Nora J Murray (1888–1955) was an Irish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and school teacher at the heart of the Ardclough Sedition Case, when her teaching of Irish history was the subject of a complaint by a Unionist landlord Bertram Hugh Barton (1858–1927) in the aftermath of the 1916 rebellion. "The Wind Upon the Heath" was published by

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

’ publisher Maunsel & Co in 1918.

Early life

The daughter of Timothy Murray from

Carrick on Shannon Carrick-on-Shannon () is the county town of County Leitrim in Ireland. It is the largest town in the county of Leitrim. A smaller part of the town lies in County Roscommon. The population of the town was 4,062 in 2016. It is situated on a stra ...

, she was a scholarship student at the local Marist Convent and noted musician. After graduation she taught at

Ardclough Ardclough, officially Ardclogh (; ), is a village and community in the parish of Kill, County Kildare, Ireland. It is two miles (3 km) off the N7 national primary road. It is the burial place and probable birthplace of Arthur Guinness, w ...

National School in Co Kildare. She married Alfred Whyte on 6 September 1919.

Poetry

Murray was the first lady teacher in an Irish national school to make her name as a poet. Prior to the publication of "The Wind Upon the Heath" (July 1918) to favourable critical reaction her poetry appeared in the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and Sunday Independent during the revolutionary period. She also had short stories published. Some poetry relating to her native

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...

was published post-humously.

Sedition case

Murray's teaching of history was the subject of a complaint from local Unionist landlord Bertram Hugh Barton (1858–1927) in 1916. Late in 1917 these allegations reappeared in the form of a complaint about "seditious teaching" filed to the National School commissioners in the name of Mrs Bourke, who said that her child had been discriminated against because he was the son of a British soldier. A sworn enquiry organised by Commissioners was postponed, pending a prosecution for

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

by the

Dublin Castle administration in Ireland Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...

. A defence fund was organised by local peopleLeinster Leader 1 December 1917 and after considerable publicity no sedition proceedings were initiated.

References

Sources

*Gabriel Doherty: National Identity and the Study of Irish History in "The English Historical Review," Vol. 111, No. 441 (April 1996), pp. 332–3 (Oxford University Press). *John Rooney: The poetry of Nora J Murray in Carrick on Shannon remembered p 57. (1996) *Nora J Murray: A Wind Upon the Heath (1918) *Nora J Murray: Leitrim of The Lakes *Nora J Murray: A Ridge of the West *Eoghan Corry and Jim Tancred: Annals of Ardclough (1914) *Freeman's Journal 29 November 1917. *Leinster Leader 1 December 1917, 30 March 1918, 18 August 1918, 31 August 1918, 30 November 1918. *Leitrim Observer 1 December 1917 {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Nora 1888 births 1955 deaths Irish women poets Writers from County Leitrim 20th-century Irish poets 20th-century Irish women writers