Betsy Gray

Betsy Gray was a Scots Presbyterian peasent girl from outside Lisburn in Co. Antrim in what is today Northern Ireland, who was killed as part of the 1798 Rebellion of the United Irishmen, and is the subject of many folk ballads and poems about her written since her time down to the present day.

She faught in the Battle of Ballynahinch against the Yeomanry, and was killed in retreat along with her brother and lover, having her right hand cut off before being decapitated.

She is a folk hero to all in Ulster, with both loyalists and republicans claiming her as their own, as typified by the centenary celebrations where the locals broke a monument to her sooner than let Nationalists have a cermony in her honour.

Betsy Gray Cup

Today the Betsy Gray Cup is awarded by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in her memory in Ulster.

Betsy Gray in fiction

Betsy was featured in a novel which was semi-historical by Wesley Guard Lyttle, owner of a local newspaper "The Down Herald".

Reference

*http://www.lisburn.com/books/betsey_gray/betsy-gray1.htm
*http://www.oracleireland.com/Ireland/People/betsy-gray.htm
*http://www.bangorboat.com/page18.html
*http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com/pressreleaseApril2905.asp
*http://www.slbc.ie/history/betsy-grey.htm
*http://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0898389127...
*http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com/betsygray.asp
*http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Betsy_Gray.htm
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/down/bhinch_battle.shtml
*http://www.downgaa.net/downgaa/clubs/kilclief/news/2005/april_betsygraycupwin.htm