Barrett, Rosa (Mary)
Barrett, Rosa (Mary) (1854–1936) philanthropist, child-care worker, and suffragist, was born 15 January 1854 in Royston, Hertfordshire, England, daughter of the Rev. W. G. Barrett and Martha Barrett (née Fletcher). From the 1860s she was resident with her family in Dublin. Her…...
Bennis, Elizabeth (Eliza)
Bennis, Elizabeth (Eliza) (1725–1802), methodist activist and diarist, was probably born in Limerick, one of two surviving daughters of Isaac and Alice (née Mitchell) Patten . The Pattens were presbyterian, and Elizabeth had a conventionally pious upbringing and evidently received…...
Bentham, Ethel
Bentham, Ethel (1861–1931), doctor and MP, was born 5 January 1861 in London, second daughter of William Bentham (an inspector, secretary, and later general manager with the Standard Life Assurance Company in London) and Mary Ann Bentham (née Hammond). Her father, a quaker, was…...
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,…...
Byers, Margaret
Byers, Margaret (1832–1912), educationist, suffragist, and philanthropist, was born 15 April 1832 in Windsor Hill, Rathfriland, Co. Down, fourth child and only daughter of Andrew Morrow , farmer and mill operator, and Margaret Morrow (née Herron). After the death (c.1840…...
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…...
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…...
Firth, Virginia Arabella ('Gay')
Firth, Virginia Arabella ('Gay') (1937–2005), author, journalist and political campaigner, was born in Belfast on 9 January 1937, the eldest of three daughters of Lancelot Turtle, a Belfast businessman and stockbroker, and Helen Ramsey Turtle (1911–46), born in Denver, Colorado,…...
Gayer, Henrietta
This is a co-subject for the entry on Jones, Valentine. View the original entry....
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…...
Haslam, Anna Maria
Haslam, Anna Maria (1829–1922), campaigner for women's rights, was born Anna Fisher at Youghal, Co. Cork, in April 1829, the sixteenth of seventeen children (there were, besides her, eight boys and eight girls) of Abraham Fisher (1783–1871), miller, philanthropist, and insurance…...
Heck, Barbara
Heck, Barbara (1734–1804), methodist, was born in Ballingrane, Co. Limerick, daughter of Sebastian Ruckle (surname later found also as Ruttle ), tenant farmer on the Southwell estate, and his wife Margaret (née Embury). The Ruckles, Emburys, and Hecks were part of a group of…...
Jackson, Elizabeth
Jackson, Elizabeth (c.1740–1781), US patriot and mother of President Andrew Jackson, was born in or near the town of Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. Her father's name was Hutchinson, but this is all we know for certain of her parents. Some sources claim that his name was Francis…...
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…...
Johnston (Johnston-Liik ), Edith Mary
Johnston (Johnston-Liik ), Edith Mary (1930–2008), historian and editor, was born 11 July 1930 in Belfast, eldest of three daughters of John Worthington Johnston (1904–52), athlete, presbyterian minister and army chaplain, and his wife Mary Isobel Giraud (née McFadden); a son died at…...
Lee, Mary Agnes
Lee, Mary Agnes (1821–1909), suffragist in Australia, was born Mary Agnes Walsh on 14 February 1821 in Co. Monaghan, the daughter of John Walsh; her mother's name is unknown. Raised in Ulster, in 1844 she married George Lee, the organist and choirmaster of Armagh Cathedral; they had…...
Lonsdale, Kathleen
Lonsdale, Kathleen (1903–71), X-ray crystallographer and pacifist, was born 28 January 1903 in Charlotte House, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, youngest among ten children of Henry Frederick Yardley (d. 1923), an English-born former soldier and postmaster of Newbridge, and his wife Jessie…...
McConnell, Mabel Washington
This is a co-subject for the entry on FitzGerald, (Thomas Joseph) Desmond. View the original entry....
McCoubrey (Morrison), Margaret
McCoubrey (Morrison), Margaret (1880–1956), suffragist and political activist, was born Margaret Mearns Morrison in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, near Glasgow, on 5 January 1880, one of two daughters and a son of William Morrison, labourer, and his wife Elizabeth. Her mother had three…...
McCracken, Mary Ann
McCracken, Mary Ann (1770–1866), radical and philanthropist, was born 8 July 1770 in Belfast, younger daughter and fifth of the six children of Capt. John McCracken (c.1719–1803), a prosperous merchant of Belfast, and his wife Ann (c.1730–1814), daughter of…...
McDougall, Margaret Moran
McDougall, Margaret Moran (1826–99), author and journalist, was born 25 December 1826, according to family records (though her obituary said 25 December 1828), probably in Co. Antrim. Her father, J. Moran (or William Henry) Dixon , tailor, died in Galgorm, Co. Antrim, when…...
McMordie, Julia
McMordie, Julia (1860–1942), philanthropist and politician, was born 30 March 1860 in Hartlepool, Co. Durham, England, fifth daughter of Sir William Gray , shipbuilder and shipowner, and his wife Dorothy (d. 1906), daughter of Capt. John Hall. A presbyterian, she was educated at…...
McTier, Martha
McTier, Martha (1742–1837), writer of letters, was eldest of the three surviving children of the Rev. Thomas Drennan (qv), non-subscribing presbyterian minister of Belfast, and his wife Ann Lennox (c.1719–1806), daughter of a wealthy Belfast merchant…...
Mitchel, Jane (‘Jenny’)
Mitchel, Jane (‘Jenny’) (c.1820–1899), nationalist, was born near Newry, Co. Down, where she, her brother, and her mother Mary Ward lived with Capt. James Verner (1777–1847), an attorney, formerly of the 19th Light Dragoons. The Verners were a well established Armagh…...
Mitchell, Isabel Deane (‘Ida’)
Mitchell, Isabel Deane (‘Ida’) (1879–1917), presbyterian missionary in China, was born in Belfast, fourth in a family of three daughters and two sons. Her father, the Rev. Deane Knox Mitchell (1840–1939) was minister of Crumlin Road presbyterian church (formerly a missionary…...