Fitzgerald, Martin Thomas
Fitzgerald, Martin Thomas (1865–1927), last owner of the Freeman's Journal, was born 9 November 1865 in Charlestown, Co. Mayo, second child of James Fitzgerald, shopkeeper, and Bridget Fitzgerald (née Mullarky). He had an elder brother and two sisters. Moving to Dublin at an…...
Fitzgibbon, Denis (‘Din Joe’)
Fitzgibbon, Denis (‘Din Joe’) (1921–98), businessman and broadcaster, was born in Cork city. He was reared and educated locally in a traditional catholic environment, attending Presentation Brothers College, Cork. He was a noted rugby player for the Dolphin club and for Munster.…...
Fitzgibbon, Edward
Fitzgibbon, Edward (1803–57), journalist known as ‘Ephemera’, was born in August 1803 in Limerick, son of a land agent; nothing else is known of his family. On the death of his father (1817) he went to London, aged 14, and two years later was articled to a surgeon. Within two…...
Fitzsimons, Edward John Bourke
Fitzsimons, Edward John Bourke (c.1787–p. 1824?), writer, tax inspector, and newspaper editor, was the only son of John Bourke Fitzsimons (1771–1824) and Mary Gaylard. John Bourke Fitzsimons was born 25 February 1771, probably in Tipperary, but subsequently moved…...
Flackes, William David (‘Billy’)
Flackes, William David (‘Billy’) (1921–93), journalist, was born 14 April 1921 in Bogay, Co. Donegal, son of William David Flackes, coachman and gardener, and Jane Flackes (née McGarvey). The family later moved to Jordanstown, on the outskirts of Belfast, where Billy (as he was always…...
Flanagan, John Woulfe
Flanagan, John Woulfe (1852–1929), journalist on The Times, was born 6 April 1852, the eldest of six sons and five daughters in the family of Stephen Woulfe Flanagan (1817–91), PC (Ire.), a judge of the landed estates court and owner of 3…...
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, John
Flood, John (1835–1909), Fenian, journalist and politician, was baptised on 25 May 1835 in Howth parish, Co. Dublin, son of a shipping merchant based in the area who was originally from Wexford; no further details of his family are known. After a local national school education, he was…...
Foley, Donal
Foley, Donal (1922–81), journalist and editor, was born 4 September 1922 in Ring, Co. Waterford, seventh among twelve children of Daniel Joseph Foley, headmaster in Ferrybank, Co. Waterford, and Catherine Foley (née Power). His childhood was idyllic, between the small village of…...
Ford, Patrick
Ford, Patrick (1837–1913), journalist and land reformer, was born 12 April 1837 in Galway, the son of Edward Ford (1805–80) and his wife Anne (née Ford) (1815–1893). He emigrated with his parents to the US in 1845 and never revisited Ireland. Although he devoted his life to Irish…...
Forristal, Desmond Timothy ('Des')
Forristal, Desmond Timothy ('Des') (1930–2012), priest, broadcaster and writer, was born on 25 September 1930 at 70 Botanic Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, to Anthony James Forristal, civil servant, and his wife Máirín Genevieve (née McInerney), who were then living at 8 Weston Villas,…...
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ')
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ') (1891–1969), writer and trade unionist, was born on 13 November 1891 in Leeds, Yorkshire, the second of four sons of Richard Fox and his wife Elizabeth (née Rathmell). Richard senior worked as a gymnasium instructor in Leeds, and later as a skilled…...
Friers, Rowel Boyd
Friers, Rowel Boyd (1920–98), cartoonist and painter, was born 13 April 1920 in Ravenhill Road, Belfast, youngest among six children of William Friers (d. 1926), a cashier in Irish Distillery, and Nellie Friers (née Stevenson). Rowel was educated at Park Parade intermediate school. All…...
Frith, James Wiltshire (‘J. W.’)
Frith, James Wiltshire (‘J. W.’) (1869–1948), journalist and racing official, was born 11 September 1869 at 8 Seapoint Terrace, Irishtown, Co. Dublin, son of James Frith, printer, and Maria Louisa Frith (née Wiltshire); assertions in his obituary notices that he was the son of a…...
Furniss, Harry
Furniss, Harry (1854–1925), illustrator and caricaturist, was born 26 March 1854 in Wexford town, youngest son of James Furniss, civil engineer, originally from Hathersage, Derbyshire, and his second wife Isabella Cornelia, daughter of Eneas McKenzie, topographer, of Newcastle upon…...
Gaffney, Gertrude (‘Gertie’,‘Conor Galway’)
Gaffney, Gertrude (‘Gertie’,‘Conor Galway’) (d. 1959), journalist, was born in Middletown, Co. Armagh, and educated at St Louis convent, Carrickmacross. Under the pen name ‘Conor Galway’ she published several stories and one novel, Workers towards the dawn (1919). She was…...
Gageby, (Robert John) Douglas
Gageby, (Robert John) Douglas (1918–2004), newspaper editor, was born 29 September 1918 in Ranelagh, Dublin, only son of Thomas Robert Gageby, civil servant, and his wife Ethel (née Smith), a former national school teacher; an elder sister died of meningitis aged five in 1921. Gageby's…...
Gaine, Hugh
Gaine, Hugh (1726–1807), printer and newspaper editor in New York, was born in Portglenone, Co. Antrim, the son of Hugh Gaine, possibly a merchant. There was at least one other son, who also emigrated. The family was Church of Ireland, although in a 1766 religious census family…...
Gallagher, Frank
Gallagher, Frank (1893–1962), journalist, author, and republican, was born 22 February 1893 in Cork, one of a family of four brothers and five sisters of James Gallagher, an accountant, and his wife Kathleen Gallagher (née Whitely). Educated at Presentation College, Cork, he…...
Gallaher, Francesca (Fannie) Mary
Gallaher, Francesca (Fannie) Mary (1854–1936), writer, was born 30 May 1854 in Cork to John Blake Gallaher and Sarah Gallaher (née Russell). She was the middle child and only daughter of three. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Dublin, first to 7 Upper Oriel Street and…...
Gardiner, Marguerite (Margaret)
Gardiner, Marguerite (Margaret) (1789–1849), countess of Blessington , writer, journalist, and society hostess, was born 1 September 1789 at Knockbrit, Co. Tipperary, the second daughter and fourth child of Edmund Power and his wife Ellen (née Sheehy), both from well-established…...
Geary, Francis (‘Frank’) Joseph
Geary, Francis (‘Frank’) Joseph (1891–1961), journalist and newspaper editor, was born 2 August 1891 in Kilkenny city, youngest son of Patrick Geary – grocer, GAA stalwart, and supporter of…...
Gill, Peter Edmund
Gill, Peter Edmund (d. 1892), newspaper editor, was probably born in Tipperary. Nothing is known of him prior to 1857, when he founded the Tipperary Advocate and Nenagh Commercial and Agricultural Adviser, publishing it from an office in Chapel Lane, Nenagh. It soon became…...
Gill, Thomas Patrick
Gill, Thomas Patrick (1858–1931), journalist, politician, and secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, was born 25 October 1858 at Ballygraigue, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, the first of the four sons of Robert Gill, a civil engineer who was assistant county…...
Godkin, Edwin Lawrence
Godkin, Edwin Lawrence (1831–1902), journalist and newspaper editor, was born 2 October 1831 at the home of his maternal grandmother in Moyne, Co. Wicklow, eldest among five children of James Godkin (qv), Congregationalist minister,…...