She was born at Old Bawn, near
Tallaght,
County Dublin, the daughter of John Furlong, a sporting journalist. She trained as a nurse at
Dr Steevens' Hospital. In the 1890s, her father was injured in a race-course accident and ended up in her ward, where he died shortly afterward, and her mother died two months later. Her first literary contributions were to the
Irish Monthly at age 16. In 1899, Furlong published
Roses and Rue, favourably reviewed by
Stopford Brooke and others, and in 1907
Tales of Fairy Folk and
Queens and Heroes. Her verse appeared in several anthologies. After 1916 she started studying
Irish, and in the 1920s published poems in Irish and translated from Irish, and added the
Irish Press to the journals she contributed to. In 1900 she was a founder-member of
Inghinidhe na hÉireann, the revolutionary women's organisation led by
Maud Gonne. Furlong was elected a vice-president of the association, along with
Jenny Wyse Power, Annie Egan and Anna Johnston. Two of her sisters, Katherine and Mary, also wrote poetry, but died young, while another sister, Margaret, married the songwriter
P. J. McCall. ==References==