Barry, Margaret (‘Maggie’)
Barry, Margaret (‘Maggie’) (1917–89), folk singer, was born 1 January 1917 in Peter Street, Cork city, one of five children of Timothy Cleary and his wife Mary or Margaret (née Thompson ); the family were travellers who had been loosely settled in the Cork city area for two…...
Bates, Daisy May
Bates, Daisy May (1859–1951), welfare worker for Aborigines, anthropologist, and eccentric, was born 21 October 1859 in Roscrea, Co. Tipperay, third among six children of James Dwyer , catholic tradesman and blacksmith, and Bridget Dwyer (née Hunt). Her twin brother, Francis, died…...
Burke, Mary
This is a co-subject for the entry on O'Rourke (Ó Ruairc), Brian Ballach. View the original entry....
Caitilín Dubh
Caitilín Dubh (fl. 1624–9), poet, lived in Thomond (present-day Co. Clare). She is the earliest woman poet for whom texts in the Irish language survive in quantity. Five of her elegies, in accentual (or stressed) caoineadh metre, are copied into Duanaire Uí Bhriain…...
Cleary, Bridget
Cleary, Bridget (1867–95), dressmaker, was born in Ballyvadlea, near Cloneen, Co. Tipperary, daughter, and apparently the youngest child, of Patrick Boland , a farm labourer, and his wife, Bridget (née Keating). This was probably in February 1867, although most contemporary…...
Cronin, Elizabeth (‘Bess’)
Cronin, Elizabeth (‘Bess’) (1879–1956), folk singer, was born 30 May 1879, the eldest of the five children of Seán ‘Máistir’ Ó hIarfhlaithe and Maighréad Ní Thuama. Her father was headmaster in the school of Barr d'Ínse in the Fuhirees area of West Cork, near the Cork–Kerry border.…...
Derbfhorgaill
Derbfhorgaill (c.1108–1193), daughter of Murchad and queen-consort of Bréifne, belonged to the Ua Máelshechlainn line of Clann Cholmáin. Her father Murchad Ua Máelshechlainn (qv) was a long-reigning (1106–53) but oft-…...
De Valera, Sinéad
De Valera, Sinéad (1875–1975), teacher, folklorist, and writer, was born Jane Flanagan , 1 June 1875, in Ballbriggan, Co. Dublin, one of three daughters and four children of Laurence Flanagan, a carpenter, and Margaret Flanagan (née Byrne). When she was seven the family moved to Munster…...
Early, Biddy
Early, Biddy (c.1798–1874), clairvoyant and healer, was born in the townland of Faha, near Kilanena, Co. Clare, as Bridget Connors (or O'Connor) ; the name Early, by which she was known throughout her life, was her mother's maiden name. Little is known about her, despite…...
Eithne
Eithne (d. 795), daughter of Donnchad Midi and queen-consort of Leinster, belonged to the Clann Cholmáin dynasty of the Southern Uí Néill. Her marriage to Bran Ardchenn (qv), an early representative of the Uí Muiredaig lineage of Uí…...
Fox, Charlotte Olivia (née Milligan)
Fox, Charlotte Olivia (née Milligan) (1864–1916), ethnomusicologist, was born 17 March 1864 in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, the eldest child among five daughters and six sons (two of whom did not reach adulthood) of Seaton Forrest Milligan (1836–1916) of Glencar, Omagh, businessman,…...
Gormlaith
Gormlaith (d. 948), daughter of Flann Sinna and queen consort in turn of Munster, Leinster, and Tara, belonged to the Southern Uí Néill dynasty of Clann Cholmáin. Her father Flann Sinna (qv) was king of Tara, and her mother (also named…...
Gormlaith
Gormlaith (d. 1030), daughter of Murchad and allegedly queen consort in turn to the kings of Dublin, Tara, and Munster, belonged to the Uí Fháeláin lineage of northern Leinster. Her father, Murchad son of Finn, died in 972 as king of Leinster; her mother apparently belonged to a…...
