Biographies A-Z

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Waddell, Helen Jane

Waddell, Helen Jane (1889–1965), scholar, translator, and author, was born 31 May 1889 in Tokyo, Japan, youngest of eight sons and two daughters of Revd Hugh Waddell (1840–1901), a presbyterian missionary in Manchuria and Japan, originally from Glenarm, Co. Antrim, and Jane Waddell (née…

Waddell, Hugh

Waddell, Hugh (1734–73), colonial general in America, was born in Lisburn, Co. Antrim, son of Hugh Waddell, a prosperous farmer, and Isabella Waddell (née Brown). His father killed a man in a duel and was forced to flee the country; emigrating to America, Hugh was educated in Boston,…

Waddell, Samuel John (‘Rutherford Mayne’)

Waddell, Samuel John (‘Rutherford Mayne’) (1878–1967), playwright, actor, and civil servant, was born 15 July 1878 in Tokyo, Japan, the fourth child (and fourth son) among eight sons and two daughters of the Revd Hugh Waddell (1840–1901), a presbyterian missionary born in Glenarm, Co.…

Wadding, Ambrose

Wadding, Ambrose (1583–1619), Jesuit and university teacher, was born 24 February 1583, the son of Walter Wadding and his wife, Anastatia Lombard, both of Waterford. He was an older brother of the famous Franciscan Luke Wadding (qv).…

Wadding, Luke

Wadding, Luke (1588–1657), Franciscan priest, scholar, and churchman, was born 16 October 1588 at Waterford and baptised on 18 October, the son of Walter Wadding, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Anastasia (née Lombard), a relative of Peter…

Wadding, Luke

Wadding, Luke (1628–87), catholic bishop of Ferns, was born in Ballycogly in the Anglo-Norman barony of Bargy, Co. Wexford, eldest son of Walter Wadding, merchant of Wexford town, and his wife Mary, daughter of David Sinnott of Raheen, another property owner. There appear to have…

Wadding, Michael

Wadding, Michael (1591–1644), catholic missionary and mystic, was the son of Thomas Wadding of Waterford city and his wife, Mary Walsh. Thomas was a successful lawyer who served as chief justice of Tipperary and as mayor of Waterford in 1596, and provided legal advice to Sir…

Wadding, Peter

Wadding, Peter (1583–1644), Jesuit priest, theologian, and chancellor of the University of Prague (1629–41), was born in July 1583 in Waterford, son of Thomas Wadding and Mary Wadding (née Walsh). On entering the Society of Jesus in 1601 he recorded that both of his parents were…

Waddington, Leslie

Waddington, Leslie (1934–2015), art dealer, was born in Upper Mount Street, Dublin, on 9 February 1934, the middle of three sons of…

Waddington, Victor

Waddington, Victor (1907–81), art dealer and gallery owner, was born on 9 January 1907 in Stepney, London, the second son of five sons and two daughters of William George Waddington, a schoolteacher and convert to Judaism, originally from a presbyterian family in rural Aberdeenshire,…

Wade, George

Wade, George (1673–1748), field marshal and military road builder, was born most likely at Killavally, near Tyrellspass, Co. Westmeath, third son of Jerome Wade, farmer, and grandson of William Wade, a Cromwellian army officer. Reputedly of exceptionally large build, he joined the…

Wade, Joseph Augustine

Wade, Joseph Augustine (c.1801–1845), composer, was born in Dublin but his early life is shrouded in confusion; there are no details of his parents, except for one report that his father was a dairyman. Wade always claimed to have attended…

Wade, Walter

Wade, Walter (c.1740–1825), botanist, was born in Dublin, son of John Wade (d. 1799), chemist and apothecary, and Katherine Wade. In 1767 John Wade's proposal, sanctioned by (Royal) King and Queen's College of Physicians Ireland ((R)K&QCPI; forerunner of RCPI), to establish…

Wadham, John Barker

Wadham, John Barker (1936–2003), musician, was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, only son of Cyril Wadham, an insurance broker, and his wife Muriel, a talented amateur pianist. The family moved to Ireland in 1953 when Cyril Wadham, a Royal Air Force veteran, was transferred to Dublin,…

Wafer, Lionel

Wafer, Lionel (d. 1705), surgeon, buccaneer, topographer, and ethnographer, was probably born in Ireland or to an Irish catholic family abroad. In A new voyage & description of the isthmus of America (1699), the work on which his reputation rests, he states: in my…

Wagner, Heinrich Hans

Wagner, Heinrich Hans (1923–88), linguistic scholar, was born 16 January 1923 in Zurich, Switzerland, elder of two sons of Heinrich Wagner, businessman, and his wife Eliza (née Siegfried), both of Zurich. His mother, the daughter of a restaurateur, spoke German (her native tongue),…

Wakeman, William Frederick

Wakeman, William Frederick (1822–1900), antiquary and artist, was born 12 August 1822 in Dublin, the son of W. F. Wakeman, originally from Nottingham, England, bookseller and publisher in D'Olier St., Dublin. By the age of 15 William was a drawing pupil of…

Waldby, Robert

Waldby, Robert (a.1340–1398), archbishop of Dublin, archbishop of York, and chancellor of Ireland, was an Augustinian friar who appears in the York convent in 1361. He studied in Oxford before being sent to Toulouse to study theology, where he was awarded a D.Th.; he was…

Waldré, Vincent

Waldré, Vincent (1742–1814), history painter and architect, was born Vincenzo Valdre or Valdrati in November 1742 in Faenza, Italy, son of Carlo Valdrati, master of the wardrobe of Don Filippo, duke of Parma. The family resided in Parma, where Waldré studied with the painter…

Waldron, Laurence Ambrose

Waldron, Laurence Ambrose (1858–1923), stockbroker, patron of the arts, and MP, was born on 14 November 1858 at Ballybrack, Co. Dublin, fourth son of Laurence Waldron (1811–75), JP, DL, and MP for Co.…

Walkem, George Anthony

Walkem, George Anthony (1834–1908), judge and premier of British Columbia, Canada, was born 14 November 1834 at Newry, Co. Down, eldest of at least two sons of Charles Walkem, surveyor; nothing is known of his mother. His family moved to Quebec in 1847 when his father was appointed to…

Walker, Alexander Alfred

Walker, Alexander Alfred (1930–2003), film critic and cinema historian, was born 22 March 1930 in Portadown, Co. Armagh, only child of Alfred Walker, commercial traveller, and his wife Ethel Linda Harris (née Andrews). The family were presbyterian, though not especially observant…

Walker, Dorothy

Walker, Dorothy (1929–2002), writer and critic, was born 16 January 1929 at 3 Mountjoy Square, Dublin, the daughter of Walter Cole, a stallholder at the city of Dublin fruit and vegetable market, and his wife, Moira. Following her education at the Dominican convent in Wicklow (1937–46)…

Walker, George

Walker, George (1643×8–1690), clergyman and military governor of Derry during the siege of 1689, was born between 1643 and 1648, probably at Wighill, near Kirk Deighton, Yorkshire. His grandfather, the Rev. Gervase Walker (d. 1642), probably came to Ireland from Ruddington in…

Walker, John

Walker, John (1768–1833), religious leader and classical scholar, was born in January 1768 in Co. Roscommon, son of the Rev. Matthew Walker, Church of Ireland clergyman. In January 1786 he entered TCD, being made a scholar in 1788,…