Brown, George
Brown, George (1906–37), communist and trade unionist, was born 5 November 1906 in Ballyhale, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, son of Francis Brown, a farrier with the Manchester Railway Company and an active trade unionist, originally from Inistiogue, Co. Kilkenny, and Mary Brown (née…...
Buckley (Goulding), Margaret (‘Maggie’; ‘Margaret Lee’)
Buckley (Goulding), Margaret (‘Maggie’; ‘Margaret Lee’) (1879–1962), republican, trade unionist, and writer, was born in July 1879, at Winter's Hill, Cork, the eldest daughter of James Goulding and his wife Ellen (née Joyce), both of Cork. Her father, who was employed as a labourer…...
Burn, Thomas Henry
Burn, Thomas Henry (1875–1949), trade unionist and politician, was born in Belfast, son of Thomas Henry Burn. Little is known of his family life but he was educated at Belfast National School and subsequently trained as a lithographic printer. The Ulster Unionist Labour…...
Busteed, John
Busteed, John (1895–1964), economist, was born 30 June 1895 at Mayfield, a suburb of Cork city, son of John Busteed, ship's steward, and Mary Busteed (née Hickey). Educated at the North Monastery School, Cork, he was the first recipient of the Honan scholarship to…...
Butler, John (‘Jack’)
Butler, John (‘Jack’) (1891–1968), trade unionist and politician, was born in Lackendarra, Ballinamult, Co. Waterford, and grew up in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. Leaving school aged fifteen, he became a labourer and on the formation of the…...
Byrne, James
Byrne, James (c.1875–1913), trade unionist, was born at 5 Clarence St., Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin, and lived at the address all his life. A large, strapping giant of a man, he worked locally on the docks, and eventually in Heiton's coal depot. About 1910 he…...
Byrne, Robert (‘Bobby’)
Byrne, Robert (‘Bobby’) (1889–1919), trade unionist and republican, was born 28 November 1889 at 5 Upper Oriel St., Dublin, one of three sons of Robert Byrne, fitter, of North Strand, Dublin, and Annie Byrne (née Hurley) of Limerick. He was a cousin of…...
Cahalan, Cissie
Cahalan, Cissie (1876–1948), trade unionist and suffragist, was born in Cork in 1876. Little is known of her early life, other than that she was apprenticed to the drapery trade, and by 1906 was based in Dublin where she worked as a draper's assistant in Arnott's of Henry St. Her…...
Cairnes, John Elliot
Cairnes, John Elliot (1823–75), economist, was born 26 September 1823 in Castlebellingham, Co. Louth, sixth child and eldest surviving son of William Cairnes, a prosperous brewer, and Marianne Cairnes, daughter of the Rev. William Woolsey. After six years in a boarding school in…...
Campbell, David R.
Campbell, David R. (1875–1934), trade unionist, was born in Belfast. Coming from a protestant and Orange background, Campbell was a member of the Belfast Socialist Society and of the Belfast Trades Council, where he represented insurance agents. He was elected president of the BTC…...
Campbell, John Patrick (‘Seán’)
Campbell, John Patrick (‘Seán’) (1889–1950), trade unionist, was born 4 March 1889 in Dublin, the son of John Campbell, a labourer, and Isabella Campbell (née Darragh). The family lived at 27 New Bride Street. He was educated at CBS…...
Cantillon, Richard
Cantillon, Richard (1687?–1734?), financier and economist, was born between 1680 and 1690 (most likely in 1687) at Ballyronan, in the parish of Ballyheigue, Co. Kerry, second son of Richard Cantillon, a farmer whose ancestors had been dispossessed under Cromwell, and his wife Brigid,…...
Canty, Michael
Canty, Michael (1857–1914), socialist and trade unionist, was born in Cork. With Adolphus Shields, he was appointed (1890) Dublin organiser of the National Union of Gasworkers and General Labourers (NUGGL), a British-based trade union formed by Will Thorne and Eleanor Marx of the…...
