#DIBLives Known to a generation of Dubliners as 'The Diceman', street performer, gay activist & icon Thom MgGinty (b. #OTD 1952) introduced a high level of theatricality and wit that spawned a legion of imitators. He often appeared in character at political protests. www.dib.ie/index.php/bi...
#DIBLives “OK, one last time. These are small but the ones out there are far away. Small… far away… " Best known for his role as Father Ted, comedian Dermot Morgan (b. #OTD 1952) was one of Ireland's foremost humorists and debunkers of hypocrisy & pomposity. www.dib.ie/index.php/bi...
“The whole worl's in a state o' chassis” (Sean O'Casey, Juno and the Paycock) B. 1880, writer Sean O'Casey's gave voice to Dublin's working class, the rhetoric & dangers of Irish patriotism, and the realities of tenement life and survival. www.dib.ie/biography/oc... #DIBLives
“The whole worl's in a state o' chassis”
(Sean O'Casey, Juno and the Paycock)
B. #OTD 1880, writer Sean O'Casey's best known plays gave voice to Dublin's working class, the rhetoric & dangers of Irish patriotism, and the realities of tenement life and survival. www.dib.ie/biography/oc... #DIBLives
#DIBLives Born #OTD 1839 in Glenavy, Co Antrim, John Ballance was elected prime minister of New Zealand in 1891. He strongly opposed landed interests, religious intervention in education & political life, and in 1893 introduced a bill to allow adult women to vote. www.dib.ie/biography/ba...
#DIBLives In 1866 Anne Jellicoe (b. #OTD 1823) founded Alexandra College, the first university-style institution for women in Ireland. In 1869 it was influential in persuading TCD to set up examinations for women so that they could be examined in university subjects. www.dib.ie/index.php/bi...
#DIBLives In 2021 Mary Lavin (d. #OTD 1996) became the first female Irish writer honoured with a public space named after her. She wrote about the ‘vagaries and contrarieties’ of the human heart, and lives not of quiet desperation but of evasion and wish-fulfillment. www.dib.ie/biography/la...
#DIBLives Born #OTD 1731, Elizabeth Rawdon's Dublin residence was described as ‘the gathering place of people of genius.’ In 1783 she was the 1st woman published in 'Archaeologia' when she submitted a discourse on the remains of a human skeleton discovered on her estate. www.dib.ie/biography/ra...
#DIBLives Although only 18 years old, during the 1798 United Irishman rebellion Miles Byrne (b. #OTD 1780) took command of the Monaseed corps and rallied them at Fr. John Murphy's camp on Carrigrew Hill. He was later a prominent figure in Robert Emmet's insurrection plot. www.dib.ie/biography/by...
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"Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men..." ('The fairies' by William Allingham)
One of Ballyshannon's most famous sons, poet William Allingham was born #OTD 1824. www.dib.ie/biography/al...
#DIBLives Armed with a blunderbuss, a brace of pistols, and a dagger, highwayman William Crotty (d. #OTD 1742) was a deadly shot with both hands. He was popular with the people of Waterford who claimed he killed only in self-defence & shared his spoils with the poor. www.dib.ie/biography/cr...
Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh! And today also marks the 6th anniversary of our website going #openaccess. Thank you all for reading our #DIBLives over the past years, and we look forward to sharing many more with you. You can read about the real St Patrick here: www.dib.ie/biography/pa... #DIBLives
#DIBLives
'In you each virtue brighter shines,
But my poetic vein declines;
My harp will soon in vain be strung,
And all your virtues left unsung...'
Each year on her birthday Jonathan Swift composed a poem to Esther Johnson, aka 'Stella'. She was born #OTD 1681.
www.dib.ie/biography/jo...
#DIBLives Charles Boycott (b. #OTD 1832) believed Irish peasants were prone to idleness and required firm handling. Following an attempt to evict tenants he was subjected to the ostracism advocated by Parnell and the word 'Boycott' entered the English language. www.dib.ie/biography/bo...
#DIBLives Placed in St Vincent's Industrial School, Goldenbridge at the age of 4, nurse and advocate for survivors of childhood abuse Christine Buckley (d. #OTD 2014) was assigned the number ‘89’, which replaced her name for the 13 years she was a resident in St Vincent's. www.dib.ie/biography/bu...
