Biographies A-Z

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de Burgo, Augustine Gibbon

de Burgo, Augustine Gibbon (1613–76), one of the most eminent of Irish counter–reformation theologians and an erudite writer on the Lutheran–Calvinist controversies of his day, was born in Connacht and entered the Order of the Hermits Augustinian at Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, at age 20…

De Chenu, (Roger) Noël

De Chenu, (Roger) Noël (1924–2002), architect, artist and actor, was born on 25 December 1924 in Drumcondra, Dublin, the son of Roger Louis de Chenu (1891–1964) and his wife Aileen (née McShane; b. 1893). Roger, a dress designer, originally came from Poitiers in France, and is said…

Declan (Déclán)

Declan (Déclán) (fl. 5th/early 6th cent.) of Ardmore, saint in the Irish tradition, bishop and patron of the Déisi of East Munster. The martyrologies and genealogies give inconsistent information about him, but according to tradition he was born in Drumroe, near Cappoquin…

Deegan, Columbanus

Deegan, Columbanus (1925–2007), war veteran and Franciscan friar, was born John Joseph Deegan on 4 April 1925 at 23 Usher's Island on Dublin's south quays, one of three boys of James Deegan, a labourer, and his wife Annie Deegan (formerly Finnegan; née Quinn). Known in his youth as…

Deeny, James Andrew

Deeny, James Andrew (1906–94), medical doctor and public health official, was born 7 November 1906 in North Street, Lurgan, Co. Armagh, one of three children of Michael Deeny, doctor, and Jane Margaret Deeny (née Donnelly); his sister Sheelagh and brother Donnell also became…

Deevy, Teresa

Deevy, Teresa (1894–1963), playwright, was born 21 January 1894 at her parents' residence in Passage Road, Waterford, youngest of thirteen children of Edward Deevy, a successful draper, originally from Ballycloyne, Co. Kilkenny, and Mary Deevy (née Feehan), also of Co. Kilkenny. Her…

De Grey, Henrietta Frances

De Grey, Henrietta Frances (1784–1848), Countess de Grey , political hostess and philanthropist, was born 22 June 1784 at Florence Court, Co. Fermanagh, the fifth and last daughter and youngest of the ten children of William Willoughby Cole (1736–1803), 1st earl of Enniskillen, and…

De Grey, Thomas Philip

De Grey, Thomas Philip (1781–1859), 2nd Earl de Grey , politician and lord lieutenant of Ireland, was born 8 December 1781 at Whitehall, London, elder son of Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham, and Mary Jemima, second daughter of Philip Yorke, 2nd earl of Hardwicke (his mother…

Deicolus

Deicolus (d. 625), saint in the Irish tradition, may have been a brother of St Gallus (qv), and is said to have accompanied Columbanus (qv) to Luxeuil. The main source of…

Deirdre (Derdriu)

Deirdre (Derdriu) , mythological figure, beautiful and cursed, is a tragic protagonist of the early medieval Ulster cycle. She first emerged into literature in the eighth or ninth century and, over the course of nearly a thousand years, was defined and refined till she found a…

de Jubainville, Marie-Henri d'Arbois-

de Jubainville, Marie-Henri d'Arbois- (1827–1910), Celtic scholar and linguist, was born 5 December 1827 at Nancy, France, son of Charles-Joseph d'Arbois de Jubainville, judge-auditor of the civil tribunal of Nancy and later advocate to the bar of that district, and his wife…

De Keyser, William

De Keyser, William (c.1603–p.1685), sculptor and architect, was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, one of four sons of Hendrik de Keyser, an architect and sculptor in Amsterdam; all four sons trained with their father in the family workshop. An elder sister, Maria…

De la Beche, Henry Thomas

De la Beche, Henry Thomas (1796–1855), geologist, illustrator, and founder of the geological survey of Great Britain and Ireland, was born 10 February 1796 at 21 Wimpole St., London, the only son of Thomas De la Beche, lieutenant-colonel in the Norfolk fencible cavalry regiment, and…

De Lacey, Lawrence (Larry)

De Lacey, Lawrence (Larry) (1885–1973), revolutionary and journalist, was born on 18 March 1885 in Oulart, Co. Wexford, the youngest of three sons and one daughter of Lawrence Lacey, a local farmer, and his wife Mary (née Brien). Born Lawrence Lacey , he styled himself de Lacey in…

Delacour, James

Delacour, James (1709–81), clergyman and poet, was eldest son of John Delacour, landowner, of Killowen, near Blarney, Co. Cork; nothing is known of his mother. The Delacours (or de la Courts) settled in Co. Cork during the 1650s and became affluent landowners by the beginning of the…

de Lacy, Hugh

This is a co-subject for the entry on De Lacy, Stanley. View the original entry.

De Lacy, Hugh

De Lacy, Hugh (1916–2010), educationalist, was born Laurence Hugh de Lacey on 2 June 1916 in San Francisco, the elder of two sons of Laurence (Larry) de Lacey (qv) (the spelling Lacy was later adopted by Hugh), a journalist and…

De Lacy, Stanley

De Lacy, Stanley (1914–2005), hockey international and athlete, was born in the family home at 2 Cameron Street, Dublin, on 26 December 1914, the sixth of eight children of John Lacy and his wife Anne (née White). The family soon moved to Limerick where they lived on Barrington Street.…

Delahide (De La Hide), Richard

Delahide (De La Hide), Richard (d. c. 1540), lawyer and chief justice of the common bench, was a member of the Delahide family of Moyglare, Co. Meath, who were loyal followers of the earl of Kildare. In 1514 he was appointed joint chief justice of the common bench with…

Delahunt, Katherine

Delahunt, Katherine Mary (‘Kay’, ‘Katryn’) (1956–2015), first female solicitor appointed to the Circuit Court, was born on 28 April 1956, the third of four girls and a boy, to Thomas (Tom) A. Delahunt, director of the Wicklow-based home décor firm S. V. Delahunt & Co, and his wife…

Delahunty, Michael (‘Mick’; ‘Mick Del’)

Delahunty, Michael (‘Mick’; ‘Mick Del’) (1915–92), musician and bandleader, was born 11 November 1915 at 13 Raheen Road, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, son of Michael Delahunty, private in the Royal Irish Regt, and Mary Delahunty (née Ahearne). Reared in Clonmel at 7 Glenagad Road, Old…

Delamain, Henry

Delamain, Henry (1713–57), delft manufacturer, was the eldest son of at least four sons and one daughter of Henry Delamain (1688–1781) of Dublin, latterly of Co. Kildare, and his wife, Sarah (Mary?) Steele, the daughter of the deputy clerk of the Irish privy council. A French…

Delane, Dennis

Delane, Dennis (c.1707–1750), actor, was probably the eldest son of George Delane (d. 1720), a Dublin glazier with an interest in lands in Co. Roscommon, whose widow Joan and three daughters were living in 1737. He was admitted to TCD…

Delane, Solomon

Delane, Solomon (c.1727–1812), landscape painter, was the son of Robert Delane, clergyman, of Co. Tipperary, and his wife Sarah. He appears to have spent his childhood in Upper Coombe, Dublin. He studied art under Robert West (qv)…

Delaney, Edward

Delaney, Edward (1930–2009), sculptor, was born 1 August 1930 (registered as Edmund Vincent Delaney) at Farmhill, Claremorris, Co. Mayo, seventh among nine children of Patrick Delaney (d. 1955), a small farmer who also tended beehives and a wood mill on the estate of Lord Oranmore…