Hector, Annie
Hector, Annie (née French ) (Mrs Alexander ) (1825–1902), novelist, was born in Dublin 23 June 1825, the only daughter of Robert French, a Dublin barrister originally of Frenchpark, Co. Roscommon, a descendant of the Church of Ireland bishop of Down and Connor…...
Herbert, Dorothea
Herbert, Dorothea (c.1770–1829), author, was born in Kilkenny, eldest among eight children of the Rev. Nicholas Herbert, rector of Carrick-on-Suir and Knockgrafton, Co. Tipperary, and his wife, Martha, daughter of John Cuffe, 1st Lord Desart. In 1782 she was a day pupil at…...
Hickey, Emily Henrietta
Hickey, Emily Henrietta (1845–1924), poet, writer, and teacher, was born 12 April 1845 at Macmine Castle, near Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, second daughter of the Rev. John Steuart Hickey, rector of Gorebridge, Co. Carlow, and his wife, formerly a Miss Newton King. She was a…...
Hinkson, Katharine (née Tynan)
Hinkson, Katharine (née Tynan) (1859–1931), novelist, poet, and journalist, was born 23 January 1859 in South Richmond St., Dublin, the fifth of twelve children of Andrew Cullen Tynan , a prosperous farmer and cattle trader, and Elizabeth Tynan (née Reilly). From an early age she was…...
Hinkson, Pamela
Hinkson, Pamela (1900–82), novelist, was born 19 November 1900 in Ealing, London, England, the only daughter among five children of Katharine Tynan Hinkson (qv), novelist and poet, and Henry Albert Hinkson (1865–1919). Her…...
Hobhouse, Mary Violet
Hobhouse, Mary Violet (née McNeill ) (1864–1901), novelist and poet, was born 8 June 1864 in London, the second daughter of Edmund McNeill, land agent and deputy lord lieutenant of Co. Antrim, and Mary (Miller) McNeill of Ballycastle, Co. Antrim. In 1866 the McNeills moved from…...
Hoey, Frances Sarah (Mrs Cashel Hoey)
Hoey, Frances Sarah (Mrs Cashel Hoey) (née Johnston ) (1830–1908), novelist and journalist, was born 15 February 1830 in Bushy Park, Terenure, Dublin, one of eight children of Charles Bolton Johnston, secretary and registrar of Mount Jerome cemetery, Dublin, and his wife Charlotte…...
Holland, Mary Philomena
Holland, Mary Philomena (1935–2004), journalist, was born 19 June 1935 in Dover, Kent, youngest of three children (two sons and one daughter) of Patrick Henry Holland, civil engineer and later civil servant, and his wife Margaret (née Callanan). Both sides of the family originated in…...
Holmes, Mary Anne (Maryanne)
Holmes, Mary Anne (Maryanne) (1773–1805), poet and writer, was born 10 October 1773 in Dublin, one of the four surviving children of Dr Robert Emmet (qv), state physician of Ireland, and Elizabeth (Mason) Emmet of Ballydowney, Co. Kerry.…...
Hoult, Eleanor Lucy (‘Norah’)
Hoult, Eleanor Lucy (‘Norah’) (1894–1984), novelist, was born 20 September 1898 at Ardilaun Villas, Ballymount, Dublin, daughter of Powis Hoult, architect, and Margaret Hoult (née O'Shaughnessy). Both parents died in her early childhood and she was educated at Dr Williams's Academy…...
Houston, Mary Galway
Houston, Mary Galway (1871–p.1954), craftswoman, teacher, and author, was born 27 July 1871 at Coleraine Academical Institution, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, daughter of Thomas Galway Houston, headmaster of the institution, and Maud Steen Houston (née Millar). She trained (…...
Hull, Eleanor Henrietta
Hull, Eleanor Henrietta (Ní Choill, Eibhlín) (1860–1935), Celtic scholar and author, was born 15 January 1860 in Manchester, daughter of Edward Hull (qv), geologist, originally of Co. Antrim, and Mary Catherine Henrietta Hull (née Cooke), from…...