#DIBLives Happy #InternationalDayofWomenJudges Judge Mella Carroll forged a path for women in Irish law: she was the first female chair of the Bar Council of Ireland and the first female High Court judge. Her rulings are regularly cited in judicial reviews. www.dib.ie/biography/ca...
#DIBLives In June 1866 800 Fenians, led by John O’Neill (b. #OTD 1834), launched an invasion of Canada, hoping to exploit Anglo–American tensions & perhaps spark a war. Part of the plan was to capture Quebec & make it the seat of the Irish Republic-in-exile. www.dib.ie/biography/on...
#DIBLives Deeply committed to social justice & alleviating the burdens of poverty & ill-health (which she noted fell heaviest on women), with characteristic modesty Maura O'Donohue (b. #OTD 1933) described her own career as merely ‘getting other people to do their bit’. www.dib.ie/biography/od...
#DIBLives 'There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold.' Music promoter 'Gentleman Jim' Aiken (d. #OTD 2007) lured international bands to play in the north even while the Troubles raged. In 1971 Led Zeppelin debuted 'Stairway to Heaven' in Belfast. www.dib.ie/biography/ai...
#DIBLives
'...And said, "No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and bravery!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free,
They shall never sound in slavery.'
(Thomas Moore, 'The Minstrel Boy)
Irish writer, poet and lyricist Thomas Moore died #OTD 1852. www.dib.ie/index.php/bi...
#DIBLives Born #OTD 1891, anaesthetist & gynaecologist Dr Mary Hearn was elected first female fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 1924. RCPI's Mary Hearn Research Room & Dr Mary Hearn Park in Cork are named in her memory. www.dib.ie/biography/he... @womenmedireland.bsky.social
#DIBLives #OTD in 1317 a large Scottish army headed by Edward Bruce and Robert Bruce encamped at Castleknock within sight of Dublin's defensive walls. In panic, Dubliners burned the suburbs of the city and broke the bridge across the river. The Bruces went south. www.dib.ie/biography/br...
#DIBLives Limerickman George Browne (d. #OTD 1792) had an extraordinary life: he was a galley slave, part of his skull was repaired with silver plate & he carried a coffin in protest for 10 years when refused permission to retire by Catherine the Great. www.dib.ie/biography/br...
#DIBLives In 1920 the King's Inns benchers resolved "that women shall be admitted on precisely the same terms as men". Averill Deverell (b. #OTD 1893) and Frances Kyle were the first women admitted & on 2 November 1921 Deverell was called to the Irish bar. www.dib.ie/index.php/bi...
#DIBLives Known as ‘Mr Cable’, Wicklow man Robert Halpin (b. #OTD 1836) oversaw the laying of the first transatlantic cables from Ireland to America in 1866, French cable in 1869 & Bombay to Suez cable in 1870 - in all more than 26,000 miles of cable connecting the world. www.dib.ie/biography/ha...
#DIBLives Raised in an orphanage in Cabra, Dublin Thomas ‘Bang Bang’ Dudley ‘fired’ on the citizens of Dublin with a large brass key. Often his ‘victims’ joined in the wild-west pantomime, shooting back, clutching at ‘wounds’ & ‘dropping dead’. He was born #OTD 1906. www.dib.ie/biography/du...
#DIBLives One of the first female surgeons in New York city, Gertrude B. Kelly (b. #OTD 1862) worked in slums & tenements where she frequently assisted poor patients. Her experience undoubtedly contributed to the development of her activist political views. www.dib.ie/index.php/bi...
‘From the cabins and the ditches, in their charred, uncoffin'd masses...’
In Jan. 1847 The Nation magazine published poet, nationalist & feminist Jane 'Speranza' Wilde's (d. #OTD 1896) poem 'The Famine Year', the first major poetic response to the Great Famine. www.dib.ie/biography/wi... #DIBLives
Everybody knew, nobody said’.
#OTD in 1984, Ann Lovett lay down in the rain in the grotto behind St Mary's Church, Granard & gave birth to a full-term baby boy. She was found alive around 4pm by three schoolboys but died later that day. www.dib.ie/biography/lo... #DIBLives
"On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue."
After hearing Luke Kelly (d. #OTD 1984) singing in the Bailey pub, poet Patrick Kavanagh requested he interpret his poem ‘On Raglan Road’. www.dib.ie/biography/ke... #DIBLives
