Ó hUallacháin, Colmán
Ó hUallacháin, Colmán (1922–79), educator, linguist, Irish-language activist and priest, was born Liam Holohan on 8 December 1922 in Dublin, eldest among four sons and two daughters of Garry Holohan (Gearóid Ó hUallacháin) (1894–1967), imprisoned republican soldier, and latterly an…...
O'Leary, Con
O'Leary, Con (1915–98), pioneer of the co-operative movement, was born 18 May 1915 in Glendine, Inchigeela, west Co. Cork, son of Daniel O'Leary, farmer, and Kate O'Leary (née Barrett). He was educated at the local national school, before being forced to leave school to work on…...
O'Mahony, Donal
O'Mahony, Donal (1936–2010), Capuchin priest and activist for social justice, was born on 2 August 1936 in Blackrock, Cork, son of Jeremiah O'Mahony and his wife Ellen (née Walsh). He was educated at Rochestown College, and then trained as a sports journalist with the Irish…...
O'Malley, Tony (Anthony)
O'Malley, Tony (Anthony) (1913–2003), painter, was born 25 September 1913 in Bridge Street, Callan, Co. Kilkenny, eldest of two sons and two daughters of Patrick O'Malley, a commercial traveller for Singer sewing machines, and his wife Margaret (née Ryan), from the Callan area, who…...
Ó Maolmhuaidh, Proinsias (Francis O'Molloy)
Ó Maolmhuaidh, Proinsias (Francis O'Molloy) (d. 1677), grammarian and theologian, was probably born in the very early seventeenth century, and most likely in the part of Co. Offaly known as Fircall, or O'Molloy's Country. It is stated that he was of noble birth, being related to…...
O'Meara, Frank
O'Meara, Frank (1853–88), landscape painter, was born in Carlow on 30 March 1853, the youngest of the seven children of Thomas O'Meara, a medical doctor, and his wife, Sarah (née Isbourne). His grandfather Dr Barry Edward O'Meara…...
O'Meara, John
O'Meara, John (1915–2003), academic, was born 18 February 1915 at Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, the elder of two sons of Patrick O'Meara, a small businessman from Ilaunmore on Lough Derg, and Mary O'Meara (née Donelan). The very early death of his father, at the end of 1915, and the troubled…...
Ó Monacháin, Ailbhe
Ó Monacháin, Ailbhe (1889–1967), illustrator and Irish-language activist, was born 26 January 1889 in Belfast and christened Alfred Monahan, youngest of four sons and two daughters of Wexford-born Robert Joseph Monahan, sawyer, and Johanna Monahan (née Nolan). He was educated in Belfast…...
Ó Riain (O'Ryan), Henry
Ó Riain (O'Ryan), Henry (fl. 1633), Dominican priest and Latin poet, probably received his classical education at Munster and pursued his philosophical and theological studies at Rome or elsewhere in Italy. Resident at Rome in 1633, he was commissioned to compose a…...
O'Sullivan, Donal
O'Sullivan, Donal (1904–77), priest and arts administrator, was born Daniel Joseph Sullivan on 27 July 1904 in Donemark, Bantry, Co. Cork, the only son among two children of John Sullivan, a national school teacher, and Mary Anne Sullivan (née Keohane). After receiving primary and…...
O'Sullivan, Seán
O'Sullivan, Seán (1906–64), artist, was born John O'Sullivan on 20 June 1906 in 44 St Joseph's Terrace, Dublin, son of John O'Sullivan, carpenter, and Mary O'Sullivan (née Taylor). Educated at Synge Street Christian Brothers' School and Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, where he was…...
Owens, Evelyn
Owens, Evelyn (1931–2010), trade unionist and women's rights advocate, was born on 22 January 1931 at 23 Vernon Gardens, Clontarf, Dublin, the fourth of six children of William Owens, a civil servant of Clontarf, originally from Co. Roscommon, and his wife Ellen (née Monaghan), from…...
