Balscot, Alexander
Balscot, Alexander of (c.1335–1400), bishop of Ossory, bishop of Meath, and treasurer, chancellor, and justiciar of Ireland, was born in Oxfordshire and first appears in the records when he was presented to the vicarage of Dungarvan in 1359. He was a prebend in the diocese…...
Banim, John
Banim, John (1798–1842), artist, novelist, playwright, and poet, was born 3 April 1798 in Kilkenny city, the eldest son of Michael Banim (perhaps originally Bannon), farmer and shopkeeper (he sold sporting goods), and Joannah or Judith Banim (née Carroll) from near the Slieve Bloom…...
Barber, Rupert
Barber, Rupert (1719–72), miniaturist, was born in Dublin, where he was baptised 20 September 1719. He was the son of Rupert Barber, Dublin woollen-draper, and Mary Barber (qv), who published poetry in the 1730s, a friend and…...
Barbour, John
Barbour, John (1753?–1823), manufacturer, was born in Scotland, probably at Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, near Paisley, in either 1753 or early 1759, eldest son of John Barbour and his wife, whose name may have been Jean Connel, both of Kilbarchan, where the family had linen works. They…...
Barbour, John Doherty
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Barbour, Thomas
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Barbour, William
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Bardfield, William
Bardfield, William of (b. a.1258, d. 1327☓33), lawyer and justice, son of Walter of Bardfield, was probably born at Great Bardfield in Essex, a demesne manor of the Clare earls of Gloucester; he must have been born in or before 1258 as by 1279 he had become a…...
Barford (Bereford), Richard de
Barford (Bereford), Richard de (fl. 1283–1318), clerk, treasurer, and chancellor of Ireland, may have been related to William de Bereford, chief justice of the common bench at Westminster. He first appears in 1283 as a collector of the thirtieth in Worcestershire, and in…...
Barnes, Colm
Barnes, Colm (1919–2003), businessman, was born 13 July 1919 in the family home at 258 Falls Road, Belfast, one of eleven children of Diarmuid (Jeremiah) Barnes (d. 1960), draper, and his wife Mary Frances (née McGinely). His father sat on Belfast city council as a nationalist…...
Barnes, Michael James
Barnes, Michael James (1932–2008), festival director, was born in Peckham, south London, England, on 31 October 1932. His parents were Robert Barnes and Winifred Barnes (née Dee), who married in 1931. In 1945 he won a scholarship to Alleyn's School in Dulwich, an independent school…...
Barnewall, Christopher
Barnewall, Christopher (a. 1400–1446), lawyer and administrator, was son of Nicholas Barnewall of Crickeston, Co. Meath, and was the head of a prominent gentry family who became embroiled in the factional disputes between the supporters of…...
Barnewall, John
Barnewall, John (1470–1538), 3rd Baron Trimleston , administrator, was son of Christopher Barnewall, 2nd baron, and his first wife, Elizabeth Plunket of Rathmore, Co. Meath. Christopher (pardoned in 1488 for his part in Lambert Simnel's…...
Barnewall, Sir Christopher
Barnewall, Sir Christopher (d. 1575), politician and administrator, was the son of Sir Patrick Barnewall (qv), master of the rolls, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell, chief justice of the common pleas.…...
Barnhill, John ('Jack') Eccles Nixon
Barnhill, John ('Jack') Eccles Nixon (1905–71), senator and businessman, was born 11 April 1905 at Brickfield, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, the third child and second son in a family of at least five children (two sons and three daughters) of William Wilson Barnhill (1867–1950), a well-to-do…...
Barralet, John James
Barralet, John James (c.1747–1815), artist and drawing master, was born in Dublin, son of a huguenot émigré. He was known to have at least two brothers, one of whom, John Melchior (c.1750–c.1787), also became an artist, practising mainly in London.…...
Barran, Nicholas
Barran, Nicholas (c.1555–1613), merchant and politician, was eldest son of Edmund Barran, alderman and sheriff of Dublin, and his wife Mary, daughter of Alderman Nicholas Humphrey, mayor of Dublin (1541). Elected sheriff for the year 1590–91 and alderman in 1592, he…...
Barret, George
Barret, George (1728/32–1784), landscape painter, was born in the Liberties of Dublin, son of a clothier. He abandoned an apprenticeship as a stay-maker to study art at Robert West's (qv) academy, George's Lane, and as a student was funded…...
Barrett, (Denis) Cyril
Barrett, (Denis) Cyril (1925–2003), Jesuit priest, art critic and historian, and philosopher, was born Denis Barrett in Dublin on 9 May 1925 (Cyril was his name in religion). He was the son of Denis Barrett, the last assistant commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. His…...
Barrett, Patrick
Barrett, Patrick (d. 1415), bishop of Ferns and chancellor of Ireland, was originally a canon in the Augustinian priory of Kells in Co. Kilkenny. He was provided to the see of Ferns by the pope on 10 December 1400, and consecrated by the pope in Rome. He received the…...
Barrington, Samuel
Barrington, Samuel (d. 1693), clockmaker, may have been a son of Francis Barrington, a Cromwellian settler, who died in Limerick in 1683. He was flourishing in Dublin from 1665 to 1674 and had a contract for the maintenance of the Tholsel clock. He moved to Galway and then (1691…...
Barrington, Sir Joseph
Barrington, Sir Joseph (1764–1846), 1st baronet, merchant in Limerick, was born in that city 21 February 1764, only son of Matthew Barrington and Jane Barrington (née Canter), and set up business on Charlotte Quay. In 1830 he built Barrington's Quay on the north bank of the Shannon…...
Barrington, Thomas
Barrington, Thomas (1881–1930), civil servant, was born 17 December 1881 at Carhuclough, Ennistymon, Co. Clare, eldest of ten children of Peter Barrington and Ann Barrington (née Barry), small farmers. Five of the children emigrated; seven never married. A bright student, he joined…...
Barrington, Thomas Joseph
Barrington, Thomas Joseph (1916–2000), civil servant, was born 16 May 1916 in Dublin, the eldest of five children of Thomas Barrington (qv), civil servant, of Corrofin, Co. Clare, and his wife, Eileen, née Bracken, the half-sister…...
Barron (Baron), Geoffrey
Barron (Baron), Geoffrey (1606–51), lawyer, politician, and diplomat, was eldest son of Lawrence Barron, a catholic merchant from Clonmel, and Mary Wadding of Waterford, sister of the Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding (qv). The Barrons, a…...