Mark F. Ryan

Mark Ryan was born in Uracly in the parish of Kilconly, a few miles from Tuam, County Galway. He was the eldest of eight children of John Ryan (died 1882), a tenant farmer and native of Kilconly, and Bridget Ryan (née Mullahy; died 1880), from Kilcommon, County Mayo. There were eight children, four boys and four girls. John Ryan had farms in three different parts of Kilconly, one which was held from a landlord known as "French of Tirowen", which is near Gort. Mark was three or four years old when the family were evicted, which took place during the Famine years. The second farm was in Uí Mháine, land held by a landlord by the name of Dominick Jennings. The family lived here for five or six years, until the landlord died and they were again evicted. They were given shelter for a time from an uncle, Michael Ryan, at Ballynagittagh. After some time John Ryan obtained another holding from Richard Jennings, brother of the late Dominick Jennings, in Ironpool. The family lived here for only a few years, until they were "once more thrown on the roadside", according to Ryan. After this, John Ryan took his family and emigrated to England. ==Education==

In Uí Mháine, Ryan attended school held in a barn. The teaching was very poor, spelling being the only subject. The instruction was given entirely in English, a strap being used to punish the boys every time Irish was spoken. The second school he attended was in Kilconly, and was held in the chapel, with parish priest Father James Gibbons' permission. The instruction here was much better and consisted of reading, writing and arithmetic, again entirely in English. He would go on to attend schools at Lissaleen (Lios an Lín) and at Tubberoe. As with the previous schools, instruction was entirely in English, although according to Ryan every child in the parish knew Irish. Ryan opined that Whately's system was "National" only in name. ==Irish Republican Brotherhood==

Ryan was recruited to the Irish Republican Brotherhood by Michael Davitt in 1865. He joined the Supreme Council of the IRB, was leader of the Irish National Alliance (1895) and was a founder-member of the Irish Literary Society. Ryan composed an autobiography entitled Fenian Memories. Ryan, in the forward to his autobiography wrote that, next to his religion, Fenianism had been the most important thing in his life. ==References==