Sherlock, David
Sherlock, David (1850–1940), barrister and peat industrialist, was born 27 March 1850 in Rahan Lodge, Tullamore, King's Co. (Offaly), second son among four sons and two daughters of David Sherlock (1814–84), lawyer and MP, of Stillorgan Castle, Co. Dublin, and his wife Elizabeth,…...
Sinclair, Elizabeth (Betty)
Sinclair, Elizabeth (Betty) (1910–81), trade unionist, was born 3 December 1910, into a protestant working class family in Hooker Street, Belfast. She was the third child of two sons and two daughters born to Joseph and Margaret Sinclair. Her father worked as a sawyer in Harland…...
Sinclair, John
This is a co-subject for the entry on Sinclair (Sinclaire), William. View the original entry....
Sinclair (Sinclaire), William
Sinclair (Sinclaire), William (1760–1807), linen manufacturer and radical, was second among four sons of Thomas Sinclair (1719–98), merchant, and his wife Hester Eccles Pottinger, whom he married in 1749. Thomas came to Belfast from Newtownards and served his apprenticeship with…...
Sinclair, Thomas
This is a co-subject for the entry on Sinclair (Sinclaire), William. View the original entry....
Skinnider, Margaret (Ní SCINEADÓRA, Máighréad)
Skinnider, Margaret (Ní SCINEADÓRA, Máighréad) (1893–1971), republican, teacher, and trade unionist, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to immigrant parents from Co. Monaghan. Qualifying as a teacher at Craiglockhart, she taught mathematics in Glasgow's Hillhead district. Active in the…...
Smillie, Robert (‘Bob’)
Smillie, Robert (‘Bob’) (1857–1940), trade unionist, socialist, and politician, was born 17 March 1857 in Belfast, younger of two sons of working-class parents of Scottish origin. Till early adulthood he styled the family name as ‘Smellie’. Orphaned at an early age, the brothers…...
Smithson, Annie M(ary) P(atricia)
Smithson, Annie M(ary) P(atricia) (1873–1948), author, nurse, republican, and trade unionist, was born Margaret Anne Jane Smithson 26 September 1873 at 22 Claremont Rd, Sandymount, Dublin, daughter of Samuel Raynor Smithson, a protestant, unionist barrister, and Margaret Louisa…...
Smurfit, John Jefferson
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Smurfit, (John) Jefferson
Smurfit, (John) Jefferson Snr (1909–77), industrialist and businessman, was born 24 March 1909, the son of a Sunderland shipyard worker. He was ten when his father, John, died painfully at home from diabetes, leaving a widow and three small children. To support her family Ellen…...
Somers, Elizabeth
Somers, Elizabeth (1881–1934), republican and industrial revivalist, was born 14 October 1881 at Waterford city, daughter of William Somers, post office engineer, and his wife Elizabeth (née Walsh); she had at least three brothers. Her mother's family, who came from Kilmacow, Co.…...
Spring, Daniel
Spring, Daniel (1910–88), politician, trade unionist, and sportsman, was born 22 July 1910 in Spa Rd, Tralee, Co. Kerry, fifth eldest among five sons and nine daughters of Arthur Spring, butcher, and Catherine Spring (née Commane). Educated at Strand St. national school, he worked…...
Stacey, William
Stacey, William (1926–81), trade unionist, was born 21 October 1926 at 59 Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin, the son of William Stacey, a labourer, and his wife Margaret (née McGauley). Growing up in East Wall, he attended St Laurence O'Toole's …...
Stephenson, Robert
Stephenson, Robert (fl.1741–91), inspector with the linen board, seems to have been born in the north of Ireland, possibly near the town of Antrim; nothing else is known of his early life. He was apprenticed (1741–5) to a London linen merchant, and then became a linen…...
Stewart, Alexander
Stewart, Alexander (1854–1926), trade unionist and political activist, was born in October 1854 in Glasgow, Scotland; no details of his parents are known. He appears to have been educated locally at what he described as ‘a private adventure school’ which was identified with the…...
Stott, Thomas
Stott, Thomas (1755–1829), linen-bleacher and poet, was born 21 April 1755 at Hillsborough, Co. Down, son of William Stott, a prosperous quaker linen merchant, and Sarah Stott (née Thompson). In 1777 Thomas Stott ceased to have a connection with the Society of Friends as a…...
Sullivan, James Bartholomew
This is a co-subject for the entry on Sullivan, William Kirby. View the original entry....
Swift, (Laurence) John
Swift, (Laurence) John (1896–1990), trade unionist and labour historian, was born 26 August 1896 in Dundalk, Co. Louth, the eldest of two sons and two daughters of Patrick Swift, a master baker, and his wife Alice (née Deane), daughter of a Dundalk businessman. Known generally as…...
Tennant, Margaret Mary Edith (May) (née Abraham)
Tennant, Margaret Mary Edith (May) (née Abraham) (1869–1946), promoter of workers’ rights and public health, was born 5 April 1869 at Rathgar, Co. Dublin, the only daughter of Dr George Whitley Abraham, a lawyer in the civil service, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Cornelius Curtain…...
Tobin, Daniel Joseph
Tobin, Daniel Joseph (1872–1955), trade union leader, was born 2 April 1872 in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, son of John Tobin, shopkeeper, and Bridget Tobin (née Kennelly). He attended national school locally before emigrating with a brother to the United States, settling in Cambridge…...
Tobin, Sir Thomas
Tobin, Sir Thomas (1807–81), gunpowder factory owner and public figure in Cork, was born in Liverpool, eldest son among six sons and six daughters of Thomas Tobin (1775–1863), businessman, and Esther Tobin (née Watson). The family was of Irish origin, descended from a periwig maker…...
Torrance, Francis
Torrance, Francis (1816–86), manufacturer and entrepreneur, was born in Co. Donegal, one among eight children of Francis Torrance, said to be the seventh in a direct line of farmers of that name who had come from Kirkintilloch, Scotland, and settled near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal,…...
Tully, James
Tully, James (1915–92), politician and trade unionist, was born 18 September 1915 in Carlanstown, Kells, Co. Meath, second youngest among ten children of John Tully, cattle-herd, and Ann Tully (née Flood). He was educated at Carlanstown national school and St Patrick's Classical School…...
Turner, Richard
Turner, Richard (c.1798–1881), ironmaster and engineer, was born in Dublin, son of Timothy Turner (d. 1822), a merchant in Clare Street, and his wife Catherine (née Sisson). His grandfather and great-grandfather were both ironsmiths named Timothy Turner, the elder of whom (…...
Walker, William
Walker, William (1871–1918), socialist and trade unionist, was born 9 January 1871 at 35 McCluny St., Belfast, son of Francis Walker, shipyard boilermaker and latterly trade-union official, and Sarah Walker (née McLaughlin). After attending St George's national school, he was…...