Culwick, Florence (1877–1929), director of the Culwick choir, was born 4 November 1877 at 21 Upper Lesson Street, Dublin, the daughter of James Cooksey Culwick, professor of music, and Mary Jane (née Richardson), his second wife. Florence was educated at Alexandra College, Dublin, excelling at music which she later taught at the school. Her father had arrived in Dublin from Staffordshire, to take up a series of posts as an organist in Ireland, culminating in his appointment as organist at the Chapel Royal, Dublin castle, where he served until his death in 1907. He was a choir master and composer of repute with a considerable teaching practice who had founded the Orpheus Choral Society in 1898. Florence, on his death, maintained his good reputation, and in 1913 re-established his choral society, which had become inactive, as Miss Culwick's Choral Society, thus becoming Dublin's first female conductor.
During the first world war the choir was confined to women but in 1919 it was returned to full strength and flourished. Culwick was responsible for attracting renowned artists to Dublin such as Dorothy Silk and John Goss, but also encouraged local talent. Notable performances by the choir under her leadership included the first performance in Dublin of Bantock's ‘Vanity of vanities’ and Vaughan Williams's mass in G minor. The choir's greatest success was its victory at the Welsh Eisteddfod at Holyhead in 1927. After this the choir was renamed the Culwick Choral Society in honour of her father and her own successful leadership. She died 30 August 1929 in a nursing home in Portobello, Dublin.