Peggy Jordan 1918-January 2000
Peggy Jordan was an energetic Dubliner who was generous of spirit. She was renowned for hosting parties in her Kenilworth Square home where she encouraged some of the country's finest singers and traditional musicians. Tall and elegant, she had an ebullient presence.
She was born in Dublin, one of eight children of George and Áine (neé Greene) Heron. Her father ran a motorcycle business while her mother had been a member of Inghinidhe na hÉireann and came from a strong Republican family.
She grew up in south Dublin, attending Louise Gavan Duffy's Scoil Bríde, in Earlsfort Terrace. She then worked in insurance and married Tom Jordan, whose Northern linen manufacturing background enhanced her interest in crafts. Tom Jordan was 17 years her senior and he was a quiet, retiring man.She celebrated life and needed no excuse to create a sense of occasion. She sought to fill their home with an eclectic spectrum of people, preferably able to sing or play a musical instrument.
She played a significant role in the ballad boom of the early 1960s. It was while Liam Clancywas staying at her home that she was asked to bring musicians out to the Abbey Tavern in Howth. This was to be the start of a run of ballad sessions at the venue and the launch pad for the ballad boom.
She provided a platform for musicians such as members of The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers by putting on midnight concerts in the old Grafton Cinema. In Bill Meek's book about The Chieftains there's a marvellous photo of her daughter Mary playing spoons with a youthful Barney McKenna on banjo and piper Paddy Moloney.
She dabbled in theatre and appeared in the film Ryan's Daughter. She taught ballroom dancing and had a wide repertoire of songs. She attended ballad sessions regularly up to near the end of her life. She died on January 9, 2000. She is survived by her children Mary, James, Ian, Dara, Louise and Iseult.