Margaret Elizabeth Cousins (née Gillespie), an Irish-Indian educationist, suffragist, and Theosophist who plays a pivotal role in advancing women’s rights in Ireland and India, is born in Boyle, County Roscommon, on November 7, 1878.
Cousins, also known as Gretta Cousins, is born into a Protestant and Unionist family. She is the eldest of fifteen children of Joseph Gillespie, a petty session clerk, and Margaret Annie Gillespie (née Shera). She excels academically, earning a scholarship to Victoria High School for Girls in Derry. In 1898, she moved to Dublin and studies music at the Royal Irish Academy of Music before attending the Royal University of Ireland, graduating with a BMus in 1902. She marries poet and literary critic James Cousins on April 9, 1903, and maintains her independence by continuing to work as a music teacher.
Cousins is deeply involved in the Irish women’s suffrage movement. She co-founds the Irish Women’s Franchise League with Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington in 1908, serving as its first treasurer, and actively participates in protests, including the Parliament of Women in 1910 and demonstrations against the Second Home Rule Bill in 1913, which leads to her imprisonment in Tullamore Jail. She is also a committed vegetarian and engages with the Irish Vegetarian Society, promoting social reform and ethical living.
In 1915, Cousins and her husband move to India, where she continues her activism. She becomes the first non-Indian member of the Indian Women’s University at Poona (present-day Pune) and co-founds the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) in 1917 with Annie Besant and Dorothy Jinarajadasa, advocating for women’s education and empowerment.
Cousins also plays a key role in preserving the tune of the Indian National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana, and is part of the Flag Presentation Committee that presents the National Flag to the Constituent Assembly of India in 1947. She later founds the All India Women’s Conference (AIWC), further cementing her legacy in advancing women’s rights in India.
A stroke leaves Cousins paralysed from 1943 onward. She receives financial support from the Madras government, and later Jawaharlal Nehru, in recognition of her services to India. She dies at the age of 75 on March 1, 1954, in Adyar, Chennai.
Cousins’ work bridges Irish and Indian social reform movements, combining her interests in education, feminism, and Theosophy. She is recognized for her contributions to women’s rights and education, and her efforts leave a lasting impact on both countries. Her manuscripts are dispersed in various collections across the world.
