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Early Life and Family of Alfred (Alf) MacLochlainn.

Alfred (Alf) MacLochlainn was born in 1926 in Dublin to Alfred Vincent MacLochlainn, who was a photographer, and Marcella Dowling. Marcella's brother was Séan Dowling, also known under the alias of John Philip Dowling, was involved in the Irish Revolutionary Period spanning 1916 up until 1923. Seán Dowling was appointed Commandant of the 4th Battalion in 1920 and was the President of the old IRA Cumann in 1930s to 1940s. Alf MacLochlainn's sister is Charlotte MacLochlainn, author of Letters from Doig: Letters to My Dear Ones in Ireland, 1955 to 1958. She married John Groarke, a teacher and moved to London where she had four sons. The family then emigrated to St  Bruno, Quebec in Canada. Their grandmother was Emily Pearse, half sister to Patrick and William Pearse who were the famous Pearse brothers that died in the 1916 Rising. Emily Pearse is one of two surviving children from James Pearse's first marriage to Susannah Fox. James Pearse is great grandfather to Alf and Charlotte MacLochlainn. In 1863, in Birmingham, James Pearse married Susannah Fox. Fox and Pearse had three daughters and one son together. Only one daughter survived, Emily Pearse born in 1864.

Alf MacLochlainn grew up in Dublin city and he graduated University College Dublin with a Bachelors degree in French and Irish in 1947. The following year 1948, he graduated with a Masters degree in Irish once again from University College Dublin. He completed internships at the Library of Congress and the Simmons College in Boston after he finished his MA.

He married Fionnuala Ní Riain, Irish singer who most notably sang ‘Taim Breoite Go Leor’ in 1976. She performed alongside Luke Kelly and other Irish singers. She recorded songs with Gael Linn alongside women like Máire Ní Scolaí and Marjorie Courtney in a collection called Amhrain na Grá.

The couple performed together, Mr MacLochlainn performing his satires and Mrs MacLochlainn singing Irish songs. The couple had six children together: Colm, Kate, Nuala, Ian, Gile and the late Fred. Colm MacLochlainn followed in his mother’s shoes in the way of performing and singing. Mr MacLochlainn moved his family from Dublin to Salthill, Galway where he joined the National University of Ireland Galway as a librarian in 1982.