Warden, Joseph Frederick
Warden, Joseph Frederick (1836–98), actor and theatre manager, was born 12 December 1836 in Hull, Yorkshire. His first stage appearance was in the role of Lemuel in John Baldwin Buckstone's ‘The flowers of the forest’ at Scarborough Theatre. Eighteen months later he joined Charles…...
Ward, James
Ward, James (1851–1924), artist and educator, was born 17 November 1851 at Gavins Buildings, Shankill Road, Belfast, eldest son of James Ward, house painter. He was educated at local schools and received private art lessons before attending the Government School of Art, Belfast. He…...
Ward, Mary
Ward, Mary (1827–69), artist, naturalist, and astronomer, was born 27 April 1827 in Ballylin, near Ferbane, King's Co. (Offaly), youngest among three daughters and one son of the Rev. Henry King (1799–1857) of Ballylin, and Harriette King (née Lloyd), of Gloster, King's Co. Her…...
Warren, Nathaniel
Warren, Nathaniel (c.1737–1796), merchant, MP, and first commissioner of police, was born in Dublin. His parentage is unclear, but a number of Warrens were engaged as merchants and glaziers in the city prior to his birth. Alternatively, he may be the son of Oliver Warren…...
Wasson, Moore Dunlop
Wasson, Moore Dunlop (1918–2009), presbyterian minister and television producer, was born 2 December 1918, the first-born child of Robert Wasson and Emmeline Wasson (née Bell). His father was at that time a soldier, his mother was a milliner before her marriage, and the family lived…...
Watson, James
Watson, James (c.1740–1790), mezzotint engraver, was born in Dublin but there are few details of his family or early life; his older brother was William Watson (d. 1765), painter of portraits and historical subjects. Educated at the Dublin Society schools, James trained as…...
Wejchert, Alexandra
Wejchert, Alexandra (1921–95), sculptor, was born 16 October 1921 in Cracow, Poland, daughter of Tedeusz Wejchert, who ran a shipping business in Gdansk. In 1939 she went to study architecture in Warsaw University and there experienced the German invasion of Poland, which haunted…...
Weld, Isaac
Weld, Isaac (1774–1856), writer and vice-president of the RDS, was born 15 March 1774 in Dublin, eldest son of Isaac Weld (d. 1824), official in the Irish customs, and his first wife, Elizabeth (née Kerr). Isaac Weld senior was a noted bon viveur who was given his lucrative position…...
West, Francis Robert
West, Francis Robert (c.1749–1809), artist, was born in Dublin, eldest son of Robert West (qv), artist and founder of a school of drawing which from 1746 was subsidised by the Dublin Society. After Robert West's death (October 1770…...
West, Harry (Henry William)
West, Harry (Henry William) (1917–2004), farmer and politician, was born in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, on 27 March 1917, eldest child and only son (he had five sisters) of William West, farmer and former secretary of Fermanagh County Council, and his wife Harriet (née Spence). West's…...
Weston, Nicholas
Weston, Nicholas (d. 1617), merchant, was the son of John Weston, a merchant of Drogheda, and his wife Hamonella, daughter of Nicholas Merchant, also a Drogheda merchant. In 1577 Nicholas was admitted a citizen of Dublin and lived on the High Street. He rose rapidly up the city's…...
West, Robert
West, Robert (d. 1770), painter, draughtsman, and art teacher, was born in Waterford city, the son of an alderman. Little is known about his early years, except that he studied in Paris (c.1735) under François Boucher and Carle Vanloo, and supposedly earned the first…...
West, Robert
West, Robert (d. 1790), stuccodore and Dublin property developer, was probably born in Dublin between c.1720 and 1730. His family background and early life is unknown but it is possible that he was descended from a long line of Dublin-based builders and artisans such as…...
West, Robert Lucius
West, Robert Lucius (c.1774–1850), painter, was born in Dublin, son of Francis Robert West (qv), painter and master of the Dublin Society figure school, and his second wife, Ellen (née Walsh). His grandfather,…...
Wheatley, Francis
Wheatley, Francis (1747–1801), artist, was born in Wild Court, Covent Garden, London, son of a master tailor; no other details of his parents are known. He studied under the artist Daniel Fournier (c.1700–c.1766) and in William Shipley's drawing school, where he…...
Whelan, Michael
Whelan, Michael (1932–2007), businessman, was born on 1 May 1932 in Beaumont nursing home, Co. Galway, the eldest son of Michael Whelan of Bridge Street, Athenry, Co. Galway, and his wife Mary (née Hynes). His father was a wealthy footwear merchant, and Whelan boarded in Castleknock…...
Whelan, (Michael) Leo
Whelan, (Michael) Leo (1892–1956), portrait and genre painter, was born 17 January 1892 at 20 St George's Villas, Fairview, Co. Dublin, one of two sons and three daughters of Maurice Whelan, a draper, of Co. Kerry ancestry, and Mary Whelan (née Cruise), from Co. Roscommon. The…...
Whitehead, O. Z. (Oothout Zabriskie; 'Zebby')
Whitehead, O. Z. (Oothout Zabriskie; 'Zebby') (1911–98), actor and Bahá'í pioneer, was born 18 March 1911 in New York city, USA, the son of O. Z. Whitehead, a wealthy banker living in Manhattan's Upper East Side, and his wife Maria. Enjoying a comfortable childhood, he attended the…...
White, Henrietta Margaret
White, Henrietta Margaret (1856–1936), principal of Alexandra College, Dublin, horticulturist, and social activist, was eldest child among three daughters and one son of Henry Charles White (1818–1903), of Charleville, Queen's Co. (Laois), JP…...
White, Luke
White, Luke (c.1740–1824), bookseller, millionaire, and politician, was born about 1740 and possibly originated in Cork city, as both his wives were from there and his brother, Thomas White, was listed as a Cork bookseller. A protestant, he may have been of huguenot…...
White, (Patrick) James
White, (Patrick) James (1913–2003), arts administrator, art critic and art historian, was born 16 September 1913 in Holles St. maternity hospital, Dublin, son of Thomas John White, a bank clerk, of Grove Cottage, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, and (Mary) Florence White (née Coffey). His…...
White, Richard Newport ('Dick')
White, Richard Newport ('Dick') (1924–2010), pilot and airline executive, was born on 21 May 1924 in Peter Street, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, the second child and eldest son of Richard White, a bank manager of Peter Street and later of Bayly Farm, Ballinaclough, near Nenagh, and his wife…...
Whitty, Sophia St John
Whitty, Sophia St John (1877–1924), woodcarver, teacher, and cooperativist, was born 4 November 1877 at 69 Upper Leeson St., Dublin, daughter of Richard Lawrence Whitty, gentleman, of that address, and his wife Jane Alicia, second daughter of Hugh Palliser Hickman (1805–83),…...
Wigham, John Richardson
Wigham, John Richardson (1829–1906), lighthouse engineer and businessman, was born 15 January 1829 at 5 South Gray St., Edinburgh, youngest son among four sons and three daughters of John Wigham, shawl manufacturer and quaker, and Jane Wigham (née Richardson). Their mother's death…...
Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie
Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie (to which he, like his father and brother, later added ‘Wills ’) (1854–1900), playwright, poet, and prose writer, was born 16 October 1854 in his parents’ house, 21 Westland Row, Dublin, second son of Dr…...