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…...
De Robeck, Sir John Michael
De Robeck, Sir John Michael (1863–1928), admiral, was born 10 June 1863 at Gowran Grange, Naas, Co. Kildare, second son of John Henry Edward Fock, 4th Baron de Robeck, and Sophia Charlotte de Robeck (née Burton) of Burton Hall, Co. Carlow. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1875…...
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…...
Dombrain, Sir James
Dombrain, Sir James (1793–1871), comptroller general of the Irish coastguard, was born in Canterbury, Kent, son of Abraham Dombrain. He was of French huguenot stock and it is believed that his family were descended from the D'Embron family of Rouen, Normandy. He joined the Royal…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Farran, George Philip
Farran, George Philip (1876–1949), marine taxonomist and fisheries scientist, was born 21 November 1876 at Knocklyon House, Templeogue, Co. Dublin, eldest among two sons and two daughters of Edmond Chomley Farran, a man of private income, of Belcamp Park, Raheny, Co. Dublin, and…...
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, 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…...
Fitzpatrick, Richard
Fitzpatrick, Richard (1662–1727), 1st Baron Gowran , Royal Navy officer and MP, was the son or grandson of Andrew Fitzpatrick of Castle Fleming, Queen's Co. (Laois), and his wife Ellice, daughter of Richard Butler, Viscount Mountgarret. Entering the Royal Navy he was appointed to…...
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…...
Forbes, George
Forbes, George (1685–1765), 3rd earl of Granard , diplomat, and admiral, was born 21 October 1685, third but eldest surviving son of Arthur Forbes (qv), 2nd earl, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Sir…...
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…...
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…...
Grant, William
Grant, William (1883–1949), trade unionist and Ulster unionist, was born 6 April 1883 in Belfast, the fourth son of at least seven children (five boys and two girls) of Martin Grant, a linen lapper, and Mary Grant (née Gibson). After being educated at a local national school, he…...
Green, William Spotswood
Green, William Spotswood (1847–1919), marine scientist, was born 10 September 1847 in Youghal, Co. Cork, the only son and eldest of six children of Charles Green, JP, merchant of Youghal, and his wife Catherine Frances, daughter of Walter…...
Grimley (Whelan), Ellen Jane (‘Nellie’)
Grimley (Whelan), Ellen Jane (‘Nellie’) (c.1887–1960), trade unionist, the only daughter of John Whelan, a tradesman, was probably born in Belfast. Brought up in what she felt was a relatively comfortable home, she was conscious of the grinding poverty around her. She began…...