Muriel Gahan

Muriel Françoise Gahan (27 October 1897 – 12 July 1995) was an Irish rural campaigner and a promoter of traditional crafts and of the cooperative movement. She commissioned the first adult Aran jumper, launched the Irish Homespun Society and helped lead the Irish Country Markets co-operative for decades. A founding member of Ireland's Arts Council, Gahan played significant roles in the Irish Countrywomen's Association and other bodies. She was the first female vice-president of the Royal Dublin Society and received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin and the Plunkett Award for Cooperative Endeavour.

Early life Winifred Muriel Françoise Gahan was born in Magherabeg House, near Donegal town, County Donegal on 27 October 1897. Her parents were Winifred (née Waters) and Fredrick George Townsend Gahan. Her father was a civil engineer with the Congested Districts Board and her mother was originally from Cambridgeshire and had been employed as a governess. She had at least one sister and four brothers. The family moved to Castlebar, County Mayo in 1900. Travelling around Mayo with her father for his work gave Gahan an insight into the depths of rural poverty which existed in communities.

Gahan was educated at home under the care of a governess and later attended a girls' school St Winifred's, in Llanfairfechan, Wales. She returned to Ireland in 1914 to attend Alexandra College until 1916. Whilst there she met her lifelong friend and collaborator Olivia Cruikshank, later Hughes. The family lived in Rathmines, Dublin for a time, but returned to Castlebar in 1919. When her father retired in 1926, Gahan returned to Dublin. In 1935 the United Irishwomen changed their name to the Irish Countrywomen's Association (ICA). Through the ICA, Gahan met Lucy Franks, Mainie Jellett, and Vida Lentaigne.

Gahan advocated for the teaching of crafts in Ireland, and was successful in lobbying the National College of Art and Design to found a school of weaving. She was central to the ICA's securing funds from the Kellogg Foundation of America for An Grianán, a residential training college at Termonfeckin, County Louth. The college opened in 1954. She was awarded an honorary life membership of the ICA, in recognition of her work, in 1965. In 1974 she received the Allied Irish Banks Community Development Award, in 1978 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin, and in 1984 she received the Plunkett Award for Cooperative Endeavour. She became the first female vice-president of the RDS in 1976.