Màiri Mhòr nan Òran

Mary MacPherson
Native name
Màiri Mhòr nan Òran
BornMary MacDonald
(1821-03-10)10 March 1821
Skeabost, Skye, Scotland
Died8 November 1898(1898-11-08) (aged 77)
Portree, Skye, Scotland
OccupationNurse and midwife, poet
LanguageScottish Gaelic
EducationGlasgow Royal Infirmary
Literary movementHighland Land League
SpouseIsaac MacPherson

Mary MacPherson (née MacDonald), known as Màiri Mhòr nan Òran (English: Great Mary of the Songs) or simply Màiri Mhòr (10 March 1821 – 7 November 1898), was a Scottish Gaelic poet from the Isle of Skye, whose contribution to Scottish Gaelic literature is focused heavily upon the Highland Clearances and the Crofters War; the Highland Land League's campaigns of rent strikes and other forms of direct action. Although she could read her own work when it was written down, she could not write it down herself. She retained her songs and poems in her memory and eventually dictated them to others, who wrote them down for publication. She often referred to herself as Màiri Nighean Iain Bhàin (Mary, daughter of fair haired John), the name by which she would have been known as a child in Skye.