Brenan, John
Brenan, John (1768–1830), physician and satirist, was born March 1768, eldest of six children of a minor landed catholic family from Ballaghide, Co. Carlow. The details of his early life are unknown. In 1793 he wrote epigrams and short verse for Dublin magazines. Claiming to have…...
Brenan, Joseph
Brenan, Joseph (1828–57), Young Ireland revolutionary, poet, and journalist, was born 17 November 1828 in Cork city; nothing is known of his parents. He spent some of his early childhood in Skibbereen and was educated at St Vincent's seminary, Cork. He joined the Cork Historical…...
Brennan, Austin Joseph
Brennan, Austin Joseph (1894–1983), revolutionary and soldier, was born 8 April 1894 at Meelick Cross, Co. Clare, near Limerick city, second son of Patrick Brennan and Mary Brennan (née Clancy), farmers. After his education at the local national school he worked on the family farm.…...
Brennan, Denis Gerard
Brennan, Denis Gerard (1927–83), actor and broadcaster, was born 20 June 1927 in Sandyford, Co. Dublin, into a theatrical family, youngest of three children of Patrick Joseph Brennan, farmer, and Eva Jane Brennan (née Hayden), songwriter, broadcaster, and producer of variety…...
Brennan, Joseph
Brennan, Joseph (1887–1976), civil servant and banker, was born 18 November 1887 at Hill Terrace, Bandon, Co. Cork, eldest son among seven children of Joseph Brennan (d. 1948), businessman, and his wife Mary (née Hickey). He was educated at the local national school, Clongowes…...
Brennan, Martin
Brennan, Martin (1900–56), revolutionary, doctor, politician, and film censor, was born 9 August 1900 in the family home at Rhue, Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo, sixth of thirteen children of Matthew Brennan (d. 1921), farmer and Fenian, and his wife Bridget (d. 1934), teacher, daughter of…...
Brennan, Michael
Brennan, Michael (1896–1986), revolutionary and army chief of staff, was born 2 February 1896 in Meelick, Co. Clare, third son of Patrick Brennan, farmer, and Mary Brennan (née Clancy). Educated at St Munchin's College, Limerick, aged 15 he joined Fianna Éireann and was sworn into…...
Brennan, Robert
Brennan, Robert (1881–1964), republican, journalist, writer, and diplomat, was born in Co. Wexford on 22 July 1881, second child and eldest son among four children of Robert Brennan (d. 1919), cattle dealer, and Bridget Brennan (née Kearney; d. 1938), dressmaker. He was educated…...
Brennan, William
Brennan, William (d. 1840), highwayman, was born at Raspberry Hill, Co. Waterford. In the late 1830s he was working at Kilmurry House, Co. Cork, the property of a Mr Grant. Caught while attempting to steal a watch, he became an outlaw, raised a gang, and based himself in the…...
Brenon, Edward St John (Brennan, Edward John)
Brenon, Edward St John (Brennan, Edward John) (1842/3–1916), journalist and poet, was born Edward John Brennan in Dublin, son of William Brennan, master of St Mathias's Church of Ireland school; his mother was mistress of St Mathias's girls’ school. William Brennan also acted as tutor…...
Brereton, Sir William
Brereton, Sir William (1789–1864), British army general and inspector-general of the Irish Constabulary, was son of Maj. William Brereton, of Dublin and Bath, officer in the 6th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and later master of ceremonies at the Assembly Rooms in Bath, and his second…...
Brereton, William
Brereton, William (c.1485–1541), soldier and lord justice of Ireland, was of a gentry family from Chester. He was knighted at Tournai, Flanders (1513), and seems to have spent much of his career in Cheshire and to have had no connection with Ireland before being sent there…...
Bretherton, Cyril Herbert Emmanuel
Bretherton, Cyril Herbert Emmanuel (1879–1939), journalist, was born 2 June 1879 at Little Crosby, near Liverpool, only son of Charles Edward Bretherton, barrister, of Heath House, Blackheath, south-east London. He was educated at St Augustine's, Ramsgate, and Harbourne, Ashford,…...
