Alexander, James
Alexander, James (d. 1815?), historian of the battle of New Ross and miscellaneous writer, was a native of Harristown, near Monastereven, Co. Kildare. Nothing has been ascertained of his family other than that he had a brother, Wentworth, and that he was a cousin-german of Sir…...
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’)
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’) (1861–1937), Fenian, journalist and civil servant, was born 15 June 1861 in Dublin, the third son of William Gartley Allan (d. 1881?), a clerk in the accounts department of the Board of Public Works (until 1873), and his wife Ellen Batty (née Quince…...
Arthur, William
Arthur, William (1819–1901), methodist minister and author, was born 3 February 1819, probably in Kells, Co. Antrim, son of James Arthur and Margaret Arthur (née Kennedy), and spent his childhood in Westport, Co. Mayo. Though brought up an episcopalian, he attended (1837–9)…...
Aston, William George
Aston, William George (1841–1911), Japanese scholar and diplomat, was born 9 April 1841, near Derry, the son of George Robert Aston, a Unitarian minister. In the early 1850s the family moved to Saintfield, Co. Down, where his father established a school in which Aston himself taught…...
Codling, Arthur Dean (‘Art’)
Codling, Arthur Dean (‘Art’) (1876–1950), civil servant, was born 30 November 1876 at Lytham, Lancashire, England, eldest son and second among four children of William Eggitt Codling, Wesleyan Methodist minister, and Isabella Codling (née Dean). He was educated at Mr Leathley's…...
Cole, Richard Lee
Cole, Richard Lee (1878–1963), methodist minister and historian, was born 24 January 1878 in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, second of five sons of the Rev. Richard Cole (1847–1925), methodist minister and editor of the Irish Christian Advocate, and Margaret Anne Cole (née Lee). He…...
Crookshank, Charles Henry
Crookshank, Charles Henry (1836–1915), methodist minister and historian, was born 29 January 1836 at Cayaga, Upper Canada, younger son of Alexander Crookshank – a prominent solicitor and son of the judge Alexander Crookshank (qv…...
Crook, William
Crook, William (1823–97), methodist minister and historian, was born 1 November 1823, at Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford, the eldest son of the Rev. William Crook (1784–1862) of Cosbystown, Co. Fermanagh, a prominent methodist minister, and Jane Crook (née Vipond) of Cork. Educated at…...
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’)
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’) (1829–99), nun and author, was born 6 May 1829 at Coolock, Co. Dublin, the elder of two children of Dr Samuel Cusack and his wife, Sarah (née Stoney). Early life and conversion to catholicism She was educated privately, learning informally…...
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt)
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt) (1874–1949), engineer and Irish-language enthusiast, was born Ernest Edwin Joynt, 11 November 1874, at the family residence in Knox St., Ballina, Co. Mayo, only son among four children of Richard Watson Joynt, editor of the Ballina Herald…...
Gordon, John Fawcett
Gordon, John Fawcett (1878–1965), politician and public servant, was born in Belfast, son of working-class parents, William James Gordon and Margaret Gordon (née Fawcett). At an early age, due to the death of his father, he spent part of his childhood in the USA with relatives and…...
Hadden, George
Hadden, George (1882–1973), medical doctor and historian, was born 9 October 1882 at Richmond Terrace, Wexford town, son of George Hadden, draper and alderman, and Hannah Mary Hadden (née Perrot). The Haddens, a methodist family, were established in Wexford town during the nineteenth…...
Hutton, Mary Ann
Hutton, Mary Ann (1862–1953), Irish-language scholar and writer, was born in 1862 in Manchester, England, the eldest child of James Drummond (qv) and his wife Frances (née Classon), who later had two sons and five more daughters. Secondary…...
Ireland, John Evan de Courcy
Ireland, John Evan de Courcy (1911–2006), socialist, activist, teacher, and maritime historian, was born 19 October 1911 in Lucknow, India, only child of De Courcy Ireland (1873–1915), a British army major of Irish ancestry, and his English-born wife Gabrielle (née Byron). …...
Lawrence, William John
Lawrence, William John (1862–1940), drama critic, was born 29 October 1862 in Belfast, son of Joseph Lawrence, railway station manager; nothing is known of his mother. He was educated at the dowager countess of Annesley's private school at Newcastle, Co. Down, and at Methodist…...
Malley, James Young (‘Jim’)
Malley, James Young (‘Jim’) (1918–2000), civil servant and airman, was born 24 July 1918 near Aughnacloy, Co. Tyrone, one of four sons and one daughter of Francis William Malley, a local farmer and merchant, and his wife Ruby Elizabeth (née Young). The family was methodist. He…...
McGregor, John James
McGregor, John James (c.1773–1834), historian and topographer, was born 24 February c.1773 in Limerick city, the seventh son and youngest of seventeen children (many of whom did not survive to adulthood) of John McGregor (d. 1796), native of Scotland, probably by…...
Midgley, Henry Cassidy (‘Harry’)
Midgley, Henry Cassidy (‘Harry’) (1892–1957), trade unionist and politician, was born 8 September 1892 at 59 Seaview St., Belfast, third child and eldest son among two daughters and three sons of Alexander Midgley (1860–99), shipyard labourer, originally of Lurgan, Co. Armagh,…...
Moore, Henry
Moore, Henry (1751–1844), methodist minister and biographer, was born 21 December 1751 in Drumcondra, Dublin, second child and only son among five children of Richard Moore, a wealthy Church of Ireland farmer, who died young in 1763. A marriage in 1746 between a Richard Moore and…...
Ó Glaisne, Risteárd
Ó Glaisne, Risteárd (1927–2003), teacher, ecumenist and journalist, was born 2 September 1927 in Bandon, Co. Cork, the third of four children of George William Giles and his wife Sara Jane (née Vickery). He attended Bandon Grammar School and Trinity College Dublin (TCD), graduating…...
Ó hUid, Tarlach
Ó hUid, Tarlach (1917–90), Irish-language writer and journalist, was born Augustus Walter Hood on 13 January 1917 in south Deptford, London, one of three sons and two daughters of munitions worker and later carpenter, Augustus Walter Hood, and his wife, Ada Brockwell. He changed his…...
Patterson, Sarah (‘Saidie’)
Patterson, Sarah (‘Saidie’) (1904–85), trade unionist and peace activist, was born 25 November 1904 at 32 Woodvale St., Shankill Road, Belfast, eldest of three children of William Patterson (d. 1912), shipyard blacksmith, and Sarah Patterson (née Moore), both of whom were devout…...
Redpath, James
Redpath, James (1833–91), journalist, abolitionist and Land Leaguer, was born 24 August 1833 in Berwick-on-Tweed on the Anglo–Scottish border , eldest of nine children (two sons and two daughters survived to adulthood) of Ninian Davidson Redpath, schoolmaster, and his wife Maria (née…...
Wilson, Thomas
Wilson, Thomas (1916–2001), economist, was born on 23 June 1916 on the family farm at Ballylagan, Ballynure, Co. Antrim, the only child of John Bright Wilson (d. 1948), and his wife Margaret (née Ellison). His father, while keeping the farm, established a grocery and animal feed…...