Pinkerton, John
Pinkerton, John (1845–1908), tenant farmer, magistrate, and MP, was the son of John Pinkerton of Seacon, near Ballymoney, north Antrim, and his wife Nancy (née Pinkerton). John Pinkerton senior was a unitarian tenant farmer and linen merchant who died young after falling from his…...
Plunkett, Sir Francis Richard
Plunkett, Sir Francis Richard (1835–1907), diplomat, was born 3 February 1835 at Corbalton Hall, Co. Meath, sixth son of Arthur James Plunkett, 9th earl of Fingall, KP, and his wife Louise Emilia (d. April 1866), only daughter…...
Power, Richard (Dick) (de Paor, Risteard)
Power, Richard (Dick) (de Paor, Risteard) (1928–70), civil servant and writer, was born 24 February 1928 in a private nursing home at 17 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, the eldest of five sons of Patrick Joseph Power, a bank official, originally of Kilrossanty, Co. Waterford, and…...
Quigley, Paul
Quigley, Paul (1923–2003), semi-state company executive, was born 4 February 1923 at 40 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, the youngest of four sons of James Quigley (see below), and his wife Linda (née Hynes). He grew up in the family residence at Leinster Road, Rathmines, attending the…...
Redington, Sir Thomas Nicholas
Redington, Sir Thomas Nicholas (1815–62), landlord, MP, and under-secretary for Ireland, was born 2 October 1815 at Kilcornan, Oranmore, Co. Galway, the only son of Capt. Christopher Redington (1780–1825), a catholic landowner, and his wife Frances, daughter of Henry Dowell of…...
Reynolds, Charles
Reynolds, Charles (c.1496–1535), Fitzgerald envoy to the pope, was most likely born into the Mac Raghnaill ecclesiastical dynasty based around the Augustinian priory at Mohill and the cathedral chapter at Ardagh. He was the son of a Maurus Mac Raghnaill, and someone of that…...
Rinuccini, GianBattista
Rinuccini, GianBattista (1592–1653), archbishop of Fermo and papal nuncio to the confederate catholics of Ireland, was born 15 September (NS) 1592 in Rome, son of Camillo Rinuccini, a Florentine patrician, and his wife Virginia Bandini, sister of the important Cardinal Ottavio…...
Robinson, Paschal
Robinson, Paschal (1870–1948), journalist, medieval historian, diplomat and papal nuncio to Ireland, was born 26 April 1870 in 49 Percy Place, Dublin, and christened Charles Edward Neville, second of three sons of Nugent Robinson, treasurer of Dublin corporation, and Jannet Robinson (…...
Roche, Stephen Anselm
Roche, Stephen Anselm (1890–1949), civil servant, was born in Caherciveen, Co. Kerry. His father was an excise officer in the British civil service who was posted on the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and as a result Roche spent much of his childhood there. He…...
Ronan, Sean Gerard
Ronan, Sean Gerard (1924–2000), civil servant and diplomat, was born 11 January 1924 in Cork city, the eldest of the three children, two boys and a girl, of John Ronan of Ballintemple, Cork, and his wife, Mary, née Hogan, of Portumna, Co. Galway. He was educated locally and then…...
Rushe, Denis Carolan
Rushe, Denis Carolan (1852–1928), historian, antiquary and public servant, was born in Monaghan town, where his father worked as a doctor in the county infirmary. Both his parents came from the south of the county; other details of them are unknown. He attended St Louis convent, St…...
Ryan, Sir Andrew
Ryan, Sir Andrew (1876–1949), consular official and diplomat, was born 5 November 1876 in Cork, son of Edward Ryan, soap and candle manufacturer of Douglas, Cork. He was educated at the Christian Brothers College, Cork; QCC, receiving his…...
Rynne, Michael Andrew Lysaght
Rynne, Michael Andrew Lysaght (1899–1981), civil servant and diplomat, was born 12 September 1899 in Hampshire, England, the first son of wealthy Irish parents Dr Michael Rynne and Mary Rynne (née O'Mara). The family moved to Limerick in 1907 on the death of his father. His siblings…...
Sadleir, John
Sadleir, John (1813–56), banker, politician, speculator, and swindler, was born 17 November 1813 at Shronell House in the parish of Shronell near Tipperary town, fifth of seven children born to Clement William Sadleir, a protestant farmer and middleman, whose earliest known…...
Scarampi, PierFrancesco
Scarampi, PierFrancesco (1596–1656), papal representative to the confederate catholics of Ireland, and provost of the Roman Oratory, was probably born on family lands near Montferrat on the Piedmont–Genovese border in northern Italy. His parents (of whom no other details are known…...
Shea, Patrick
Shea, Patrick (1908–86), civil servant and author, was born 27 April 1908 at Delvin, Co. Westmeath, second son of Patrick Shea, RIC district inspector, and Mary Catherine Shea (née McLaughlin). Shea's childhood was spent in Athlone,…...
Sheehy, Edmund
Sheehy, Edmund (1733–66), farmer executed for murder, of Lodge (parish of Ardfinnan, Co. Tipperary), was the son of Ellin Fitzpatrick. He was otherwise known as ‘Buck’ Sheehy, a term indicative of semi-gentleman status, as he had an income of £300 or £400 a year, and was a person…...
Sheil, Justin
This is a co-subject for the entry on Sheil, Richard Lalor. View the original entry....
Sheridan, Thomas
Sheridan, Thomas (1646–1712), writer, royal official, and Jacobite, was born in St John's, near Trim, Co. Meath, fourth son of Denis Sheridan (qv), a Church of Ireland clergyman from Co. Cavan, and an Englishwoman named Foster. In the rebellion of 1641…...
Smith, Bernard
Smith, Bernard (1812–92), catholic priest and papal official, was born 12 September 1812 in the townland of Behey or Beaghey in the parish of Lavey, Co. Cavan, son of Bernard Smith and his wife, Rose. Intent on a career in the catholic church, he entered the Irish college at Rome…...
Smyth, Brendan
Smyth, Brendan (1927–97), catholic priest and paedophile, was born John Gerard Smyth in Nansen Street, off the Falls Road, west Belfast, on 6 June 1927. He was educated at Barracks Street CBS, Belfast. In 1945 he joined the Norbertine…...
Stanihurst, Richard
Stanihurst, Richard (1547–1618), scholar and diplomat, was born in Dublin, eldest among three sons and two daughters of James Stanihurst (qv) (or Stanyhurst), lawyer and politician, and Anne Stanihurst (née Fitzsimon), both of the…...
Staunton, Sir George Leonard
Staunton, Sir George Leonard (1737–1801), physician and colonial official, was born 19 April 1737 in Cargin, Co. Galway, son of Col. George Staunton and his wife Margaret (d. 1784), daughter of John Leonard of Carra, Co. Galway. He was sent abroad for his education and attended…...
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’)
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’) (1740/50–1807), executioner, is thought to have been born in Co. Kerry into a tenant farming family between 1740 and 1750. The location of her birth and names of her parents are not known, and available details of her life are largely anecdotal or…...
Sweetman, Michael John
Sweetman, Michael John (1935–72), director of the Irish Council for the European Movement, was born 27 June 1935 in Dublin, elder son among two sons and four daughters of Patrick Sweetman, solicitor and county registrar, of Johnsbrook, Fordstown, Navan, Co. Meath, and his wife Mary (‘…...