Ó hUallacháin, Colmán
Ó hUallacháin, Colmán (1922–79), educator, linguist, Irish-language activist and priest, was born Liam Holohan on 8 December 1922 in Dublin, eldest among four sons and two daughters of Garry Holohan (Gearóid Ó hUallacháin) (1894–1967), imprisoned republican soldier, and latterly an…...
O'Leary, Con
O'Leary, Con (1915–98), pioneer of the co-operative movement, was born 18 May 1915 in Glendine, Inchigeela, west Co. Cork, son of Daniel O'Leary, farmer, and Kate O'Leary (née Barrett). He was educated at the local national school, before being forced to leave school to work on…...
Ó Lochlainn, Colm
Ó Lochlainn, Colm (1892–1972), printer, publisher and Gaelic scholar, was born William Gerard O'Loughlin at Drumcondra, Dublin, on 11 October 1892, the second of four surviving children (from six) of John O'Loughlin, publisher, and his wife Delia Bridget (née Carr), whose family were…...
Ó Maolmhuaidh, Proinsias (Francis O'Molloy)
Ó Maolmhuaidh, Proinsias (Francis O'Molloy) (d. 1677), grammarian and theologian, was probably born in the very early seventeenth century, and most likely in the part of Co. Offaly known as Fircall, or O'Molloy's Country. It is stated that he was of noble birth, being related to…...
O'Meara, John
O'Meara, John (1915–2003), academic, was born 18 February 1915 at Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, the elder of two sons of Patrick O'Meara, a small businessman from Ilaunmore on Lough Derg, and Mary O'Meara (née Donelan). The very early death of his father, at the end of 1915, and the troubled…...
Ó Riain (O'Ryan), Henry
Ó Riain (O'Ryan), Henry (fl. 1633), Dominican priest and Latin poet, probably received his classical education at Munster and pursued his philosophical and theological studies at Rome or elsewhere in Italy. Resident at Rome in 1633, he was commissioned to compose a…...
O'Sullivan, Daniel
O'Sullivan, Daniel (1758/61?–1814), middleman and magistrate, was second son of Daniel O'Sullivan and his wife Honora, daughter of Morgan O'Connell (1739–1809) of Carhen, Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry, and therefore first cousin to Daniel O'…...
Pinkerton, John
Pinkerton, John (1845–1908), tenant farmer, magistrate, and MP, was the son of John Pinkerton of Seacon, near Ballymoney, north Antrim, and his wife Nancy (née Pinkerton). John Pinkerton senior was a unitarian tenant farmer and linen merchant who died young after falling from his…...
Plunkett, Richard (Risteard Pluincéid)
Plunkett, Richard (Risteard Pluincéid) (fl. 1662), Franciscan friar and dictionary compiler, is of obscure origins. The Plunketts were one of the most prominent Old English families of the Pale, with titles such as ‘lord of Louth’, ‘Lord Dunsany’, and ‘baron of Killeen’.…...
Purcell, Seamus
Purcell, Seamus (1923–2003), businessman , was born James Purcell in the family home in Cumberland Street (later Emmet Street), Birr, Co. Offaly, on 3 January 1923, the third of eight sons and two daughters of Patrick Purcell (d. 1961), cattle and sheep dealer, and his wife Florence (…...
Rea, Joe
Rea, Joe (1938–2007), farm leader, was born 2 May 1938 in Cahir, Co. Tipperary, eldest of two sons and a daughter of Michael Rea, farmer of Farmlee House, Ballyea, near Cahir, and his wife Catherine (‘Kathleen’, née O’Keeffe), originally from Co. Wexford. A voracious reader from early…...
Roche, Laurence
Roche, Laurence (1927–99), forester, was born 20 October 1927 in Wexford town, second son and second child among five sons and four daughters of William Roche, shopkeeper, of 9 Monument Place, Wexford, and Bridget Roche (née Banville), from a well known literary family. Having…...