Hungerford, Margaret Wolfe
Hungerford, Margaret Wolfe (née Hamilton ) (c.1852–1897), popular fiction writer, was born in Mileen, Ross Carbery, Co. Cork, the elder daughter of the Rev. Fitzjohn Stannus Hamilton, rector and vicar choral of St Faughnan's cathedral in Ross Carbery, and his wife Sarah (…...
Hutton, Mary Ann
Hutton, Mary Ann (1862–1953), Irish-language scholar and writer, was born in 1862 in Manchester, England, the eldest child of James Drummond (qv) and his wife Frances (née Classon), who later had two sons and five more daughters. Secondary…...
Jacob, Rosamond
Jacob, Rosamond (1888–1960), suffragist, republican, and writer, was born 13 October 1888 in Waterford city, third child of Louis Jacob (1841–1907) and Henrietta Jacob (née Harvey; 1849–1919). Louis Jacob worked in his father-in-law's house-agent and stockbroking firm in Waterford. Both…...
Jameson, Anna Brownell
Jameson, Anna Brownell (1794–1860), writer, feminist, and art historian, the eldest of five daughters of the miniature painter Denis Brownell Murphy (qv) and his English wife, was born 19 May 1794 at the family home on College…...
Jemison, Mary ('Deh-he-wä-mis')
Jemison, Mary ('Deh-he-wä-mis') (1743?–1833), American frontierswoman, was born aboard the ship William and Mary, when her parents, Thomas Jemison and his wife Jane (née Erwin), (both of protestant Scotch-Irish heritage) were emigrating to colonial Pennsylvania, departing from…...
Jones, Lady Katherine
Jones, Lady Katherine (1615–91), Viscountess Ranelagh , woman of letters, was born 22 March 1615 in Youghal, Co. Cork, fifth daughter in a family of fifteen children of Richard Boyle (qv), 1st earl of Cork, and…...
Jordan, Kate
Jordan, Kate (1862–1926), novelist and playwright, was born 23 December 1862 in Dublin, the daughter of Michael James and Kathleen Jordan. Her father, an academic, came from a family that included numerous academics, musicians and artists. When Kate was three her family emigrated to…...
Kavanagh, Julia
Kavanagh, Julia (1824–77), novelist, short-story writer, and biographer, was born 7 January 1824 in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, the only child of Bridget Fitzpatrick (d. 1887) and Morgan Peter Kavanagh (d. 1874), writer and philologist. She spent much of her childhood in Normandy and…...
Kavanagh, Rose
Kavanagh, Rose (1859–91), poet, was born 24 June 1859 in Killadroy, Co. Tyrone. Nothing is recorded of her parents except that her mother was a cousin of Archbishop John Hughes (qv) of New York. When Rose was 11 years old the family…...
Keane, Mary Nesta (‘Molly’)
Keane, Mary Nesta (‘Molly’) (1904–96), writer, was born 20 July 1904 at Ballymore Eustace, Co. Kildare, second daughter (among three sons and two daughters) of Walter Clarmont Skrine (c.1860–1930) and …...
Keane, Terry
Keane, Terry (1939–2008), socialite and journalist, was born Ann Teresa O'Donnell in Guildford, Surrey, England, on 9 September 1939, only child of Timothy O'Donnell, medical doctor, and his wife Ann, a bank official, both Irish-born. At the age of one, Terry was sent to Ireland to…...
Kelly, Anna
Kelly, Anna (1891–1958), journalist, was born Annie Christina Fitzsimmons on 8 January 1891 in Ballysadare, Co. Sligo, one of four children (two daughters and two sons) of James Fitzsimmons, RIC constable (stationed at the time in…...
Kelly, (Mary Anne) Eva
Kelly, (Mary Anne) Eva (1830–1910), poet and nationalist, known as ‘Eva of the Nation’, was born 15 February 1830 at the home of her maternal grandfather John O'Flaherty in Headford, Co. Galway, one of seven children of Edward Kelly and Mary Kelly (née O'Flaherty) of…...