Biographies A-Z

Gogarty, Oliver St John (1878–1957), surgeon and man of letters, was born 17 August 1878 at 5 Rutland Square, Dublin, eldest of four sons of Henry Gogarty, surgeon (d. 1891), and his wife, Margaret Gogarty (née Oliver; d. 1906), daughter of a Galway miller. Education and early…

Goldberg, Gerald Yael (1912–2003), solicitor, politician and writer, was born 12 April 1912 in Cork city, eleventh of twelve surviving children of Louis J. Goldberg, peddler and shopkeeper, and his wife Rachel (née Sandler). His birth name was Yael or Yoel; the anglicised ‘Gerald’ was…

Goldblatt, Harold (1901–82), theatre producer and actor, was born in Belfast. Little is known of his early life before he came to prominence in the 1920s with the Jewish Institute Dramatic Society. He was its founder, producer, and main actor; his first success was to win the…

Goldie, George (1828–81), architect, was born in York, England, on 8 June 1828, the son of a medical doctor, George Goldie, and his wife Mary Anne, the second daughter of Joseph Bonomi the younger, an architect and Egyptologist. His great-grandfather was the Italian architect Joseph…

Goldin, Paul (1927–2008), entertainer and clinical psychologist, was born Ronald Paul Gold in London on 15 April 1927, the son of Charles Gold and his wife Minnie (née Elbury). The Golds were a Jewish family living in London's East End, and Paul's father may have been a psychiatrist…

Goldsmith, Oliver (1728–74), poet, essayist, dramatist, and novelist, was born 10 November 1728 at Pallas, Co. Longford (though 1729 and 1730 have also been suggested for the year of his birth, and Lissoy, Co. Westmeath, for its location) He was the second of five sons (and three…

Gonne, Iseult (1894–1954), writer and muse, was born 6 August 1894 in Paris, daughter of Lucien Millevoye, French politician, lawyer, and journalist, and Maud Gonne (qv), Irish revolutionary nationalist. She was their second child…

Goodacre, Hugh (d. 1553), Church of Ireland archbishop of Armagh, graduated BA (1529), MA (1532), and B.Th. (1552), from Oxford University, where he was recorded as…

Goodall, Ken (Kenneth George) (1947–2006), rugby player, was born 23 February 1947 at St Mary’s hospital, Leeds, England, to George Goodall, a roofer, and his wife Kathleen (née Daly). George, a Yorkshireman, had married Kathleen, from Derry, during the second world war; the family…

Good, James Winder (1877–1930), journalist and editor, was born 15 January 1877 in Limerick, eldest son of Benjamin Good, RIC constable, and Margaret Good (née Winder). His family moved to Belfast and he was educated at the Royal Academical…

Goodman, James (Séamus Gudman) (1828–96), clergyman, Irish-language scholar, and music collector, was born 22 September 1828 at Ballyameen near Dingle, Co. Kerry, second son among five sons and four daughters of Thomas Chute Goodman, clergyman, and Mary Goodman (née Gorham). Brought up…

Googe, Barnabe (c.1538–94), poet and translator, and provost-marshal to the presidency court in Connacht, was son of Robert Googe, recorder of Lincoln, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Walter Mantell. He was born at Alvingham, Lincolnshire, and educated at Christ's…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Gookin, Sir Vincent. View the original entry.

Gookin, Sir Vincent (1590?–1638), planter, was the youngest son of John Gookin of Ripple Court, Kent, England, and his wife Catherine (née Dene) of Bursted, Kent. Vincent came to Ireland and took up office as surveyor general early in the century, was admitted freeman of Youghal (1618…

Gookin, Vincent (1616?–1659), surveyor general, MP for Bandon and Kinsale 1654–9, and friend and colleague of William Petty (qv), was the eldest son of Cork settler Sir Vincent Gookin…

Goold (Gould), Thomas (1765–1846), lawyer and master of the court of chancery, was born in Cork city, son of John Goold, soldier, of Limerick, and Mary Anne Goold (née Quin). Educated locally, he entered TCD (1781), graduating…

Goold, James Alipius (1812–86), catholic archbishop of Melbourne, was born 4 November 1812 in Cork city into a prominent Cork merchant patrician family, whose wealth had started to decline. His father's name is unknown, but his mother was a Hynes, also from Cork, and an uncle was Dr…

Goold, Vere Thomas St Leger (1853–1909), first notable Irish lawn tennis player, was born 2 October 1853 in Waterford, sixth son among seven children of George Ignatius Goold, justice of the peace and resident magistrate, and his wife Clara, daughter of Major General James Webber-Smith…

Gordon, Alexander (1818–87), professor of surgery, was born in Saintfield, Co. Down, in 1818, the son of Alexander Gordon, surgeon and physician at Saintfield. Initially educated in Belfast, he received his medical training at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated…

Gordon, Derek Stanley (1926–2009), neurosurgeon, was born 8 May 1926 in Belfast, the third of four sons of Ernest Gordon, a manager in a glassworks, and his wife Ann (née McFarland); the family were then living at 48 Ravenhill Road, Belfast. All Derek's brothers became doctors, and…

Gordon, James Bentley (1750–1819), clergyman and historian, was son of the Rev. James Gordon of Neeve Hall, Co. Londonderry, and his wife, a daughter of Thomas Neeve. He entered TCD in 1768, graduating BA…

Gordon, John (1849–1922), high court judge and politician, was born in Co. Down on 23 November 1849, eldest son of Samuel Gordon, of Shankill House, Co. Down, and his wife Arabella Barclay. A presbyterian, he was educated at the …

Gordon, John Campbell (1847–1934), 7th earl of Aberdeen and 1st marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, lord lieutenant of Ireland, was born 3 August 1847 in Edinburgh, third son and fourth of six children of George John Hamilton-Gordon (1816–64), 5th earl of Aberdeen in the peerage of…

Gordon, John Fawcett (1878–1965), politician and public servant, was born in Belfast, son of working-class parents, William James Gordon and Margaret Gordon (née Fawcett). At an early age, due to the death of his father, he spent part of his childhood in the USA with relatives and…

Gordon (Marjoribanks), Dame Ishbel Maria (1857–1939), marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, philanthropist, was born 14 March 1857 in London, daughter of Dudley Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth, banker and liberal MP, and his wife, Isobel Marjoribanks (née Hogg), who belonged to the…