Burke, Augustus Nicholas
Burke, Augustus Nicholas (c.1838–1891), painter, was born at Waterslade, Knocknagur, Co. Galway, the sixth son of William Burke, a catholic gentleman and landowner, and Fanny Xaveria Burke (née Tucker) of Brook Lodge, Sussex. Educated at a private catholic school in…...
Burke, Joan
Burke, Joan (1929–2016), nurse, politician and farmer, was named Hanna Teresa at her birth on 8 February 1928, at Roughgrove House, Bandon, Co. Cork, the last of four children, and the only daughter, of Denis Crowley and Bridgid (‘Cissie’) (née Russell). The family farmed at Roughgrove…...
Burke, Martin
Burke, Martin (1787/8–1863), hotelier, was a son of Michael Burke of Springfield House, Co. Tipperary, and his wife Honora (née Hogan); in 1832, on the death of his brother Michael, an attorney, Martin inherited Springfield and lands. In 1824 Burke purchased for £3,000 a 150-year…...
Burke, Thomas
Burke, Thomas (1876–1951), politician, farmer, and bonesetter, was born in Dunsallagh, Milltown Malbay, Co. Clare, son of Thomas Burke, farmer, and his wife Mary (née Burke). From age 16 he developed a wide reputation throughout Co. Clare and beyond for his putative skills as a…...
Burkhead, Henry
Burkhead, Henry (fl. 1645), possibly a merchant of Bristol, wrote the drama ‘A tragedy of Cola's furie, or Lirenda's miserie’ (the first Irish play to condemn English conduct), printed 1646 in Kilkenny, headquarters of the catholic confederacy. Dedicated to…...
Burton, Benjamin
Burton, Benjamin (a.1665–1728), banker and politician, was third son of Samuel Burton of Buncraggy, Co. Clare, and Margery Burton (née Harris). He was attainted by the Jacobites in 1689, was appointed sheriff of Dublin 19 October 1694, and in 1700 founded ‘Burton's bank’ in…...
Burton, Sir Frederic William
Burton, Sir Frederic William (1816–1900), watercolour painter, was born 8 April 1816 at Clifden House, Corofin, Co. Clare, the third son of Samuel Frederic Burton, a wealthy landowner and amateur landscape painter, and Hannah Burton (née Mallet) of Dublin. An injury in childhood…...
Bushe, Letitia
Bushe, Letitia (c.1710–1757), watercolourist and miniature painter, was the youngest daughter of Arthur Bushe of Dangan, Co. Kilkenny, secretary to the commissioners of revenue, and his wife Mary, daughter of John Forth. She was a talented artist; there is no direct…...
Butler, Eleanor Grace
Butler, Eleanor Grace (1914–97), countess of Wicklow, senator, social campaigner, and architect, was born 7 September 1914 at 89 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, one of five children of the architect Rudolf Maximilian Butler (qv), a…...
Butler, Mildred Anne
Butler, Mildred Anne (1858–1941), animal and genre painter, was born 11 January 1858 in Kilmurry, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, the youngest daughter of Captain Henry Butler and Clara Butler (née Taylor) of the Newarke, Leicester. Her father, the grandson of the 11th Viscount…...
Butler, Rudolph Maximilian
Butler, Rudolph Maximilian (1872–1943), architect, professor, and editor, was born 30 September 1872 in Dublin, only son of John Butler (d. 1882), barrister, and Augusta Butler (née Brassart), a German from Schleswig-Holstein. He was educated in Dublin and (after the death of his…...
Butler (Thompson), Elizabeth
Butler (Thompson), Elizabeth (1846–1933), Lady Butler , military painter, was born 3 November 1846 at the Villa Claremont, near Lausanne, Switzerland, the elder daughter of Thomas James Thompson and Christiana Thompson (née Weller). The Thompsons were cosmopolitan in outlook,…...
