Airey, Johanna (‘Josie’)
Airey, Johanna (‘Josie’) (1932–2002), legal-aid campaigner, was born 4 May 1932 at 154 Bandon Road, Cork city, one of two daughters and two sons of Michael Lynch , labourer, and Eileen Lynch (née Sullivan). Her parents both died early, leaving her in the care of her grandmother,…...
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…...
Bonney (Bonny), Anne
Bonney (Bonny), Anne (c.1700–p.1721), pirate, is thought to have been born in Cork about 1700. While her life story has been somewhat mythologised over time, the lead source about her remains the work of a Captain Charles Johnson (presumed to be the pseudonym of Daniel…...
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…...
Cadden, Mary Anne (‘Mamie’) (‘Nurse Cadden’)
Cadden, Mary Anne (‘Mamie’) (‘Nurse Cadden’) (1891–1959), midwife and abortionist, was born 27 October 1891 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA, eldest of seven children of Patrick Caden, of a small-farming background from Doonbredia, Lahardane, Co. Mayo, and Mary Caden (née McLoughlin), a…...
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, …...
Carroll, Mella Elizabeth Laurie
Carroll, Mella Elizabeth Laurie (1934–2006), judge, was born 6 March 1934 in Dublin, second among four children of Patrick Joseph Carroll (qv) and his wife Agnes Mary (née Caulfield). Her father had been an officer in the national…...
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…...
Conlon, Sarah (née Maguire)
Conlon, Sarah (née Maguire) (1926–2008), campaigner, was born 20 January 1926 in the Falls Road area of Belfast, the daughter of Vincent Maguire and Mary Catherine Maguire; she had three brothers and three sisters. Sarah's life was dominated by work, family and religion. On leaving…...
Cotter, Brigid Mary
Cotter, Brigid Mary (1921–78), chemist and barrister, was born 3 January 1921 in Roscommon, the eldest daughter in the family of twelve children of Nicholas Patrick Cotter, the chief agricultural officer for Roscommon, and his wife, Bridie, née O'Brien. Brigid was educated at the…...
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…...