Cardiff, Patrick Joseph ('Paddy')
Cardiff, Patrick Joseph ('Paddy') (1925–2005), trade union leader, was born 8 November 1925 at 11 Upper Basin Street, near James's Street, Dublin, third child and second son among five sons and one daughter of Patrick Cardiff (d. 1945), a foundry labourer, and later a boiler scaler in…...
Carlin, Terry (Terence)
Carlin, Terry (Terence) (1946–2003), trade unionist, was born 25 January 1946 in Derry city, the seventh child among eight sons and four daughters of Neil Carlin (d. 1981), a painter and decorator, and his wife Lizzie. The family resided on Elmwood Street in the city's Bogside. His…...
Carney, John (‘Jack’)
Carney, John (‘Jack’) (1887–1956), socialist, trade unionist, and journalist, was probably born 30 May 1887 at 2 Phoenix St., Dublin, son of Richard Carney, fitter, and Eliza Carney (née Brian); such are the details of the only registered birth of a ‘John Carney’ in 1887 in Dublin…...
Carney, Winifred (‘Winnie’)
Carney, Winifred (‘Winnie’) (1887–1943), trade unionist, feminist, and republican, was born Maria Winifred Carney 4 December 1887 at Fisher's Hill, Bangor, Co. Down, youngest child among three sons and three daughters of Alfred Carney, commercial traveller, and Sarah Carney (née Cassidy…...
Cavan, Harry (Henry Hartrick)
Cavan, Harry (Henry Hartrick) (1916–2000), football administrator and trade union official, was born on 19 May 1916 in Mary Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, the eldest child of Walter Cavan, a motor body maker, and his wife Clara (née Quinn). Educated locally, he left school at 14 to…...
Chenevix, Helen Sophia
Chenevix, Helen Sophia (1886–1963), trade unionist, suffragist, and social campaigner, was born 13 November 1886, at Ivy Bank, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, only child of Henry Chenevix and Charlotte Chenevix (née Ormsby). Educated at Alexandra College, Dublin, she went on to…...
Chubb, (Frederick) Basil
Chubb, (Frederick) Basil (1921–2002), political scientist, was born 8 December 1921 in Branksome, near Bournemouth, Dorset, eldest son of Frederick John Bailey Chubb and Gertrude May Chubb. After early education at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury, he entered Merton College,…...
Clancy, Patrick
Clancy, Patrick (1877–1947), trade unionist, revolutionary, and politician, was born 17 March 1877 in the family home at Grange, Bruff, Co. Limerick, second child in the large family of John Clancy (d. 1935), carpenter, of Doneraile, Co. Cork and Bridget Clancy (née Farrell) (d.…...
Clery, William Edward
Clery, William Edward (c.1861–1931), writer and trade unionist, was born in Ireland in 1861 or 1862, son of John and Helen Clery. In 1877 he emigrated with his parents to London, penniless, and in 1878 entered the civil service, becoming a second-class inland sorter at the…...
Clifford, Mary (‘Mai’)
Clifford, Mary (‘Mai’) (née Hollingsworth ) (1913–86), trade union official and laundress, was born 25 September 1913 at Phoenix Park, Glasgow, Scotland, the elder of one daughter and one son of Joseph Hollingsworth, a blacksmith from Co. Kerry, and his wife Elizabeth, a Glasgow…...
Cluskey, Frank (Francis)
Cluskey, Frank (Francis) (1930–89), trade unionist and politician, was born 8 April 1930 at 83 St Ignatius Road, off Lower Dorset Street, Dublin, youngest of two sons and three daughters of Francis (‘Frank’) Cluskey (c.1890–1955), a butcher and active trade unionist, and…...
Colbert, John Patrick
Colbert, John Patrick (1898–1975), public servant and economist, was born 12 February 1898, the son of William Colbert JP, a farmer of Templeathea, Co. Limerick, and Norah Colbert (née Danaher). Educated at Rockwell College, near Cashel,…...