Affrica (Affraic)
Affrica (Affraic) (fl. 1180–c.1219), daughter of Gofraid and wife of John de Courcy (qv), was a member of the royal family of Man and the Isles. Her father Gofraid (d. 1187), king of Man and the Isles, was a grandson of…...
Aífe (Aoife, Eva)
Aífe (Aoife, Eva) (fl. c.1153–1189) was the daughter of Diarmait Mac Murchada (qv) (d. 1171), king of Leinster, and of his wife Mór, daughter of …...
Ashe, Nora (Honora)
Ashe, Nora (Honora) (1882–1970), teacher, nationalist, and Irish language enthusiast, was born 15 July 1882 in Kinard, Lispole, Co. Kerry, the third daughter in the family of ten of Gregory Ashe, a farmer, and Ellen (née Hanafin), of Tobar, Co. Kerry. Both her parents were native…...
Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel
Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel (c.1571–95), countess of Tyrone , was born in Newry, sixth daughter and youngest among eleven children of Sir Nicholas Bagenal (qv), marshal of the army in Ireland, and Eleanor Griffith…...
Bailey, Mary (‘Lady Bailey’) (née Westenra)
Bailey, Mary (‘Lady Bailey’) (née Westenra) (1890–1960), aviator, was born on 1 December 1890 at 30 Grosvenor Square, London, to Derrick (Derry) Warner William Westenra (1853–1921), the fifth Baron Rossmore, and his wife Mittie (née Naylor) (d. 1953), the daughter of a wealthy English…...
Barry, Alice
Barry, Alice (1608–c. 1667), 1st countess of Barrymore, was born at College House in Youghal, Co. Cork, on Palm Sunday, 20 March 1608. Alice was the eldest daughter of the English Protestant planter,…...
Blackwood, Hariot Georgina (Rowan-Hamilton)
Blackwood, Hariot Georgina (Rowan-Hamilton) (1843–1936), marchioness of Dufferin and Ava , philanthropist and author, was born 5 February 1843, eldest of seven children of Archibald Rowan and Catherine Rowan-Hamilton (née Caldwell) of Killyleagh Castle, Co. Down. She married (23…...
Borthwick, Mariella Norma
Borthwick, Mariella Norma (1862–1934), artist, writer and Irish-language activist, was born 25 July 1862 in Highfield, Higher Bebington, Chester, one of five daughters and three sons of George Borthwick, merchant, and Mary Elizabeth Borthwick (née MacDonald), of Edinburgh. Despite her…...
Boyle, Elizabeth
Boyle, Elizabeth (1613–1691), countess of Cork and Burlington, was born at Skipton Castle in Yorkshire on 17 September 1613. She was the only surviving child of Henry Clifford (d. 1643) and Frances Cecil (d. 1644), 5th earl and countess of Cumberland. Little evidence is available about…...
Boyle Fenton, Catherine
Boyle Fenton, Catherine (c.1588–1630), countess of Cork , was the only daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton (qv), secretary of state for Ireland 1580–1608, and his wife Alice, daughter of Dr…...
Boyle, Margaret
Boyle, Margaret (1623–1689), 1st countess of Orrery, was one of ten children of Theophilus Howard (d. 1640), 2nd earl of Suffolk and Elizabeth Home (daughter of the 1st earl of Dunbar). Margaret was baptised on 11 February 1623 at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields, London, and, though not much…...
Brooke, Charlotte
Brooke, Charlotte (1750☓1760–1793), poet, dramatist, and pioneer in the introduction of Irish culture to the English reader, was born at Rantavan House, Mullagh, Co. Cavan, daughter of Henry Brooke (qv) and Catherine Brooke (née Meares; 1718?–…...
Browne, José
This is a co-subject for the entry on Browne, Dennis. View the original entry....
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…...
Bryant, Sophie
Bryant, Sophie (1850–1922), educationist, home ruler, Celticist, and suffragist, was born 15 February 1850 in Sandymount, Dublin, second daughter and third child of Sophia Willock (née Morris) of Dublin and Skreen Castle, and the Rev. William Alexander Willock (d. 1879 in London),…...
Burgh, Elizabeth de
Burgh, Elizabeth de (1332–63), heiress of Ulster, was born 6 July 1332, only child of William de Burgh (qv), earl of Ulster, and Maud, daughter of Henry, earl of Lancaster and Leicester. After her father's death (6 June 1333), which…...
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…...
Butler, Elizabeth
Butler, Elizabeth (1615–1684), duchess of Ormond and Lady Dingwall , noblewoman, was the only child of Richard Preston , Lord Dingwall, one of James I's gentlemen of the bedchamber, and Elizabeth Butler, the only surviving child of Thomas…...
Butler, Elizabeth
Butler, Elizabeth (c.1585–1628), countess of Desmond and Lady Dingwall , was the only daughter of Thomas Butler (qv), 10th earl of Ormond, and his English-born second wife Elizabeth Sheffield, daughter of John, Lord Sheffield,…...
Butler, Lady Margaret
Butler, Lady Margaret (1471?–1542), countess of Ormond , was second daughter of Gerald FitzGerald (qv), 8th earl of Kildare, and his first wife, Alison, daughter of Roland…...
Butler, Mary Ellen Lambert
Butler, Mary Ellen Lambert (1873–1920), novelist, was born 28 June 1873 in England, the youngest of the two daughters and a son of Peter Butler (1840–80) of Bunnahow House, Co. Clare, and Mary Ryan of Tipperary. The Butlers were landowners who remained catholic. Through intermarriage,…...
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…...
Calf, Elizabeth
Calf, Elizabeth (b. a.1365, d. 1445), queen of Leinster, was a daughter of Robert Calf (or le Veel; fl. 1378), baron of Norragh, and a great-great niece of Walter Calf (qv), bishop of Leighlin. She was married in…...
Campbell, Lady Agnes
Campbell, Lady Agnes (d. c.1595), lady of Kintyre and Dunyveg , was the daughter of Colin Campbell, 3rd earl of Argyll, and Jean, daughter of Alexander Gordon, 3rd earl of Huntley. Her marriage to James MacDonnell (qv),…...
Chabot, Isabella Charlotte de Rohan-
Chabot, Isabella Charlotte de Rohan- (1784–1868), aristocrat and diarist, was born 16 July 1784 in Leinster House, Dublin, fourth daughter of William Robert Fitzgerald (qv), 2nd duke of Leinster, and his wife Emilia Olivia,…...