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…...
Sinclair, Elizabeth (Betty)
Sinclair, Elizabeth (Betty) (1910–81), trade unionist, was born 3 December 1910, into a protestant working class family in Hooker Street, Belfast. She was the third child of two sons and two daughters born to Joseph and Margaret Sinclair. Her father worked as a sawyer in Harland…...
Skinnider, Margaret (Ní SCINEADÓRA, Máighréad)
Skinnider, Margaret (Ní SCINEADÓRA, Máighréad) (1893–1971), republican, teacher, and trade unionist, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to immigrant parents from Co. Monaghan. Qualifying as a teacher at Craiglockhart, she taught mathematics in Glasgow's Hillhead district. Active in the…...
Smillie, Robert (‘Bob’)
Smillie, Robert (‘Bob’) (1857–1940), trade unionist, socialist, and politician, was born 17 March 1857 in Belfast, younger of two sons of working-class parents of Scottish origin. Till early adulthood he styled the family name as ‘Smellie’. Orphaned at an early age, the brothers…...
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…...
Spring, Daniel
Spring, Daniel (1910–88), politician, trade unionist, and sportsman, was born 22 July 1910 in Spa Rd, Tralee, Co. Kerry, fifth eldest among five sons and nine daughters of Arthur Spring, butcher, and Catherine Spring (née Commane). Educated at Strand St. national school, he worked…...
Stacey, William
Stacey, William (1926–81), trade unionist, was born 21 October 1926 at 59 Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin, the son of William Stacey, a labourer, and his wife Margaret (née McGauley). Growing up in East Wall, he attended St Laurence O'Toole's …...
Stewart, Alexander
Stewart, Alexander (1854–1926), trade unionist and political activist, was born in October 1854 in Glasgow, Scotland; no details of his parents are known. He appears to have been educated locally at what he described as ‘a private adventure school’ which was identified with the…...
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…...
Temple, Sir William
Temple, Sir William (1555–1627), philosopher and provost of TCD, was born in Warwickshire, England, son of Anthony Temple. Educated at Eton, William entered King's College, Cambridge, where he was a fellow, graduating BA (1578) and…...
Tennant, Margaret Mary Edith (May) (née Abraham)
Tennant, Margaret Mary Edith (May) (née Abraham) (1869–1946), promoter of workers’ rights and public health, was born 5 April 1869 at Rathgar, Co. Dublin, the only daughter of Dr George Whitley Abraham, a lawyer in the civil service, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Cornelius Curtain…...
Tobin, Daniel Joseph
Tobin, Daniel Joseph (1872–1955), trade union leader, was born 2 April 1872 in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, son of John Tobin, shopkeeper, and Bridget Tobin (née Kennelly). He attended national school locally before emigrating with a brother to the United States, settling in Cambridge…...
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’.…...
Tully, James
Tully, James (1915–92), politician and trade unionist, was born 18 September 1915 in Carlanstown, Kells, Co. Meath, second youngest among ten children of John Tully, cattle-herd, and Ann Tully (née Flood). He was educated at Carlanstown national school and St Patrick's Classical School…...
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…...
Walker, William
Walker, William (1871–1918), socialist and trade unionist, was born 9 January 1871 at 35 McCluny St., Belfast, son of Francis Walker, shipyard boilermaker and latterly trade-union official, and Sarah Walker (née McLaughlin). After attending St George's national school, he was…...
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…...
Wright, James Lendrew
Wright, James Lendrew (1816–93), USA labour leader, was born 6 April 1816 to a protestant family in Co. Tyrone, of whom nothing else is known except that the family emigrated first to St John, in the British colony of New Brunswick, and thence to the US, settling in Philadelphia in…...