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Introduction & Early Life
Mary Ryan (14 December 1873-16 June 1961) (see Later Life) was the first woman in Ireland or Great Britain to receive the status of being appointed as a professor at a university. She was the Professor of Romance Languages at University College Cork (see Career). She had began teaching in the year 1910. She was only 36 years of age at the time.

Mary Ryan was born on 14th December 1873 at 4 Thomas Street West, Cork, to Edward Ryan and Matilda (nee O’Connor) of Blackrock Road. Edward Ryan owned the soap manufacturing company which later made candles. The company became Kinsale Candles and now belongs to Punch Industries, a subsidiary of Henkel (. Mary Ryan lived in Monfieldstown, Douglas, Cork in house no. 15 with Edward Ryan, Matilda Ryan (nee O’Connor) and their servant Maryanne Murphy (see Family Life). She was Roman Catholic, according to her baptismal records and the 1911 Census. Ryan attended St. Angela's College, Cork and was the first student in the all-girls secondary school. She had only step foot inside of Queen's College Cork in order to complete university examinations. Ryan became fluent in French and German in 1909.

Professor Ryan had left a legacy (see Legacy) in the Romance Languages department. It took her 15 years to become appointed the Professor of Romance Languages. She had ‘built up’ both the German and French Departments which help paved way for other scholarly academics and encouraged her students to pursue postgraduate. Many of her pupils sat the Travelling Studentship : "“Her personal scholarship lay in the mid-century phase of French Catholic poets'"She had worked as a Professor at the educational institution for about 30 years and had sent her students to pursue postgraduate study in Sorbonne.

Ryan received very few awards for all her accomplishments but in that few, she has received the esteemed Legion of Honour rosette, which is the highest merit a civilian can obtain in France and was awarded a D.Litt (Doctor of Letters) by the University of Paris.

She had retired in 1938, aged 65 and had taught many students during her year at University College Cork.