Barry, Margaret (‘Maggie’)
Barry, Margaret (‘Maggie’) (1917–89), folk singer, was born 1 January 1917 in Peter Street, Cork city, one of five children of Timothy Cleary and his wife Mary or Margaret (née Thompson ); the family were travellers who had been loosely settled in the Cork city area for two…...
Bates, Daisy May
Bates, Daisy May (1859–1951), welfare worker for Aborigines, anthropologist, and eccentric, was born 21 October 1859 in Roscrea, Co. Tipperay, third among six children of James Dwyer , catholic tradesman and blacksmith, and Bridget Dwyer (née Hunt). Her twin brother, Francis, died…...
Browne, Kathleen Anne
Browne, Kathleen Anne (1878–1943), agriculturist, writer, and politician, was born 1 October 1878 in Wexford, eldest among five children of Michael Browne, farmer, shopkeeper, and local politician, of Rathronan Castle, Bridgetown, Co. Wexford, and his wife (and cousin) Mary…...
Burke, Joan
Burke, Joan (1929–2016), nurse, politician and farmer, was named Hanna Teresa at her birth on 8 February 1928, at Roughgrove House, Bandon, Co. Cork, the last of four children, and the only daughter, of Denis Crowley and Bridgid (‘Cissie’) (née Russell). The family farmed at Roughgrove…...
Caitilín Dubh
Caitilín Dubh (fl. 1624–9), poet, lived in Thomond (present-day Co. Clare). She is the earliest woman poet for whom texts in the Irish language survive in quantity. Five of her elegies, in accentual (or stressed) caoineadh metre, are copied into Duanaire Uí Bhriain…...
Cleary, Bridget
Cleary, Bridget (1867–95), dressmaker, was born in Ballyvadlea, near Cloneen, Co. Tipperary, daughter, and apparently the youngest child, of Patrick Boland , a farm labourer, and his wife, Bridget (née Keating). This was probably in February 1867, although most contemporary…...
Coppin, Louisa (Little Weesy)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Coppin, William. View the original entry....
Cronin, Elizabeth (‘Bess’)
Cronin, Elizabeth (‘Bess’) (1879–1956), folk singer, was born 30 May 1879, the eldest of the five children of Seán ‘Máistir’ Ó hIarfhlaithe and Maighréad Ní Thuama. Her father was headmaster in the school of Barr d'Ínse in the Fuhirees area of West Cork, near the Cork–Kerry border.…...
Currey, Frances Wilmot (‘Fanny’)
Currey, Frances Wilmot (‘Fanny’) (1848–1917), artist and horticulturalist, was born 30 May 1848 at Lismore castle, Co. Waterford, the daughter of Francis Edmund Currey and his wife, Anna. Her father, who for many years was land agent to the dukes of Devonshire, was also an early…...
De Valera, Sinéad
De Valera, Sinéad (1875–1975), teacher, folklorist, and writer, was born Jane Flanagan , 1 June 1875, in Ballbriggan, Co. Dublin, one of three daughters and four children of Laurence Flanagan, a carpenter, and Margaret Flanagan (née Byrne). When she was seven the family moved to Munster…...
Early, Biddy
Early, Biddy (c.1798–1874), clairvoyant and healer, was born in the townland of Faha, near Kilanena, Co. Clare, as Bridget Connors (or O'Connor) ; the name Early, by which she was known throughout her life, was her mother's maiden name. Little is known about her, despite…...
Fox, Charlotte Olivia (née Milligan)
Fox, Charlotte Olivia (née Milligan) (1864–1916), ethnomusicologist, was born 17 March 1864 in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, the eldest child among five daughters and six sons (two of whom did not reach adulthood) of Seaton Forrest Milligan (1836–1916) of Glencar, Omagh, businessman,…...
Franks, (Gertrude) Lucy
Franks, (Gertrude) Lucy (1878–1964), president of the Irish Countrywomen's Association, was born 27 February 1878 in Westfield, Queen's Co. (Laois), daughter of Matthew Henry Franks, landowner, JP and DL…...
Gallagher, Eileen Helen Mary
This is a co-subject for the entry on Gallagher, Redmond. View the original entry....
Gray, Elizabeth (‘Betsy’)
Gray, Elizabeth (‘Betsy’) (d. 1798), heroine of the 1798 rebellion, may have been the daughter of the widowed farmer Hans Gray (d. 1807) of Six Roads Ends, Gransha, Co. Down. However, as her story quickly lent itself to myth-making, establishing precise facts is not easy. The…...
Gregory, (Isabella) Augusta
Gregory, (Isabella) Augusta (1852–1932), Lady Gregory, writer, folklorist and patron of the arts, was born Isabella Augusta Persse at Roxborough House, Co. Galway, on 15 March 1852. She was the ninth of thirteen children (eight boys and five girls) of Dudley Persse and his second wife…...
Johnson, Rosanna (‘Rosie’)
Johnson, Rosanna (‘Rosie’) (1891–1987), street trader, was born 24 March 1891, daughter of William Walsh, labourer, of 6 Turner's Cottages, Dublin, and Julia Walsh (née Reilly). At the age of 12 she was selling violets on the street for a penny a bunch and by the time she was 17 she…...
Kane, Katherine Sophia
Kane, Katherine Sophia (1811–86), botanist and horticulturist, was born 11 March 1811, the only child of Henry Baily , who came from Berkshire, England, to Limerick as a distiller, and Bridget Baily (née O'Kelly). Katherine's uncle Francis Baily was an eminent astronomer and vice-…...
Keane, Rita
Keane, Rita (1923–2009), traditional singer and musician, was born on 31 December 1923 in the townland of Carragh, Caherlistrane, Co. Galway, one of eight children (four daughters and four sons) of Matt Keane and his wife May (née Costello; d. 1978), who were farmers. Rita attended…...
Mac Grianna (Mhic Ghrianna), Róise
Mac Grianna (Mhic Ghrianna), Róise (1879–1964), traditional Irish-language singer and storyteller, was born 13 March 1879 in Seascann an Róinn, near Dungloe (Clochán Liath), Co. Donegal, one of five children of Tomas Ó Colla, farmer, and his wife, Maighréad, a noted musician and the…...
MacNeill, Máire
MacNeill, Máire (1904–87), folklorist, was born 7 December 1904 at Hazelbrook, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin, fifth child and second daughter of John (Eoin) MacNeill (qv) and Agnes (‘Taddie’) MacNeill (née Moore). After the family moved to 19…...
Mahon, Bríd (Bridget)
Mahon, Bríd (Bridget) (1918–2008), folklorist, was born on 14 July 1918 at 16 Elizabeth Street, Belfast, to Stephen Mahon and Mary Catherine Mahon (née Wall). Her father was an electrician, and she was one of five siblings. When communal and sectarian violence erupted in Belfast in 1922…...
Malone, Molly (or Mollie)
Malone, Molly (or Mollie) , heroine of song, was probably a generic fishmonger and street trader of nineteenth-century Dublin. Molly (the name is derived from ‘Mary’), is named in a popular, unofficial anthem of the city (‘Cockles and mussels’ or ‘Molly Malone’) as a fishmonger's…...
Massy, Annie Letitia
Massy, Annie Letitia (1868–1931), marine biologist and ornithologist, was born on 29 January 1868 in Netley, Hampshire, England, third among two sons and two daughters of Hugh Deane Massy, a British army surgeon of Stagdale, Co. Limerick, and his wife Annie. The Massy family claimed…...
Ní Annagáin, Máighréad
This is a co-subject for the entry on Clandillon, Seamus (‘Clan’). View the original entry....