Biographies A-Z

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Neeson, Eoin Francis

Neeson, Eoin Francis (1927–2011), writer, journalist and civil servant, was born on 13 September 1927 in the family home at 10 Charlemont Terrace, Cork city, the elder of a son and daughter of Sean Neeson and his wife Geraldine (née Sullivan). A secondary school teacher, Sean Neeson (…

Neill (Neil), Patrick

Neill (Neil), Patrick (1665?–1705?), printer, was born in Glasgow, and was probably the same as the Patrick Neill, bookbinder, who in 1691 was admitted a burgess of that city and guild brother in right of his father. His parents were most likely David Neill and Mary Hamilton, whose…

Neill, Sir Ivan

Neill, Sir Ivan (1906–2001), politician and company director, was born in the Bloomfield district of east Belfast on 1 July 1906. He was educated at Ravenscroft national school and Shaftesbury Tutorial College, and graduated from QUB…

Neilson, John

Neilson, John (c.1770–1827), United Irishman and architect, was born about 1770 in Ballycarry, Co. Antrim, one of the four sons and two daughters of a man local to Ballycarry, though his mother (née Hefferman or Havern) came from Belfast. He was apprenticed to Hunter, the…

Neilson, Samuel

Neilson, Samuel (1761–1803), United Irishman, was born in September 1761 at Ballyroney, Co. Down, one of at least three sons of Alexander Neilson, a presbyterian minister. Educated at home and in a local school, in 1777 he was sent to Belfast to take up an apprenticeship with his…

Neilson, William (Mac Néill, Uilliam)

Neilson, William (Mac Néill, Uilliam) (1774–1821), presbyterian minister, classical and Irish-language scholar and writer, was born 12 September 1774 at Rademon, Kilmore, Co. Down, fourth among seven sons of the Rev. Moses Neilson (1739?–1823), schoolmaster and presbyterian minister of…

Neligan, David

Neligan, David (1899–1983), intelligence agent, police detective and superintendent, was born 14 October 1899 in Templeglantine, Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick, youngest among four sons and four daughters of David Neligan, a Co. Kerry native, and Eliza Neligan (née Mullane), a native of…

Neligan, John Moore

Neligan, John Moore (1815–63), physician, was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, son of a physician, who died soon after his birth, and his wife, Marcella Moore (née Hayes). He graduated MD (1836) from Edinburgh University and returned to Clonmel,…

Neligan, Maurice Christopher

Neligan, Maurice Christopher (1937–2010), cardiac surgeon and commentator, was born on 15 May 1937 at his parents' home, 31 St Helen's Road, Booterstown, Co. Dublin, the only son among three children of John Neligan, army officer, and his wife Nan (née Kelly). His father was a…

Nelson, Brian

Nelson, Brian (1947–2003), loyalist paramilitary and undercover agent, was born 30 September 1947 in Belfast, one of six children of Adam Nelson, shipyard worker, and his wife Maisie. His parents lived on Crosby Street in the Shankill Road area of west Belfast. The family had catholic…

Nelson, Isaac

Nelson, Isaac (1809–88), presbyterian minister and politician, was born in Belfast, son of Francis Nelson, greengrocer, of Barrack St., Belfast, who was said to have been a United Irishman in 1798. Little else is known of Isaac's early life, but in the late 1820s he was in the…

Nelson, John Havelock

Nelson, John Havelock (1917–96), bacteriologist, composer and arranger, pianist, conductor, promoter of opera, and competition adjudicator, was born 25 May 1917 in Cork, eldest of the four sons of Robert Nelson, chartered accountant, and Grace Mary Nelson (née Graham). The family…

Nelson, Joseph

Nelson, Joseph (1840–1910), ophthalmic surgeon, was born at Downpatrick, one of nine children of Samuel Craig Nelson, a prominent minister in the unitarian church and a fluent Irish speaker, and Mary Cleland Nelson (née McCaw). He entered QCB…

Nelson, Oliver

Nelson, Oliver (c.1715–1775), printer, was apprenticed to George Grierson (d. 1753), in Essex St., Dublin, for 1736/7. Prior to this he probably worked for William Bowyer in London intermittently during 1732–6, but nothing is known of his early life. He was sworn free of…

Nelson, Rosemary

Nelson, Rosemary (1959–1999), human rights lawyer, was born Rosemary Magee at Lurgan, Co. Armagh, daughter of Thomas Magee and his wife Sheila. A strawberry birthmark partly paralysed the left side of her face, and from the age of ten she endured several years of facial surgery and skin…

Nesbitt, William

Nesbitt, William (1824–81), professor of Latin and of Greek, was born in January 1824 in Co. Armagh, son of John Nesbitt (d. 1858), methodist minister (whose family moved with him to various congregations), and his wife, who may have been Jane Douglass. Nesbitt was educated mostly…

Nessán

Nessán of Mungret, saint in the Irish tradition, appears in sources as living at the time of St Patrick (qv), but no dates can be assigned to his life. The New Testament meaning of deacon – the title usually assigned…

Netterville, John

Netterville, John (d. 1659), 2nd Viscount Netterville of Dowth , army officer, and landowner, was eldest son of Nicholas Netterville (qv), Viscount Dowth, and his wife, Eleanor Bath of Athcarne, Co. Meath. John married (1623)…

Netterville, Luke

Netterville, Luke (a. 1180–1227), archbishop of Armagh, was apparently born in Ireland of an Anglo-Norman family, and became the first ‘Englishman’ to hold the see of Armagh and the only one to do so in the thirteenth century. He appears as the archdeacon of Armagh as early…

Netterville, Nicholas

Netterville, Nicholas (1581–1654), 1st Viscount Netterville , politician, was the only son and heir of John Netterville of Dowth, Co. Meath, and Eleanor, daughter of Sir James Gernon (frequently called Garland) of Kilmacoole, Co. Louth. Nicholas inherited the family estates in…

Netterville, Richard

Netterville, Richard (c.1545–1607), lawyer, was second son of Luke Netterville of Dowth, Co. Meath, second justice of the queen's bench, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell (qv) of Luttrellstown, Co. Dublin…

Nevill, Arthur Jones

Nevill, Arthur Jones (c.1712–1771), engineer and MP, was son of Maj.-gen. Edward Jones of Wexford, who assumed the surname Nevill, and Mary Jones (neé Nevill). Both his grandfathers as well as his father served as MPs in the Irish house of commons. Nevill entered…

Neville, Henry F.

Neville, Henry F. (1822–89), catholic priest and theologian, was born in St Finn Barr's parish, Cork, probably in February or early in March 1822 (he was baptised on 5 March). All that is known about his family is that he was related through his mother to…

Neville, Parke

Neville, Parke (1812–86), civil engineer, architect, and land surveyor, was born in Dublin, son of Arthur Neville, engineer and surveyor; his mother's name is not known. The Neville family had been associated with engineering and surveying in Ireland for at least four generations. His…

Neville, William Cox

Neville, William Cox (c.1855–1904), rugby international, sports administrator, and pioneer obstetrician, was born c.1855 in Dundalk, Co. Louth, son of John Neville, civil engineer; nothing is known of his mother. Educated at Dundalk College, he studied medicine…