Actress Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh played an important role in the Easter Rising

A founder actress  of the Abbey Theatre, Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh spent Easter 1916 in Jacob’s Biscuit Factory with Tom MacDonagh, writes her grandnephew Dave Kenny

My grandaunt, Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh (Mary Walker) was a founder actress of the Abbey Theatre and its first leading lady. On its opening night in 1904, she played Kathleen Ní Houlihan while four other members of her family were either acting or working in the theatre. The Walkers were committed nationalists and saw the Abbey as the route to an even greater drama: Pearse’s Passion Play.

I’ve just published her memoirs, The Splendid Years. It’s her first-hand account of some of the events — and people — that shaped Irish history.