19th Century — and provided leadership and gave a maturity to the women’s organisation.

She was steeped in national politics — her uncle was John Blake Dillon, of the Young Irelanders, and also one of the founders of The Nation newspaper; her grandfather Luke Dillon was involved in the 1798 rebellion and took part in the Races of Castlebar. Luke later became a victim of land tenure and, unable to pay his rent, had to leave Lisyne and move to Ballaghaderreen. He died in 1825.

Anne entertained members of the Land Movement including Parnell and Davitt. The Ladies’ Land League’s first visit outside Dublin was to Mayo, where, in Claremorris, they were welcomed by the Very Rev Canon Ulick J Bourke PP and a large crowd — as recorded in The Connaught Telegraph in February 1881.

The editor, James Daly, was not impressed. He wrote: “We do not see how any man or body of men having Celtic blood coursing in their veins can be found to descend to or condescend to female leadership in Irish constitutional warfare.”

In 1972 I founded the Michael Davitt National Memorial Association to commemorate the Land League and Life of Michael Davitt at Strade, Co Mayo, to prepare for the centenary in 1979.

We failed to get any government funding for the anniversary of events that marked gaining peacefully and by constitutional means, the land for a 32-county Ireland, through various Land Acts.

We had to depend on church-gate collections in Mayo and sponsorship to mount the event.

The Government did not formally mark the occasion.

When we went to Dail Eireann to seek even a stamp to mark the occasion, the answer was no.

Yet that year the Government gave funds for Pearse’s museum in Rathfarnham and a stamp to mark his birth.

In 2016 we had a wreath laid at Anne Deane’s grave in Straide, without any press or media coverage. Nancy Smyth, Ballinderreen,

Co Galway