Connery, Margaret (‘Meg’) (1879–1956), suffragist, was born in Westport, Co. Mayo. She married Con Connery in her 20s, but little is known of her early life. Small and courageous, she had a vivacious wit that came in handy during her many suffragist demonstrations for the Irish Women's Franchise League. During one altercation at a meeting in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, the suffragist meeting was shouted down by men who began singing ‘Put me on an island where the girls are few’.

Beere, Thekla (June) (1901–91), civil servant and first chairman of the Commission on the Status of Women, was born 20 June 1901 in Kilmore, Columbkille, near Granard, Co. Longford, one of two daughters of the Rev. Francis John Armstrong Beere, Church of Ireland vicar of Streete, Co. Westmeath, and Lucie Beere (née Potterton). The family later lived in the parishes of Forgney, Co. Longford, and Kells, Co. Meath.