Wood, Herbert
Wood, Herbert (1860–1955), archivist, historian, deputy keeper of the Public Record Office of Ireland, was born on 6 September 1860 at Trinity Square, Lambeth, London, a prosperous residential development for merchants and professionals. He was the sixth of eight children of William…...
Wood, Robert
Wood, Robert (1717?–1771), traveller, author, and politician, was born at Riverstown Castle near Trim, Co. Meath, eldest son of the Rev. James Wood of Summerhill, Co. Meath. He matriculated at Glasgow University in 1732 and entered the Middle Temple on 15 November 1736. In 1742–3 he…...
Woods, Philip James
Woods, Philip James (1880–1961), soldier and politician, was born in Belfast on 23 September 1880, son of Hugh Woods, clerk, of St John's, Hillsborough, Co. Down, and Emily Catherine Woods, granddaughter of Sir John Fuleston, of Flintshire, Wales. He was educated at the…...
Woods, Sir Robert Henry
Woods, Sir Robert Henry (1865–1938), surgeon and MP, was born 27 April 1865 in Tullamore, Co. Offaly, the youngest son of Christopher Woods, shopkeeper, and his wife, Dorothea (née Lowe). Educated in Dublin at Wesley College and then TCD…...
Woods, Thomas (‘Tommy’)
Woods, Thomas (‘Tommy’) (1921–61), diplomat, journalist, and writer, was born 2 July 1921 at 4 St Brendan's Terrace, Galway city, one of three children of Thomas Woods, draper, and Bridget Woods (née Hogan). He was educated by the Christian Brothers in Galway and for a time…...
Worcester, Philip of
Worsley, Benjamin
Worsley, Benjamin (1617/18–1677), administrator, was born and educated in London, the eldest son of Francis Worsley of Kenton, Warwickshire, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Shipman Hopkins of Coventry. By 1640 he was in Ireland serving in the household of…...
Woulfe, Peter
Woulfe, Peter (1727?–1803), chemist, mineralogist, and inventor of ‘Woulfe's bottle’, was born in Co. Limerick. After being schooled in Limerick by the Rev. Robert Cashin, he went to Paris to study under Guillaume-Francois Rouelle, on the advice of…...
Woulfe, Stephen
Woulfe, Stephen (1787–1840), judge, MP, and first catholic baron of the Irish exchequer, was born at Chaude Fontaine, near Liège (then in the Holy Roman Empire, later in Belgium), second son of Stephen Woulfe, landowner, of Tiermaclane, Ennis, Co. Clare, and his wife Honora,…...
Woulfe, Tom
Woulfe, Tom (1915–2015), Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) administrator and civil servant, was born 20 September 1915 on the family farm at Faha, Beale, near Ballybunion, Co. Kerry, one of three sons and three daughters of James Woulfe, farmer, and his wife Mary (née Stack.) He…...
Wright, Charles Henry Hamilton
Wright, Charles Henry Hamilton (1836–1909), Hebraist and theologian, was born 9 March 1836 in Dublin, second son among ten children of Edward Thomas Wright, Doctor of Laws (LLD), barrister, of Floraville, Donnybrook, Dublin, and his wife Charlotte (née Wright) of Beech Hill, Donnybrook…...
Wright, James Lendrew
Wright, James Lendrew (1816–93), USA labour leader, was born 6 April 1816 to a protestant family in Co. Tyrone, of whom nothing else is known except that the family emigrated first to St John, in the British colony of New Brunswick, and thence to the US, settling in Philadelphia in…...
Wright, Thomas
Wright, Thomas (1760?–1812), army surgeon, medical writer, and United Irishman, was the second son in the family of eight sons and five daughters of Thomas Wright (1728–86) and his wife Eleanor (1736–1809), youngest daughter of Dr Thomas Bell (1683–1768), an army surgeon of Athlone and…...
Wright, William
Wright, William (1918–85), professor of civil engineering, was born 3 December 1918 in Stewarton, Ayrshire (Strathclyde), Scotland, son of James Wright, presbyterian minister; his mother's name is not known. He received his early education at Inverness Royal Academy and George…...
Wright, William (‘Billy’)
Wright, William (‘Billy’) (1960–97), loyalist paramilitary, was born in July 1960 in Wolverhampton in the west midlands of England, son of David Wright and his wife, both originally from Portadown, Co. Armagh. The Wrights had moved to England because of harassment after David…...
Wrixon, Sir Henry John
Wrixon, Sir Henry John (1839–1913), lawyer and politician, was born 18 October 1839 in Cork, son of Arthur Nicholas Wrixon, later county court judge in Victoria, Australia, and his wife Charlotte Matilda, daughter of Capt. William Bace, who fought under the duke of…...
Wyche, Sir Cyril
Wyche, Sir Cyril (c.1632–1707), chief secretary, lord justice, and forfeited estates trustee, was born in Constantinople, where his father, Sir Peter Wyche (d. 1643), was English ambassador. His mother, Jane Wyche, was a daughter of Sir William Meredith of Stansley in…...
Wylde, Thomas
Wylde, Thomas (1780?–1813), cotton manufacturer and United Irishman, was born in England, one of the three sons and four daughters of Henry Wylde, owner of a cotton factory in the industrial village of Prosperous, Co. Kildare. Henry had settled in Ireland in the 1780s to avoid…...
Wylie, Samuel Brown
Wylie, Samuel Brown (1773–1852), presbyterian minister, and oriental and classical scholar, was born 21 May 1773 at Moylarg, Co. Antrim, son of Adam Wylie, a prosperous farmer, and Margaret Wylie (née Brown). Educated locally, he entered the University of Glasgow, where he…...
Wyndham, George
Wyndham, George (1863–1913), politician and writer, was born 29 August 1863 in London, second child and eldest son of Percy Scawen Wyndham (1835–1911), landowner and conservative MP, and his wife Madeline Caroline Frances Eden (née Campbell; d. 1920). Background and early career…...
Wyndham, Thomas
Wyndham, Thomas (1681–1745), lord chancellor of Ireland, was born 27 December 1681, fourth and youngest son of John Wyndham of Norrington, Wiltshire, England, twice MP for Salisbury, and his wife Alice, daughter of Thomas Fownes of Dorset. He was also grandson of a notable English…...
Wynne, Owen
Wynne, Owen (1665–1737), soldier and politician, was third son of Col. Owen Wynne of Lurganboy, Co. Leitrim, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Sir John Hamilton, 2nd Baron Strabane and earl of Abercorn. Wynne entered TCD on 10 May…...
Wyse, Andrew Reginald Nicholas Gerald Bonaparte
Wyse, Andrew Reginald Nicholas Gerald Bonaparte (1870–1940), civil servant and educationist, was born 1 November 1870 in Limerick, second of the four sons of William Charles Wyse, poet, and Ellen Linzee (d. 1925), daughter of W. G. Prout of St. Mabyn, Cornwall. William Charles…...
Wyse, (Jeremiah) Pearse
Wyse, (Jeremiah) Pearse (1923–2009), politician and community activist, was born 2 March 1923 at 69 Barrack Street, Cork city, son of John Wyse (or Wise), pawnbroker's clerk, and his wife Julia (née Cronin), a native of Macroom. His father's death, when Wyse was 'confirmation age' (…...
Wyse, Sir Thomas
Wyse, Sir Thomas (1791–1862), traveller, politician, educational reformer, and diplomat, was born 24 December 1791 in Waterford, the first child in the family of three sons and three daughters of Thomas Wyse (d. 1835) and his wife Frances Maria, only daughter and heiress of George…...