Bernard (Barnard), Nicholas
Bernard (Barnard), Nicholas (d. 1661), Church of Ireland clergyman and writer, was born in England about the start of the seventeenth century. He entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge in May 1617, graduating BA (1621) and…...
Bielenberg, Christabel Mary Harmsworth
Bielenberg, Christabel Mary Harmsworth (1909–2003), writer, was born on 18 June 1909 at the Old House, Totteridge, Hertfordshire, England, the second of four children (two boys and two girls) of Percy Collingwood Burton (1879–1953) of Totteridge, a British army officer and advertising…...
Black, Sir Harold
Black, Sir Harold (1914–81), public servant, was born 9 April 1914 at 10 Burmah St., Belfast, elder son of Alexander Black (1879–1946), employee in a local linen business, and Emily Adelaide Black (née Cordner; 1883–1949). His father later became a company director. He was…...
Blackwood, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-
Blackwood, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple- (1826–1902), 1st marquess of Dufferin and Ava , diplomat and writer, was born in Florence on 21 June 1826, the only child of Price Blackwood, 4th Baron Dufferin and Clandeboye (in the Irish peerage), and his wife,…...
Bonnell, James
Bonnell, James (1653–99), government official and exemplar of the pious life, was born 14 November 1653 in Genoa, Italy, only son and one of two children of Samuel Bonnell, merchant, and his wife Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Sayer of Norwich, England. Samuel's grandfather had…...
Booth, Eva Selina Gore-
Booth, Eva Selina Gore- (1870–1926), poet, mystic, trade unionist and suffragist, was born on 22 May 1870 at Lissadell, Co. Sligo, the second of three daughters (and two sons) of Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th baronet and Arctic explorer, and his wife, Georgina (née Hill) of Tickhill castle…...
Bouhéreau, Élie (Elias)
Bouhéreau, Élie (Elias) (1643–1719), huguenot bibliophile, librarian, cleric, diarist, and administrator, was born 5 May 1643 at La Rochelle, France, son of Élie Bouhéreau, pastor of Fontenay, and Blandine Bouhéreau (née Richard). The family was of the upper middle class. He was…...
Bourchier, James David
Bourchier, James David (1850–1920), journalist and Balkan intermediary, was born 18 December 1850 at Baggotstown, Bruff, Co. Limerick, fourth son among six children of John Bourchier, landowner and JP of Baggotstown, and Sarah Bourchier (…...
Boyd, Henry
Boyd, Henry (1749?–1832), clergyman, poet, and translator, was born in Co. Tyrone, son of Charles Boyd, farmer; nothing is known of his mother. Educated by Mr Davison, he entered TCD as a sizar (June 1770), gained a scholarship (1773),…...
Brabazon, Sir William
Brabazon, Sir William (d. 1552), vice-treasurer and lord justice of Ireland, was the son of John Brabazon, a landowner of Eastwell in Leicestershire, and his wife, whose maiden name was Chaworth. By 1526 he had entered the royal service as a land surveyor and accountant, gaining…...
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…...
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…...
Brittaine, George
Brittaine, George (1788–1848), protestant evangelical preacher and novelist, was born in 1788 in Dublin, the son of Rev Patrick Brittain (1762–1804), curate of St James's parish from 1789 to 1804. (The spelling Brittaine was adopted by George). He entered…...
Brontë, Patrick
Brontë, Patrick (1777–1861), Church of England clergyman and writer, was born 17 March 1777, in Emdale, Drumballyroney, Co. Down, the eldest of the ten children of Hugh Prunty , or Brunty, a protestant farm labourer, and Eleanor or Alice (née McClory), born a catholic. He is known…...
Brooke, Henry
Brooke, Henry (1703–83), literary and political writer, was born in Ratavan, near Virginia, Co. Cavan, son of the Rev. William B. Brooke, wealthy rector of Killinkere and Mullagh, and Letrice Digby. His mother, possibly the second daughter of Dr…...
Brooke, Stopford Augustus
Brooke, Stopford Augustus (1832–1916), clergyman and author, was born 14 November 1832 at ‘Glendoen’, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, eldest of eight children of the Rev. Richard Sinclair Brooke, the local curate, and Anna Brooke (née Stopford). When his maternal grandfather and…...
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…...
Brownell, Reginald Samuel
Brownell, Reginald Samuel (1893–1961), civil servant, was born 5 February 1893, son of Thomas and Susanna Brownell; from about 1906, he lived with his mother and at least one brother in Glasnevin, Dublin, attending Mountjoy School. He was a scholar in…...
Bryskett, Lodowick
Bryskett, Lodowick (1546?–1612?), writer and official, was born possibly in Hackney, Middlesex, third son of Antonio Bruschetto of Genoa (a London merchant since the 1520s) and his wife Elizabeth, also Italian. Educated at Tonbridge and Trinity College, Cambridge, he entered the…...
Bullock, Shan Fadh (John William)
Bullock, Shan Fadh (John William) (1865–1935), author, was born 17 May 1865 at Inisherk, Co. Fermanagh, eldest son among eleven children of Thomas Bullock (1840–1917), estate steward and farmer, and his wife Mary Wheery. Thomas Bullock worked on the Crom Castle demesne of John Crichton…...
Burgh, Thomas
Burgh, Thomas (1744–1810), MP and administrator, was born in May 1744, second son among eight children of Thomas Burgh (1696–1758) of Bert, Co. Kildare, landowner and MP for Lanesborough, Co. Longford (1727–58), and his wife Anne, daughter of Dive Downes, bishop of Cork and Ross (…...
Burk, John Daly
Burk, John Daly (1772?–1808), author and radical, was possibly the son of James Burk, a protestant schoolmaster from Co. Cork, who may have been related to Edmund Burke (qv) (Augusta Chronicle, 11 Nov. 1809). In 1790 John was…...
Caldwell, Henry
Caldwell, Henry (1738–1810), soldier and administrator, was born at Castle Caldwell, near Belleek, Co. Fermanagh, fourth son among six sons and two daughters of Sir John Caldwell, landowner, and his wife Ann, daughter of Dean John Trench of Raphoe, Co. Donegal. He was educated locally…...
Cane, (Lucy) Mary
Cane, (Lucy) Mary (c.1866–1926), public servant, was born probably at Cahirmoyle, Co. Limerick, third child of Edward William O'Brien of Cahirmoyle and Mary Spring O'Brien, sister of the 2nd Baron Monteagle. William Smith O'…...
Canning, George
Canning, George (1730?–71), writer, was eldest of three sons of Stratford Canning, who had an estate at Garvagh, Co. Londonderry, and his wife Letitia Newburgh. It is said that his father was ferociously strict; he disapproved of a youthful love affair in which George was involved…...