Lucy Gwynn | |
|---|---|
 Lucy Gwynn at Trinity College Dublin, c.1912 | |
| Born | 22 September 1865 County Donegal, Ireland |
| Died | 1947 County Clare, Ireland |
Lucy Penelope Gwynn (1865-1947) was the first woman registrar of Trinity College Dublin. [1] [2]
Lucy Gwynn | |
|---|---|
| Lucy Gwynn at Trinity College Dublin, c.1912 | |
| Born | 22 September 1865 County Donegal, Ireland |
| Died | 1947 County Clare, Ireland |
Lucy Penelope Gwynn (1865-1947) was the first woman registrar of Trinity College Dublin. [1] [2]
Lucy Gwynn was born in County Donegal in Ireland. Her father John Gwynn was a Syriacist and Regius Professor of Divinity at Trinity College Dublin. [3] [4] Her mother was Lucy O'Brien, daughter of MP William Smith O'Brien. [4] Her eight brothers included the author and politician Stephen Gwynn, the academic Edward Gwynn, the career soldier Major General Sir Charles Gwynn, the cricketers Lucius Gwynn and Arthur Gwynn, the academic cleric and social reformer Robin Gwynn, the Indian civil servant and journalist Jack Gwynn and the Irish civil servant Brian Gwynn. [4] [5] She had one sister, Mary Gwynn, the wife of Henry Bowen and stepmother of the writer Elizabeth Bowen. She was a niece of Harriet Monsell (1812-1883) [5]
Lucy Gwynn was appointed first lady registrar of Trinity College Dublin in February 1905. [6] Trinity College had finally admitted women to the university just the year before, in 1904. [7] Despite coming from a family of academics Lucy Gwynn had been unable to get a university education herself. She was 39 years old when appointed to her position in the university.
Students described Lucy Gwynn as a pioneer. Her role as women's registrar was described by one of her charges as "to control our movements to some extent and to protect the college and the students from criticism". [6]
In 1907 Lucy Gwynn was summoned before the Fry Commission on Dublin University to defend the position of women at Trinity. She was supported by the parents of the students. The result was that the commission endorsed the principle of women's admission to the university. [6]
In 1922, the Dublin University Women Graduates’ Association was founded, under Lucy Gwynn's presidency. [8]
Lucy Gwynn never married. As an eldest daughter she was required to assist in the management of her parents' household and attend to them in their old age. From her mother's brother Robert Donough O'Brien (1844-1917), an architect, she inherited the house he had designed and built at Parteen-a-Lax in County Clare, close to Limerick town. It was there that she retired at the end of her working life. Her hobby was tending its beautiful garden which lay next to the river Shannon. [9]
Founded, by subscription, in 1948 in memory of Lucy Gwynn it is awarded annually in the Michaelmas term to a Junior Sophister woman student for distinction in her course. The award is made by two women on the university staff nominated by the Board, and one of the female tutors. The value of the prize is €1,207. [11]
William Smith O'Brien was an Irish nationalist Member of Parliament (MP) and a leader of the Young Ireland movement. He also encouraged the use of the Irish language. He was convicted of sedition for his part in the Young Irelander "Famine Rebellion" of 1848 but his sentence of death was commuted to deportation to Van Diemen's Land. In 1854, he was released on the condition of exile from Ireland, and he lived in Brussels for two years. In 1856 Smith O'Brien was pardoned and returned to Ireland, but he was never active again in politics.
Kate O'Brien was an Irish novelist and playwright.
Stephen Lucius Gwynn was an Irish journalist, biographer, author, poet and Protestant Nationalist politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party he represented Galway city as its Member of Parliament from 1906 to 1918. He served as a British Army officer in France during World War I and was a prominent proponent of Irish involvement in the Allied war effort. He founded the Irish Centre Party in 1919, but his moderate nationalism was eclipsed by the growing popularity of Sinn Féin.
Lucius Henry Gwynn was an Irish academic and sportsman who was noted for his prowess in both rugby union football and cricket.
Arthur Percival Gwynn was an Irish cricketer and rugby union player.
John Tudor ("Jack") Gwynn, CIE, ICS was an Irish-born British civil servant in India and cricketer.
Robert Malcolm Gwynn was a Church of Ireland clergyman and academic whose entire working life was spent at Trinity College Dublin. In his youth he was also an outstanding cricketer.
John David Gwynn was a civil engineer with a special interest in renewable energy generation. In his youth he was one of Ireland's most distinguished cricketers.
Patricia O'Brien is Ambassador of Ireland to Italy. She served as Ambassador to France and to Monaco from 2017 to 2021. She had served from 2013 as the Permanent Representative (Ambassador) of Ireland to the United Nations and other International Organizations at Geneva.
John Gwynn was an Irish Syriacist. He was Regius Professor of Divinity at Trinity College Dublin from 1888 to 1907.
Edward John Gwynn was an Irish scholar of Old Irish and Celtic literature, Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1927 to 1937 and President of the Royal Irish Academy from 1934 to 1937.
Charlotte Grace O'Brien was an Irish author and philanthropist and an activist in nationalist causes and the protection of female emigrants. She is known also as a plant collector.
Shelley McNamara is an Irish architect and academic. She attended University College Dublin and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Architecture. She founded Grafton Architects with Yvonne Farrell in 1978. Grafton rose to prominence in the early 2010s, specialising in stark, weighty but spacious buildings for higher education. McNamara has taught architecture at University College Dublin since 1976 and at several other universities.
Miriam Hederman O'Brien was an Irish barrister and academic, who held the posts of Chancellor of the University of Limerick and Director of the University of Limerick Foundation.
Constantia Elizabeth Maxwell (1886–1962) was an Irish historian who became the first woman to join Trinity College Dublin as a Professor.
Jane Ohlmeyer,, is a historian and academic, specialising in early modern Irish and British history. She is the Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History (1762) at Trinity College Dublin and Chair of the Irish Research Council, which funds frontier research across all disciplines.
Eva Josephine Jellett, doctor, was the first woman to graduate in medicine from Dublin University.
Hannah Alexandra Moylan was the first woman to get a degree in science in Ireland.
Linda F. Hogan is an Irish ethicist, ecumenist and academic, specialising in Christian ethics, political ethics, human rights, gender, and ecumenism. She is Professor of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin, where she was also its vice-provost from 2011 to 2016. She worked as a lecturer at the University of Chester and University of Leeds before joining the staff of Trinity College, Dublin.
Olive Purser (1886–1973), was one of the first women to enter Trinity College Dublin and was the first woman to be made a scholar.
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