Born | Mairead Corrigan 27 January 1944 |
---|---|
Other names | Mairead Corrigan Maguire |
Alma mater | Trinity College Dublin |
Organization(s) | The Peace People, The Nobel Women's Initiative |
Known for | International social activist |
Spouse |
Jackie Maguire (m. 1981) |
Children | 2 (5)[1][4] |
Relatives | Anne Maguire (sister) |
Awards | Nobel Peace Prize (1976) Norwegian People's Peace Prize (1976)[5] Carl von Ossietzky Medal (1976)[6] Pacem in Terris (1990) |
Mairead Maguire (born 27 January 1944), also known as Mairead Corrigan Maguire and formerly as Mairéad Corrigan, is a peace activist from Northern Ireland. She co-founded, with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown, the Women for Peace, which later became the Community for Peace People.[7] Maguire and Williams were awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize.[8]
Maguire was born into a Catholic community in Belfast on 27 January 1944, the daughter of a window cleaner father and housewife mother, growing up with five sisters and two brothers.
In September, 1981, Mairead married Jackie Maguire, widower of her sister Anne, who never recovered from the loss of her children and died in January, 1980. In addition to the remaining three children from the earlier marriage – Mark, Joanne and Marie Louise – Mairead and Jackie are the parents of John and Luke.
To a standing ovation, Betty Williams, 33, and Mairead Corrigan, 32, co-founders of the Ulster Peace Movement (TIME, Sept. 6) arrived to accept the Norwegian People's Peace Prize.
This was the beginning of the Movement and the three co-founders worked to harness the energy and desire of many people in Northern Ireland for peace... Ciaran named the movement, Peace People, wrote the Declaration, and set out its rally programme, etc.
The Nobel Peace Prize 1976 was awarded jointly to Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan received their Nobel Prize one year later, in 1977.