Reid, Christina
Reid, Christina (1942–2015), playwright, was born on 12 March 1942 in Ardoyne in North Belfast, the eldest of three children and only daughter of James Orchin, a Belfast dock worker, and Christina Orchin, who worked as a linen mill worker and later a waitress. Although the family…...
Rich, Mary
Rich, Mary (1624/5–1678), countess of Warwick , noblewoman, was the seventh daughter and thirteenth child of Richard Boyle (qv), 1st earl of Cork, and his second wife, Catherine (d. 1630), daughter of Sir…...
Riddell, Charlotte Eliza Lawson
Riddell, Charlotte Eliza Lawson (1832–1906), novelist, was born on 30 September 1832 at the Barn, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, the youngest daughter of James Cowan, flax and cotton spinner and high sheriff of Antrim, and his English wife Ellen (née Kilshaw). Her father died in 1851…...
Robertson, Olivia Melian
Robertson, Olivia Melian (1917–2013), writer, artist and co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis, was born on 13 April 1917 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, to Manning Durdin Robertson (qv), urban planner and architect, and…...
Roe, Helen Maybury
Roe, Helen Maybury (1895–1988), librarian and antiquary, was born 18 December 1895 in Mountrath, Queen's Co. (Laois), the only child of William Ernest Roe and Anne Roe (neé Lambert Shields). Her father's family had lived in the Mountrath area since the seventeenth century and her…...
Ross, Jane
Ross, Jane (1810–79), folksong collector, was born 5 August 1810 in or near Limavady, Co. Londonderry, eldest child among four daughters and two sons of John Ross (1781–1830), captain in the Limavady yeomanry and owner of land, flour mills, and a bleach green, and his second wife…...
Rowan, Anne Margaret
Rowan, Anne Margaret (1832–1913), novelist, historian, and political activist, was born 21 November 1832 in Tralee, Co. Kerry, to Arthur Blennerhasset Rowan (qv), Church of Ireland clergyman and antiquarian, and his wife…...
Rudd, Margaret Caroline
Rudd, Margaret Caroline (c.1745–1797), courtesan and forger, born c.1745 in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, the only child of Patrick Youngson, an apothecary, and his wife Isabella (née Stewart), through whom Margaret, more commonly known as Caroline, claimed to be descended from…...
Ruthven, Annette Jocelyn Otway-
Ruthven, Annette Jocelyn Otway- (1909–89), historian, was born 7 November 1909 at 63 Lower Baggot St., Dublin, third child among one son and three daughters of Capt. Robert Mervyn Bermingham Otway-Ruthven (1867–1919), Royal Artillery, of Castle Otway, Co. Tipperary, and Margaret…...
Sheridan, Frances (née Chamberlaine)
Sheridan, Frances (née Chamberlaine) (1724–66), writer, was born in Dublin, the youngest child among three sons and two daughters of Philip Chamberlaine , a Church of Ireland clergyman who was rector of St Nicholas Without, and Anastasia Chamberlaine (née Whyte), his English-born…...
Simms, Mercy Felicia
Simms, Mercy Felicia (1915–98), social crusader, was born 3 March 1915 in a nursing home at 89 Lower Baggot St., Dublin, only child of Brian James Gwynn (1883–1972) of 48 Hollybrook Road, Clontarf, civil servant employed as assistant secretary in the labour exchange, and his wife…...
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…...
Smith, (Mabel) Olive
Smith, (Mabel) Olive (1906–93) music campaigner and founder of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, was born 19 June 1906 in Dublin, youngest of three daughters of Charles E. Richardson of 47 Kenilworth Square, Rathgar, Dublin, merchant and wholesale grocer, and his wife Alice…...
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…...
Smyly, Ellen
Smyly, Ellen (1814–1901), philanthropist, was born 14 November 1814, third daughter among seven children of Mathew Franks (1768–1853) of Jerpoint, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, and 28 Merrion Square, Dublin, and Mary Franks (née Fergusson; d. 1856). Ellen began her charity work in…...
Solomons, Estella Frances
Solomons, Estella Frances (1882–1968), artist, was born 2 April 1882 at 32 Waterloo Road, Dublin, second among four children of Maurice E. Solomons, optician to the royal family and maker of optical instruments, and Rosa Jane Solomons (née Jacobs) of Hull; the other children were Edwin…...
Somerville, Edith Anna Œnone
Somerville, Edith Anna Œnone (1858–1949), and Martin, Violet Florence (‘Martin Ross’) (1862–1915), writers, were, through their mothers, descended from Charles Kendal Bushe (qv), lord chief justice of Ireland. Owing to their…...
Stack, Mary Meta (‘Molly’) Bagot
Stack, Mary Meta (‘Molly’) Bagot (1883–1935), founder of the Women's League of Health and Beauty, was born 12 June 1883, probably in Dublin, second daughter among four daughters and two sons of Charlotte Stack (née Thompson) (d. 1929) from Omagh, Co. Tyrone, and her husband…...
Steevens, Grizel
This is a co-subject for the entry on Steevens, Richard. View the original entry....
Stoker, Florence
Stoker, Florence (1858–1937), literary executor and wife of Bram Stoker (qv), was born Florence Anne Lemon Balcombe on 17 July 1858 in Falmouth, Cornwall. She was one of seven children (five girls, two boys) of James Balcombe of…...
Stokes, Margaret McNair
Stokes, Margaret McNair (1832–1900), archaeologist and antiquary, was born in March 1832 at York St., Dublin, eldest daughter of William Stokes (qv), MD, and Mary Stokes (neé Black) of Glasgow.…...
Sullivan, Lucinda
Sullivan, Lucinda (1831–1881), philanthropist, writer and promoter of children's welfare, was born in 1831, probably in Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, to Captain William Edward Brady , formerly a lieutenant in the 2nd West India Regiment, and subsequently chief constable of police in…...
Taylour, Frances Helen ('Fay')
Taylour, Frances Helen ('Fay') (1904–83), racing motorist and fascist, was born on 5 April 1904 at 11 Oxmanton Mall, Birr, King's County (Co. Offaly) to Herbert Fetherstonhaugh Taylour, formerly a lieutenant in the 3rd battalion of the Leinster regiment and then county inspector in the…...
Tighe, Mary
Tighe, Mary (1772–1810), poet, was born 9 October 1772 in Dublin, the second child after John (1771–1817) of the Rev. William Blachford (1730–73) and Theodosia Blachford (qv) (née Tighe) (1744–1817), married in 1770. A wealthy landowner…...
Tonna, Charlotte Elizabeth
Tonna, Charlotte Elizabeth (1790-1846), evangelical journalist and novelist, was born Charlotte Elizabeth Browne on 1 October 1790 in Norwich, England, daughter of Michael Browne, a minor canon of the cathedral, and his wife (probably a Murray). Her maternal grandmother, of Scots…...