Caitlín Ní Thoirbheaird : Short Biography

Caitlín Ní Thoirbheird aka Cassie Turbitt (Catherine Turbitt) was an Irish language educator and activist. She was Conradh na Gaeilge / The Gaelic League's most notable female timire (travelling teacher) in the early twentieth century.

Turbitt/Turbet is not a surname common to this county. Her parents, Jame Turbitt and Mary Gahan (Catholics) were from Omagh, Co. Tyrone, where they married in 1877.  After their first son was born, they moved to Boyle and raised a family in Ross Lane, where they appear on both the 1901 Census and the 1911 Census.  Only Cassie and her sister Anne had the ability to speak Irish. 

In 1915 Caitlín began work as a timire roaming the Frenchpark district by bike, in all weather.

In 1918, Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League) hired her as a fothimire (assisting organiser) for their activities in Roscommon and promoted her to County Secretary in 1920 (a position which she retained until 1933). She also worked as a timire for Roscommon County Council from 1923. In 1933 she was hired as a full-time Teacher of Irish by the Co Roscommon VEC (Vocational Educational Committee) until she retired.​

She was interred at Assylin Cemetery. 

[Research by Rua Mac Diarmada]

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