Doherty, John
Doherty, John (c.1798–1854), trade union pioneer, radical activist, journalist, and factory reformer, was born in Inishowen, Co. Donegal; nothing is known of his parents. His birth place and date are uncertain. A son said it was ‘Buncrana, Inishowel’ (sic) in…...
Douglas, Caroline Margaret
Douglas, Caroline Margaret (1821–1904), marchioness of Queensberry , nationalist benefactor, was born in Ireland, younger daughter of Sir William Clayton , former army general and MP for Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, and Alice Clayton (née O'Donel), an heiress originally…...
Dowdall, Jane (‘Jennie’)
Dowdall, Jane (‘Jennie’) (1899–1974), philanthropist and politician, was born Jane Doggett at 28 Smithfield, Dublin, on 29 September 1899, the daughter of Michael Doggett , eating-house keeper, and Mary Ellen Doggett (née Andrews). After her schooling she worked as a nurse at St…...
Dunne, Seán
Dunne, Seán (1919–69), republican and labour activist, was born in Waterford city, youngest of three children of Michael Dunne, member of the RIC, and Brigid Dunne, and was educated at the CBS…...
Dunning, Gertrude Frances
Dunning, Gertrude Frances (née Hayes; other married name Talbot Power) (1856–1926), philanthropist, was born on 29 March 1856 in St Patrick’s parish in Cork city, the only child of Thomas Hayes (1820/21–12 Aug. 1905) and his wife Margaret (née Ryan) of Grenville House,…...
Everett, James
Everett, James (1890–1967), Labour politician and trade unionist, was born 14 February 1890 in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, a son of Robert Everett, a small farmer and waiter, and Margaret Everett (née Doyle). He had one brother and a sister and attended the local national school in…...
Fennell, Nuala
Fennell, Nuala (1935–2009), feminist and politician, was born Fionnuala Campbell in north Co. Dublin on 25 November 1935, the third eldest child of Patrick Campbell, from the rural east Co. Galway area of Lisheennavannoge (Clancarty), an IRA volunteer and one of the earliest Garda…...
Finucane, (Cornelius) Aengus
Finucane, (Cornelius) Aengus (1932–2009), priest and international aid worker, was born in Limerick city on 26 April 1932, the eldest of four sons of John ('Jack') Finucane and his wife Delia (née Byrnes); he also had three sisters. His father was company secretary in a paper…...
Fitzmaurice, Gerald Henry
Fitzmaurice, Gerald Henry (1865–1939), consular official and linguist, was born 15 July 1865 in Dublin, son of Henry Fitzmaurice, tea and commission agent, of Howth, Co. Dublin, and Margaret Fitzmaurice (née McKenny); he had one younger sister. He was educated at University…...
Fitzpatrick, Sir Jeremiah
Fitzpatrick, Sir Jeremiah (c.1740–1810), physician, inspector of prisons, and social reformer, was born at Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath. Of his parents and education little is known, but it can be inferred from the elder Fitzpatricks’ burial in the Old Relic graveyard on the…...
Flanagan, Edward Joseph
Flanagan, Edward Joseph (1886–1948), catholic priest and founder of Boys Town, was born 13 July 1886 at Ballymoe, Co. Roscommon, son of John Flanagan, herdsman, and Nora Flanagan (née Larkin). One of eleven children, he was first educated at a local school, Drimatample, and…...
Flannery, Austin
Flannery, Austin (1925–2008), priest, scholar, editor, journalist and social justice campaigner, was born William ('Liam') Flannery on 10 January 1925 at Rear Cross, Co. Tipperary, the eldest of seven children of William K. Flannery and his wife Margaret Flannery (née Butler),…...
Flood, Finbarr
Flood, Finbarr (1938–2016), soccer player, managing director of Guinness brewery and chairman of the Labour Court, was born on 1 December 1938 in Kilmainham, Dublin, one of three children (and only son) to Jack Flood, a worker in Guinness, and his wife Eva Flood (née…...
