Ed Thornton with Brigid Lyons at UCG

Item

Format: JPEG
Title: Ed Thornton with Brigid Lyons at UCG
Identifier: VH0016
Depiction: Young woman and young man on motorbike.
Description: Pictured here, from left to right: Brigid or Brighid Lyons, and Edward ('Ed') Thornton. When they married in 1925, Brigid added Thornton to her maiden name, and was thereafter known as Brigid Lyons Thornton.

Born in 1896, Brigid Lyons was from Northyard, near Scramogue, Co. Longford. From 1915 to 1922 she studied medicine in Galway, where she helped to found a branch of Cumann na mBan. In 1916 she participated in the Easter Rising. After a brief period in the Army Medical Service she pursued a long and distinguished career in public health.
'Throughout her life Brigid Thornton fought for the underprivileged, believing strongly that women had an important contribution to make in many occupations traditionally dominated by men. Injustice and deprivation moved her, and she used her energy to fight for the rights of political prisoners, for Belgian refugees, and for the right of women to vote.' (DIB)
Captain Edward ('Ed') Thornton (b. 1899) was from Co. Mayo. The couple met in Nice where both were convalescing from tuberculosis. They returned to Ireland and married in 1925. Edward Thornton passed the Bar and worked as solicitor, wintering in Switzerland. He died suddenly in 1947 and was buried in Toomore Cemetery, near Foxford. When Brigid died in April 1987 she was buried with military honours beside her husband.; LYONS THORNTON, Brigid; Edward Thornton
References: Cathy Hayes, 'Thornton, Brigid Lyons', Dictionary of Irish Biography, https://www.dib.ie/biography/thornton-brigid-lyons-a8546, accessed 2023.04.05.

UCG Women's Studies Review 1 (1992): 51–2.

'Longford at war', http://www.longfordatwar.ie/soldiers/773. Accessed 2023.04.05.

'Witness statement of Doctor Thornton.', recorded 4 June 1949, at https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0259.pdf. Accessed 2023.04.05.

Death notice, Evening Herald, 18.4.1987, accessed 2023.04.05.
Contributor: Patrick Larkin
Bibliographic Citation: P. Larkin, S.G. Jennings, J. Conroy, ‘Ed Thornton with Brigid Thornton at UCG’, Visual History Retired Staff Collection, University of Galway Digital Collections, Asset Id 13610, Archival Record Id VHRS
Spatial Coverage: University of Galway
Temporal Coverage: 1920s
Period: 1920s
Category: b&w; portrait; on-campus; outdoors
Subject: University of Galway; Students; Social life
Keywords: uniforms; motorbikes
Language: English
Publisher: University of Galway Library

Item sets: Patrick Larkin album; Visual History Retired Staff Collection IMAGES

Media: Ed Thornton with Brigid Lyons at UCG.jpg