Mary Burns (29 September 1821 – 7 January 1863)Whitfield, Roy (1988) ''Friedrich Engels in Manchester'', Working Class Movement Library, was a

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

Irish woman, best known as the lifelong partner of

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England. Not much is written about Burns. The only direct references to her that have survived are a letter from

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

to Engels on learning of her death, saying she was "very good natured" and "witty", and a letter from Marx's daughter,

Eleanor Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It was the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages">Provençal dialect ...

, saying she was "very pretty, witty and an altogether charming girl, but in later years drank to excess". No images of Burns are known to exist.

Family and background

Burns was the daughter of Michael Burns or Byrne, a cotton dyer from Ireland, and of Mary Conroy. The family may have lived off

Deansgate Deansgate is a main road (part of the A56) through Manchester City Centre, England. It runs roughly north–south in a near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mil ...

. Her younger sister Lydia (1827–1878), known as "

Lizzie Lizzie or Lizzy is a nickname for Elizabeth or Elisabet, often given as an independent name in the United States, especially in the late 19th century. Lizzie can also be the shortened version of Lizeth, Lissette or Lizette. People * Elizabe ...

", lived with Mary and Engels. She continued to live with Engels after Mary's death, and married him on 11 September 1878, shortly before her own death. They had a half-brother named Thomas, born to their father's second wife after their mother died in 1835. Their niece Mary Ellen Burns, known as "Pumps", was born in around 1860 to Thomas. Engels continued to support her after the sisters' deaths.

Relationship with Engels

She met Engels during his first stay in

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, probably early in 1843. It is theorised, though not recorded, that Burns guided Engels through the region, showing him the worst districts of Salford and Manchester for his research for ''

The Condition of the Working Class in England ''The Condition of the Working Class in England'' () is an 1845 book by the German philosopher Friedrich Engels, a study of the industrial working class in Victorian England. Engels' first book, it was originally written in German; an English t ...

''.Irving, Sarah. (2010-03-15
Frederick Engels and Mary and Lizzy Burns , Manchester's Radical History
Radicalmanchester.wordpress.com. Retrieved on 2014-02-20. After meeting in the 1840s, Burns and Engels formed a relationship that lasted until Burns' sudden death at the age of 41 on 7 January 1863. Although the custom of the day was marriage, the two politically opposed the

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

institution of marriage and never married.

In popular culture

Burns was portrayed by

Hannah Steele Hannah Steele is an actress notable for her roles in ''Wolf Hall'' (2015), ''The Night Manager'' (2016), ''Black Mirror'' episode: " Shut Up and Dance" (2016), '' Darkest Hour'' (2017). Other credits include ''Doctors'' (2010), ''Casualty'' (201 ...

in the 2017 film ''

The Young Karl Marx ''The Young Karl Marx'' (; ) is a 2017 historical drama film about Karl Marx, directed by Haitian filmmaker and political activist Raoul Peck, co-written by Peck and Pascal Bonitzer, and starring August Diehl. It had its world premiere at the 67t ...

''.

Frank McGuinness Professor Frank McGuinness (born 1953) is an Irish writer. As well as his own plays, which include '' The Factory Girls'', '' Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'', '' Someone Who'll Watch Over Me'' and '' Dolly West's Kitche ...

dramatised her and her sister's lives in the play ''Mary and Lizzie'' (1989). She was also the subject of the poem ''Mary'', written in 1845 by

Georg Weerth Georg Ludwig Weerth (17 February 1822 – 30 July 1856) was a German writer and poet. Weerth's poems celebrated the solidarity of the working class in its fight for liberation from exploitation and oppression. He was a friend and companio ...

, who had met her in Brussels the same year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Mary 1821 births 1863 deaths Irish activists Irish women activists English activists English women activists People from Salford English people of Irish descent