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,…...
Arkless, Brede (née Boyle)
Arkless, Brede (née Boyle) (1939–2006), rock climber and mountain guide, was born 10 August 1939 in Moston, Manchester, England, the daughter of James Boyle, a fitter, and his wife Mary (née Harrison). Born prematurely while her Dublin-resident parents were visiting family in Manchester…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Conolly, Violet
Conolly, Violet (1899–1988), authority on Soviet Russia and traveller, was born 11 May 1899 at Fernville, Glasnevin, Co. Dublin, the eldest of six children, five daughters and one son, of Thomas Conolly, a master builder, and his wife, Teresa (née McQuaid), of Stormanstown, Co.…...
Cosgrave, Mary Josephine
Cosgrave, Mary Josephine (c.1877–1941), social worker and local politician, was born in Naas, Co. Kildare, the daughter of James William Daly and Jane Daly. Educated at St Mary's Convent in Naas, she went on to study at St Andrews University, from where she graduated LLA…...
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…...
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’)
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’) (1829–99), nun and author, was born 6 May 1829 at Coolock, Co. Dublin, the elder of two children of Dr Samuel Cusack and his wife, Sarah (née Stoney). Early life and conversion to catholicism She was educated privately, learning informally…...
Delahunt, Katherine
Delahunt, Katherine Mary (‘Kay’, ‘Katryn’) (1956–2015), first female solicitor appointed to the Circuit Court, was born on 28 April 1956, the third of four girls and a boy, to Thomas (Tom) A. Delahunt, director of the Wicklow-based home décor firm S. V. Delahunt & Co, and his wife…...
Grimshaw, Beatrice Ethel
Grimshaw, Beatrice Ethel (1870–1953), author and traveller, was born 3 February 1870 at Cloona House, Dunmurry, Co. Antrim, fourth child among two sons and four daughters of Nicholas William Grimshaw of Belfast, former director of the Ulster Spinning Company turned wine-and-oil merchant…...
Kennedy, Eileen
Kennedy, Eileen (1914–83), district justice, was born 30 May 1914 in Dublin, daughter of Patrick Kennedy, solicitor, and Delia Kennedy (née Blood). Educated at St Louis convent, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, where her father had established a legal practice, she qualified as a…...
McAuley (McGauley), Catherine Elizabeth
McAuley (McGauley), Catherine Elizabeth (1778–1841), educator, social worker, and religious foundress, was born 29 September 1778 at Stormanstown House, Drumcondra, Dublin, one of three children (two girls and a boy) of James McGauley and his wife Elinor (née Conway). McGauley, by…...
McCaffrey, Mary Ellen
McCaffrey, Mary Ellen (Sister Mary Xavier ) (1854–1923), Sister of Mercy and social worker, was born in Monaghan, daughter of Arthur McCaffrey and Catherine McCaffrey, who also had another daughter and two sons. She emigrated to the USA, where she entered St Catherine's convent of…...
Moran, Frances Elizabeth
Moran, Frances Elizabeth (1893–1977), university teacher and lawyer, was born on 6 December 1893, younger daughter and fifth among seven children of James Moran and Elizabeth Moran (née Faulkner). Her father was a prominent catholic businessman, proprietor of Moran's Hotel, 71–3 Lr…...
Mulrooney (Carbonneau), Belinda
Mulrooney (Carbonneau), Belinda (1872–1967), frontier entrepreneur, was born on 16 May 1872 (though her official birth certificate stated 10 June) in her maternal grandparents' 21-acre farm near Carns, Co. Sligo, the first child of one son and four daughters of John Mulrooney from Carra…...
Murnaghan, Sheelagh Mary
Murnaghan, Sheelagh Mary (1924–93), barrister and politician, was born in Dublin on 26 May 1924, eldest of the six children of Vincent Murnaghan of Omagh, Co. Tyrone, and his wife, Josephine (née Morrogh). Her grandfather was George Murnaghan…...
Nelson, Rosemary
Nelson, Rosemary (1959–1999), human rights lawyer, was born Rosemary Magee at Lurgan, Co. Armagh, daughter of Thomas Magee and his wife Sheila. A strawberry birthmark partly paralysed the left side of her face, and from the age of ten she endured several years of facial surgery and skin…...
O'Brien, Charlotte Grace
O'Brien, Charlotte Grace (1845–1909), social reformer and writer, was born 23 November 1845 at Cahirmoyle, Co. Limerick, younger daughter of the Young Ireland leader, William Smith O’Brien (qv), and his wife Lucy Caroline, daughter of…...
O'Connor, Mary
O'Connor, Mary (Sister Mary Agnes ) (1815–59), Sister of Mercy, foundress, and social worker, was born 6 January 1815 in Kilkenny city, youngest among ten children of Patrick O'Connor and Mary O'Connor. Like other charitable women of her time she visited the sick poor and made…...
Owens, Evelyn
Owens, Evelyn (1931–2010), trade unionist and women's rights advocate, was born on 22 January 1931 at 23 Vernon Gardens, Clontarf, Dublin, the fourth of six children of William Owens, a civil servant of Clontarf, originally from Co. Roscommon, and his wife Ellen (née Monaghan), from…...
Place, Valerie
Place, Valerie (1969–93), nurse and overseas aid worker, was born 24 March 1969 at 20 St Brendan's Crescent, Walkinstown, Dublin, one of four daughters and three sons of Patrick Place, coachbuilder, of that address, and Margaret Place (née Byrne). Educated at St Paul's secondary school…...
Redmond, Mary
Redmond, Mary (1950–2015), solicitor and founder of the Irish Hospice Foundation, was born on 25 August 1950, third in a family of six girls and a boy, to Dr John Redmond, civil servant, and his wife Mary (Máire) (née Lannin). She described her childhood in the family home on Mount Eden…...
Russell, Angela Gertrude (née Coyne)
Russell, Angela Gertrude (née Coyne) (1893–1991), physician and social reformer, was born 15 November 1893 in Tralee, Co. Kerry, the fourth daughter and seventh child among nine children of James Aloysius Coyne, an inspector of national schools, and Kathleen Mary Coyne (née Pitt).…...
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’)
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’) (1740/50–1807), executioner, is thought to have been born in Co. Kerry into a tenant farming family between 1740 and 1750. The location of her birth and names of her parents are not known, and available details of her life are largely anecdotal or…...