Nelson, Brian
Nelson, Brian (1947–2003), loyalist paramilitary and undercover agent, was born 30 September 1947 in Belfast, one of six children of Adam Nelson, shipyard worker, and his wife Maisie. His parents lived on Crosby Street in the Shankill Road area of west Belfast. The family had catholic…...
Niven, Ninian
Niven, Ninian (1799–1879), horticulturist and landscape gardener, was born at Kelvin Grove near Glasgow. His father, also Ninian Niven, of Pennicuik, was a gardener at Keir House near Stirling and had made two expeditions to the Cape of Good Hope, collecting plants for George…...
O'Connor, Robert
O'Connor, Robert (1916–97), agricultural economist and public servant, was born 17 April 1916 in Frenchpark, Co. Roscommon. Having attended the local national school, he studied agricultural science at Mountbellew, at Albert College in Dublin, and finally in…...
O'Connor, Thomas
O'Connor, Thomas (1817–87), ‘cattle king of Refugio county, Texas’, was baptised and probably born in February 1817 in Kilmuckridge, Co. Wexford, second son of Thomas O'Connor, tenant farmer at Kilmuckridge, and Margaret O'Connor (née Power). As a younger son, he had no prospect of…...
O'Ferrall, Roderic Charles Francis (‘Roddy’) More
O'Ferrall, Roderic Charles Francis (‘Roddy’) More (1903–90), horse breeder, trainer, and arboriculturist, was born in Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin, on 25 July 1903, eldest among three sons and a daughter of Dominic More O'Ferrall of Kildangan, Co. Kildare, landowner and…...
O'Keeffe, Paddy
O’Keeffe, Paddy (1923–2013), editor, businessman and farmer, was born on 6 May 1923 at Duntaheen, near Fermoy, Co. Cork, the eldest child of two sons and a daughter of John O’Keeffe, farmer of Duntaheen, and his wife Margaret (née Ahearne). After attending CBS Fermoy, he…...
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…...
Orpen, Edward Richards Richards-
Orpen, Edward Richards Richards- (1884–1967), agriculturalist, conservationist and senator, was born Edward Richards Orpen on 20 October 1884 in London, the son of Goddard Henry Orpen (qv) and his wife…...
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'…...
Outlaw, William
This is a co-subject for the entry on Kyteler (Kettle, Keyetler), Dame Alice. View the original entry....
Parnell, John Howard
Parnell, John Howard (1843–1923), farmer and MP, was born at Avondale, Co. Wicklow, third but eldest surviving son among five sons and seven daughters of John Henry Parnell and Delia Tudor Parnell (née Stewart). He was the older brother of…...
Payne, Davy (Hugh David)
Payne, Davy (Hugh David) (1948?–2003), loyalist paramilitary, was born in Belfast, where he was brought up in the Woodvale area of the Shankill Road. He was involved in loyalist activism from his teens (although he later falsely claimed to have been radicalised by IRA bombings in the…...
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, Sir Horace Curzon
Plunkett, Sir Horace Curzon (1854–1932), cooperative pioneer, was born 24 December 1854 in the home of his maternal grandparents at Sherborne, Gloucestershire, England, third son and sixth child of the 16th Baron Dunsany. The Plunketts, originally Danish, but increasingly part of the…...
Prior, James Michael Leathes ('Jim')
Prior, James Michael Leathes (‘Jim’) (1927–2016), British Conservative politician, secretary of state for Northern Ireland and businessman, was born in Norwich on 11 October 1927, youngest of four children (two sons and two daughters) of Charles Prior, solicitor, and his wife Aileen (…...
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 (…...
Quinn, Edward
Quinn, Edward (1920–97), photographer, was born 20 February 1920 in Dublin, younger of two sons of Edward Quinn, Guinness brewery worker, and Norah Quinn (née MacShane). The family lived in Dollymount, Dublin, where Edward was educated locally. On leaving school he fell into various…...
Rawdon, Sir Arthur
Rawdon, Sir Arthur (1662–95), 2nd baronet, soldier, and horticulturalist, was born 17 October 1662, the third and only surviving son of Sir George Rawdon (qv), 1st baronet, and his second wife, Dorothy, eldest daughter of the 2nd…...
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…...
Rice, Thomas Spring
This is a co-subject for the entry on Rice, Thomas Spring. View the original entry....
Richardson, William
Richardson, William (1740–1820), cleric, geologist, agriculturist, and pamphleteer, was probably born at Castleroe, near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, the only son of Charles Richardson (d. 1743) and his wife Sarah, daughter of Hercules Heyland of Coleraine. He was educated at…...
Robinson, William
Robinson, William (1838–1935), horticulturist and author, was born 15 July 1838 in Co. Down to a family of agricultural labourers. He worked as a garden boy on the estate of Sir Hunt Johnson-Walshe in Ballykilcaven, Co. Laois, before taking the position of under-gardener at the…...
Robson, Christopher (‘Chris’)
Robson, Christopher (‘Chris’) (1941–2013), architect and activist, was born on 29 January 1941 in Dublin, one of three children (two boys and a girl) of Harry Stanley Robson (1909–2003), an English architect working at the Office of Public Works (OPW), and his Irish wife Anne (née…...
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…...
Roddy, Martin
Roddy, Martin (1883–1948), politician, publisher, and farmer, was born 9 December 1883 at Breeogue, Kilmacowen, Co. Sligo, eldest son among at least four sons and two daughters of Patrick Roddy, farmer, and Jane Roddy (née O'Hara). The family were long established and prominent in…...