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…...
Gardiner, Marguerite (Margaret)
Gardiner, Marguerite (Margaret) (1789–1849), countess of Blessington , writer, journalist, and society hostess, was born 1 September 1789 at Knockbrit, Co. Tipperary, the second daughter and fourth child of Edmund Power and his wife Ellen (née Sheehy), both from well-established…...
Garvey, Máire (Mary) McDonnell
Garvey, Máire (Mary) McDonnell - (1927–2009), traditional musician and writer, was born 10 July 1927 on a farm in Tobracken, near Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon, one of three children (a girl and two boys) of James McDonnell and his wife Annie Theresa (née Talbot). As well as farming…...
Glenn, Alice
Glenn, Alice (1921–2011), politician and moral crusader, was born Alicia Duffy on 17 December 1921 in Usher's Quay, Dublin, the eldest of ten children of (Arthur) Leo Duffy, a car mechanic, and his wife Mary (née Joyce), a dressmaker. Descended from generations of Dublin artisans on…...
Gonne, Iseult
Gonne, Iseult (1894–1954), writer and muse, was born 6 August 1894 in Paris, daughter of Lucien Millevoye, French politician, lawyer, and journalist, and Maud Gonne (qv), Irish revolutionary nationalist. She was their second child…...
Goulding, Valerie
Goulding, Valerie (1918–2003), philanthropist and senator, was born Valerie Hamilton Monckton on 12 September 1918 in Kent, younger of two children (she had an elder brother) of Walter Monckton, barrister (later a confidant of King Edward VIII and afterwards a conservative cabinet…...
Graves, Clotilde Inez Mary (‘Richard Dehan’)
Graves, Clotilde Inez Mary (‘Richard Dehan’) (1863–1932), novelist, dramatist, and journalist, was born 3 June 1863 at Buttevant barracks, Co. Cork, the third daughter of Major W. H. Graves and Antoinette Graves (née Deane). Her father was a cousin of the journalist and critic…...
Grimshaw, Beatrice Ethel
Grimshaw, Beatrice Ethel (1870–1953), author and traveller, was born 3 February 1870 at Cloona House, Dunmurry, Co. Antrim, fourth child among two sons and four daughters of Nicholas William Grimshaw of Belfast, former director of the Ulster Spinning Company turned wine-and-oil merchant…...
Hannelly, Dympna
Hannelly, Dympna (1922–2014), missionary nun, was born Eitne Hannelly on 4 December 1922 to Patrick Hannelly and Annie Hannelly (née Egan) of Tarmon, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon. Known as ‘Enna’ to her family, she had a twin brother Padraig, two other brothers and two sisters. Padraig…...
Hardiman, Áine
Hardiman, Áine (1926–2013) Dominican nun, community activist and anti-apartheid campaigner, was born Anne Hardiman on 23 April 1926 at 71 Connaught Street, Phibsborough, Dublin, the home of her parents Patrick Hardiman, a railway engine driver, and his wife Christina (née Monahan). The…...
Hart, Josephine
Hart, Josephine (1942–2011), writer, theatrical producer and poetry promoter, was born on 1 March 1942 in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, the eldest of five children of Dermot Hart and his wife Sheila (née Donoghue). Her father had been a commercial traveller and a lorry driver, until…...
Hartley, May Laffan
Hartley, May Laffan (1849–1916), novelist, was born 3 May 1849 at 41 Philipsburgh Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin, second child and eldest daughter of Michael Laffan and Ellen Sarah Laffan (née Fitzgibbon). The Fitzgibbons, originally catholic, converted to the Church of Ireland and,…...
Haughery, Margaret
Haughery, Margaret (1813–82), philanthropist, was born on 25 December 1813 in Carrigallen, Co. Leitrim, fifth of six children to William Gaffney, tenant farmer, and his wife Margaret (née O’Rourke). In 1818 the Gaffneys moved with their three younger children to America, leaving the…...
Herlihy, Nora
Herlihy, Nora (1910–88), founder of the Irish credit union movement, was born 27 February 1910 at Ballydesmond, Co. Cork, the third of twelve children of Denis Herlihy, a teacher, and Nora Herlihy (née Mulcahy). Having taught firstly in Belmullet, Co. Mayo, Nora's father was appointed…...
Hickey, Emily Henrietta
Hickey, Emily Henrietta (1845–1924), poet, writer, and teacher, was born 12 April 1845 at Macmine Castle, near Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, second daughter of the Rev. John Steuart Hickey, rector of Gorebridge, Co. Carlow, and his wife, formerly a Miss Newton King. She was a…...
Hinkson, Katharine (née Tynan)
Hinkson, Katharine (née Tynan) (1859–1931), novelist, poet, and journalist, was born 23 January 1859 in South Richmond St., Dublin, the fifth of twelve children of Andrew Cullen Tynan , a prosperous farmer and cattle trader, and Elizabeth Tynan (née Reilly). From an early age she was…...
Hinkson, Pamela
Hinkson, Pamela (1900–82), novelist, was born 19 November 1900 in Ealing, London, England, the only daughter among five children of Katharine Tynan Hinkson (qv), novelist and poet, and Henry Albert Hinkson (1865–1919). Her…...
Hoey, Frances Sarah (Mrs Cashel Hoey)
Hoey, Frances Sarah (Mrs Cashel Hoey) (née Johnston ) (1830–1908), novelist and journalist, was born 15 February 1830 in Bushy Park, Terenure, Dublin, one of eight children of Charles Bolton Johnston, secretary and registrar of Mount Jerome cemetery, Dublin, and his wife Charlotte…...
Humphries, Carmel Frances
Humphries, Carmel Frances (1909–86), zoologist, was born 3 June 1909 in Waterford city, the second youngest of three daughters and two sons of William Francis Humphries, an engineer, and Annie Humphries (née Palmer). Educated at the Ursuline convent, Waterford, and Loreto College, St…...
Hutton, Mary Ann
Hutton, Mary Ann (1862–1953), Irish-language scholar and writer, was born in 1862 in Manchester, England, the eldest child of James Drummond (qv) and his wife Frances (née Classon), who later had two sons and five more daughters. Secondary…...
Kavanagh, Julia
Kavanagh, Julia (1824–77), novelist, short-story writer, and biographer, was born 7 January 1824 in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, the only child of Bridget Fitzpatrick (d. 1887) and Morgan Peter Kavanagh (d. 1874), writer and philologist. She spent much of her childhood in Normandy and…...
Kavanagh, Rose
Kavanagh, Rose (1859–91), poet, was born 24 June 1859 in Killadroy, Co. Tyrone. Nothing is recorded of her parents except that her mother was a cousin of Archbishop John Hughes (qv) of New York. When Rose was 11 years old the family…...
Kelly, Deirdre
Kelly, Deirdre (1938–2000), environmental and community campaigner, was born 15 May 1938 at Holles St. maternity hospital, Dublin, eldest daughter among three daughters and a son of Thomas McMahon , bus driver, and Mary (‘Molly’) McMahon (née Kenna), of 5 Sussex Road, adjoining…...
King, Kathleen
King, Kathleen (1893–1978), botanist and bryologist, was born Anastasia Lelia Catherine 5 July 1893 in Dublin, daughter of Lawrence Murphy , of a farming family from Ballycarnew, Co. Wexford, and Bridget Murphy (née Monaghan) from Co. Longford. The family lived in Upper Merrion St…...
King, Mary
This is a co-subject for the entry on O’Flaherty (Flaherty), May. View the original entry....