Butler, William Deane
Butler, William Deane (c.1794–1857), architect, was apprenticed to Samuel Beazley and studied under Henry Aaron Baker (qv) at the Dublin Society's school of architectural drawing, where he won a prize (1811). The Kildare…...
Butt, Mahmood (‘Mike’)
Butt, Mahmood (‘Mike’) (1927–88), restaurateur, was born 7 May 1927 in Nairobi, Kenya, into an Islamic Indian family of one daughter and five sons of Ahmed Butt, railway engineer, and Zakia Butt. He was educated at a catholic school in Nairobi. After running a fleet of hire cars…...
Byers, David
Byers, David (1953–2008), architect and civil servant, was born in January 1953 in Newry, Co. Down, the only son among three children of John Byers and his wife Phyllis. The family had links with Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan, where Byers spent much of his childhood and youth. He was…...
Byrne, Christopher Michael (‘Christy’, ‘C. M.’)
Byrne, Christopher Michael (‘Christy’, ‘C. M.’) (1886?–1958), politician, farmer, and auctioneer, was born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, the only child of Walter Byrne of 13 Temple Road, Blackrock, and Ballykillavane, Glenealy, Co. Wicklow. Educated (1895–8) at Blackrock College, he…...
Byrne, Edward
Byrne, Edward (1739/40–1804), merchant and chairman of the Catholic Committee, was a son of John Byrne of Saggart, Co. Dublin, whose father, Garret Byrne (d. 1752), was a farmer there and, according to a descendant, ‘lived in the castle of Saggart and owned the estate belonging…...
Byrne, John
Byrne, John (1919–2013), property developer and ballroom impresario, was born on 5 March 1919 in Upper Tullig, Kilflynn, near Tralee, Co. Kerry, the third child of seven sons and seven daughters of Michael Byrne, a farmer, and his wife Bridget (née Flaherty). After attending CBS…...
Byrne, Michael
Byrne, Michael (1923–89), painter and printmaker, was born 30 September 1923 in Dublin, one of ten children of Michael Byrne, baker, and Mary Byrne (née Sloane). He worked at first with a photographer, then as a dental technician, before studying at the National College of Art (and…...
Byrne, Patrick
Byrne, Patrick (c.1782–1864), architect, was possibly the son of John Byrne, architect; his mother's name is not known. He entered the Dublin Society's schools in 1796, studied under Henry Aaron Baker (qv), and won premiums…...
Byrne, Ralph Henry
Byrne, Ralph Henry (1877–1946), architect, was born 25 April 1877 in Dublin, third among five sons and one daughter of William Henry Byrne (1844–1917), architect, and May Anna Gertrude Byrne (née Dillon). W. H. Byrne worked in partnership with John O'Neill of Belfast from about 1869…...
Byrne, Thomas Joseph
Byrne, Thomas Joseph (1876–1939), architect, was born 15 November 1876 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, son of Richard Byrne (d. c.1876), who served with the Royal Irish Fusiliers, and Harriet Byrne (née Knight). He was articled (1892) to Edward Carter,…...
Cahill, Hugh
Cahill, Hugh (1883–1966), commercial aviation pioneer, was born in Dublin on 23 June 1883, the first of three sons of Matthew Cahill, a publican of Lower Rutland Street, Dublin, and his wife Martha (née Shaw), who had previously been widowed and had a daughter from her first…...
Cahill, Pearse
Cahill, Pearse (1917–2011), aviator, businessman and race driver, was born Matthew Pearse Cahill (in honour of the executed leader of the 1916 rising) in Dublin on 26 January 1917, son of Hugh Cahill (1883–1966), of Glasnevin, Dublin, and his wife Caroline (née O'Connor). The owner-…...
Cairnes, Sir Alexander
Cairnes, Sir Alexander (1665–1732), banker, MP for Monaghan, and keeper of the Phoenix Park, was son of John Cairnes of Parsonstown or Cehill, Co. Tyrone, MP for Augher 1639–40, and his wife Jane, daughter of James Miller, MD, of Lanarkshire,…...