Rebel Wife

Mary Jane Irwin O’Donovan Rossa of Clonakilty, West Cork, was an Irish nationalist and activist. She was the wife of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, the famous Fenian prisoner and agitator whose funeral in 1915 sparked the Easter Uprising that led to the establishment of the Republic of Ireland. But Mary Jane had more to do with the revolutionary Fenian movement, Rossa’s release from prison and making the historic funeral a reality than has been acknowledged. While Rossa’s funeral was a huge and widely reported event, Mary Jane’s death in the summer of 1916 was hardly noticed. While Rossa is buried in the Republican Plot at Glasnevin National Cemetery in Dublin, Mary Jane’s grave in Staten Island, NY is largely forgotten. Directed by Williams Rossa Cole, Mary Jane’s great-grandson as a companion work to his 2016 documentary “Rebel Rossa”.