Alice Letitia Milligan [pseud. Iris Olkyrn] (4 September 1865 – 13 April 1953) was an Irish writer and activist in Ireland's Celtic Revival; an advocate for the political and cultural participation of women; and a Protestant-unionist convert to the cause of Irish independence. She was at the height of her renown at the turn of the 20th century when in Belfast, with Anna Johnston, she produced the political and literary monthly The Shan Van Vocht (1896-1899), and when in Dublin the Irish Literary Theatre's performed "The Last Feast of the Fianna” (1900), Milligan's interpretation of Celtic legend as national drama. Early life and influences Family and education Milligan was one of nine surviving children born to Charlotte Burns, a linen shop assistant, and Seaton Milligan, a commercial drapery salesman in a village outside Omagh, County Tyrone, in 1866. In 1879, promoted by his company to an executive position, her father moved the family to Belfast where Milligan was able to attend Methodist College, Belfast, an early pioneer of secondary mixed-sex education. Her first poems were published in the school magazine Eos. Her father, a liberal unionist and well-known antiquarian, organized talks and lectures for the local workingmen's institute and drew his daughter into discussion of history, international affairs and literature. Alice also acknowledged the influence of a family servant, Jane, who conveyed the spirit of her previous mistress Mary Ann McCracken (1770-1866). McCracken was the devoted sister of Henry Joy McCracken, the United Irish leader executed in the wake of the 1798 Rebellion and, to the end of her days in Belfast, an advocate for women and for the poor. As a by-product of their participation together in the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, Milligan and her father wrote an ethnographic travelogue of Ireland, Glimpses of Erin (1888). In the book her father offered that "patriotism … far from being an irrational sentiment is entirely rational and desirable from a utilitarian point of view. It is as much so from a Christian standpoint. By living in our own land and doing our best to benefit it, we can best carry out the command 'Do unto others as you would that they should do to you'". The Gaelic League After a year studying in English history and literature at King's College, London, Milligan trained as a teacher and 1888 secured a position as a Latin instructor at the MacKikkip's Ladies Collegiate School