Biographies A-Z

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Eagar, Margaret Alexandra ('Margaretta')

Eagar, Margaret Alexandra ('Margaretta') (1863–1935), nursery nurse to the Russian imperial family, was born in Limerick on 12 August 1863. She was the fifth of eleven children born to Francis MacGillycuddy Eagar and his wife Frances Holden. From 1855–80, Francis Eagar was governor of…

Earley, (Anthony William) Dermot

Earley, (Anthony William) Dermot (1948–2010), Gaelic footballer and army officer, was born on 24 February 1948 in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, the eldest of three sons and two daughters of Peadar Earley, a primary school teacher, and his wife Catherine (née Byrne), both from Co. Mayo. He…

Early, Biddy

Early, Biddy (c.1798–1874), clairvoyant and healer, was born in the townland of Faha, near Kilanena, Co. Clare, as Bridget Connors (or O'Connor) ; the name Early, by which she was known throughout her life, was her mother's maiden name. Little is known about her, despite…

Eason, Charles

Eason, Charles (1823–99), wholesale and retail newsagent, was born 11 May 1823 at Yeovil, Somerset, second son in the family of three sons and two daughters of a glover and baptist deacon, George Eason (1782–1828), and his wife Rebecca (née Tucker). After attending school at…

Eason, John Charles Malcolm

Eason, John Charles Malcolm (1880–1976), businessman, was born 22 June 1880 in Dublin, the second of four children of a presbyterian couple, Charles Eason (1853–1941), businessman, and Anna Maria Selina Eason (née Thomson; d. 1929). The family lived at 10 Brighton Square South,…

East Dean (de East Dean, Estdene, Estdean), William

East Dean (de East Dean, Estdene, Estdean), William (fl. 1282–1300), clerk, and treasurer of Ireland, probably came from East Dean, Sussex, England. In 1282 he was presented to the church of Ereford in Winchester, and by 1290 had entered the service of Edward I's mother,…

Eaton, Timothy

Eaton, Timothy (1834–1907), merchant in Canada, was born in March 1834 in the townland of Clougher, near Ballymena, Co. Antrim, fourth son among nine children of John Eaton and Margaret Eaton (née Craig). His father died two months before Timothy was born, and Margaret Eaton…

Eccles, Charlotte O'Conor

Eccles, Charlotte O'Conor (1864/5–1911), journalist and novelist, was born in Ballingard House, Co. Roscommon, fourth and oldest surviving daughter of Alexander O'Conor Eccles, justice of the peace and founder of the Roscommon Messenger (1848–1935), a home rule newspaper.…

Ecgberht

Ecgberht (c.638–729), an Englishman of noble birth, moved to Ireland, ‘either for the sake of religious studies or to live a more contemplative life’, according to Bede. His departure for Ireland can be assigned to the period when Bishops…

Echlin, Robert

Echlin, Robert (d. 1635), bishop of Down and Conor, was second son of Henry Echlin, laird of Pittadro in Fifeshire, and his wife Grizel, daughter of Robert Colville of Cleish, Kinross. After graduating MA from St Andrews in 1596, he was…

Echmarcach

Echmarcach (d. 1064/5), son of Ragnall and king of Dublin and the Isles, belonged to the Hiberno-Norse ruling dynasty of Waterford. As his father Ragnall had been slain (1035) by King Sitriuc…

Eddery, Patrick (Pat) James John

Eddery, Patrick (Pat) James John (1952–2015), flat racing jockey and racehorse trainer, was born on 18 March 1952 in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, near the Curragh Racecourse. He was the fifth of twelve children of Jimmy Eddery, a jockey who was Irish Flat Champion in 1954 and 1955, and who…

Edelstein, (Eli) Joseph

Edelstein, (Eli) Joseph (1886–1939), writer and public speaker, was born 30 August 1886 at 31 Warren Street, Portobello, Dublin, son of Abraham Maurice Edelstein, a commercial traveller who later went into business as a picture-frame maker and gilder, and his wife Jane (née Moisel);…

Eden, William

Eden, William (1744–1814), 1st Baron Auckland , politician, diplomat, chief secretary for Ireland, was born 3 April 1744, the third son of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd baronet, of West Auckland, and his wife, Mary Eden (née Davison). Educated at Durham (1755–8), Eton (1758–62), and Christ…

Edgar, John

This is a co-subject for the entry on Edgar, Samuel. View the original entry.

Edgar, Samuel

Edgar, Samuel (1767–1826), presbyterian minister, was born in Gilford, Co. Down. His father, a farmer, died when he was a child, and an uncle, the Rev. Samuel Edgar, a secession minister of Loughaghery, near Hillsborough, Co. Down, became a father to him. Destined for the…

Edgeworth (de Firmont), Abbé Henry Essex

Edgeworth (de Firmont), Abbé Henry Essex (1745–1807), priest, confessor to Louis XVI, was born in Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, the second son of eight children of the Rev. Robert Edgeworth, landowner and rector of Edgeworthstown. Maria…

Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro

Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro (1845–1926), economist and statistician, was born 8 February 1845 at Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, fifth of six sons of Francis Beaufort Edgeworth and his Spanish wife Rosa Florentina Eroles, daughter of a political refugee from Catalonia; he was a grandson…

Edgeworth, Kenneth Essex

Edgeworth, Kenneth Essex (1880–1972), soldier, engineer, economist, and astronomer, was born 26 February 1880 at Daramona House, Streete, Co. Westmeath, eldest child among two sons and a daughter of Thomas Newcomen Edgeworth (1850–1931) and Elizabeth Dupré (née Wilson; d. 1929),…

Edgeworth, Maria

Edgeworth, Maria (1768–1849), novelist, essayist, and educationist, was born at Black Bourton Manor, Oxfordshire, England, the estate of the Hungerford family; her maternal grandmother was a Hungerford heiress. Her date of birth is sometimes given as 1 January 1767. Edgeworth considered…

Edgeworth, Michael Pakenham

Edgeworth, Michael Pakenham (1812–81), botanist and administrator in India, was born at Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, on 24 May 1812, the youngest son of Richard Lovell Edgeworth (qv) of Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, author and…

Edgeworth, Richard Lovell

Edgeworth, Richard Lovell (1744–1817), landowner, inventor, and writer, was born 31 May 1744 in Bath, Somerset, second son and seventh among eight children of Richard Edgeworth, lawyer and landowner, and his wife Jane, daughter of Samuel Lovell, a Welsh judge. Of the children only…

Edmundson, William

Edmundson, William (1627–1712), quaker leader, was born c. 4 October 1627 in Little Musgrave, Westmorland (Cumbria), England, youngest of six children of John Edmundson (d. 1635), a well-to-do yeoman, and Grace Edmundson (d. 1632). Orphaned at an early age, he was reared…

Edwards, Hilton Robert Hugh

Edwards, Hilton Robert Hugh (1903–1982), actor and theatre director, was born 2 February 1903 at 1 Bathurst Mansions, Holloway Road, London. His father, George Cecil Edwards, was said to have had another son by a previous marriage, but Hilton Edwards was his only son with his second…

Edwards, Robert (‘Robin’) Walter Dudley

Edwards, Robert (‘Robin’) Walter Dudley (1909–88), historian, was born 4 June 1909 in Dublin, elder son of Walter Edwards (1862–1946), a minor civil servant from Worcestershire, England, and Bridget Teresa McInerney (1871–1956), a nurse from Co. Clare. When his parents, a quaker and a…