Gráinne
Gráinne was a legendary daughter of the equally legendary pre-Christian king of Tara, Cormac (qv) son of Art. The story of her love for the tragic hero Diarmait grandson of Duibne is one of the most famous tales of the Fenian Cycle, a tale…...
Gray, Elizabeth (‘Betsy’)
Gray, Elizabeth (‘Betsy’) (d. 1798), heroine of the 1798 rebellion, may have been the daughter of the widowed farmer Hans Gray (d. 1807) of Six Roads Ends, Gransha, Co. Down. However, as her story quickly lent itself to myth-making, establishing precise facts is not easy. The…...
Gregory, (Isabella) Augusta
Gregory, (Isabella) Augusta (1852–1932), Lady Gregory, writer, folklorist and patron of the arts, was born Isabella Augusta Persse at Roxborough House, Co. Galway, on 15 March 1852. She was the ninth of thirteen children (eight boys and five girls) of Dudley Persse and his second wife…...
Johnson, Rosanna (‘Rosie’)
Johnson, Rosanna (‘Rosie’) (1891–1987), street trader, was born 24 March 1891, daughter of William Walsh, labourer, of 6 Turner's Cottages, Dublin, and Julia Walsh (née Reilly). At the age of 12 she was selling violets on the street for a penny a bunch and by the time she was 17 she…...
Keane, Rita
Keane, Rita (1923–2009), traditional singer and musician, was born on 31 December 1923 in the townland of Carragh, Caherlistrane, Co. Galway, one of eight children (four daughters and four sons) of Matt Keane and his wife May (née Costello; d. 1978), who were farmers. Rita attended…...
MacDonnell (Nic Dhomhnaill), Fiona (Fionnghuala) (‘Iníon Dubh’)
MacDonnell (Nic Dhomhnaill), Fiona (Fionnghuala) (‘Iníon Dubh’) (d. 1611?), lady of Tír Conaill (Tyrconnell), was daughter of James MacDonnell (qv), lord of the Western Isles of Scotland, and his wife Lady…...
Mac Grianna (Mhic Ghrianna), Róise
Mac Grianna (Mhic Ghrianna), Róise (1879–1964), traditional Irish-language singer and storyteller, was born 13 March 1879 in Seascann an Róinn, near Dungloe (Clochán Liath), Co. Donegal, one of five children of Tomas Ó Colla, farmer, and his wife, Maighréad, a noted musician and the…...
MacNeill, Máire
MacNeill, Máire (1904–87), folklorist, was born 7 December 1904 at Hazelbrook, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin, fifth child and second daughter of John (Eoin) MacNeill (qv) and Agnes (‘Taddie’) MacNeill (née Moore). After the family moved to 19…...
Mahon, Bríd (Bridget)
Mahon, Bríd (Bridget) (1918–2008), folklorist, was born on 14 July 1918 at 16 Elizabeth Street, Belfast, to Stephen Mahon and Mary Catherine Mahon (née Wall). Her father was an electrician, and she was one of five siblings. When communal and sectarian violence erupted in Belfast in 1922…...
Malone, Molly (or Mollie)
Malone, Molly (or Mollie) , heroine of song, was probably a generic fishmonger and street trader of nineteenth-century Dublin. Molly (the name is derived from ‘Mary’), is named in a popular, unofficial anthem of the city (‘Cockles and mussels’ or ‘Molly Malone’) as a fishmonger's…...
Ní Annagáin, Máighréad
This is a co-subject for the entry on Clandillon, Seamus (‘Clan’). View the original entry....
Ní Bhrolcháin, Muireann
Ní Bhrolcháin, Muireann (1955–2015), academic and activist, was born on 15 May 1955 at Calvary Hospital (Bon Secours) in Galway, the eldest of three daughters of Cilian Ó Brolcháin, professor of physics at University College Galway (UCG, now the University of Galway) from Dublin, and…...