Máire Delaney (née de Valera, 1945–2002) was an Irish medical doctor in the fields of

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

and

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

. She was best known for her research on '

bog bodies A bog body is a human cadaver that has been Natural mummy, naturally mummified in a Bog, peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between 8000 BC and the S ...

Biography

She was born in Dublin in 1945. Her mother was from

Carndonagh Carndonagh (; ) is a town on the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland, close to Trawbreaga Bay. It is the site of the Carndonagh stones. The Irish name, ''Carn Domhnach'', means "the cairn or mound of the church". Amenities The tow ...

on the

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

coast. Her father, Eamon de Valera Jr., was a professor and consultant

gynaecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

at the

National Maternity Hospital, Dublin The National Maternity Hospital (), popularly known as Holles Street Hospital, is a large maternity hospital in Ireland. It is at the eastern corner of Merrion Square, at its junction with Holles Street and Mount Street Lower, Lower Mount Street i ...

. Her grandfather was

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

, the former Irish President. She was educated at

St Louis High School, Rathmines St. Louis High School is an all-girls secondary school located in Rathmines, Dublin. History The school was founded in 1913 by the Sisters of St. Louis, a religious community of nuns which was founded in post-revolutionary France in 1842. The ...

, a convent school, and

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

(UCD) where she qualified as a medical doctor in 1971. She married Tom Delaney, an

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

specialising in the

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

period, and moved to

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

where he worked at the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures ...

. She trained in psychiatry and also reported on archaeological anatomy and pathology. When her husband died, she returned to Dublin with their two daughters, finally settling in the village of

Ballyboughal Ballyboughal or Ballyboghil () is a village and district in central Fingal in County Dublin, near the Naul. The name means "the town of the staff", and a major relic, the Bachal Isu, was protected in this area until Strongbow moved it to C ...

. She got remarried, to Pat O'Connell. After working as a psychiatric registrar, her interest in archaeology led her to teaching at UCD followed by a lectureship in anatomy at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. In her research, she engaged the assistance of many experts worldwide to understand the chemistry of tissue preservation in bog people. In 1999, she and her archaeologist colleague, Nóra Bermingham, began studying a bog body found in Offaly. She was co-author, with Bermingham, of ''The bog body from Tumbeagh'' (Wordwell, 2005). The novelist,

Erin Hart Erin Hart (born September 1, 1958) is an American author of crime fiction. Life and career Hart was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and raised in Rochester, Minnesota. She is the daughter of Robert Hart, a mechanical engineer, and Nancy VanStee ...

, based the pathologist character Nora Gavin from her book ''False Mermaid'' on Delaney after interviewing her. Throughout her life, she had been eagerly involved in amateur drama. She was well known for her singing and was a supporter of traditional dance and music; along with her second husband, she was a member of the ''Góilín Club'' in Dublin. After some months of illness, she died and her funeral was held in Ballyboughal. Delaney was one of 14 Irish women scientists celebrated on

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delaney, Máire De Valera family Irish psychiatrists Irish anatomists Irish pathologists 1945 births 2002 deaths Alumni of University College Dublin Medical doctors from Dublin (city) 20th-century Irish women scientists