Alexander, Cecil Frances
Alexander, Cecil Frances (1818–95), hymn-writer, known in her family as Fanny, was born in Eccles Street, Dublin, second daughter (and third among seven children) of John Humphreys and Elizabeth Frances Humphreys (née Reed). Her mother's brother was Thomas Reed (1796–1883), a general…...
Blachford, Theodosia
Blachford, Theodosia (1744–1817?), philanthropist and leading methodist, was born at her father's residence in Rosanna, Co. Wicklow, only daughter of William Tighe (qv), landowner and MP, and Lady Mary Tighe of Rathmore, Co. Meath,…...
Blomfield, Sara Louisa
Blomfield, Sara Louisa , Lady (1859–1939), Bahá'í pioneer and humanitarian, was born in Knockanevin, Borrisoleigh, near Thurles, Co. Tipperary, the daughter of Matthew (Matthias) John Ryan and his wife Emily (née Crowe). Religious tension between her catholic father and anglo-…...
Boyle, Ina (Selina Adelaide Philippa)
Boyle, Ina (Selina Adelaide Philippa) (1889–1967), composer, was born 8 March 1889 in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, daughter of Rev. William Foster Boyle, curate in Powerscourt parish, and his wife Philippa Augusta Jephson. Her father made violins and cellos as a hobby. She grew up at…...
Cambridge, Alice
Cambridge, Alice (1762–1829), preacher, was born 1 January 1762 in Bandon, Co. Cork, of a presbyterian mother and anglican father, of whom no further details are known. She was brought up in the established church. Though she completed her formal education at an early age, she…...
Clarke, Maud Violet
Clarke, Maud Violet (1892–1935), historian, was born 7 May 1892 in Belfast, second child and only daughter of Richard James Clarke, rector of Trinity church, Belfast, and Anne Nugent Clarke (née Jessop), of Mount Jessop, Co. Longford. In 1903 the family moved to Coole Glebe,…...
Crookshank, Anne Olivia
Crookshank, Anne Olivia (1927–2016), art historian, was born in Whiteabbey, Co. Antrim, on 3 January 1927, the second of three daughters to Henry Crookshank, a geographical surveyor, and his wife Eileen ‘Kitty’ Crookshank (née Somerville-Large). For the first five years of her life Anne…...
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…...
Drelincourt, Mary
This is a co-subject for the entry on Drelincourt, Peter. View the original entry....
Farrell, Monica
Farrell, Monica (1892–1982), protestant evangelist, was born in Dublin in 1892, one of the younger children in a family of seven. Her mother died when she was seven and she was brought up by an older sister who worked as a seamstress. She reacted to her bereavement and physical ill-…...
Ferguson, Lady Mary Catherine
Ferguson, Lady Mary Catherine (1823–1905), antiquarian and biographer, was born 13 September 1823 in Stillorgan, Co. Dublin, eldest child and only daughter of Robert Rundell Guinness (1789–1857), founder of the banking firm of Guinness Mahon, and Mary Anne Guinness (née Seymour; d…...
Fitzgerald, (Fanny Louisa) Geraldine Penrose-
Fitzgerald, (Fanny Louisa) Geraldine Penrose- (1846–1939), novelist and catholic convert, was born 27 January 1846, youngest daughter of Robert Uniacke Penrose-Fitzgerald and his wife Frances Matilda (née Austen); she had at least three brothers and one sister. The Penrose-…...
Green, Alice Sophia Amelia Stopford
Green, Alice Sophia Amelia Stopford (1847–1929), historian and nationalist, was born on either 30 or 31 May 1847 in Kells, Co. Meath, seventh among nine children of Edward Adderly Stopford , archdeacon of Meath, and Anne Catherine Stopford (neé Duke) from Sligo. With the exception of…...
Harrison, Letitia Dunbar- (Crawford, Aileen)
Harrison, Letitia Dunbar- (Crawford, Aileen) (1906–94), librarian and methodist activist, was born Letitia Elizabeth Eileen Dunbar in Dundrum, Co. Dublin, on 4 February 1906, the youngest of at least four children of Arthur Dunbar, a commercial traveller, and his wife Margaret (née…...
Holmes, Augusta Mary Anne
Holmes, Augusta Mary Anne (1847–1903), composer, was born 16 December 1847 in Paris of Irish parents, Captain Dalkieth Holmes, who had settled in Paris in 1820, and his wife, Augusta, née Shearer (d. 1857). Her mother published two pieces of prose: The law of Rouen, a…...
Kavanagh, Lady Harriet Margaret
Kavanagh, Lady Harriet Margaret (1800–85), artist, traveller, and antiquarian, was second daughter among three sons and four daughters of Richard Le Poer Trench (qv), later 2nd earl of Clancarty, and Henrietta Margaret Le Poer Trench…...
Keogh, Doris (neé Cleary)
Keogh, Doris (neé Cleary) (1922–2012), flautist and teacher, was born on 16 April 1922 on Leeson Street, Dublin, the daughter of Victor-Louis Cleary, an insurance agent and sometime professional flute player of Rathgar, Dublin, and his wife Mary Elizabeth (née Hughes), who also had a…...
Monsell, Harriet
Monsell, Harriet (1811–83), founder of the Sisterhood of St John the Baptist and anglican saint, was born in Dromoland, Co. Clare, eighth child of Sir Edward O'Brien (1773–1837), landowner and MP (Ennis, 1795–1800; Co. Clare, 1802–26), and his wife, Charlotte Smith (d. 1856) of…...
Moore, Georgina (Sister Mary Clare)
Moore, Georgina (Sister Mary Clare) (1814–74), Sister of Mercy, foundress, Crimean war nurse, and teacher, was born 20 March 1814 in the Church of Ireland parish of St Ann's, Dublin, youngest among three children (one son and two daughters) of George and Catherine Moore, both…...
O'Donoghue, Nannie Power
Power O’Donoghue (née Lambert), Nannie (1843–1940), journalist, equestrian and writer was born 2 June 1843 and baptised as Ann Stewart Lyster Lambert in St Thomas Church of Ireland, Marlborough Street, Dublin. She was the youngest child of four daughters and one son of Charles Lambert,…...
Pennefather, Catherine
This is a co-subject for the entry on Pennefather, William. View the original entry....
Robertson, Olivia Melian
Robertson, Olivia Melian (1917–2013), writer, artist and co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis, was born on 13 April 1917 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, to Manning Durdin Robertson (qv), urban planner and architect, and…...
Roe, Helen Maybury
Roe, Helen Maybury (1895–1988), librarian and antiquary, was born 18 December 1895 in Mountrath, Queen's Co. (Laois), the only child of William Ernest Roe and Anne Roe (neé Lambert Shields). Her father's family had lived in the Mountrath area since the seventeenth century and her…...
Ross, Jane
Ross, Jane (1810–79), folksong collector, was born 5 August 1810 in or near Limavady, Co. Londonderry, eldest child among four daughters and two sons of John Ross (1781–1830), captain in the Limavady yeomanry and owner of land, flour mills, and a bleach green, and his second wife…...
Rowan, Anne Margaret
Rowan, Anne Margaret (1832–1913), novelist, historian, and political activist, was born 21 November 1832 in Tralee, Co. Kerry, to Arthur Blennerhasset Rowan (qv), Church of Ireland clergyman and antiquarian, and his wife…...