Mairead Maguire

After her sister Anne committed suicide, Mairead Corrigan married her former brother-in-law, Jackie Maguire. She has three step-children—her sister’s children—and two of her own.

Mairead Maguire was born on 27 January 1944 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, into a Roman Catholic Community. Her parents were Andrew and Margaret Corrigan, and she has five sisters and two brothers.

She attended St. Vincent's Primary School, a private Catholic school, but was forced to drop out at the age of 14 as her family could no longer afford to pay the fees.

She took up a job as a babysitter at a Catholic community center and saved enough money to enroll in a year of business classes at Miss Gordon's Commercial College.

After completing her education, Mairead Maguire got a job as an accounting clerk with a local factory at the age of 16. She was interested in community service from a young age and regularly volunteered with the Legion of Mary, spending her evenings and weekends working with children and visiting inmates at Long Kesh prison.

At the age of 21, she began working as a secretary for the Guinness brewery, where she remained employed until December 1976.

A great tragedy befell the family in August 1976. A car being driven by an Irish Republican Army (IRA) terrorist Danny Lennon went out of control when the IRA man was shot by British troops while trying to make a getaway. The car went out of control and hit Mairead’s sister Anne Maguire and three of her children who were out shopping. Anne survived but all the three children were killed. Heartbroken, Anne later committed suicide.

This gruesome accident was witnessed by Betty Williams, a resident of Andersonstown, who accused the IRA of firing at the British patrol and provoking the incident. Mairead and Betty Williams joined hands to fight against the growing violence in Northern Ireland.

They began collecting signatures for a peace petition from Protestants and Catholics and were able to assemble some 200 women to march for peace in Belfast. More marches were organized, with an increasing number of people joining the two women. A march to the burial sites of the three Maguire children, brought 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women together.

Mairead Maguire is best known as one of the co-founders of Community of Peace People with Ciaran McKeown and Betty Williams. The organization is dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of the Troubles in Northern Ireland through non-violent means.