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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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, 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…...
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…...
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 (…...
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…...
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…...
Byrne, Frankie (Frances)
Byrne, Frankie (Frances) (1921–93), broadcaster and public relations consultant, was born 27 December 1921 in a nursing home at 7 North Frederick Street, Dublin, third child and second daughter among three daughters and two sons of Michael P. (‘Sport’) Byrne, journalist, of 2…...
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…...
Campbell, Gertrude Elizabeth
Campbell, Gertrude Elizabeth (née Blood ) (1857–1911), writer, journalist, and critic, was the second daughter of Edmond Maghlin Blood (d. 1891), of Thurloe Square, London, and Brickhill, Co. Clare, and Mary Amy Fergusson (d. 1899), of Leixlip, Co. Kildare. Owing to her father's…...
Carbery, Ethna
Carbery, Ethna (1866–1902), poet, writer, and journalist, was born Anna Johnston 3 December 1866 into a catholic family in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the second of three children. She lived nearly all her life in Belfast, where her father, …...
Carney, Winifred (‘Winnie’)
Carney, Winifred (‘Winnie’) (1887–1943), trade unionist, feminist, and republican, was born Maria Winifred Carney 4 December 1887 at Fisher's Hill, Bangor, Co. Down, youngest child among three sons and three daughters of Alfred Carney, commercial traveller, and Sarah Carney (née Cassidy…...
Charlton, Maureen
Charlton, Maureen (1930–2007), playwright, poet and broadcaster, was born Mary Farrell in Dublin on 14 September 1930, one of three daughters of Edward and Bridget Farrell (or O'Farrell); her mother's maiden name was probably Farrell also. Mary, known as Maureen, was brought up in Mount…...
Chenevix, Helen Sophia
Chenevix, Helen Sophia (1886–1963), trade unionist, suffragist, and social campaigner, was born 13 November 1886, at Ivy Bank, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, only child of Henry Chenevix and Charlotte Chenevix (née Ormsby). Educated at Alexandra College, Dublin, she went on to…...
Clerke, Ellen Mary
Clerke, Ellen Mary (1840–1906), journalist and writer, was born 26 September 1840 in Skibbereen, Co. Cork, elder daughter among three children of John William Clerke (1814–90), manager of the Provincial Bank, and his wife Catherine Mary, sister of lawyer…...
Clifford, Mary (‘Mai’)
Clifford, Mary (‘Mai’) (née Hollingsworth ) (1913–86), trade union official and laundress, was born 25 September 1913 at Phoenix Park, Glasgow, Scotland, the elder of one daughter and one son of Joseph Hollingsworth, a blacksmith from Co. Kerry, and his wife Elizabeth, a Glasgow…...
Cobbe, Frances Power
Cobbe, Frances Power (1822–1904), feminist, journalist, anti-vivisectionist, and philanthropist, was born 4 December 1822 in Dublin, the fifth child and only daughter of Charles Cobbe (1781–1857), a landlord and magistrate of Newbridge House, Co. Dublin, and Frances Cobbe (née…...
Comerford, Maire (Mary Eva)
Comerford, Maire (Mary Eva) (1893–1982), republican and journalist, was born 29 June 1893, in Ardavon, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, the eldest daughter of James Charles Comerford, a mill owner, and Eva May Comerford, the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Esmonde of Co.Wexford. She…...
Condell, Frances Pauline
Condell, Frances Pauline (1916–86), politician and journalist, was born 29 June 1916 at 8 Sexton St., Limerick, sixth child of James Eades , signal inspector, and Fanny Eades (née Sheppard). She had five older brothers. The family was protestant, and Frances attended St Michael's…...
Conroy, Sheila (née Williams)
Conroy, Sheila (née Williams) (1918–2012), trade unionist, social activist and administrator, was born on 22 April 1918 (or 4 April 1917) in Bantry, Co. Cork, only child of Harry and Jane Williams. A Welsh petty officer in the Royal Navy, Harry Williams was stationed at Bantry (1914–…...
Crawford, Emily
Crawford, Emily (1841–1915), journalist, was born 31 May 1841, probably in Dublin, daughter of Andrew Johnstone, landowner, of Corboy, Co. Longford, and Grace Johnstone, an American. She was educated at home. After her father's financial difficulties and death, she went (1857) with…...