Armstrong, George Francis Savage
This is a co-subject for the entry on Armstrong, Edmund John. View the original entry....
Armstrong, Sir Walter
Armstrong, Sir Walter (1850–1918), art historian and gallery director, was born 7 February 1850 in Roxburghshire, Scotland, eldest son of Walter Armstrong of Hawick, and educated at Harrow and Oxford (BA 1873). He taught at art schools in London…...
Arnold, Thomas
Arnold, Thomas (1823–1900), literary scholar and teacher, was born at Laleham, Middlesex, on 30 November 1823, the third child and second son of Dr Thomas Arnold (1795–1842), later famous as the headmaster of Rugby School, and his wife, Mary, née Penrose (1791–1873). Throughout his life…...
Ashe, Thomas
Ashe, Thomas (1770–1835), novelist and travel writer, was born 15 July 1770 in Glasnevin, Co. Dublin, third son among eleven children of Jonathan Ashe, soldier, and Margaret Ashe (née Hickman), heiress to estates in Co. Clare. According to his own account, he spent his early life at…...
Ashford, William
Ashford, William (1746–1824), artist, was christened on 20 May 1746 in St Martin's parish church, Birmingham, the son of Richard Ashford of Birmingham. Nothing is recorded of his early life in England but he almost certainly had some form of technical and/or artistic education. He…...
Ashton (Aston), Robert
Ashton (Aston), Robert (fl. 1725–8), poet, of whom little is known, seems to have been a shoemaker in Dublin. He published (1725) a congratulatory poem to Jonathan Swift (qv) and a Satyr on journeymen taylors; and in…...
Assicus (T'Assach)
Assicus (T'Assach) (d. c.508), an artisan – i.e. coppersmith – of supposed Gaulish origin, came to Ireland at some stage during the mission of St Patrick (qv) and was later consecrated a bishop by him.…...
Atkinson, Joseph
Atkinson, Joseph (c.1743–1818), army officer, poet, and dramatist, was born in Dublin and served in the English army, reaching the rank of captain. He wrote a comedy and two comic operas, all of which were produced in Dublin. His first play, ‘The mutual deception’,…...
Babington, Anthony Patrick
Babington, Anthony Patrick (1920–2004), judge, writer, and disability advocate, was born at 4 Mount Verdon Terrace, Cork city, on 4 April 1920, the youngest of two sons and two daughters of Oscar John Gilmore Babington (1879–1930), engineer and army officer, and his wife Annie Honor…...
Bacon, Francis
Bacon, Francis (1909–92), artist, was born 28 October 1909 at 63 Lower Baggot St., Dublin, second eldest of three sons and two daughters of Anthony Edward (‘Eddy’) Mortimer Bacon, and his wife Christina Winifred (‘Winnie’) Loxley Firth, both of England. His father, a former captain…...
Bailey, William Frederick
Bailey, William Frederick (1857–1917), lawyer, public servant and littérateur, was born 9 February 1857 at Castletown Conyers, Co. Limerick, eldest of two sons and three daughters of Dr William Bailey, retired from the Royal Navy, and his wife Annie (née Harding) from Cherry Hill,…...
Baillie, William
Baillie, William (1723–1810), printmaker and art dealer, was born 11 June 1723 at Kilbride, Co. Carlow, the second son of the upholsterer Robert Baillie of Celbridge, Co. Kildare, and his wife Susanna (née Antrobus). After his education at Dr…...
Baily, William Hellier
Baily, William Hellier (1819–88), palaeontologist and artist, was born 7 July 1819 in Bristol, England, into a family of carvers and sculptors. He was curatorial assistant of Bristol museum (1837–44); served the Geological Survey of Great Britain as draughtsman (1844), assistant…...
Bairéad, Riocard (Barrett, Dick)
Bairéad, Riocard (Barrett, Dick) (d. 1819), poet in Irish, was born between 1735 and 1740 in Barrack, Belmullet, Co. Mayo, on the Erris peninsula. He appears to have remained in the district for his entire life, moving only to Carne, a neighbouring parish, possibly c.1790. This…...
Bairéad, Tomás
Bairéad, Tomás (1893–1973), short-story writer and journalist, was born 7 July 1893 in Baile Dóite, Moycullen, Co. Galway, one of two sons and two daughters of Michael Barrett, farmer, and Mary (Mary Frank) Barrett (née McDonough), both of Moycullen, and received his only formal…...
Baker, John Wynn
Baker, John Wynn (1726/7–1775), agricultural improver, was born in New York but lived in Lancashire until about 1761, when he settled in Ireland. In 1763 he took a farm at Loughlinstown, near Celbridge, Co. Kildare. He was the author of several pamphlets, the first of which, …...
Balfour, Mary E.
Balfour, Mary E. (fl. 1789–1810), poet, was born on 24 January; one source gives the year as 1755. However, if – as seems likely – she was the eldest daughter of John Balfour (who seems to have been a doctor in Derry city before becoming a clergyman in 1789, and who…...
Banim, John
Banim, John (1798–1842), artist, novelist, playwright, and poet, was born 3 April 1798 in Kilkenny city, the eldest son of Michael Banim (perhaps originally Bannon), farmer and shopkeeper (he sold sporting goods), and Joannah or Judith Banim (née Carroll) from near the Slieve Bloom…...
Banim, Michael
This is a co-subject for the entry on Banim, John. View the original entry....
Barber (Barbor), Mary
Barber (Barbor), Mary (c.1685–1755), poet, was probably born in Ireland. The facts of her life are uncertain and little is known of her apart from references in the writings of her contemporaries. She married Rupert Barber, a woollen-draper of Werburgh St., Dublin. She…...
Barber, Rupert
Barber, Rupert (1719–72), miniaturist, was born in Dublin, where he was baptised 20 September 1719. He was the son of Rupert Barber, Dublin woollen-draper, and Mary Barber (qv), who published poetry in the 1730s, a friend and…...
Barbour, Harold Adrian Milne
Barbour, Harold Adrian Milne (1874–1938), promoter of agricultural improvement, was born in July 1874, probably at Dunmurry, Co. Antrim, the son of John Doherty Barbour (1823–1901), a linen manufacturer, and his wife, Elizabeth. He was educated in England (at Elstree, Harrow and…...
Barlow, Jane
Barlow, Jane (1856–1917), poet, novelist, and short story writer, was born 17 October 1856 in Dollymount, Dublin, the second child and eldest daughter of the Rev. James William Barlow (qv), history professor and subsequently vice-…...
Barnacle (Joyce), Nora
Barnacle (Joyce), Nora (1884–1951), was born 21/2 March 1884 in the maternity ward of Galway city workhouse (which then served as general hospital for Galway), second daughter (and child) of Thomas Barnacle, baker, and Annie Barnacle (née Healy), seamstress and dressmaker. After the…...
Barnes, Michael James
Barnes, Michael James (1932–2008), festival director, was born in Peckham, south London, England, on 31 October 1932. His parents were Robert Barnes and Winifred Barnes (née Dee), who married in 1931. In 1945 he won a scholarship to Alleyn's School in Dulwich, an independent school…...