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…...
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, 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 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…...
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…...
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’.…...
Power, James Talbot
This is a co-subject for the entry on Dunning, Gertrude Frances. View…...
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…...
Russell, Mary Baptist (Katherine, Kate)
Russell, Mary Baptist (Katherine, Kate) (1829–98), nun, philanthropist, and educator, was born 18 April 1829 at Seafield, Ballybot, Newry, Co. Down, the third daughter and third child among the six children of Arthur Russell, ship's captain turned brewer, and his wife, Margaret (…...
Ryan, Agnes
This is a co-subject for the entry on Ryan, Mary Kate ('Kit', 'Cáit'). View the original entry....
Sadleir, John
Sadleir, John (1813–56), banker, politician, speculator, and swindler, was born 17 November 1813 at Shronell House in the parish of Shronell near Tipperary town, fifth of seven children born to Clement William Sadleir, a protestant farmer and middleman, whose earliest known…...
Sall, Andrew Fitzjohn
Sall, Andrew Fitzjohn (1624–82), scholar and sometime Jesuit, was born into an Old English family in the city of Cashel, Co. Tipperary; nothing is known of his parents. More than five Jesuits bore the name Sall (Sál, Sale). With such a background it is not surprising to find the young…...
Sheehy, Edmund
Sheehy, Edmund (1733–66), farmer executed for murder, of Lodge (parish of Ardfinnan, Co. Tipperary), was the son of Ellin Fitzpatrick. He was otherwise known as ‘Buck’ Sheehy, a term indicative of semi-gentleman status, as he had an income of £300 or £400 a year, and was a person…...
Smyth, Brendan
Smyth, Brendan (1927–97), catholic priest and paedophile, was born John Gerard Smyth in Nansen Street, off the Falls Road, west Belfast, on 6 June 1927. He was educated at Barracks Street CBS, Belfast. In 1945 he joined the Norbertine…...
Spratt, John Francis
Spratt, John Francis (1796–1871), Carmelite priest, philanthropist, and temperance reformer, was born January 1796 in Cork St., Dublin, son of James Spratt and Elizabeth Spratt (née Bollard), and was baptised (5 January) in St Catherine's church, Meath St. His brother James later…...
Stanihurst, Richard
Stanihurst, Richard (1547–1618), scholar and diplomat, was born in Dublin, eldest among three sons and two daughters of James Stanihurst (qv) (or Stanyhurst), lawyer and politician, and Anne Stanihurst (née Fitzsimon), both of the…...
Starkie, William Joseph Myles
Starkie, William Joseph Myles (1860–1920), classical scholar, last resident commissioner of education under British rule in Ireland, and privy councillor, was born 10 December 1860 at Elsinore Lodge, Rosses Point, Co. Sligo, the fifth son (baptised a catholic, in contrast to his older…...
Stokes, Barbara Maive
Stokes, Barbara Maive (1922–2009), paediatrician and disability campaigner, was born 20 December 1922 in London to Brigadier William Noel Stokes (d. 1969) and his wife Pauline Mary (née Reynolds). As a child she often spent summers in Ireland, and in her teens played in the Irish junior…...
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’)
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’) (1740/50–1807), executioner, is thought to have been born in Co. Kerry into a tenant farming family between 1740 and 1750. The location of her birth and names of her parents are not known, and available details of her life are largely anecdotal or…...
Verschoyle, Barbara
Verschoyle, Barbara (1750/53–1837), land agent and philanthropist, was born in Dublin, the sixth of eight daughters of Bryan Fagan (d. 1761), land agent for the Fitzwilliam estate in Dublin and brewer, and Elizabeth Fagan (d. 1788), both of Dublin. Bryan Fagan's brewery was on…...
Wadding, Luke
Wadding, Luke (1588–1657), Franciscan priest, scholar, and churchman, was born 16 October 1588 at Waterford and baptised on 18 October, the son of Walter Wadding, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Anastasia (née Lombard), a relative of Peter…...
Walker, John
Walker, John (1768–1833), religious leader and classical scholar, was born in January 1768 in Co. Roscommon, son of the Rev. Matthew Walker, Church of Ireland clergyman. In January 1786 he entered TCD, being made a scholar in 1788,…...
Walsh (Bhailís, Wallis, Uailis), Francis (Proinsias)
Walsh (Bhailís, Wallis, Uailis), Francis (Proinsias) (1654–1724), lexicographer and Franciscan priest, was born in the Fingal area of north Co. Dublin. Nothing is known of his family or early education. He entered the Franciscan order and was ordained (1677) in the Irish Franciscan…...
Walsh, Sr Patricia
Walsh, Sr Patricia (1942–2015), missionary nurse, was born Anna Maria Catherine Walsh on 23 September 1942 in Portlick, Glasson, Co. Westmeath, the eldest of three girls and a boy, to Michael Walsh, a fisherman, and his wife Bridget (née Nolan). Having attended Glasson primary school (…...