Mayo Michael Davitt Museum to celebrate women in Irish history

THE Michael Davitt Museum in Straide is to host a series of lectures during 2025 celebrating the women in Irish and Mayo history.

The Mayo patriot was a strong supporter of women’s rights, along with campaigning for social justice all his adult life and this year the Michael Davitt Museum will celebrate the legacy that women created in Ireland’s history and their quest for social justice.

The first lecture will take place on Thursday, February 20 and will be about pioneer, educator and novelist Maria Edgeworth, whose family were owners of an estate at Edgeworthstown, Co Longford.

The Edgeworth Family made a remarkable contribution to the development of the Irish nation and their influences extended to many areas of life in particular, literature, both adult and children’s literature, education, science and engineering. Over three centuries they developed a network of connections all over Europe and as far afield as America.

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Their ‘Enlightenment’ views and ideas left a legacy that deserves to be remembered and this talk will attempt to demonstrate their positive contribution to society and concentrate on the period from Maria’s birth in 1768 until her death in 1849.

The talk will be delivered by Matt Farrell, Chairperson of the Edgeworth Society. Matt is a retired manager from the agriculture sector with an accountancy background. His passion is for community development with a special interest in his own place, its culture and heritage.

In 2016 he received the award as ‘Ireland’s Heritage Hero’ by the Heritage Council of Ireland. The award was a recognition for his contribution in preserving the legacy of Maria Edgeworth and her family.

He established the Maria Edgeworth Centre and the Edgeworth Literary Trail and fostered a large International network of academics and culture vultures with a hunger for knowledge of the life, times and connections to Maria Edgeworth and her family.

Through his work he was invited to meet with President Clinton and Prince (King) Charles on the occasions of their visits to Ireland. He considers his role in building a community park, a museum, a childcare facility and a library as the most rewarding lifetime achievements. He has addressed events and conferences in the RDS, Roma Tre University and given talks to many special interest groups.

The talk on Maria Edgeworth will take place in the Michael Davitt Museum, Straide, Co Mayo on Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 7pm. The fee is €5 and bookings can be made by emailing: info@michaeldavittmuseum.ie or online via www.eventbrite.ie.