Margaret Emmeline Dobbs (19 November 1871 – 2 January 1962) was an Irish scholar and playwright, best known for her work to preserve the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

Life and career

Dobbs was born at 41 Lower Leeson Street in Dublin on 19 November 1871, the fourth child to barrister Conway Edward Dobbs and Sara Mulholland. Her father was

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, High Sheriff for Carrickfergus in 1875 and High Sheriff for

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

in 1882. The family spent time living in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

where Dobbs was born. She attempted to learn Irish. However, when her father died in 1898 her mother moved the family back to Glenariff. Her mother was Sarah Mulholland, daughter of St Clair Kelvin Mulholland Eglantine, Co. Down. Dobbs was interested in learning Irish and found it easier to learn in

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

where it was still spoken. Her first teacher was Hugh Flaitile. She attended the Irish College at

Cloughaneely Cloughaneely (official name: ) is a district in the west of County Donegal, Ireland. This is a mainly coastal area with a population of over 4,000 centred on the towns of Falcarragh () and Gortahork (). It is a Gaeltacht area, meaning the Irish ...

in the Donegal Gaeltacht. She brought the idea of promoting the language to the Glens of Antrim and her circle of friends. Dobbs was one of the small number of

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

women interested in the

Gaelic revival The Gaelic revival ( ga, Athbheochan na Gaeilge) was the late-nineteenth-century Romantic nationalism, national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including Irish folklore, folklore, Iri ...

. 1904 saw the "Great Feis" in Antrim and Dobbs was a founder member of the Feis na nGleann committee and later a tireless literary secretary. In 1946, the Feis committee decided to honour her by presenting her with an illuminated address. It can be seen today at Portnagolan House with its stained glass windows commemorating a great Irishwoman. During her speech she said: ‘Ireland is a closed book to those who do not know her language. No one can know Ireland properly until one knows the language. Her treasures are hidden as a book unopened. Open the book and learn to love your language’. Dobbs wrote seven plays, published by Dundalgan Press in 1920, though only three were performed. ''The Doctor and Mrs McAuley'' won the Warden trophy for one-act plays at the Belfast festival in 1913. However her plays were generally not a success and after 1920 she never wrote another. She continued to work on historical and archaeological studies and her articles were published in the ''Ulster Journal of Archaeology'', in a German magazine for Celtic studies, in the French ''Revue Cletique'' and in the Irish magazine ''Eriu''.

Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...

was a good friend and although Dobbs never made her political opinions known she contributed to his defence costs when he was accused of treason. Although her political views were not clearly known Dobbs had been a member of the Gaelic League and in the executive of Cumann na mBan. She died at her home, Portnagolan House,

Cushendall Cushendall (), formerly known as Newtownglens, is a coastal village and townland (of 153 acres) in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located in the historic barony of Glenarm Lower and the civil parish of Layd, and is part of Causeway Coas ...

, on 2 January 1962.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobbs, Margaret 1871 births 1962 deaths Cumann na mBan members 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Irish women writers Writers from Dublin (city)

Life and career

Further reading

References