Biographies A-Z

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Healy, John Edward

Healy, John Edward (1872–1934), journalist and newspaper editor, was born 17 March 1872 in Drogheda, Co. Louth, the only son and eldest child of James Stanislaus Healy, a solicitor, and Kate Mary Healy (née Appleyard), daughter of John Edward Appleyard, Church of Ireland clergyman…

Healy, Maurice

Healy, Maurice (1859–1923), solicitor and politician, was born 3 January 1859 in Bantry, Co. Cork, third son of Maurice Healy, clerk of Lismore Union, and his wife, Eliza, sister of A. M. (qv) and…

Healy, Maurice Francis

Healy, Maurice Francis (1887–1943), barrister and author, was born at 16 Mountjoy Place, Dublin, on 16 November 1887, the eldest of the three children of Maurice Healy (qv), a Cork solicitor and later an MP, and his wife and cousin,…

Healy, Michael Joseph

Healy, Michael Joseph (1873–1941), stained-glass artist, was born 14 November 1873 at 40 Bishop St., Dublin, one of three sons of Andrew Healy, labourer, and Mary Healy (née Farrell), daughter of a cattle dealer from Carlow. Born into a relatively poor household, Healy was drawing…

Healy, Thomas Gerard ('Gerry')

Healy, Thomas Gerard (‘Gerry’) (1913–1989), Trotskyist party-leader, was born in Ballybane, Co. Galway, on 3 December 1913, the eldest of four children of Michael Healy, a well-off farmer of Ballybane, and Margaret Mary (née Rabbitte). Healy fabricated aspects of his…

Healy, Timothy Maurice

Healy, Timothy Maurice (1898–1958), doctor, was born 5 May 1898 in Dublin, youngest child among three sons and three daughters of T. M. Healy (qv), MP and later first governor-general of the Irish Free State, and Erina Katherine…

Healy, Timothy Michael

Healy, Timothy Michael (1855–1931), parliamentarian, barrister, and first governor general of the Irish Free State, was born 17 May 1855 in Bantry, west Co. Cork, second son of Maurice Healy, clerk of the Bantry poor law union, and Eliza Healy (née Sullivan). Family background and…

Healy, (William) Gerard

Healy, (William) Gerard (1918–63), actor and playwright, was born 17 August 1918 in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, son of Bartle Healy, fruit merchant, and Mary Healy (née Hayden). Educated at Synge St. CBS, he was first employed as a…

Heaney, Seamus Justin

Heaney, Seamus Justin (1939–2013), poet, critic and translator, was born on 13 April 1939 on a farm called Mossbawn in the townland of Tamniarn near Castledawson, Co. Derry, the eldest of nine children (seven sons and two daughters) of Patrick Heaney, farmer and cattle-dealer, and his…

Hearne, John Joseph

Hearne, John Joseph (1893–1969), diplomat and lawyer, was born 4 November 1893 at 8 William St., Waterford, fourth son and sixth among seven children of Alderman Richard Hearne, mayor of Waterford and leather merchant, and Alice Mary Hearne (née Power). He was educated at Waterpark…

Hearn, Mary Ellice Thorn

Hearn, Mary Ellice Thorn (1891–1969), gynaecologist and first female fellow of the RCPI, was born 25 February 1891 at 17 St Patrick's Place, Cork, the daughter of William Edward Ashley Cummins (1858–1923), professor of…

Hearn, Patrick Lafcadio

Hearn, Patrick Lafcadio (1850–1904), writer, translator, and journalist, was born 27 June 1850 on the island of Levkás (from which his middle name derived), Greece, second of three sons born to Charles Bush Hearn, an Irish officer-surgeon in the British army, and Rosa Antonia…

Hearn, William Edward

Hearn, William Edward (1826–88), lawyer and politician in Australia, was born 21 April 1826 at Belturbet, Co. Cavan, the second of seven sons of the Rev. William Edward Hearn, curate at Killargue, Co. Leitrim, and his wife, Henrietta Alicia Hearn (née Reynolds). Educated at…

Heath, (Sophie) Mary (‘Lady Heath’) (née Peirce-Evans; other married name Eliott-Lynn)

Heath, (Sophie) Mary (‘Lady Heath’) (née Peirce-Evans; other married name Eliott-Lynn) (1896–1939), athlete and aviator, was born Sophie Catherine Theresa Mary Peirce-Evans on 17 November 1896 in Knockaderry, Co. Limerick, the only child of Jackie Peirce-Evans and his wife and former…

Heaton, Hubert ('Bert') Ormsby

Heaton, Hubert ('Bert') Ormsby (1916–2009), businessman, was born on 14 February 1916 in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, the elder of two sons of (John) Arthur Heaton and his wife Emily Florence (née Ormsby); a younger sister died as a child in 1929. His father was the son of Samuel Heaton,…

Heaton, Richard

Heaton, Richard (1601–66), cleric and botanist, was born 14 February 1601 at Moorehouse, Hooton Pagnall, Yorkshire, third of nine children of Francis Heaton, landowner, and his wife Ursulay. Only three children survived, but there is no further mention of the eldest son or…

Heck, Barbara

Heck, Barbara (1734–1804), methodist, was born in Ballingrane, Co. Limerick, daughter of Sebastian Ruckle (surname later found also as Ruttle ), tenant farmer on the Southwell estate, and his wife Margaret (née Embury). The Ruckles, Emburys, and Hecks were part of a group of…

Hector, Annie

Hector, Annie (née French ) (Mrs Alexander ) (1825–1902), novelist, was born in Dublin 23 June 1825, the only daughter of Robert French, a Dublin barrister originally of Frenchpark, Co. Roscommon, a descendant of the Church of Ireland bishop of Down and Connor…

Hedderman, Bridget

Hedderman, Bridget (1872–1943), district nurse, was born on 17 January 1872, in the family home at Querrin, just outside Kilkee, Co. Clare, the eldest of four daughters of Manus and Mary Hedderman (née Nash). Manus Hedderman worked a variety of jobs, including fisherman, boatman and…

Hederman, Anthony (‘Tony’)

Hederman, Anthony (‘Tony’) (1921–2014), barrister, attorney general and supreme court judge, was born Anthony James Hederman on 11 August 1921 in 40 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, the middle child of three (two sons and a daughter) of William Hederman of Glenville, Naas, Co. Kildare…

Heeney, Cornelius

Heeney, Cornelius (1754–1848), businessman and philanthropist, was born in King's Co. (Offaly) to catholic parents. Virtually nothing is known of his early life except that a relative gave him a start in business in Dublin, so that when he followed his father to America in 1784 he…

Heeney, Patrick

This is a co-subject for the entry on Kearney, Peadar. View the original entry.

Heffernan, Kevin

Heffernan, Kevin (1929–2013), GAA footballer and manager, and public servant, was born on 20 August 1929 at 51 Pembroke Cottages in Donnybrook, Dublin, the second eldest of seven children of John Heffernan, a garda originally from Offaly, and Mary (née Burke) from Kilkenny. The…

Hegarty, Denis Anthony

Hegarty, Denis Anthony (1907–93), city and county manager, general manager of the Dublin Port and Docks Board, and founding member of the Irish Management Institute, was born 5 July 1907 in Cork city, second son among three sons and two daughters of Denis Hegarty of Co. Cork (…

Heitler, Walter

Heitler, Walter (1904–81), theoretical physicist and philosopher, was born 2 January 1904 in Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany, son of Adolf Heitler, a Jewish engineering professor, and Ottilie Heitler (née Rudolf ). His largely classical early education left him with a lifelong interest…