This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by Richard Hawkins. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
Born: 1866 (circa), Ireland
Died: 23 April 1926
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Mary O’Brien
Cane, (Lucy) Mary (c.1866–1926), public servant, was born probably at Cahirmoyle, Co. Limerick, third child of Edward William O’Brien of Cahirmoyle and Mary Spring O’Brien, sister of the 2nd Baron Monteagle. William Smith O’Brien was a grandfather; her brother was Dermod O’Brien, president of the RHA from 1910; and her sister was Ellen Lucy (‘Nelly’) O’Brien, painter, ecumenist, and founder of the bilingual protestant journal The Gaelic Churchman. Her cousin was Mary Ellen Spring Rice who had strong nationalist sympathies. Educated at home, Lucy married (1894) Arthur Beresford Cane of Collinstown, Co. Dublin, barrister, administrator, and friend of her brother since childhood; they had two daughters. She joined a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) of the British Red Cross c.1910 and served at VAD headquarters 1914–17 under Katharine Furse, her cousin by marriage, who became director of the new Women’s Royal Naval Service in 1917. Mary Cane moved with her to become assistant director, retiring in 1919 with a CBE. She died 23 April 1926 in London, in her sixtieth year.