Gifford sisters

Gifford Household 1911 Census Form

The Gifford sisters were prominent republicans during the Irish revolutionary period who were daughters of Frederick and Isabella Gifford, middle-class Dublin unionists. Two were married to signatories of the 1916 Proclamation.

Family background

Frederick Gifford (1835/6–1917), a Catholic solicitor, married Isabella Julia Burton (1847/8–1932), daughter of a rector in the Church of Ireland, on 27 April 1872 in St. George's Church of Ireland church in Dublin. Isabella's father, Robert Nathaniel Burton, died in her infancy, after which she and her siblings were raised by their uncle, the painter Frederic William Burton. From the 1880s the Giffords lived on Palmerston Road in Rathmines. After a first child who died in infancy, there were six daughters and six sons. The sons (Claude Frederick, Liebert, Gerald Vere, Gabriel Paul, Frederick Ernest, and Edward Cecil) remained unionist and pursued unspectacular careers outside Ireland. The girls were educated at Alexandra College. The children were raised as Protestants, though in adulthood four sisters converted to Catholicism (Katie, Muriel, Grace, and Sidney, all but Sidney having married Catholics).

Sisters

Name Born Died Married Notes
Katherine Anna (Katie) 28 February 1875 20 September 1957 Wilson , Walter HarrisWalter Harris Wilson (1909) Lived in Wales until her husband's death in 1918. Civil servant in the Irish Republic and Irish Free State, later worked for the Irish White Cross, and as a French teacher.
Helen Ruth (Nellie) 9 November 1880 23 June 1971 Donnelly , JosephJoseph Donnelly (1918) Socialist active in the Dublin lockout and the Irish Citizen Army.
Ada Gertrude 14 February 1882 c.1953 Artist, emigrated to the United States. May have married a man named Constant.
Muriel Enid 18 December 1884 9 July 1917 MacDonagh , ThomasThomas MacDonagh (3 January 1912) Trained as a nurse. Mother of Donagh MacDonagh. Drowned while swimming at Skerries, County Dublin.
Grace Evelyn 4 March 1888 13 December 1955 Plunkett, Joseph MaryJoseph Mary Plunkett (4 May 1916) Artist and cartoonist. Married Plunkett hours before his execution after the Easter Rising.
Sidney (or Sydney) Sarah Madge 3 August 1889 15 September 1974 Czira , ArpadArpad Czira (later 1910s) Journalist under the pseudonym John Brennan. Later a broadcaster with Radio Éireann.

References

    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.