Gifford sisters

The Gifford sisters were, save for one (Ada), prominent republicans during the Irish revolutionary period who were daughters of Frederick and Isabella Gifford, middle-class Dublin unionists.

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.

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), though nominally baptised as Catholics (their father's religion), remained unionist and pursued unspectacular careers outside Ireland.

The children were raised as Protestants, though in adulthood four sisters converted to Catholicism (Katie, Muriel, Grace, and Sidney, all having married Catholics).