Dockrell, Margaret Sarah
Dockrell, Margaret Sarah (1849–1926), suffragist, philanthropist, and councillor, was born 18 March 1849 at 18 Charlotte St., Dublin, and baptised into the Church of Ireland, eldest among three daughters and two sons of George William Shannon, solicitor, and Emily Shannon (née…...
Donnelly, Helen Ruth (‘Nellie’) Gifford
Donnelly, Helen Ruth (‘Nellie’) Gifford (1880–1971), republican activist, was born 9 November 1880 at 26 Cabra Parade, Phibsborough, Dublin, fifth child and second eldest daughter among six daughters and six sons of Frederick Gifford (1835/6–1917), a well-to-do solicitor, and Isabella…...
Dowdall, Jane (‘Jennie’)
Dowdall, Jane (‘Jennie’) (1899–1974), philanthropist and politician, was born Jane Doggett at 28 Smithfield, Dublin, on 29 September 1899, the daughter of Michael Doggett , eating-house keeper, and Mary Ellen Doggett (née Andrews). After her schooling she worked as a nurse at St…...
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…...
Downing, Ellen Mary Patrick
Downing, Ellen Mary Patrick (1828–69), poet, was born 19 March 1828 in Cork, the daughter of J. B. Downing, resident medical officer at the Cork Fever Hospital, where her mother served as matron. After making her first communion in St Patrick's church, Cork, she added Patrick to…...
Downing, Mary McCarthy
Downing, Mary McCarthy (c.1815–1881), poet and nationalist, was born in Kilfadimore, near Kenmare, Co. Kerry, eldest daughter of Daniel McCarthy , esq., also of Kerry. Throughout her life she had several pen names but is best remembered as ‘Christabel’, and under this name…...
Drumm, Máire
Drumm, Máire (1919–76), republican, was born 22 November 1919 in Killean, Newry, Co. Down, eldest among four children of Thomas McAteer (described as a ‘dealer’) and Margaret McAteer (née Brown). She attended the local national school and subsequently a convent grammar school in…...
Duffy, Louise Gavan
Duffy, Louise Gavan (1884–1969), educator, nationalist and Irish language enthusiast, was born 17 July 1884 in Cimiez, near Nice, the only daughter among four children of the marriage of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (qv), journalist and…...
Dwyer, Bernie
Dwyer, Bernie (1943–2013), journalist, filmmaker and political activist, was born in Dublin on 14 December 1943 to Mary (née Fagan) and Arthur Hannon , a clerk at Dublin Corporation. She spent her early childhood in Drimnagh, before the family moved to Sutton, Co. Dublin. She left…...
Elam (Dacre Fox), Norah
Elam (Dacre Fox), Norah (1878–1961), suffragist and fascist, was born Norah Doherty in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, on 5 May 1878, third of nine children (three daughters and six sons) of John Doherty, businessman, and his wife Charlotte Isabel (née Clarke). The family moved in 1888 to London…...
English, Adeline (‘Ada’)
English, Adeline (‘Ada’) (1875–1944), doctor, academic, and nationalist, was born 10 January 1875 in Caherciveen, Co. Kerry, younger daughter of Patrick English, pharmaceutical chemist, and Nora English (née McCardle). She was reared in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, though her father may…...
Ewart Biggs, Jane
This is a co-subject for the entry on Biggs, Christopher Thomas Ewart-. View the original entry....
Farrell, Mairead
Farrell, Mairead (1957–88), republican paramilitary, was born 3 August 1957 in Belfast, youngest of six children and only daughter of Daniel Farrell and his wife, whose surname was Gaffney. Farrell's family were middle-class Catholics who owned a hardware and grocery shop. Her…...
Fennell, Nuala
Fennell, Nuala (1935–2009), feminist and politician, was born Fionnuala Campbell in north Co. Dublin on 25 November 1935, the third eldest child of Patrick Campbell, from the rural east Co. Galway area of Lisheennavannoge (Clancarty), an IRA volunteer and one of the earliest Garda…...
Firth, Virginia Arabella ('Gay')
Firth, Virginia Arabella ('Gay') (1937–2005), author, journalist and political campaigner, was born in Belfast on 9 January 1937, the eldest of three daughters of Lancelot Turtle, a Belfast businessman and stockbroker, and Helen Ramsey Turtle (1911–46), born in Denver, Colorado,…...
Fisher, Patricia
Fisher, Patricia (1921–95), politician and charity worker, was born Patricia Smiles on 5 April 1921, daughter of Lt-col. Sir Walter Dorling Smiles (1883–1953) of Donaghadee, Co. Down, and his wife Margaret Heighway of Manchester, England. Her great-grandfather was the author Samuel…...
Fitzgerald (Foley), Lady Lucy Anne
Fitzgerald (Foley), Lady Lucy Anne (1771–1851), radical, was born on 5 February 1771, probably in Leinster House, Dublin, the seventeenth of nineteen children of James Fitzgerald (qv), first duke of Leinster, and Lady…...
FitzGerald, Joan
FitzGerald, Joan (1923–99), political confidante, was born 24 March 1923 in Liverpool, England, elder of the two children of Charles O'Farrell (d. 1956), a former colonial civil servant, with Galway roots, who had served in west Africa, and his wife Frances (1889–1974), daughter of…...
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.…...
FitzGerald, Pamela
This is a co-subject for the entry on Fitzgerald, Lord Edward. View the original entry....
Fleming, Marie
Fleming, Marie (1953–2013), campaigner for assisted suicide, was born Eileen Mary Brolly on 26 December 1953 in Lifford, Co. Donegal, the first of five children (two girls and three boys) to Annette (née Maxwell) and Daniel Brolly, a painter and decorator. In 1969, when she was fourteen…...
Forrester, Ellen (Magennis)
Forrester, Ellen (Magennis) (1828–83), nationalist and poet, was probably born in Clones, Co. Monaghan, sixth child of a local schoolmaster; her mother was a presbyterian, who in later life converted to catholicism. At the age of 17 she moved to England, and after a period working…...
Frost, Georgina (‘Georgie’)
Frost, Georgina (‘Georgie’) (1879–1939), court official, was born on 29 December 1879 in Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, one of the five children of Thomas Frost (1842–1938) and his wife, Margaret Kett (d. 1888). Thomas Frost was the petty sessions clerk for Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on…...
Gaj, Margaret (née Dunlop)
Gaj, Margaret (née Dunlop) (1919–2011), restaurateur, radical, and political activist, was born on 28 January 1919 in Edinburgh, Scotland, one of four children (two girls and two boys) of James Aloysius Dunlop and his wife Ellen (née O'Malley). Both parents were catholics of Irish…...
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…...