[1] Born Mary Anne Rankin in Coleraine, Ireland, in 1865.

[2] Her father was Hamilton Rankin of Camdonagh, County Donegal, he was an inspector of waterworks.

[2] She married the artist John Macallan Swan in Cork in 1884.

[3] She was an artist who specialised in depictions of children and occasionally sculptures.

[4][5] Together, they had two children, John Barye Rankin, an engineer who served as a Naval Volunteer Reserve [6][7] in the First World War, and Mary Alice, who went on to become a sculptor and medalist.