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…...
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.…...
Davies, Christian (alias ‘Mother’ Ross, Kit ‘Kitty’ Cavenaugh)
Davies, Christian (alias ‘Mother’ Ross, Kit ‘Kitty’ Cavenaugh) (c.1667–1739), female soldier and adventurer, was apparently born in Dublin, daughter of a brewer and maltster named Cavenaugh . It is difficult to establish the truth about her colourful career; most accounts…...
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…...
Diver, Bridget
Diver (Divers, Deaver, Deavers, Devens, Devins, Devan), Bridget (‘Irish Biddy’, ‘Michigan Bridget’) (fl. 1861–4), vivandière and ‘daughter’ of the First Michigan Cavalry regiment, was born in Ireland sometime before 1840. It has been suggested that the ‘Michigan Bridget’ legend…...
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…...
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,…...
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…...
Heath, (Sophie) Mary (‘Lady Heath’) (née Peirce-Evans; other married name Eliott-Lynn)
Heath, (Sophie) Mary (‘Lady Heath’) (née Peirce-Evans; other married name Eliott-Lynn) (1896–1939), athlete and aviator, was born Sophie Catherine Theresa Mary Peirce-Evans on 17 November 1896 in Knockaderry, Co. Limerick, the only child of Jackie Peirce-Evans and his wife and former…...
Jemison, Mary ('Deh-he-wä-mis')
Jemison, Mary ('Deh-he-wä-mis') (1743?–1833), American frontierswoman, was born aboard the ship William and Mary, when her parents, Thomas Jemison and his wife Jane (née Erwin), (both of protestant Scotch-Irish heritage) were emigrating to colonial Pennsylvania, departing from…...
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…...
Le Blond, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’) Alice Frances (née Hawkins-Whitshed; other married names Burnaby, Main)
Le Blond, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’) Alice Frances (née Hawkins-Whitshed; other married names Burnaby, Main) (1860–1934), mountaineer, author and photographer, was born 26 June 1860 in Dublin, the only child of Sir St Vincent Bentinck Hawkins-Whitshed, 3rd (and last) baronet of Killincarrick…...
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…...
McCarthy, Janie
McCarthy, Janie (c.1890–1964), resistance worker and language teacher, was born in Bohereengowan, Killarney, Co. Kerry, the fourth of eight children, two boys and six girls, of Jeremiah McCarthy, mason, and Mary McCarthy, both of Co. Kerry. She appears to have been educated…...
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…...
Ní Scolaí, Máire
Ní Scolaí, Máire (1909–85), traditional singer, was born in Dublin on 24 May 1909 to Michael Scully , commercial traveller, of 60 Ignatius Road, and Mary Scully (née Kavanagh). She lived in Dublin for much of her childhood and was educated at Central Model Schools, which held pilot…...
O'Brien, Máire (‘Máire Rua’)
O'Brien, Máire (‘Máire Rua’) (1615?–1686), Gaelic aristocrat and figure in Irish folklore, was daughter of Sir Torlach Rua MacMahon, lord of East Corcabaskin or Clonderlaw, and his wife Mary, youngest daughter of Conor O'Brien (qv), 3rd…...