Brewster, Abraham
Brewster, Abraham (1796–1874), lord chancellor of Ireland 1867–8, was born 10 April 1796 in Ballymutra House, west Co. Wicklow, son of William Bagenal Brewster and his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Bates of Askinvillar, Co. Wexford. After boarding at Kilkenny College, he…...
Bric, John
Bric, John (1793–1826), lawyer and repealer, was born 21 June 1793, third son of Lawrence Bric of Tralee, Co. Kerry (the name Ó Bric/Ó Bruic is long established in Munster) and his wife Mary Breen. He was admitted to the King's Inns, Dublin (1816), and the Middle Temple, London (…...
Bridgwater, John (Savan) of (John de Ponte)
Bridgwater, John (Savan) of (John de Ponte) (c.1248–1306/7), administrator, lawyer, and justice, was born no later than 1248 and perhaps several years before that (he was acting as an attorney by 1269 and therefore probably 21 or older in that year); his birthplace was…...
Brodrick, Alan
Brodrick, Alan (c.1655–1728), 1st Viscount Midleton , lord chancellor of Ireland, was the second son of St John Brodrick, a beneficiary of the Cromwellian land settlement who originated from Wandsworth in Surrey and established himself at Ballyannan, near Midleton in Co.…...
Browne, Arthur
Browne, Arthur (1756?–1805), lawyer, legal and classical scholar, and MP, was born probably in Newport, Rhode Island, North America, the only son of Marmaduke Browne (1731–71), rector of Trinity church, Newport, and later a founding fellow of Rhode Island College (from 1804 Brown…...
Browne, Daniel J. (‘Dan’)
Browne, Daniel J. (‘Dan’) (1895–1959), lawyer and civil servant, was born 21 May 1895, the youngest of the fourteen children of Daniel Browne, shopkeeper and butcher, and Ellen (née Walsh), of the Corner House, Church Street, Listowel, Co. Kerry. After a distinguished career as a…...
Browne, Geoffrey
Browne, Geoffrey (d. 1668), lawyer and politician, was the eldest son, of the four sons and five daughters, of Sir Dominick Browne, merchant, and mayor of Galway in 1634, and his wife, Anastasia, daughter of James Darcy, mayor of Galway in 1603, and sister of…...
Browne, John
Browne, John (1638–1712?), lawyer and entrepeneur, of Kinturk and Westport, Co. Mayo, was the second son of Major John Browne (d. 1670) of the Neale, near Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, and his wife Mary. His mother was a daughter of Sir …...
Browne, Kathleen Anne
Browne, Kathleen Anne (1878–1943), agriculturist, writer, and politician, was born 1 October 1878 in Wexford, eldest among five children of Michael Browne, farmer, shopkeeper, and local politician, of Rathronan Castle, Bridgetown, Co. Wexford, and his wife (and cousin) Mary…...
Brown, James (‘Jimmy’)
Brown, James (‘Jimmy’) (1956–92), republican socialist and drug-dealer, was born in Broadway Road off the Falls Road, west Belfast, son of Jimmy Brown, brewery worker, and his wife Eileen, part-time domestic help. He joined the Official IRA…...
Brown, Samuel Lombard (‘Sam’)
Brown, Samuel Lombard (‘Sam’) (1856–1939), barrister and politician, was born 10 January 1856, the eldest son of Samuel Brown LLD, of Trim, Co. Meath, and his wife Isabella (née Coote). The family later moved to 2 Sydenham Terrace, Dundrum, Co.…...
Brush, Edward James Augustus Howard (‘Peter’)
Brush, Edward James Augustus Howard (‘Peter’) (1901–84), army officer, farmer, and loyalist, was born 5 March 1901 at Fermoy, Co. Cork, only child of Major George Howard Brush of Co. Down (who later fought on the Somme as a colonel in the Inniskilling Fusiliers) and his wife May…...
Bryan, Patrick
Bryan, Patrick (d. 1663), lawyer and politician, was third son of James FitzJohn Bryan of Whiteswall and Eleanor, daughter of Piers Butler of Callan, Co. Kilkenny. Patrick qualified as a barrister, having studied in Gray's Inns in the late 1630s, and married a daughter of James…...
Bryce, James
Bryce, James (1838–1922), 1st Viscount Bryce , politician, historian, jurist, and chief secretary for Ireland (1905–7), was born 10 May 1838 in a small terraced house in Arthur St., Belfast, eldest of two sons and two daughters of James Bryce…...
Budd, Frederic Gardner Orford
Budd, Frederic Gardner Orford (1904–76), barrister and judge, was born 11 April 1904 in Ennis, Co. Clare, second son of Samuel Duguid Budd, later chief officer of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, and Fanny Beatrice, the daughter of Dr Orford of Leicestershire. Samuel Budd had five…...
Burgh, Walter Hussey
Burgh, Walter Hussey (1742–83), politician and lawyer, was born 23 August 1742, the only son of Ignatius Hussey (d. 1743), barrister, of Donore, Co. Kildare, and his second wife, Elizabeth (1705–57), daughter of Thomas Burgh (1670–1730) of Oldtown, Co. Kildare, surveyor general of…...
Burke, James Michael
Burke, James Michael (1873–1936), barrister, newspaper editor, and politician, was born 4 November 1873 at 31 Bridge St., Skibbereen, Co. Cork, seventh among twelve children (seven sons and three daughters survived to adulthood) of Patrick Burke, grocer and farmer, and Mary Burke (née…...
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, 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…...
Burke, Ulick Ralph
Burke, Ulick Ralph (1845–95), lawyer and Hispanicist, was born in Dublin on 21 October 1845, the elder son of Charles Granby Burke (1814–98) of Milltown, Co. Dublin, master of the court of common pleas, and his wife, Emma Jane, daughter of Ralph Creyke of Marton, Yorkshire. His…...
Burke, William
Burke, William (1793?–1829), murderer, was born probably at Urney, near Strabane, Co. Tyrone, son of Neil Burke, labourer. Born into a catholic, Irish-speaking family, he received some education and was servant to a presbyterian minister for a time. When he tired of this he tried the…...
Burnell, Henry
Burnell, Henry (d. 1614), lawyer, was the son of John Burnell of Castleknock, Co. Dublin; the family also owned land at Balgriffin, Co. Dublin, and had strong connections with the city of Dublin, principally through Sir Robert Burnell, who was mayor on several occasions in the…...
Burrowes, Peter
Burrowes, Peter (1753?–1841), barrister and politician, was born at Portarlington, Queen's Co., the first son of Thomas Burrowes, whose family was long established there. He entered TCD (1772), graduated …...
Bushe, Charles Kendal
Bushe, Charles Kendal (1767–1843), lawyer, judge, MP, and political writer, was born 13 January 1767 at Kilmurry, near Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, the only son of the Rev. Thomas Bushe of Kilmurry, rector of Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, and Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, and Catherine Bushe (née…...
Butler, Edward
Butler, Edward (1824?–1879), editor, barrister, and politician, was born in Co. Kilkenny, son of Michael Butler, farmer, and Mary Butler (née Joyce). First educated at Kilkenny College, he received third-level instruction at the lay college, Maynooth, in the late 1830s. By 1847 he…...