Beatty, Alfred Chester
Beatty, Alfred Chester (1875–1968), mining engineer, art collector, and philanthropist, was born in New York on 7 February 1875, third son of John Cuming Beatty and his wife Hetty, daughter of William Gedney Bull. His paternal grandparents were born in Co. Armagh and Queen's Co. (…...
Beaty, James
Beaty, James (1798–1892), politician and newspaper proprietor in Canada, was born near Killeshandra, Co. Cavan, in 1798, possibly on 2 September. He was the youngest of five sons of Robert Beaty, land surveyor, and Catherine Beaty (née Crawford); his father was of a fairly…...
Beechey, Richard Brydges
Beechey, Richard Brydges (1808–95), artist, naval officer, and marine surveyor, was born 17 May 1808 in London, the youngest son of the noted portrait painter Sir William Beechey RA (1753–1839) and his second wife, Ann Phyllis…...
Behan, Beatrice
Behan, Beatrice (1925–93), artist and memoirist, was born 31 December 1925 at Mount St., Dublin, eldest daughter of the artist Cecil ffrench Salkeld (qv), ARHA, and Irma Salkeld (née Taesler…...
Behan, Dominic
Behan, Dominic (1928–89), writer, balladeer, and broadcaster, was born 22 October 1928 in Dublin, fourth child of five children of Stephen Behan, house painter, and Kathleen Behan (qv) (née Kearney). Educated at St Agatha's School, North…...
Beit, Sir Alfred Lane
Beit, Sir Alfred Lane (1903–94), art collector and patron, was born 19 January 1903 in London, younger son of Sir Otto Beit (1865–1930), industrialist of German birth, and his wife Lillian (d. 1946), daughter of T. L. Carter of New Orleans. Otto Beit inherited in 1906 the…...
Bell, John
Bell, John (c.1793–1861), antiquary, collector, and landscape painter, was the second son of John Bell, gentleman landowner, of Camelon, near Falkirk, Scotland. It is unclear when he settled in Ireland, but he was contributing articles to local newspapers in Newry, Co. Down…...
Bell, (John) Bowyer
Bell, (John) Bowyer (1931–2003), writer on the IRA and artist, was born 15 November 1931 in New York City, but grew up in Alabama after his parents moved there. He majored in history at undergraduate level at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia; at the same time he…...
Bennett, Thomas William Westropp
Bennett, Thomas William Westropp (1867–1962), farmer and politician, was born on 30 January 1867, the eldest son (and second of five children) of Captain Thomas Westropp Bennett, of Ballymurphy, Patrickswell, Co. Limerick, and Anne Bennett (née Fitzgerald), of Loughgur, Bruff, Co…...
Beranger, Gabriel
Beranger, Gabriel (d. 1817), artist, was born c.1729 in Amsterdam of French huguenot origin. His parents and education are unknown, but he apparently came to Ireland in 1750 and stayed there until his death. He kept a print shop and artist's warehouse at 5 South George's St…...
Bergin, Liam Diarmuid
Bergin, Liam Diarmuid (1913–94), newspaper proprietor and editor, was born 15 August 1913 at Athy Road, Carlow town, son of Patrick C. Bergin, publican and merchant, and Kathleen Bergin (née Conlan). Educated at Newbridge College boarding school, he joined the Nationalist and…...
Bergin, Stanley Francis
Bergin, Stanley Francis (1925–69), cricketer and journalist, was born 19 November 1925 at 8 St John's Road, Sandymount, Dublin, as Stanislaus Mary Bergin, youngest of seven sons of Bernard Christopher Bergin, assistant director GPO, and…...
Bielenberg, Peter
This is a co-subject for the entry on Bielenberg, Christabel Mary Harmsworth. View the original entry....
Biggs, Michael
Biggs, Michael (1928–93), sculptor and letter-cutter, was born 26 August 1928 in Stockport, Cheshire, England, of English parents, second son of Claud Biggs, musician and teacher at the RIAM, Dublin, and Marjorie Biggs (née Markham). He…...
Binchy, Maeve
Binchy, Maeve (1939–2012), novelist and journalist, was born Ann Maeve Binchy on 28 May 1939 in Glenageary, Co. Dublin, the daughter of Maureen Binchy (née Blackmore) of Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, a nurse, and William Francis Binchy of Charleville, Co. Cork, a barrister. Her father…...
Bindon, Francis
Bindon, Francis (c.1690–1765), portraitist and architect, was fourth son among nine children of David Bindon (c.1650–1733) of Clooney, Co. Clare, landowner and MP for Ennis 1715–27, and Dorothy, daughter of Samuel Burton of Buncraggy, Co. Clare. He studied painting…...
Bingley, William
Bingley, William (fl. 1763–99), journalist and editor, appears to have been born in England; very little is known about his early life. He began his career as a radical journalist, taking over the North Briton when John Wilkes was forced to withdraw from…...
Binns, John
Binns, John (1772–1860), radical politician and journalist, was born 22 December 1772 in Dublin, second son of John Binns, a wealthy ironmonger, and his wife Mary, daughter of Benjamin Pemberton of Mount Olive, near Raheny, Co. Dublin. The Binnses were Moravians in religion and…...
Birch, James
Birch, James (c.1812–c.1851), journalist, was born in Londonderry; there are few other details about his personal life. He first came to prominence in 1834 when he offered the duke of Wellington (qv) his…...
Blacker, William
Blacker, William (1776–1850), land agent and agricultural writer, was born in 1776, probably in Co. Down, the third of four sons of St John Blacker, a clergyman who was then curate at Kilbroney, and his wife Grace, daughter of Maxwell Close of Elm Park, Co. Armagh. He became land…...
Blackham, Dorothy Isabel
Blackham, Dorothy Isabel (1896–1975), artist and teacher, was born 1 March 1896 in 4 Beechwood Rd, Rathmines, Dublin, daughter of Charles H. Blackham, chief cashier at Kingsbridge railway terminus, and Jane Ruthven Blackham (née Lowry) of Killyleagh, Co. Down. She was related on her…...
Blackshaw, Basil
Blackshaw, Basil (1932–2016), artist, was born on 20 July 1932 in Glengormley, Co. Antrim, the youngest of seven surviving children of Samson (Sam) Blackshaw, a groom and gamekeeper from England, and his wife Edith (née Clayton), the daughter of a gamekeeper, from Coalisland, Co.…...
Blake, Edith
Blake, Edith (1845–1926), botanical illustrator and writer, was born in Newtown Anner, near Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, eldest daughter of the heiress Catherine Isabella Osborne (1819–80) of Newtown Anner, and Ralph Bernal Osborne (qv), (…...
Blake, Richard Thomas
Blake, Richard Thomas (1868–1937), secretary of the GAA and journalist, was born 15 January 1868 at Ladyrath, Rathkenny, Navan, Co. Meath, eldest son of seven sons and one daughter of Philip Blake (d. 1906), large farmer, and Eliza Martha Blake (née Cogan). His interest in and…...
Blanchflower, Robert Dennis (‘Danny’)
Blanchflower, Robert Dennis (‘Danny’) (1925–93), soccer player, international manager, and journalist, was born 10 February 1925 at Dunraven Park, Bloomfield, Belfast, eldest among three sons and two daughters of John Blanchflower, shipyard craftsman, and Selina Blanchflower (née…...