Affraic
Affraic (d. 743) was abbess of Kildare 733–43. Her rare personal name, a borrowing of the Latin Africa, was also borne by a later abbess of Kildare who died in 834 and by an obscure minor saint, daughter of one Cumlachtach, associated with Imlech Tuascirt (LL…...
Affrica (Affraic)
Affrica (Affraic) (fl. 1180–c.1219), daughter of Gofraid and wife of John de Courcy (qv), was a member of the royal family of Man and the Isles. Her father Gofraid (d. 1187), king of Man and the Isles, was a grandson of…...
Aífe (Aoife, Eva)
Aífe (Aoife, Eva) (fl. c.1153–1189) was the daughter of Diarmait Mac Murchada (qv) (d. 1171), king of Leinster, and of his wife Mór, daughter of …...
Attracht (Adrochta, Attracta)
Attracht (Adrochta, Attracta) (7th century?), saint in the Irish tradition and founder and first abbess of Cell Sáile, was according to the genealogies of the saints a daughter of Tigernach (probably to be identifed with Tigernach son of Muiredach, an early representative of the…...
Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel
Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel (c.1571–95), countess of Tyrone , was born in Newry, sixth daughter and youngest among eleven children of Sir Nicholas Bagenal (qv), marshal of the army in Ireland, and Eleanor Griffith…...
Bailey, Mary (‘Lady Bailey’) (née Westenra)
Bailey, Mary (‘Lady Bailey’) (née Westenra) (1890–1960), aviator, was born on 1 December 1890 at 30 Grosvenor Square, London, to Derrick (Derry) Warner William Westenra (1853–1921), the fifth Baron Rossmore, and his wife Mittie (née Naylor) (d. 1953), the daughter of a wealthy English…...
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…...
Barry, Alice
Barry, Alice (1608–c. 1667), 1st countess of Barrymore, was born at College House in Youghal, Co. Cork, on Palm Sunday, 20 March 1608. Alice was the eldest daughter of the English Protestant planter,…...
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…...
Blackwood, Hariot Georgina (Rowan-Hamilton)
Blackwood, Hariot Georgina (Rowan-Hamilton) (1843–1936), marchioness of Dufferin and Ava , philanthropist and author, was born 5 February 1843, eldest of seven children of Archibald Rowan and Catherine Rowan-Hamilton (née Caldwell) of Killyleagh Castle, Co. Down. She married (23…...
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, Elizabeth
Boyle, Elizabeth (1613–1691), countess of Cork and Burlington, was born at Skipton Castle in Yorkshire on 17 September 1613. She was the only surviving child of Henry Clifford (d. 1643) and Frances Cecil (d. 1644), 5th earl and countess of Cumberland. Little evidence is available about…...
Boyle Fenton, Catherine
Boyle Fenton, Catherine (c.1588–1630), countess of Cork , was the only daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton (qv), secretary of state for Ireland 1580–1608, and his wife Alice, daughter of Dr…...
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…...
Boyle, Margaret
Boyle, Margaret (1623–1689), 1st countess of Orrery, was one of ten children of Theophilus Howard (d. 1640), 2nd earl of Suffolk and Elizabeth Home (daughter of the 1st earl of Dunbar). Margaret was baptised on 11 February 1623 at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields, London, and, though not much…...
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…...
Brigit (Brighid, Bríd, Bride, Bridget)
Brigit (Brighid, Bríd, Bride, Bridget) (possibly c.450–524), reputed foundress and first abbess of Cell Dara (Kildare), is the female patron saint of Ireland, but it is uncertain whether she existed as a person. Most scholars regard her as a ghost personality generated in the…...
Briúinsech Cael (Briuineach)
Briúinsech Cael (Briuineach) (6th cent.?), church foundress and saint in the Irish tradition; her father is named as Crimthann, but her lineage is unrecorded. She is said to have had two sisters, Luchad and Tudella. Briúinsech apparently became a member of the community of…...
Browne, José
This is a co-subject for the entry on Browne, Dennis. View the original entry....
Burgh, Elizabeth de
Burgh, Elizabeth de (1332–63), heiress of Ulster, was born 6 July 1332, only child of William de Burgh (qv), earl of Ulster, and Maud, daughter of Henry, earl of Lancaster and Leicester. After her father's death (6 June 1333), which…...
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…...
Butler, Elizabeth
Butler, Elizabeth (1615–1684), duchess of Ormond and Lady Dingwall , noblewoman, was the only child of Richard Preston , Lord Dingwall, one of James I's gentlemen of the bedchamber, and Elizabeth Butler, the only surviving child of Thomas…...
Butler, Elizabeth
Butler, Elizabeth (c.1585–1628), countess of Desmond and Lady Dingwall , was the only daughter of Thomas Butler (qv), 10th earl of Ormond, and his English-born second wife Elizabeth Sheffield, daughter of John, Lord Sheffield,…...
Butler, Lady Margaret
Butler, Lady Margaret (1471?–1542), countess of Ormond , was second daughter of Gerald FitzGerald (qv), 8th earl of Kildare, and his first wife, Alison, daughter of Roland…...