Celebrating the life and tragic death of Mary Ward

A gathering to mark the 'Wonderful World and Tragic Death' of Mary Ward takes place on Saturday, August 31 on the 150th anniversary of the world’s first recorded road fatality.

Born in Ferbane to the King family of Ballylin, and cousin of the 3rd Earl of Rosse, Mary Ward became a well-known artist, naturalist, astronomer and microscopist.
Her mother, who was sister to the 2nd Countess of Rosse, was from the beautiful Gloster House, near Birr.
To mark the launch of the reprint of Mary Ward’s first publication Sketches with the Microscope, Offaly History, Birr Historical Society and Birr Castle invite you to a special afternoon to commemorate her life and work on the 150th anniversary of her death.
Beginning at the Castle end of Oxmantown Mall on Saturday, August 31 at 3.30pm, Brian Kennedy of Birr Historical Society will lead a walking tour marking the last journey Mary Ward made from the Castle to the site of the fatal steam-car accident near St Brendan’s Church, the first recorded road fatality in the world.
The tour will continue to Emmet Square and to the former premises of FH Sheilds, the printers who published a limited run of 250 copies of 'Sketches with the Microscope' in 1857.
Brian Kennedy will continue the tour to St Brendan’s graveyard and to the Rosse vault where Mary Ward is interred.
This will be followed by the launch of reprint of ‘Sketches with the Microscope’ with introductory essays by Michael Byrne and John Feehan at 5pm in the Courtyard Café, Birr Castle. Offaly History’s new reprint will be launched with the Earl and Countess of Rosse, and members of the Ward family Castle Ward, Mary Ward’s descendants, in attendance. 
Mary Ward’s Sketches with the Microscope in a letter to a friend, first published in Birr in 1857, is now a prized example of provincial printing and almost impossible to obtain.
Since the 1980s the public has come to know more of her work and her expertise as a highly skilled microscopist. 
The gift of a microscope in 1845 transformed her life and came at a time when her cousin, the third earl of Rosse (died 1867), was completing the great telescope in the grounds of Birr Castle. Not surprisingly, this fuelled her interest in astronomy about which she would also write extensively.
Mary Ward (née King) was born in Ferbane in 1827 and died in Birr in a shocking motor accident on 31 August 1869. She takes her place alongside the Rosses, Jolys and Stoneys in the gallery of Offaly people who have contributed to science.
Her privately printed 'Sketches with the microscope' ranks as the finest book printed in the county in the nineteenth century and is now deservedly reprinted for an engaged public.
The reprint is a faithful full-colour facsimile of the original publication and features new introductory essays by Michael Byrne and John Feehan. 
It is the work of Brosna Press of Ferbane and much thought and effort has been put into reproducing this rare Birr printing by seeking to adhere as faithfully as possible to the original book, while providing new and scholarly introductions on Mary Ward and the extent of her achievement.
Offaly History has worked with Caroline Conway and Tina Claffey in creating a greater awareness of the work of Mary Ward. 
All of us are indebted to the pioneering research of Dr Owen Harry, the long-standing commitment by Birr Historical Society to commemorate Mary Ward in Birr, and to the exhibition of Ward’s work as part of a Birr Castle and Science Museum project in 1988.
The project is supported by Creative Ireland.