Pearse, James
Pearse, James (1839–1900), sculptor, was born on 8 December 1839 at 24 Plumtree Street, Bloomsbury, London, the second of three sons of James Pearse, frame-maker, and his first wife Mary Ann (née Thompson). The family was impoverished and moved to Birmingham (c.1847), where…...
Pearse, William (‘Willie’)
Pearse, William (‘Willie’) (1881–1916), revolutionary and sculptor, was born 15 November 1881 at 27 Great Brunswick St. (Pearse St.), Dublin, second son among two sons and two daughters of James Pearse, a monumental sculptor originally from London, and his second wife,…...
Pilkington, Ellice
Pilkington, Ellice (1869–1936), women's activist and artist, was born 1 September 1869 as Louisa Ellice Esmonde , second daughter of Sir John Esmonde, MP and lieutenant-colonel of Waterford artillery militia, of Ballynastragh, Gorey, Co. Wexford, and Louisa Esmonde (née Grattan),…...
Plunkett, Elizabeth Mary Margaret (‘Daisy’) (née Burke)
Plunkett, Elizabeth Mary Margaret (‘Daisy’) (née Burke) (1862–1944), countess of Fingall , socialite and cooperationist, was born at Danesfield, near Moycullen, Co. Galway, eldest among three daughters and one son of George Burke, farmer and magistrate; her two youngest siblings…...
Plunkett, Richard (Risteard Pluincéid)
Plunkett, Richard (Risteard Pluincéid) (fl. 1662), Franciscan friar and dictionary compiler, is of obscure origins. The Plunketts were one of the most prominent Old English families of the Pale, with titles such as ‘lord of Louth’, ‘Lord Dunsany’, and ‘baron of Killeen’.…...
Pollen, John Hungerford
Pollen, John Hungerford (1820–1902), architect, artist, and author, was born 19 November 1820 in London, second son of Richard Pollen, barrister, and his wife Anne, daughter of Samuel Pepys Cockerell. Educated at Durham House (1829–33) and Eton (1833–8), in May 1838 he…...
Power, Albert George
Power, Albert George (1881–1945), sculptor, was born 16 November 1881 at Barrack Street (now Benburb Street), Dublin, second of two sons and one younger daughter of Henry Power, watchmaker, and Mary Power (née Atkins), embroideress. He was educated at the Christian Brothers national…...
Power, James Talbot
This is a co-subject for the entry on Dunning, Gertrude Frances. View…...
Rákóczi, Basil
Rákóczi, Basil (1908–79), painter and psychoanalyst, was born 31 May 1908 in Chelsea, London, son of Ivan Rákóczi, Hungarian composer, violinist, and artist, and Charlotte May Dobbey, who went by the name ‘Dolly Wilce’ and was an artist's model from Co. Cork. His parents, who were…...
Redmond, Mary
Redmond, Mary (1863–1930), sculptor, was born in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, daughter of a quarry worker, and moved at a young age with her family to Ardclough, near Straffan, Co. Meath, where her father was employed in the local limestone quarries, the chief source of wealth in the…...
Redmond, Mary
Redmond, Mary (1950–2015), solicitor and founder of the Irish Hospice Foundation, was born on 25 August 1950, third in a family of six girls and a boy, to Dr John Redmond, civil servant, and his wife Mary (Máire) (née Lannin). She described her childhood in the family home on Mount Eden…...
Reid, Nano
Reid, Nano (1900–81), painter, was born Anne Margaret Reid on 1 March 1900 in Drogheda, Co. Louth, eldest among four children of Thomas Reid, publican, and Anne Reid (née Downey). The family lived above their pub on the corner of Peter St. and Fair St., and enjoyed a prosperous…...
Rivers, Elizabeth Joyce
Rivers, Elizabeth Joyce (1903–64), artist, was born 5 August 1903 in the family home, Bonks Hill House in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England, the daughter of Thomas Alfred Rivers, nurseryman, and his wife Mabel (née Hall). Her family had run a renowned nursery plant operation from…...