Davin, William
Davin, William (1890–1956), trade unionist and politician, was born 19 February 1890 at Grogan, Rathdowney, Queen's Co. (Laois), son of Timothy Davin, farmer, and Ellen Davin (née Costigan). He was educated at Rathdowney national school, at St Kieran's College, Kilkenny, and later…...
Deasy, Joseph ('Joe')
Deasy, Joseph (‘Joe’) (1922–2013), left-wing activist, was born on 12 July 1922 in Ballyfermot, Dublin, the eldest of two boys and two girls born to Dick Deasy, a train driver with the Great Southern Railway (GSR), and Mary Deasy (née O’Connor). Educated at St Michael’s National School…...
Devlin, Paddy
Devlin, Paddy (1925–99), politician and trade unionist, was born 8 March 1925 at 46 Lady St. in the Falls Road area of Belfast, eldest child among four daughters and three sons of Patrick Devlin, ex-serviceman and later flour-mill worker, and his wife Anna, of Belfast, daughter of…...
Doherty, John
Doherty, John (c.1798–1854), trade union pioneer, radical activist, journalist, and factory reformer, was born in Inishowen, Co. Donegal; nothing is known of his parents. His birth place and date are uncertain. A son said it was ‘Buncrana, Inishowel’ (sic) in…...
Dowling, Sheila (Sighle)
Dowling, Sheila (Sighle) (née Bowen ) (c.1896–1957), republican, socialist, trade unionist, and feminist, was a member of Cumann na mBan. During the war of independence she served as stenographer in dáil courts in north Dublin city, and worked for the republican solicitor…...
Duff, Charles St Lawrence
Duff, Charles St Lawrence (1894–1966) author, barrister and linguist, was born on 7 April 1894 in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, the youngest of ten children to grow to adulthood of John Duff, secretary of the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway, and his wife Anne Marie Duff (…...
Duffy, Luke J.
Duffy, Luke J. (1890–1961), trade unionist, was born 26 March 1890 in Gurteen, Co. Sligo, into a farming family. Educated at Cloonanure national school, he began an apprenticeship in the drapery trade in Moon's in Galway. He immediately became involved in the trade union movement…...
Duncan, George Alexander
Duncan, George Alexander (1902–2006), economist, was born 15 May 1902 in the family home in Bridge Street, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the second son of Alexander Duncan, a physician and surgeon, and his wife Elizabeth (née Linn). He was educated at Ballymena Academy and Campbell College…...
Dunne, Seán
Dunne, Seán (1919–69), republican and labour activist, was born in Waterford city, youngest of three children of Michael Dunne, member of the RIC, and Brigid Dunne, and was educated at the CBS…...
Dunning, Gertrude Frances
Dunning, Gertrude Frances (née Hayes; other married name Talbot Power) (1856–1926), philanthropist, was born on 29 March 1856 in St Patrick’s parish in Cork city, the only child of Thomas Hayes (1820/21–12 Aug. 1905) and his wife Margaret (née Ryan) of Grenville House,…...
Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro
Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro (1845–1926), economist and statistician, was born 8 February 1845 at Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, fifth of six sons of Francis Beaufort Edgeworth and his Spanish wife Rosa Florentina Eroles, daughter of a political refugee from Catalonia; he was a grandson…...
Edgeworth, Kenneth Essex
Edgeworth, Kenneth Essex (1880–1972), soldier, engineer, economist, and astronomer, was born 26 February 1880 at Daramona House, Streete, Co. Westmeath, eldest child among two sons and a daughter of Thomas Newcomen Edgeworth (1850–1931) and Elizabeth Dupré (née Wilson; d. 1929),…...
Everett, James
Everett, James (1890–1967), Labour politician and trade unionist, was born 14 February 1890 in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, a son of Robert Everett, a small farmer and waiter, and Margaret Everett (née Doyle). He had one brother and a sister and attended the local national school in…...
Farren, Thomas
Farren, Thomas (1879–1955), trade unionist, was born 11 December 1879 in 39 Bride St., Dublin, one of at least two sons of James Farren, stone cutter, and Bridget Farren (née Thorpe). His brother John Farren also became a notable trade unionist and was an alderman in Dublin in 1910…...
FitzGerald, Alexis James Oliver
FitzGerald, Alexis James Oliver (1916–85), solicitor and economist, was born 4 September 1916, the fourth child of Alexis FitzGerald and his wife, Elizabeth O'Halloran. He was born, as he would later say himself, ‘under the clock’ in the Waterford Mental Hospital, where his father was…...
Fitzgerald, Mary
Fitzgerald, Mary (1885–1960), South African trade unionist and socialist, was born in Ireland; her maiden name, and precise place and date of birth are not known. Emigrating with her father to the Cape Colony (1900), she worked as a typist for the British army at the Castle, Cape Town.…...
Fitzpatrick, John
Fitzpatrick, John (1870–1946), labour leader, was born 21 April 1870 in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, youngest of five sons of John Fitzpatrick, farmer and blacksmith, and Adelaide Fitzpatrick (née Clarke). Within a year of his birth his mother died, and by the age of 10 he had also lost…...
Flood, Finbarr
Flood, Finbarr (1938–2016), soccer player, managing director of Guinness brewery and chairman of the Labour Court, was born on 1 December 1938 in Kilmainham, Dublin, one of three children (and only son) to Jack Flood, a worker in Guinness, and his wife Eva Flood (née…...
Foran, Thomas
Foran, Thomas (1883–1951), trade unionist, was born 26 January 1883 at 24 Golden Lane, Dublin, son of Thomas Foran, labourer, and Johanna Foran (née Prett). Educated locally, he began working at a young age on the quays in Dublin. He took an immediate interest in trade unions, and…...
Foster, Vere Henry Louis
Foster, Vere Henry Louis (1819–1900), philanthropist and first president of the INTO, was born 26 April 1819 in Copenhagen, Denmark, third son of Augustus Foster (d. 1847), diplomat and non-resident Irish landowner, and…...
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ')
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ') (1891–1969), writer and trade unionist, was born on 13 November 1891 in Leeds, Yorkshire, the second of four sons of Richard Fox and his wife Elizabeth (née Rathmell). Richard senior worked as a gymnasium instructor in Leeds, and later as a skilled…...
Galway, Mary
Galway, Mary (1864–1928), trade unionist, was born 6 September 1864 in Taglanneg, Moira, Co. Down, daughter of Henry Galway and Elizabeth Galway (née Magennis), linen weavers. She later moved with her family to Belfast, living initially in 85 Leeson St., before settling in 31 Crocus…...
Gatty (Gillett-Gatty), Katherine
Gatty (Gillett-Gatty), Katherine (1870–1952), suffragette and socialist, was born on 11 June 1870 in Firozpur, India, to Edward Gatty, a British army captain and Emma Rebecca Gatty (née Collum ), a member of a prominent Fermanagh family. Gatty, an only child, was raised on the…...
Geary, Robert Charles (‘Roy’)
Geary, Robert Charles (‘Roy’) (1896–1983), statistician, was born in Dublin on 11 April 1896, the first child in the family of two sons and two daughters of Edmond Geary (who probably died in the late 1920s), an official in the general registrar's office, a keen mathematician and…...
Geehan, Thomas
Geehan, Thomas (fl. 1925–64), communist and unemployed workers leader, was born to a catholic family in Belfast, where he was reared in the Falls Road area. Employed as a textile worker, by the mid 1920s he was secretary of the west Belfast branch of the Northern Ireland…...