Bridget Dirrane

Bridget Dirrane, Irish centenarian, (15 November 1894 - 31 December 2003)

Early life
Dirrane was born Bridget Gillan to Joseph Gillan (1853-1903?) and Margaret Walsh (1856-?) in the townland of Oatquarter, Inishmore, 15 November 1894. She was the youngest of eight children - Pat (born 1879), Mary, Julia, Joseph, John, George and Margaret Anne. She attended national school and left aged fourteen.

At one time she spent a year as a companion to a member of the Concannon family in nearby Onaght. During this year she met a number of notable figures such as Padraig Pearse, Thomas Ashe, Eamonn Ceannt and Joseph Mary Plunkett, who visited the island in August 1914 or 1915. Others included Austin Stack and Thomas MacDonagh. She later recounted:

"I was still in Aran when the Rising took place in 1916. I felt quite sad that so many lost their lives and some of these included the men I had made tea and sandwiches for in Concannon's. I had overheard them talking about the Rising, and, being a slip of a girl and thinking I had no English, they took no notice of me. But yet I never told anybody about what I had heard. I kept the béal dúnta (mouth closed) and never breathed a word to anybody."

She left the island to work as a housekeeper and childminder for a Doctor O'Brien in Tuam around 1916. During that time she was deeply affected by the death of her cousion Michael Wallace on the front lines in France. She left after three or four months because Mrs. O'Brien, an English lady, objected to Bridget teaching her children Irish. She moved to Knockavilla in County Tipperary to work with her sister Julia as a housekeeper for a priest. The priest, Father Matthew Ryan, had been a prominent member of the Irish National Land League, encouraged her to join Cumann na mBan in 1918.

Nationalist years
The following year she moved to Dublin, working for the Chevasse family. Chevasse was a supporter of the national cause and was under surveillance by the British. Opening the door one day, Bridget was seized by several soldiers but nevertheless managed to letter she had just received from her cousion, Coleman Dirrane, concerning activities on the island:

"The officer in charge began to question me and I answered him trí Ghaeilge ar fad (through Irish all the time). He was furious and said many a person was shot dead for less. I answered him defiantly "I have only one life to give, but if I had a thousand to give, I'd give them for the same cause." I told him to go ahead and shoot. He put down the revolver down by his side and said "Get over there and put your coat on, you are under arrest.""

Sent to Mountjoy Jail she went on hunger-strike and became acquainted with Countess Markievicz and Maude Gonne. She lived through the Irish Civil War, but was appalled that it took place at all. Her last job in Ireland was as a nurse for General Richard Mulcahy. While there, she met Ned Dirrane, who would later become her first husband.

Boston and the USA
Bridget moved to the USA in 1927, where she was to remain for the next thirty-nine years. She arrived in Boston where she continued her nursing career, became involved in the activities of the Irish community, and married Ned Dirrane. However, Ned died eight years later, the marriage producing no children.

In the course of her work she became friendly with Cardinal Cushing, and became a canvasser for the Kennedy family. Many years later, she was visited at her home on Aran by William Kennedy Smith and his mother, Jean Kennedy Smith.

Retirement and return to Aran
She retired in 1966 at the age of 72, and returned to Aran. She lived with her brother-in-law, Pat Dirrane. They were great friends, and both thought it best to get married "to protect our good name." Patrick died on Ash Wednesday 1990. In 1997 she published her memoirs, "A Woman of Aran".

"You may ask what will I leave behind when I go for good? It won't be riches. What I will leave is the sunshine to the flowers, honey to the bees, the moon above in the heaves for all those in love and my beloved Aran Islands to the seas. Agus sin a bhfuil (That's it)."

The Gillan family are buried in Killeany graveyard, Inismore.