26 Facts About Lady Gregory

Lady Gregory produced a number of books of retellings of stories taken from Irish mythology.

Lady Gregory is mainly remembered for her work behind the Irish Literary Revival.

Lady Gregory's mother, Frances Barry, was related to Viscount Guillamore, and her family home, Roxborough, was a 6,000-acre estate located between Gort and Loughrea, the main house of which was later burnt down during the Irish Civil War.

Lady Gregory married Sir William Henry Gregory, a widower with an estate at Coole Park, near Gort, on 4 March 1880 in St Matthais' Church, Dublin.

Lady Gregory was a well-educated man with many literary and artistic interests, and the house at Coole Park housed a large library and extensive art collection, both of which Lady Gregory was eager to explore.

Lady Gregory had a house in London, where the couple spent a considerable amount of time, holding weekly salons frequented by many leading literary and artistic figures of the day, including Robert Browning, Lord Tennyson, John Everett Millais and Henry James.

Lady Gregory wrote a series of pamphlets in 1887 called Over the River, in which she appealed for funds for the parish of St Stephens in Southwark, south London.

Lady Gregory wrote a number of short stories in the years 1890 and 1891, although these never appeared in print.

When Sir William Gregory died in March 1892, Lady Gregory went into mourning and returned to Coole Park; there she edited her husband's autobiography, which she published in 1894.

Lady Gregory organised Irish lessons at the school at Coole and began collecting tales from the area around her home, especially from the residents of Gort workhouse.

Lady Gregory produced a number of collections of "Kiltartanese" versions of Irish myths, including Cuchulain of Muirthemne and Gods and Fighting Men.

Towards the end of 1894, encouraged by the positive reception of the editing of her husband's autobiography, Lady Gregory turned her attention to another editorial project.

Lady Gregory undertook fundraising, and the first programme consisted of Martyn's The Heather Field and Yeats's The Countess Cathleen.

Lady Gregory did not think as highly of the play as Yeats did, but she defended Synge as a matter of principle.

In July 1925, The Travelling Man by Lady Gregory was broadcast by the nascent British Broadcasting Company's 2LO station.

Lady Gregory remained an active director of the theatre until ill-health led to her retirement in 1928.

Lady Gregory's plays had been among the most successful at the Abbey in the earlier years, but their popularity declined.

Lady Gregory played the lead role in three performances of Cathleen Ni Houlihan in 1919.

Lady Gregory frequently used her hotel rooms to interview would-be Abbey dramatists and to entertain the company after opening nights of new plays.

Lady Gregory spent many of her days working on her translations in the National Library of Ireland.

Lady Gregory gained a reputation as being a somewhat conservative figure.

For example, when Denis Johnston submitted to the Abbey his first play, Shadowdance, it was rejected by Lady Gregory and returned to the author with "The Old Lady says No" written on the title page.

When she retired from the Abbey board, Lady Gregory returned to live in Galway, although she continued to visit Dublin regularly.

The house and demesne at Coole Park had been sold to the Irish Forestry Commission in 1927, with Lady Gregory retaining life tenancy.

Lady Gregory's plays fell out of favour after her death, and are now rarely performed.

In 2023 Gregory was the subject of a two-part RTE documentary starring Miriam Margolyes and Senator Lynn Ruane, and featuring commentary from Roy Foster, James Pethica, Judith A Hill, Melissa Sihra, and other Gregory scholars.