Anderson, Emily
Anderson, Emily (1891–1962), academic, civil servant, and translator, was born 17 March 1891 at Taylor's Hill, Galway, second daughter of Alexander Anderson (qv), professor of natural philosophy and later president of…...
Barrington, Margaret (Louise)
Barrington, Margaret (Louise) (1896–1982), writer and journalist, was born 10 May 1896 in Malin, Co. Donegal, one of three daughters of Richard Barrington, RIC sergeant (later district inspector), and Charlotte Barrington (née Scott). Owing…...
Binchy, Maeve
Binchy, Maeve (1939–2012), novelist and journalist, was born Ann Maeve Binchy on 28 May 1939 in Glenageary, Co. Dublin, the daughter of Maureen Binchy (née Blackmore) of Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, a nurse, and William Francis Binchy of Charleville, Co. Cork, a barrister. Her father…...
Boylan, Clare Catherine
Boylan, Clare Catherine (1948–2006), journalist and writer, was born 21 April 1948 in Dublin, the youngest of three daughters of Patrick Boylan, a clerk, and his wife Evelyn (née Selby). Clare's mother felt trapped by the limitations that domesticity imposed on women in 1950s Ireland…...
Boylan, Patricia
This is a co-subject for the entry on Boylan, Henry Joseph. View the original entry....
Boyle, Hilary Joyce
Boyle, Hilary Joyce (1899–1988), journalist, broadcaster, and activist, was born 25 October 1899 in south London, second child of Gerald Alexander Thompson, vicar of St Gregory's church, Canterbury, and canon of Canterbury cathedral, and Winifred Helen Thompson (née Hopkins), and…...
Brennan, Maeve
Brennan, Maeve (1917–93), fiction writer and New Yorker columnist, called the ‘Long-Winded Lady’, was born in Dublin on 6 January 1917, second of four children of the nationalist journalist…...
Burrows (Dobbin), Rachel
Burrows (Dobbin), Rachel (1912–87), actress, broadcaster, and teacher, was born 29 April 1912 in Limerick, the daughter of Peter Dobbin, county surveyor for Co. Clare, and Kathleen (née Vance), his second wife. Reared in Kilkishen House, Co. Clare, she was educated at St Brandon's…...
Byrne, Frankie (Frances)
Byrne, Frankie (Frances) (1921–93), broadcaster and public relations consultant, was born 27 December 1921 in a nursing home at 7 North Frederick Street, Dublin, third child and second daughter among three daughters and two sons of Michael P. (‘Sport’) Byrne, journalist, of 2…...
Campbell, Gertrude Elizabeth
Campbell, Gertrude Elizabeth (née Blood ) (1857–1911), writer, journalist, and critic, was the second daughter of Edmond Maghlin Blood (d. 1891), of Thurloe Square, London, and Brickhill, Co. Clare, and Mary Amy Fergusson (d. 1899), of Leixlip, Co. Kildare. Owing to her father's…...
Carbery, Ethna
Carbery, Ethna (1866–1902), poet, writer, and journalist, was born Anna Johnston 3 December 1866 into a catholic family in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the second of three children. She lived nearly all her life in Belfast, where her father, …...
Cary (Tanfield), Elizabeth
Cary (Tanfield), Elizabeth (1585–1639), Viscountess Falkland , writer and translator, was born at Burford Priory, Oxfordshire, the only child and heir of Lawrence Tanfield (c.1551–1625), a wealthy lawyer, later appointed chief baron of the exchequer, and his wife,…...
Charlton, Maureen
Charlton, Maureen (1930–2007), playwright, poet and broadcaster, was born Mary Farrell in Dublin on 14 September 1930, one of three daughters of Edward and Bridget Farrell (or O'Farrell); her mother's maiden name was probably Farrell also. Mary, known as Maureen, was brought up in Mount…...
Clerke, Ellen Mary
Clerke, Ellen Mary (1840–1906), journalist and writer, was born 26 September 1840 in Skibbereen, Co. Cork, elder daughter among three children of John William Clerke (1814–90), manager of the Provincial Bank, and his wife Catherine Mary, sister of lawyer…...
Cobbe, Frances Power
Cobbe, Frances Power (1822–1904), feminist, journalist, anti-vivisectionist, and philanthropist, was born 4 December 1822 in Dublin, the fifth child and only daughter of Charles Cobbe (1781–1857), a landlord and magistrate of Newbridge House, Co. Dublin, and Frances Cobbe (née…...
Comerford, Maire (Mary Eva)
Comerford, Maire (Mary Eva) (1893–1982), republican and journalist, was born 29 June 1893, in Ardavon, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, the eldest daughter of James Charles Comerford, a mill owner, and Eva May Comerford, the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Esmonde of Co.Wexford. She…...
Condell, Frances Pauline
Condell, Frances Pauline (1916–86), politician and journalist, was born 29 June 1916 at 8 Sexton St., Limerick, sixth child of James Eades , signal inspector, and Fanny Eades (née Sheppard). She had five older brothers. The family was protestant, and Frances attended St Michael's…...
Conway, Anne
Conway, Anne (1631–79), Viscountess Conway , woman of learning, was born in London, youngest child of Heneage Finch (1580–1631) and his second wife, Elizabeth Cradock (d. 1655). Elizabeth, from Staffordshire, brought both sturdy independence and wealth into her second marriage,…...
Conyngham, Elizabeth Emmet Lenox
Conyngham, Elizabeth Emmet Lenox (née Holmes ) (b. 1800), poet and translator, was born in Dublin, the only child of the barrister and orator Robert Holmes (qv), barrister, and his wife…...
Costigan, Ethna Mary Byrne-
Costigan, Ethna Mary Byrne- (1904–91), academic and writer, was born 24 May 1904 at Upper Leeson Street, Dublin, the eldest daughter of Thomas Joseph Byrne (qv), chief architect to the Office of Public Works, and Mary Ellen Byrne…...
Crawford, Emily
Crawford, Emily (1841–1915), journalist, was born 31 May 1841, probably in Dublin, daughter of Andrew Johnstone, landowner, of Corboy, Co. Longford, and Grace Johnstone, an American. She was educated at home. After her father's financial difficulties and death, she went (1857) with…...
Crozier, Maurna
Crozier, (Rose Mary) Maurna (1942–2015), social anthropologist, was born in Belfast on 22 January 1942, the only surviving child of Robert Frizzell, the first general manager of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB), and his wife Molly (née Rands), a rosarian and the daughter of…...
Curtayne, Alice
Curtayne, Alice (1901–81), writer and journalist, was born 6 November 1901 in Upper Castle Street, Tralee, Co. Kerry, the youngest child of John Curtayne, founder and proprietor of the Tralee Carriage Works, and Bridget Curtayne (née O'Dwyer). She received her initial education at…...
Curtis, Maeve
Curtis, Maeve (1911–71), journalist and teacher, was born Alice Margaret, 7 August 1911, at West Teebane, Co. Tyrone, fifth child of four daughters and one son of John Curtis and his wife Alice Geown, both from Tyrone. Her father was a farmer-builder. Her mother died when she was…...
Czira (Gifford), Sydney Madge (‘John Brennan’)
Czira (Gifford), Sydney Madge (‘John Brennan’) (1889–1974), journalist, broadcaster, and republican, was born 3 August 1889 at 8 Temple Villas, Rathmines, Dublin, the youngest of twelve children of Frederick Gifford, a wealthy solicitor, and Isabella Gifford (née Burton), a niece of the…...