Biographies A-Z

This is a co-subject for the entry on Esdall, James. View the original entry.

Esdall, James (d. 1755), printer, publisher, and bookseller, was born in Dublin. His parents' names are not known but various members of the Esdall (often spelt Esdale, Asdill, or Esdill) family in Dublin were involved in printing and drawing from at least the 1720s. An ‘Esdale…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Esdall, James. View the original entry.

Esler, Erminda Rentoul (1860?–1924), author, was born Erminda Rentoul in Manorcunningham, Co. Donegal, to Alexander Rentoul, presbyterian minister, and his wife Erminda (née Chittick). She had five sisters and three brothers; her eldest brother was…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Esmonde, Sir John Lymbrick. View the original entry.

Esmonde, John (1760?–98), physician and United Irishman, was the second son in the family of three sons and four daughters of James Esmonde (1701–67) of Ballynastragh, near Gorey, Co. Wexford. As a young man James Esmonde was a French army officer but returned to Ireland on the…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Esmonde, Sir John Lymbrick. View the original entry.

Esmonde, Sir John Lymbrick (1893–1958), 14th baronet, barrister, landowner, and politician, was born 15 December 1893 at Ingleside, Pontesbury, Salop (Shropshire), England, eldest among three sons and three daughters of John Joseph Esmonde (1862–1915), a medical doctor who practised for…

Esmonde, Sir Osmond Thomas Grattan (1896–1936), 12th baronet, diplomat and politician, was born 4 April 1896 at Ballynastragh, Co. Wexford, one of five children of Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde (qv) and his wife…

Esmonde, Sir Thomas Henry Grattan (1862–1935), 11th baronet, landowner and politician, was born 21 September 1862 at Pau, France, the eldest of seven children of Sir John Esmonde (d. 1876), a liberal MP and tenth holder of a baronetcy created in 1628, and Louisa Esmonde (d. 1880),…

Esmond, Sir Laurence (1565–1645), 1st Baron Esmond and soldier, was born in Johnstown castle, second son of Walter Esmond of Johnstown, Co. Wexford, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Michael Furlong of Horetown. His family was strongly loyalist and his father died fighting for the…

Esmond, Sir Thomas (d. 1674), soldier and confederate, was the only son of Lawrence, Lord Esmond (qv) (d. 1646), of Limerick, Co. Wexford, and Margaret, daughter of Murrough O'Flaherty of Connacht. His parents separated over…

Esposito, Mario (1887–1975), medievalist and Hiberno-Latinist, was born 7 September 1887 in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, third child and only son of Michele Esposito (qv), professor of music in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and Natalia…

Esposito, Michele (1855–1929), musician and professor of piano at the RIAM, was born 29 September 1855 at Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, in Italy. In 1865 he won a scholarship to the Naples Conservatory where he studied piano…

Étaín (Éadaoin, Aideen) , mythological figure, a beautiful woman, both human and otherworldly, is the protagonist of one of the most famous of all Old Irish sagas, ‘Tochmarc Étaíne’ (‘The wooing of Étaín’). She was simultaneously feared and revered – revered as a dispenser of…

Etchingham, Sean R. (1870–1923), politician and journalist, was born 6 February 1870 at Ballintray (near Gorey), Co. Wexford, son of Jack Etchingham, gardener, and his wife, Margaret (née Redmond), who also had at least three daughters. The family had a Fenian tradition, which…

Eustace, James (1530–85), of Harristown, 3rd Viscount Baltinglass , was eldest son and heir of Sir Roland Eustace, 2nd Viscount Baltinglass, and his wife Joan, daughter of James Butler, Lord Dunboyne. The family was firmly catholic and James had as his tutor a priest and relative…

Eustace, John Chetwode (1762/3–1815), catholic priest and writer, was born in Co. Kildare. Both his parents were reputed to belong to gentry families, his father's in that county. It seems likely that through his father, whose name is not known, he was descended from Benjamin…

Eustace, Sir Maurice (1595?–1665), lord chancellor of Ireland, was eldest son of John Fitzwilliam Eustace of Harristown, Co. Kildare, and his wife Catherine. The Eustaces were a powerful Old English family, and while Maurice's branch had converted to protestantism, many of his…

Eustace, Sir Thomas (1480–1549), of Harristown, Co. Kildare, 1st Viscount Baltinglass , was the only son of Richard Eustace, son of Sir Edward FitzEustace of Castlemartin, lord deputy (1452–4), and his wife Anne, daughter of Robert Eustace of Ballyloughrane. He succeeded to the…

Evans, Emyr Estyn (1905–89), Ireland's first professor of geography, was born 29 May 1905, youngest of four sons and one daughter of the Rev. George Owen Evans, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Wales, and Elizabeth Evans (née Jones). Born in Shrewsbury, he spent his early…

Evans, Richard (c.1740?–1802), canal engineer, was born in Wales but little is known of his early life there until the mid 1760s, when he worked on Kymer's canal. In the mid 1770s he moved to Ireland and conducted a very public career as a canal engineer on major projects.…

Evans, Sir George de Lacy (1787–1870), British army general, was born 7 October 1787 at Moig, Co. Limerick, son of John Evans, gentleman farmer, from Lisready, Co. Limerick, and Mary Ann Evans (née de Lacy) of Leamlara, Co. Cork. Educated at the Woolwich Military Academy, he joined…

Everard, Patrick (c.1751–1821), catholic archbishop of Cashel and Emly, was born in or about 1751 in Fethard, Co. Tipperary. There is no certainty about the identity of his father, who probably was either a George Everard or a Patrick Everard, and is known to have been…

Everard, Sir John (c.1560–1624), lawyer and parliamentarian, was the elder son of Sir Redmond Everard of Ballyboy and Fethard, a prominent landowner in Tipperary and MP for Cross Tipperary (1585). Redmond's younger son, James, was a Jesuit, based in Callan from 1608 (…