Revivalist: Medical Herbs and Rejuvenation in the Works of Lady Augusta Gregory

Abstract

When Lady Augusta Gregory (1852-1932) effected her famous mid-life self-reinvention from Anglo-Irish landlady to revivalist dramatist, healing women from her locality provided significant guides and models for her new life and work. This article will discuss what Gregory learned from the lore of a local healer, the shadowy Bridget Ruane (who died c.1899). It will analyse how Gregory worked Ruane’s folk medical knowledge into her prose writings and plays, including The Pot of Broth (1904). In restoring the name of this non-elite woman from the west of Ireland, this article suggests the benefits of casting the net more widely for names to stand alongside Gregory’s as creators of Revival-era culture.