Biographies A-Z

Ní Mhuiríosa, Máirín (1906–82), Irish scholar, poet and journalist, was born 5 September 1906 in Dublin, daughter of mathematics teacher Tomás Ó Muiríosa and his wife Mary Golden. Both her parents were Irish-speakers and the family spent their summer holidays in the Ring Gaeltacht in Co…

Nimmo, Alexander (1783–1832), civil engineer, was born in Kirkcaldy, Fifeshire, Scotland, son of Alexander Nimmo, watchmaker and merchant; nothing is known of his mother. He was educated at the universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh, where he gained distinctions in classics and…

Ninian (Nynia) (fl. late 5th/early 6th cent.), bishop of Whithorn (in Galloway, Scotland) and missionary to the southern Picts, is attested only in confused and uncertain traditions. Apart from the brief and incidental notice given in Bede's ‘Historia ecclesiastica’, there…

Ní Scolaí, Máire (1909–85), traditional singer, was born in Dublin on 24 May 1909 to Michael Scully , commercial traveller, of 60 Ignatius Road, and Mary Scully (née Kavanagh). She lived in Dublin for much of her childhood and was educated at Central Model Schools, which held pilot…

Ní Shéaghdha, Nessa (1916–93), Irish language scholar, was born 14 March 1916 in Drumcondra, Dublin, one of four daughters and a son of Seán Pádraig Ó Séaghdha and his wife, Kitty Nic Caochlaoich. She attended Scoil Bhríde national school and Scoil Chaitríona secondary school and…

Niven, Ninian (1799–1879), horticulturist and landscape gardener, was born at Kelvin Grove near Glasgow. His father, also Ninian Niven, of Pennicuik, was a gardener at Keir House near Stirling and had made two expeditions to the Cape of Good Hope, collecting plants for George…

Nixon, John William (1877–1949), policeman and politician, was born 1 June 1877 in Graddum, Co. Cavan, into a methodist family; other family details are unknown. He joined the RIC in 1899, served in Belfast, Donegal, Antrim, Mayo,…

Nixon, Sir Christopher John (1849–1914), physician, was born 30 June 1849 in Dublin, son of Christopher William Nixon, railway agent, and Mary Frances Nixon (née Hackett). He was educated at Terenure College, Dublin, and studied at the Catholic University School of Medicine (CUSM),…

Noble, Margaret Elizabeth (Sister Nivedita) (1867–1911), educator, writer, and political activist in India, was born at 23 Scotch Street, Dungannon, on 28 October 1867, the eldest daughter and first child of Samuel Richmond Noble and Mary Isabel Hamilton. Both male grandparents are said…

Noble, William Henry (1834–92), general, was born 14 October 1834 at Glassdrummond, Co. Fermanagh, eldest son of the Rev. Robert Noble of Glassdrummond, rector of Athboy, Co. Meath, and his wife Catherine (d. 1904), eldest daughter of the Rev. James Annesley Burrowes, rector of…

Nolan, Christopher (1965–2009), writer and advocate for the disabled, was born 6 September 1965 in the county hospital in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, second and youngest child (he had an elder sister) of Joseph Nolan, psychiatric nurse and small farmer, and his wife Bernadette (née Martin…

Nolan, John (c.1600–1662), Dominican priest and theologian, was a filius of the Black Abbey of Kilkenny. He entered the Dominican order at Zamora in Spain. By 1627 he was already lector of philosophy at Pamplona, where he had studied. He was appointed conventual…

Nolan, John (c.1860–1920), revolutionary, was born in the vicinity of James's St., Dublin, son of a shopkeeper who died young; nothing else is known of his family. He was well known during his youth as an amateur boxer but fled to America in January 1883 owing to his…

Nolan, John (‘Amnesty Nolan’) (1846–87), nationalist and amnesty activist, was born in Ballon, Co. Carlow, but raised and educated in Limerick city, where he worked as a draper's assistant and freelance journalist and became known as a well-read and socially refined young man.…

Nolan, John James (‘J. J.’) (1888–1952), experimental physicist and academic, was born 28 December 1888 in Railway Tce, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, eldest among four sons and one daughter of Martin Nolan, member of the RIC, originally from Co.…

Nolan, John Philip (1838–1912), landowner, army officer, and politician, was born 3 August 1838 in Dublin, the eldest of six sons of John Nolan (b. 1810) of Ballinderry, near Tuam, Co. Galway, a catholic barrister, landowner, and magistrate, who, after relieving the poor during…

Nolan, Julian (Julia) (c.1612–1701), Dominican prioress, the daughter of Galway citizens Peter Nolan and Elizabeth Lynch, was probably born in Galway. Nothing is known about her upbringing or education. In 1644 she married a distant relative, Peter Nolan, but a year later…

Nolan, Nicholas George (Ó Nualláin, Nicolás Seoirse) (1907–84), civil servant, was born in Hong Kong on 8 December 1907, although he was sometimes described as a native of Cork. The eldest child of Nicholas G. Nolan (1878–1920), chief interpreter of the Hong Kong Supreme Court (1907–20…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Nolan, John James (‘J. J.’). View the original entry.

Nolan, Seán (‘Johnny’) (1908–88), communist, was born 4 June 1908 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, son of Edward Nolan, van driver, of 4 Ryan's Cottages, off Marlborough Place in the north inner city, and Catherine Nolan (née Behan). A member at age 18 of the Irish Worker League (…

Nolan, Thomas (1872/3–1939), newspaper editor and publisher, was educated at the CBS, Tralee, Co. Kerry; few other details of his early life are available. As a young man he joined the clerical staff of J. B. Healy, building…

Nolan, Thomas Joseph (1888–1945), chemist, was born 11 November 1888 at 16 Newmarket, Dublin, eldest of nine children of Joseph Nolan, compositor in a print works, and Ellen Nolan (née O'Keefe), both from Dublin. He was educated at CBS…

Nolan, Thomas (‘Tom’) (1921–92), politician and businessman, was born 27 July 1921 in Cappawater, Myshall, Co. Carlow, son of Matthew Nolan, farmer, and Bridget Nolan (née Murphy). Educated at Myshall national school and De La Salle College, Bagenalstown, after completing his…

Noonan, Michael Joseph (1935–2013), politician, was born on 4 August 1935 in Crean, Bruff, Co. Limerick, the son of John Noonan, a farmer, and Hanorah Noonan (née Slattery) from a farming family. He was educated at the Salesian College in Pallaskenry, Co. Limerick, before studying for a…

Noonan, Robert Philippe (Robert Tressell) (1870–1911), socialist and author, was born 18 April 1870 at 37 Wexford Street in Dublin, the natural son of Samuel Croker, an RIC inspector, and Mary Noonan; he was baptised a catholic. The…