Gregory, Isabella Augusta, Lady, n�e Persse 1852-1932
Irish playwright

She was born at Roxborough House near Coole, County Galway, the daughter of a wealthy family. The Gregory family were nearby landowners, and in 1880 Augusta Persse married Sir William Henry Gregory (1817-92) who was Governor of Ceylon (1872-77). After her husband's death, Lady Augusta furthered her study of Irish mythology and folklore, an interest which led in 1896 to her meeting W B Yeats. She shared his vision of a resurgent Irish drama and, with Yeats and the writer Edward Martyn (1859-1923), co-founded the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, which opened in 1904. Lady Gregory wrote or translated about 40 short plays about the Irish rural peasantry, including the comedy, Spreading the News (1904), the patriotic Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902, with Yeats) and The Rising of the Moon (1907). The Gaol Gate (1906) is a tragedy, while The White Cockade (1905) and The Deliverer (1911) are history plays. She also translated Moli�re and wrote versions of the Irish legends in dialect. She was a leading figure in the Irish literary revival, and her home at Coole Park became a focus for the movement.

Bibliography: A Saddlemayer, In Defence of Lady Gregory (1966)