Mary Anne Gill (called Molly or Mollie) was born on March 24, 1891, and lived in Murphystown, County Dublin, Ireland. She was one of seven children. At the age of seventeen, she went to work at the Dun Emer Press as an assistant to Elizabeth Corbet Yeats. That same year, Elizabeth and her sister, Lily Yeats, left Dun Emer Press to set up Cuala Industries, which included a printing shop and an embroidery shop, and Gill went with them to continue her work as an assistant printer. She took Irish lessons and attended theatre and opera lectures that the Yeats sisters arranged for their employees. She adopted the Irish spelling of her name, Máire Ní Ghiolla, which she used for the rest of her life. By 1937 Gill was the principal compositor at the press. She remained at Cuala until she retired in 1969.

Gill joined Inghinidhe na hÉireann, an Irish women’s nationalist organization, and in 1914 became one of the first members of Cumann na mBan. Although it is not known if Gill had a role in the 1916 Easter Rising, she ultimately received a medal for her involvement in the War of Independence. She served on the executive committee of the Irish Republican Prisoners’ Dependent Fund, and in 1921 she stood with Cumann na mBan when they rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty. In May 1923, Gill was arrested at Cuala Press, along with fellow printer Essie Ryan, for her involvement in the organization. Gill was imprisoned at Kilmainham Gaol for several months but returned to her job at Cuala on her release.

Gill was a player, team captain, and advocate for camogie, an emerging sport for women that was part of the larger movement to promote Irish culture. She was a member of Croke’s Football and Hurling Club. She was a founding member when the Dublin Board of Cumann Camógaíocht na nGael (the Camogie Association) was established in 1915 and chaired it from 1917-1935. She served as the first president of the national Cumann Camógaíochta na nGael after its reorganization and led it from 1923 until 1941. She represented camogie on the organizing committee of the Tailteann Games and went on to win a gold medal as captain of the Leinster team in 1928 and in 1932 when they won the first All-Ireland championships.

Gill died on March 15, 1977.

Sources

McCoole, Sineád. "Mollie Gill, 1891-1977: A Woman of Ireland." History Ireland 13, no. 2 (2005): 10-11. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.bc.edu/stable/27725229.

"Presidents." The Camogie Association: An Cumann Camógaíochta. Accessed on 7/19/2021. https://camogie.ie/history/presidents/