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,…...
Ashe, Nora (Honora)
Ashe, Nora (Honora) (1882–1970), teacher, nationalist, and Irish language enthusiast, was born 15 July 1882 in Kinard, Lispole, Co. Kerry, the third daughter in the family of ten of Gregory Ashe, a farmer, and Ellen (née Hanafin), of Tobar, Co. Kerry. Both her parents were native…...
Borthwick, Mariella Norma
Borthwick, Mariella Norma (1862–1934), artist, writer and Irish-language activist, was born 25 July 1862 in Highfield, Higher Bebington, Chester, one of five daughters and three sons of George Borthwick, merchant, and Mary Elizabeth Borthwick (née MacDonald), of Edinburgh. Despite her…...
Brooke, Charlotte
Brooke, Charlotte (1750☓1760–1793), poet, dramatist, and pioneer in the introduction of Irish culture to the English reader, was born at Rantavan House, Mullagh, Co. Cavan, daughter of Henry Brooke (qv) and Catherine Brooke (née Meares; 1718?–…...
Bryant, Sophie
Bryant, Sophie (1850–1922), educationist, home ruler, Celticist, and suffragist, was born 15 February 1850 in Sandymount, Dublin, second daughter and third child of Sophia Willock (née Morris) of Dublin and Skreen Castle, and the Rev. William Alexander Willock (d. 1879 in London),…...
Butler, Mary Ellen Lambert
Butler, Mary Ellen Lambert (1873–1920), novelist, was born 28 June 1873 in England, the youngest of the two daughters and a son of Peter Butler (1840–80) of Bunnahow House, Co. Clare, and Mary Ryan of Tipperary. The Butlers were landowners who remained catholic. Through intermarriage,…...
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…...
Carroll, Mella Elizabeth Laurie
Carroll, Mella Elizabeth Laurie (1934–2006), judge, was born 6 March 1934 in Dublin, second among four children of Patrick Joseph Carroll (qv) and his wife Agnes Mary (née Caulfield). Her father had been an officer in the national…...
Conlon, Sarah (née Maguire)
Conlon, Sarah (née Maguire) (1926–2008), campaigner, was born 20 January 1926 in the Falls Road area of Belfast, the daughter of Vincent Maguire and Mary Catherine Maguire; she had three brothers and three sisters. Sarah's life was dominated by work, family and religion. On leaving…...
Cotter, Brigid Mary
Cotter, Brigid Mary (1921–78), chemist and barrister, was born 3 January 1921 in Roscommon, the eldest daughter in the family of twelve children of Nicholas Patrick Cotter, the chief agricultural officer for Roscommon, and his wife, Bridie, née O'Brien. Brigid was educated at the…...
Cotter, Sarah
Cotter, Sarah (fl. 1751–92), printer and bookseller, was possibly the sister of Joseph Cotter (d. c.1751), a bookseller operating from under Dick's Coffee House, Skinner Row, Dublin (1744–c.1751). She continued the trade at the same address (1751–74) and…...
Crooke, Mary
Crooke, Mary (fl. 1657–92), printer and bookseller, was the daughter of Edmond Tooke , London haberdasher. She married John Crooke (qv) (d. 1669), king's printer in Ireland. On his death, her brother Benjamin Tooke (d. 1716…...
Delahunt, Katherine
Delahunt, Katherine Mary (‘Kay’, ‘Katryn’) (1956–2015), first female solicitor appointed to the Circuit Court, was born on 28 April 1956, the third of four girls and a boy, to Thomas (Tom) A. Delahunt, director of the Wicklow-based home décor firm S. V. Delahunt & Co, and his wife…...
De Valera, Sinéad
De Valera, Sinéad (1875–1975), teacher, folklorist, and writer, was born Jane Flanagan , 1 June 1875, in Ballbriggan, Co. Dublin, one of three daughters and four children of Laurence Flanagan, a carpenter, and Margaret Flanagan (née Byrne). When she was seven the family moved to Munster…...
Deverell, Averill Katherine Statter
Deverell, Averill Katherine Statter (1893–1979), barrister, was born 2 January 1893 in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, the only daughter (she had a twin brother) of William Deverell of Ellesmere, Greystones, clerk of the crown and peace, and his wife Ada Kate Statter Carr. As a teenager she…...
Dobbs, Margaret Emmeline
Dobbs, Margaret Emmeline (1871–1962), Gaelic Leaguer, was born in Dublin on 19 November 1871, one of four children of Conway Edward Dobbs (1818–98) of Glenariff Lodge, Parkmore, Co. Antrim, landowner, justice of the peace (JP) of Co. Antrim and high sheriff of Carrickfergus (1875) and…...
Duffy, Louise Gavan
Duffy, Louise Gavan (1884–1969), educator, nationalist and Irish language enthusiast, was born 17 July 1884 in Cimiez, near Nice, the only daughter among four children of the marriage of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (qv), journalist and…...
Esdall, Anne
This is a co-subject for the entry on Esdall, James. View the original entry....
Finn, Catherine
This is a co-subject for the entry on Finn, Edmund. View the original entry....
Fleming, Marie
Fleming, Marie (1953–2013), campaigner for assisted suicide, was born Eileen Mary Brolly on 26 December 1953 in Lifford, Co. Donegal, the first of five children (two girls and three boys) to Annette (née Maxwell) and Daniel Brolly, a painter and decorator. In 1969, when she was fourteen…...
Frost, Georgina (‘Georgie’)
Frost, Georgina (‘Georgie’) (1879–1939), court official, was born on 29 December 1879 in Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, one of the five children of Thomas Frost (1842–1938) and his wife, Margaret Kett (d. 1888). Thomas Frost was the petty sessions clerk for Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on…...
Gill, Mollie (Ní Giolla, Máire)
Gill, Mollie (Ní Giolla, Máire) (1891–1977), camogie player and administrator, was born Mary Anne Gill on 24 March 1891 at Murphystown, near Leopardstown, in south Co. Dublin, the daughter of James Gill, a shoe-maker, and his wife Jane (neé Daly). Census records suggest that she was the…...
Graisberry, Ruth
This is a co-subject for the entry on Graisberry, Daniel. View the original entry....
Halappanavar, Savita
Halappanavar, Savita (1981–2012), catalyst for change in Irish abortion laws, was born Savita Andanappa Yalagi on 29 September 1981 in Bagalkot, Karnataka province, south-west India, the youngest of three children (two boys, one girl) of Andanappa Yalagi, an electrical engineer with the…...
Harding, Sarah
This is a co-subject for the entry on Harding, John. View the original entry....