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 …...
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,…...
Anderson, Lily
Anderson, Lily (1922–82), social campaigner and communist, joined the Communist Party in 1942 and served for many years on its subcommittees for social services, education, and women. She was best known as a campaigner for better nursery facilities in Belfast during the 1960s. Her…...
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…...
Barrett, Rosa (Mary)
Barrett, Rosa (Mary) (1854–1936) philanthropist, child-care worker, and suffragist, was born 15 January 1854 in Royston, Hertfordshire, England, daughter of the Rev. W. G. Barrett and Martha Barrett (née Fletcher). From the 1860s she was resident with her family in Dublin. Her…...
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,…...
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…...
Bennett, Louisa (‘Louie’)
Bennett, Louisa (‘Louie’) (1870–1956), suffragist, trade unionist, and peace activist, was born 7 January 1870, in Garville Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin, the eldest daughter of James Cavendish Bennett, a prosperous auctioneer, and his wife Susan (née Bolger). She was brought up at Temple…...
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…...
Bolton, Mary
Bolton, Mary (1920–96), counsellor, was born 16 September 1920 in Co. Donegal. An orphan, she was adopted by a farming couple in Co. Tyrone. As a young woman she settled in London, where she became an alcoholic. Recovering from her addiction as a result of treatment under Dr Max…...
Booth, Eva Selina Gore-
Booth, Eva Selina Gore- (1870–1926), poet, mystic, trade unionist and suffragist, was born on 22 May 1870 at Lissadell, Co. Sligo, the second of three daughters (and two sons) of Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th baronet and Arctic explorer, and his wife, Georgina (née Hill) of Tickhill castle…...
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, 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…...
Breslin, Mary (‘Maura’)
Breslin, Mary (‘Maura’) (1914–84), trade unionist and feminist, was born 29 December 1914 in Dublin. She began working life as a staff nurse in Grangegorman mental hospital, and began her lifelong activism in trade unionism by joining the Irish Women Workers Union (IWWU), founded (…...
Browne, José
This is a co-subject for the entry on Browne, Dennis. View the original entry....
Buckley (Goulding), Margaret (‘Maggie’; ‘Margaret Lee’)
Buckley (Goulding), Margaret (‘Maggie’; ‘Margaret Lee’) (1879–1962), republican, trade unionist, and writer, was born in July 1879, at Winter's Hill, Cork, the eldest daughter of James Goulding and his wife Ellen (née Joyce), both of Cork. Her father, who was employed as a labourer…...
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…...
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…...
Cahalan, Cissie
Cahalan, Cissie (1876–1948), trade unionist and suffragist, was born in Cork in 1876. Little is known of her early life, other than that she was apprenticed to the drapery trade, and by 1906 was based in Dublin where she worked as a draper's assistant in Arnott's of Henry St. Her…...
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…...