Rynne, Stephen
Rynne, Stephen (1901–80), farmer, writer, and broadcaster, was born in Hampshire, second son of wealthy Irish parents, Dr Michael Rynne and Mary Rynne (née O'Mara). The family moved (1907) to Limerick, where Stephen attended Sacred Heart College, the Crescent, till he went to Clongowes…...
Sall, Andrew Fitzjohn
Sall, Andrew Fitzjohn (1624–82), scholar and sometime Jesuit, was born into an Old English family in the city of Cashel, Co. Tipperary; nothing is known of his parents. More than five Jesuits bore the name Sall (Sál, Sale). With such a background it is not surprising to find the young…...
Scully, James
Scully, James (1737–1816), grazier, banker, and diarist, was born 9 November 1737, a son in the family of two daughters and seven surviving sons of Roger Scully (1713–83) of Ballysheehan and later Dualla, townlands near Cashel, Co. Tipperary (to which district the Scullys had…...
Smith, Louis Patrick Frederick
Smith, Louis Patrick Frederick (1923–2012), agricultural economist and academic, was born on 21 December 1923 in Kevit Castle in Crossdoney, Co. Cavan, the youngest of eight children of Dr Frederick Paul Smith, a farmer and ophthalmologist of Kevit Castle, and his wife Isabella (née…...
Stanihurst, Richard
Stanihurst, Richard (1547–1618), scholar and diplomat, was born in Dublin, eldest among three sons and two daughters of James Stanihurst (qv) (or Stanyhurst), lawyer and politician, and Anne Stanihurst (née Fitzsimon), both of the…...
Starkie, William Joseph Myles
Starkie, William Joseph Myles (1860–1920), classical scholar, last resident commissioner of education under British rule in Ireland, and privy councillor, was born 10 December 1860 at Elsinore Lodge, Rosses Point, Co. Sligo, the fifth son (baptised a catholic, in contrast to his older…...
Tindal (-Carill-Worsley), Nicolas Henry Joseph ('Nick')
Tindal (-Carill-Worsley), Nicolas Henry Joseph ('Nick') (1911–2006), RAF pilot and farmer, was born 7 March 1911, the only son of Ralph Tindal-Carill-Worsley (1881–1966), an officer in the Royal Navy, and his wife Kathleen (née Mangan) (d. 1961), the third daughter of Simon Mangan,…...
Tynan, Thomas
Tynan, Thomas (1871–1953), merchant, farmer, greyhound breeder, and politician, was born 17 March 1871 in Jamestown, Ballybrittas, Queen's Co. (Laois), son of Thomas Tynan, farmer, and Mary Tynan (née Connell). Educated locally, in early manhood he entered business as publican and…...
Verschoyle, Barbara
Verschoyle, Barbara (1750/53–1837), land agent and philanthropist, was born in Dublin, the sixth of eight daughters of Bryan Fagan (d. 1761), land agent for the Fitzwilliam estate in Dublin and brewer, and Elizabeth Fagan (d. 1788), both of Dublin. Bryan Fagan's brewery was on…...
Wadding, Luke
Wadding, Luke (1588–1657), Franciscan priest, scholar, and churchman, was born 16 October 1588 at Waterford and baptised on 18 October, the son of Walter Wadding, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Anastasia (née Lombard), a relative of Peter…...
Walker, John
Walker, John (1768–1833), religious leader and classical scholar, was born in January 1768 in Co. Roscommon, son of the Rev. Matthew Walker, Church of Ireland clergyman. In January 1786 he entered TCD, being made a scholar in 1788,…...
Walsh (Bhailís, Wallis, Uailis), Francis (Proinsias)
Walsh (Bhailís, Wallis, Uailis), Francis (Proinsias) (1654–1724), lexicographer and Franciscan priest, was born in the Fingal area of north Co. Dublin. Nothing is known of his family or early education. He entered the Franciscan order and was ordained (1677) in the Irish Franciscan…...
Walsh, Thomas
Walsh, Thomas (1901–56), politician and farmer, was born 8 December 1901 in Garryduff, Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, one of two sons and one daughter of James Walsh, farmer, and Catherine Walsh (née Byrne). After early education at Patrician Brothers' College, Mountrath, Queen's Co. (…...