Gibbons, Geraldine Henrietta (Mary Scholastica)
Gibbons, Geraldine Henrietta (Mary Scholastica) (c.1817–1901), founder and first superior of the Community of the Good Samaritan, was born in Kinsale, Co. Cork, the daughter of Gerald Gibbons, a landowner, and Mary Gibbons (née Sughrue), niece of the bishop of Ferns. She…...
Gibson, Chloe
Gibson, Chloe (1899–1995), theatre and television director, was born 18 May 1899 in Torquay, Devon, England, daughter of Walter Ernest Cawdle and Lotte Cawdle (née Saunders). She was educated at Lauriston Hall, Torquay. After studying painting briefly, she trained in speech and drama…...
Gibson, Violet Albina
Gibson, Violet Albina (1876–1956), failed assassin, was born 31 August 1876 in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, to Edward Gibson (qv), a wealthy lawyer and politician, and Frances Maria Adelaide Gibson (née Colles), the daughter of a barrister. Violet was…...
Gifford, Grace (Evelyn)
Gifford, Grace (Evelyn) (1888–1955), cartoonist and republican, was born 4 March 1888 at 8 Temple Villas, Palmerston Park, Rathmines, Dublin, one of twelve children of Frederick Gifford, a wealthy solicitor, and Isabella Gifford (née Burton), a niece of the artist Sir…...
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…...
Gogan, Christina (Sr Mary de Lourdes)
Gogan, Christina (Sr Mary de Lourdes) (1908–2000), Medical Missionary of Mary, was born 21 December 1908, second among eight children of John Gogan, licensed vintner and general merchant, Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath, and Bridget Gogan (née Caul). After local primary school she was…...
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…...
Gray, Caroline Agnes (Carrie)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Gray, Edmund William Dwyer. View the original entry....
Greevy, Bernadette Josephine
Greevy, Bernadette Josephine (1937–2008), classical singer, was born 3 July 1937 at 28 Vernon Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin, sixth among seven children of Patrick Joseph Greevy, an insurance official, and his wife Josephine Frances (née Miller); the family resided at 33 Vernon Gardens,…...
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…...
Guiney, Mary
Guiney, Mary (1901–2004), businesswoman and centenarian, was born 2 March 1901, daughter of John Leahy, a farmer of Creeves, near Shanagolden, Co. Limerick, and his wife Hannah (née Cuddihy). Mary, known as May when she was a young woman, had at least one older brother and an older…...
Hackett, Rosanna ('Rosie')
Hackett, Rosanna ('Rosie') (1893–1976), trade unionist, was born 25 July 1893 at 14 Prebend Street, off Constitution Hill in the Dublin north city centre, elder of two daughters of John Hackett, described as a labourer at his marriage (October 1891) but working by Rosie's birth as a…...
Hamilton, Elizabeth (‘La Belle Hamilton’)
Hamilton, Elizabeth (‘La Belle Hamilton’) (c.1640–1708), countess of Grammont, courtier , was born at Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, the eldest daughter of Sir George Hamilton (d. 1679), 1st baronet, fourth son of James, 1st earl of Abercorn; her mother was Mary, third daughter…...
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…...
Harbison, Sheelagh Helen
Harbison, Sheelagh Helen (1914–2012), medieval historian, was born in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, on 2 September 1912, the only daughter and youngest of three surviving children, to Frederick William MacSherry , bank manager, and his wife Helen (née MacDermott). After Sheelagh was born…...
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…...
Harkin, Nora
Harkin, Nora (1910–2012), republican socialist, was born on 15 September 1910 at her parents' farm in Breenagh, near Glenswilly, in the Co. Donegal Gaeltacht. Her father, Michael McGinley (1852–1940), a Fenian, wrote the ballad 'Glenswilly' as he sailed to New Zealand in 1878. Returning…...
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…...
Hayden, Mary Teresa
Hayden, Mary Teresa (1862–1942), historian and women's rights campaigner, was born 19 May 1862 in Merrion Square, Dublin, only daughter of Thomas Hayden (qv), physician and later vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Mary…...
Hayes, Margaret
Hayes, Margaret (1954–2014), civil servant, was born on 25 April 1954 in Urlingford, Co. Kilkenny, one of three girls and a boy to James (Jimmy) Hayes and his wife Mary (née Brennan). The Hayes family was immersed in the local community – Mary was a full-time farmer before her marriage…...
Hayes (Ó Ríordáin), (Mary) Gabriel
Hayes (Ó Ríordáin), (Mary) Gabriel (1909–78), sculptor and painter, was born 25 August 1909 at Holles St. hospital, Dublin, eldest of three children of Jeremiah Hayes, an RIC member who worked on maintenance in the prison service, and…...