Fogarty, Michael
Fogarty, Michael (1859–1955), catholic bishop of Killaloe, was born 11 October 1859 in Kilcolman near Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. He had one brother, Daniel, who also became a priest. Fogarty was educated at St Flannan's College in Ennis and later Maynooth College, where he was…...
Gahagan, Usher
Gahagan, Usher (d. 1749), classical scholar and criminal, was perhaps from Co. Westmeath and may have been educated at TCD, though he did not take a degree. He converted to catholicism, much to the consternation of his family, who…...
Gaj, Margaret (née Dunlop)
Gaj, Margaret (née Dunlop) (1919–2011), restaurateur, radical, and political activist, was born on 28 January 1919 in Edinburgh, Scotland, one of four children (two girls and two boys) of James Aloysius Dunlop and his wife Ellen (née O'Malley). Both parents were catholics of Irish…...
Gallagher, Denis (Ó Gallchóir, Donncha)
Gallagher, Denis (Ó Gallchóir, Donncha) (1922–2001), government minister and community activist, was born 29 December 1922 in Currane, within the parish, though not the island, of Achill, Co. Mayo, the son of John Gallagher, merchant, of Currane, and his wife Catherine (née Gallagher).…...
Geehan, Thomas
Geehan, Thomas (fl. 1925–64), communist and unemployed workers leader, was born to a catholic family in Belfast, where he was reared in the Falls Road area. Employed as a textile worker, by the mid 1920s he was secretary of the west Belfast branch of the Northern Ireland…...
Glenn, Alice
Glenn, Alice (1921–2011), politician and moral crusader, was born Alicia Duffy on 17 December 1921 in Usher's Quay, Dublin, the eldest of ten children of (Arthur) Leo Duffy, a car mechanic, and his wife Mary (née Joyce), a dressmaker. Descended from generations of Dublin artisans on…...
Glynn, Sir Joseph
Glynn, Sir Joseph (1869–1951), catholic social activist and writer, was born 25 April 1869, at The Square, Gort, Co. Galway, the second son of John McMahon Glynn, merchant, and Ellen Glynn (née Walsh). He was educated at Blackrock College, Dublin, graduating…...
Goulding, Valerie
Goulding, Valerie (1918–2003), philanthropist and senator, was born Valerie Hamilton Monckton on 12 September 1918 in Kent, younger of two children (she had an elder brother) of Walter Monckton, barrister (later a confidant of King Edward VIII and afterwards a conservative cabinet…...
Gregory, Tony
Gregory, Tony (1947–2009), republican socialist, community activist and TD, was born 5 December 1947 in Dublin, the second of two sons of Anthony Gregory and his wife Ellen (née Judge). A native of Dublin's North Strand, Anthony Gregory had owned a shoemaker's business in Ballybough in…...
Grogan, Vincent Benedict
Grogan, Vincent Benedict (1915–97), parliamentary draftsman and philanthropist, was born 10 April 1915 in Dublin, the only son of Capt. Vincent Grogan of Lytham-St Anne's, Lancashire, and Eleanor Grogan (née Kirwan). He began his education at the O'Connell schools in Dublin and…...
Hackett, Rosanna ('Rosie')
Hackett, Rosanna ('Rosie') (1893–1976), trade unionist, was born 25 July 1893 at 14 Prebend Street, off Constitution Hill in the Dublin north city centre, elder of two daughters of John Hackett, described as a labourer at his marriage (October 1891) but working by Rosie's birth as a…...
Hannan, Edward Joseph
Hannan, Edward Joseph (1836–1891), catholic priest, was born 21 June 1836 on the family farm in Ballygrennan, near Ballingarry, Co. Limerick, the second son of eleven children of John Hannan, tenant farmer, and his wife Johanna (née Sheehy). A dairy farmer with ninety acres, John Hannan…...