Ó Lochlainn, Colm
Ó Lochlainn, Colm (1892–1972), printer, publisher and Gaelic scholar, was born William Gerard O'Loughlin at Drumcondra, Dublin, on 11 October 1892, the second of four surviving children (from six) of John O'Loughlin, publisher, and his wife Delia Bridget (née Carr), whose family were…...
O'Sullivan, Martin
O'Sullivan, Martin (1891–1956), trade unionist and politician, was born in 1891 in Ennistymon, Co. Clare. Educated locally at the CBS, he joined the Midland & Great Western Railway Co. as a clerk and worked in Sligo and Cavan…...
Owens, Evelyn
Owens, Evelyn (1931–2010), trade unionist and women's rights advocate, was born on 22 January 1931 at 23 Vernon Gardens, Clontarf, Dublin, the fourth of six children of William Owens, a civil servant of Clontarf, originally from Co. Roscommon, and his wife Ellen (née Monaghan), from…...
Partridge, William Patrick (‘Bill’)
Partridge, William Patrick (‘Bill’) (1874–1917), trade unionist and revolutionary nationalist, was born 8 March 1874 in Sligo county hospital, fourth child and second son among three sons and two daughters of Benjamin Partridge (d. 1892), railway engine driver, of 6 Chapel Street…...
Punch (Pontius, Ponce), John
Punch (Pontius, Ponce), John (1603–c.1660×73), philosopher, theologian, and controversialist, was born in Cork of an Anglo-Irish family. Nothing is known of his parents, his early years, or his education before he entered the novitiate of the Irish Franciscans at St…...
Quigley, Gerry (Edmund Gerard)
Quigley, Gerry (Edmund Gerard) (1928–2003), trade unionist, was born 3 November 1928 in Virginia Street, off Donegall Pass in south Belfast. He was one of seven children of John Joseph Quigley and his wife Margaret (née O’Connor). Quigley was educated at St Mary’s Christian…...
Redmond, Séamus
Redmond, Séamus (1925–96), trade unionist, was born 9 February 1925 in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, second son to James Redmond, company sergeant, and Mary Redmond (née McLoughlin). He was raised in the Curragh and Spike Island and later moved to Whitehall, Dublin. Educated at the…...
Redpath, James
Redpath, James (1833–91), journalist, abolitionist and Land Leaguer, was born 24 August 1833 in Berwick-on-Tweed on the Anglo–Scottish border , eldest of nine children (two sons and two daughters survived to adulthood) of Ninian Davidson Redpath, schoolmaster, and his wife Maria (née…...
Roberts, Ruaidhrí Butler
Roberts, Ruaidhrí Butler (1917–86), trade unionist, was born 1 January 1917 at 40 Grosvenor Road, Rathmines, Co. Dublin, one of two sons of George Roberts (qv), publisher, of that address and of 3 Montalto, Sorrento Road, Dalkey, Co.…...
Roney, Frank
Roney, Frank (1841–1925), Fenian and trade unionist, was born 13 August 1841 in Belfast, the eldest of a family of eight. Roney inherited his nationalist and trade unionist principles from his parents. His father was a carpenter and secretary of a carpenters' union in Belfast, and…...
Sheehan, Daniel Desmond (‘D. D.’)
Sheehan, Daniel Desmond (‘D. D.’) (1873–1948), journalist, labour leader, MP, barrister, and soldier, was born 28 May 1873 at Dromtariffe, Kanturk, Co. Cork, the eldest of the three sons and one daughter of Daniel Sheehan, tenant farmer, and his wife, Ellen (née Fitzgerald). He…...
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…...
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…...
Toland, John
Toland, John (1670–1722), freethinker and polemical writer, was probably born in Inishowen, Co. Donegal, on 30 November 1670. Reputed to be the illegitimate son of a catholic priest, Toland may have been baptised ‘Joannes Eugenius’, which he later altered to a pen name, ‘Janus Junius’.…...
Turner, William
Turner, William (1871–1936), catholic bishop and professor of philosophy in the USA, was born 8 April 1871 in Ardkilmartin, near Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, in a farming family, son of Patrick Turner and Bridget Turner (née Carey). He was one of five sons and five daughters; three…...
Usher, James
Usher, James (c.1720–1772), philosopher and schoolmaster, was born in Co. Dublin, son of a gentleman farmer; nothing else is known of his parents. He was probably a descendant of James (qv) and…...
Webb, Richard Davis
Webb, Richard Davis (1805–72), printer and philanthropist, was born in the Cornmarket, Dublin, where his parents had a linen business; he was eldest among seven sons of James Webb and Deborah Webb (née Forrest). The Webbs and Forrests were members of the Society of Friends;…...
Wheatley, John
Wheatley, John (1869–1930), socialist and publisher, was born 19 May 1869 at Bunmahon, Co. Waterford, eldest among three sons and seven daughters of Thomas Wheately, copper miner of Welsh extraction, and Johanna Wheately (née Ryan); it is not known when he came to use the spelling…...
Wisdom, John Oulton (J. O.)
Wisdom, John Oulton (J. O.) (1908–93), philosopher and psychoanalyst, was born in Dublin on 29 December 1908, only child of Thomas Hume Wisdom, brewery clerk, and his English-born wife Jane, daughter of Dr Henry Oulton of St Stephen's Green. The Cambridge language philosopher Arthur…...
Wogan, Patrick
Wogan, Patrick (c.1740–1816), printer, was born in obscure circumstances: nothing is known of his origins or early life. In 1771 he was in business in Church Street, Dublin, and in 1773 moved to Old Bridge Street, where he transacted for thirty-four years; from 1775 to 1782 he…...