Mary Agnes Hickson (7 April 1821 – 6 April 1899) was an Irish antiquarian and genealogist.

Biography

Mary Agnes Hickson was born in Tralee, Kerry on 7 April 1821 to John James Hickson and Sarah Day. She was able to trace her family, through her mother to Anne Blennerhassett of 1694 and Denis McGillicuddy of ''

McGillycuddy of the Reeks The McGillycuddy of the Reeks ( ga, Mac Giolla Mochuda) is the hereditary Chief of the Name of McGillycuddy, a family originating around MacGillycuddy's Reeks, a range of mountains (reeks) in County Kerry in Ireland. Origins of the title T ...

''. Hickson was educated locally and at a boarding school and was a good student. The family suffered a financial set back during the

Irish Famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a h ...

when their tenants were unable to pay the rents leaving the family unable to pay their own rents and they had to sell land. Hickson lived in rooms with her mother until her death and then with relatives in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

until eventually returning to live in

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

. Hickson wrote for the ''Kerry Evening Post'' with a series called the ''Old Kerry Records''. She joined the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. A renowned genealogist and historian, Hickson wrote three volumes of histories about Ireland and Kerry. She focused heavily on the

Blennerhassett family The Blennerhassett family is an English and Anglo-Irish noble family which has been involved in the politics of the Britain and Ireland since the fourteenth century. The male line of the family is extinct in Britain. History The family is record ...

. Hickson is now recognised for her different perspective on Irish history as a financially insecure Protestant Unionist during a time when nationalism was the growing movement. She was friends with significant figures in the field including W.E.H. Lecky. Her work on the history of Ireland in 1641 created controversy about the veracity of testimonies about the violence of Irish Catholics against Protestant settlers. Though attempting to be as unbiased as possible she overestimated the number of Protestants killed significantly. Hickson was concerned by the lack of attention given to this interpretation. Her work was not aimed at appealing to the popular. The preface was written by James Anthony Froude. Transcriptions she made are currently in the London library of Society of Genealogists and the National Library of Ireland. She lived at "Hillville" in Cloghane, Co.Kerry. Her father built this on the site of an earlier house in 1833. Hickson died in Kingston College, Mitchelstown in 1899 and was brought home to be buried in Tralee.

Bibliography

* Ireland in the seventeenth century: or, the Irish massacres of 1641-2: their causes and results, (1884) * Selections from old Kerry records, Historical and Genealogical, (1856) * The Old Countess of Desmond: a new solution of an old puzzle, Reliquary 22, (1881) * Ardfert Friary and the Fitzmaurices, Lords of Kerry, (1895)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hickson, Mary Agnes 1821 births 1899 deaths People from Tralee Irish non-fiction writers Irish women non-fiction writers Irish antiquarians Irish genealogists 19th-century Irish women writers