Brett, (Sir) Charles Edward Bainbridge
Brett, (Sir) Charles Edward Bainbridge (1928–2005), solicitor, architectural historian and public figure in Northern Ireland, was born 30 October 1928 in Holywood, Co. Down, eldest of three children, two boys and a girl, of Charles Anthony Brett, a Belfast solicitor, and his wife…...
Brian Bórama (Bóruma, Boru)
Brian Bórama (Bóruma, Boru) (d. 1014), high-king of Ireland, was born towards the middle of the tenth century. The surviving sources record the event under the year 941, but may have done so retrospectively in recognition of the fame he acquired relatively quickly in death. His epithet…...
Bridgwater, John (Savan) of (John de Ponte)
Bridgwater, John (Savan) of (John de Ponte) (c.1248–1306/7), administrator, lawyer, and justice, was born no later than 1248 and perhaps several years before that (he was acting as an attorney by 1269 and therefore probably 21 or older in that year); his birthplace was…...
Brodie, Malcolm
Brodie, Malcolm (1926–2013), sports journalist, was born on 27 September 1926 in Dumbarton Road, Partick West, Glasgow, the elder of two sons of John Brodie, shipyard worker, and his wife Sarah (née Walker). Raised in a Dumbarton Road tenement, he followed the Glasgow Rangers football…...
Brodrick, Sir St John
Brodrick, Sir St John (1627–1711), soldier and politician, was born 3 December 1627, fourth son of Sir Thomas Brodrick of Wandsworth, Surrey, England, lieutenant-governor of the Tower of London, and his wife Katharine Nicholas, of Manningford Bruce, Wiltshire. The family had prior…...
Brooke, Robert
Brooke, Robert (1744–1811), soldier and industrialist, was second son of Robert Brooke, artist, of Rantavana, Co. Cavan, and Honor Brooks of Kinawley, Co. Fermanagh. Entering the Bengal establishment of the East India Company as an ensign in 1764, he was promoted to the rank of…...
Brooke, Sir Basil
Brooke, Sir Basil (d. 1633), soldier and planter, was possibly a son of Oliver Brooke of Warwick, who was of a Cheshire family. Basil Brooke, born in the reign of Elizabeth, went to Ireland as an army captain and served under Sir…...
Brooke, William Graham
Brooke, William Graham (1834–1907), public servant, influential Church of Ireland layman, and promoter of education, was born 16 July 1834 in Wyton, Huntington, England, the second son of Rev. Richard Sinclair Brooke, curate of Glendoen, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal (and from…...
Brouncker, Sir Henry
Brouncker, Sir Henry (c.1550–1607), soldier and administrator, was second son of Henry Brouncker of Melksham and Erlestoke, Wiltshire, and his second wife Ursula (née Yate) of Lyford, Berkshire. Educated at the Middle Temple (1566), he held three parliamentary seats in…...
Browne, Anthony
Browne, Anthony (1940–60), soldier, was born 28 May 1940in Dublin, son of John Browne. In December 1957 he joined the army and served as a trooper with the 2nd Motor Squadron. He signed for a further term of enlistment in 1960, on the condition that he was given a posting to the…...
Browne, Daniel J. (‘Dan’)
Browne, Daniel J. (‘Dan’) (1895–1959), lawyer and civil servant, was born 21 May 1895, the youngest of the fourteen children of Daniel Browne, shopkeeper and butcher, and Ellen (née Walsh), of the Corner House, Church Street, Listowel, Co. Kerry. After a distinguished career as a…...
Browne, George
Browne, George (1660?–1729), soldier, count and baron of the Holy Roman Empire, and uncle of Field-marshal Maximilian Ulysses von Browne (1705–57), was second eldest of the eight sons of John Browne of Camus, Co. Limerick, and his wife Mary Roe of Hacketstown, Co. Waterford. With…...