Mary Robinson

:Mary Robinson is also the name of an English poet, see Mary Robinson (poet)

Background

Born Mary Therese Bourke in Ballina, County Mayo in 1944, Robinson was the daughter of two medical doctors. The Hiberno-Norman Bourkes have been in Mayo since the thirteenth century. Like many who came to Ireland with the Norman invasion, it was said of the Bourkes that they ended up "more Irish than the Irish themselves". Her family had links with many diverse political strands in Ireland. One ancestor was a leading activist in the Mayo Land League and the Irish Republican Brotherhood; an uncle, Sir Paget John Bourke, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II after a career as a judge in the Colonial Service; while another relative was a Catholic nun. Some branches of the family were members of the Anglican Church of Ireland while others were Roman Catholics. Robinson was therefore born into a family that was a historical mix of rebels against and servants of the Crown.

Related Topics:
Ballina - County Mayo - 1944 - Ireland - Land League - Irish Republican Brotherhood - Sir Paget John Bourke - Queen Elizabeth II - Catholic - Anglican - Church of Ireland - Roman Catholics

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Though Catholic, Mary Bourke received the permission of the then Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, DD to study in Trinity College, Dublin; at the time Catholics were forbidden by church rules from studying in Trinity, founded by Queen Elizabeth I and once a Protestant, Unionist bastion, unless they had the (rarely-granted) permission of a bishop. In her twenties, she was appointed Reid Professor of Law in the college, considered to be a prestigious appointment made to accomplished lawyers. Subsequent holders of the title have included her successor as Irish president Mary McAleese, Irish Human Rights Commissioner and anti-abortion campaigner Professor William Binchy, and, the current holder of the position, abortion rights campaigner Ivana Bacik.

Related Topics:
Archbishop of Dublin - John Charles McQuaid, DD - Trinity College, Dublin - Queen Elizabeth I - Protestant - Unionist - Reid Professor of Law - Mary McAleese - Professor William Binchy - Ivana Bacik

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In 1970 she married Nicholas Robinson. Despite the fact that her family had close links to the Church of Ireland, her marriage to a Protestant student caused a rift with her parents, who did not attend her wedding, although the rift was eventually overcome in subsequent years. She has three children, two of whom were raised as Roman Catholics.

Related Topics:
Nicholas Robinson - Church of Ireland - Protestant

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