Adams, Michael
Adams, Michael (1937–2009), publisher and catholic activist, was born in Dublin on 22 June 1937, eldest of three children (two boys and a girl) of Francis Adams, cattle dealer, victualler and JP for Co. Fermanagh, and his wife Mary or Maud (née Atteridge), a protestant and daughter…...
Aiken, Francis Thomas (‘Frank’)
Aiken, Francis Thomas (‘Frank’) (1898–1983), farmer, revolutionary, and politician, was born 13 February 1898 in Carrickbracken, Camlough, Co. Armagh, seventh child and youngest son of James Aiken, farmer and builder from Co. Tyrone, and Mary Aiken (née McGeeney), of Corromannon,…...
Algar, Joseph
Algar, Joseph (1890–1958), chemist, was born 15 April 1890 at 22 Arnott St, Dublin, eldest of eight children of Herbert Okell Algar, originally from Warwickshire, and Celia Algar (née Kelly) from Dublin. His father, who converted to catholicism on his marriage, was a master tailor…...
Atkins, Henry St John
Atkins, Henry St John (1896–1987), president of UCC, was born in Cork on 19 March 1896, son of Patrick Atkins and Agnes Atkins (née Egan); he was educated at North Monastery school in Cork, and graduated…...
Aylmer, Sir Gerald
Aylmer, Sir Gerald (d. 1634), 1st baronet, landowner, was third son of Richard Aylmer of Lyons, Co. Kildare, and his wife Elinor, daughter of George Fleming. By 1582 he had travelled to London in pursuit of property claims, carrying commendations of his conduct during the recent…...
Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel
Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel (c.1571–95), countess of Tyrone , was born in Newry, sixth daughter and youngest among eleven children of Sir Nicholas Bagenal (qv), marshal of the army in Ireland, and Eleanor Griffith…...
Ball, John
Ball, John (1818–89), scientist, politician, and mountain traveller, was born 20 August 1818 in Dublin, eldest son among four children of Nicholas Ball (qv), politician and judge, and Jane Ball (neé Sherlock) of Butlerstown, Co.…...
Barnewall, Sir Nicholas
Barnewall, Sir Nicholas (1592–1663), 1st Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland , politician, was son of Sir Patrick Barnewall, of Turvey, Gracedieu, and Fieldstown, Co. Dublin, and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bagenal…...
Barry, David Fitz-James de
Barry, David Fitz-James de (1550–1617), 3rd Viscount Buttevant , was second son of James Fitz-Richard Barry Roe, lord of Ibawne, 2nd Viscount, and his wife Ellen (Eileen), daughter of Cormac MacCarthy Reagh. On the outbreak of the second Desmond rebellion (1579), he initially…...
Barry, Vincent Christopher
Barry, Vincent Christopher (1908–75), chemist, was born at Cork on 17 May 1908, the youngest in the family of seven sons and four daughters of a post office official, James Barry, and his wife, Agnes (née Stack), daughter of a small businessman. After a schooling by the Christian…...
Battersby, William Joseph
Battersby, William Joseph (1794/5–1873), catholic bookseller and writer, is first mentioned in 1825, in Wilson's Dublin Directory, as a printer at 33 Winetavern Street, Dublin. He was to flourish in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, a period of rapidly growing catholic…...
Beirne, Bryan Patrick
Beirne, Bryan Patrick (1918–98), entomologist and pest control expert, was born 22 January 1918 in Ballygeary, Co. Wexford, the elder son of Patrick Beirne, tax inspector with UK Customs and Excise and later the Irish Revenue Commissioners, and his wife Mabel, daughter of…...
Bellew, Christopher Dillon
Bellew, Christopher Dillon (1763–1826), catholic gentleman and activist, was the eldest son of Michael Bellew of Mount Bellew, Co. Galway, and his wife Jane, daughter of Henry Dillon. Born into a wealthy catholic family, one of the few that had prospered during the penal era, he…...
Bellew, Sir John
Bellew, Sir John (d. 1693), 1st Baron Bellew of Duleek , Jacobite colonel, was son of Sir Christopher Bellew of Bellewstown and his wife Frances, daughter of Matthew Plunkett, Lord Louth. His father was made governor of Louth (30 October 1641) with the object of suppressing…...
Bellew, Sir Patrick
Bellew, Sir Patrick (1726?–95), 5th baronet and catholic activist, was second son among five children (four sons and a daughter) of Sir Edward Bellew (d. 1741), 3rd baronet (1734–41), of Barmeath Castle, Dunleer, Co. Louth, and Eleanor Bellew (née Moore) of Drogheda. After the…...
Belrieu, Jacques de
Belrieu, Jacques de (c.1630–1719), Seigneur de St Laurans, Baron de Virazel , huguenot colonist, was born at Bordeaux, France, and married (1651) Marie de Gaumont, with whom he had at least three children: Daniel, Charles, and Marie Ann. Virazel became a lawyer and…...
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…...
Bernal, John Desmond
Bernal, John Desmond (1901–71), scientist, was born 10 May 1901 at Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, eldest of three sons and two daughters of Samuel George Bernal, farmer, of Brookwatson, Nenagh, and his wife Elizabeth Miller, daughter of a Presbyterian minister in San José, California.…...
Birmingham, John
Birmingham, John (1816–84), astronomer, polymath, and landowner, was born at Millbrook, near Tuam, Co. Galway in May 1816, the only son of Edward Birmingham (d. 1833, the youngest son of John (Sean Rua) Birmingham of Dalgin, a landowner with interests in the West Indies) and his wife,…...
Bladen, William
Bladen, William (c.1585–1663), printer and bookseller, was born in England, son of Thomas Bladen, yeoman of Derbyshire; nothing is known of his mother. In 1602 he became an apprentice in the London Stationers’ company, being freed on 7 May 1610. Thereafter he worked in…...
Blake, Sir Thomas
Blake, Sir Thomas (d. 1642), 2nd baronet, landowner, and mayor of Galway, was the elder son, of the two sons and three daughters, of Sir Valentine Blake (qv) of Galway and his first wife, Margaret, daughter of Robuck French of…...
Blowick, Joseph
Blowick, Joseph (1903–70), farmer and politician, was born in Belcarra, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, on 13 March 1903, one of the four sons and two daughters of John Blowick, farmer, and his wife, Honoria (née Madden), originally of Donamona, Belcarra. Educated at the local national…...
Bourke (Burke), Miles (Meiler)
Bourke (Burke), Miles (Meiler) (c.1585–1649), 2nd Viscount Bourke of Mayo , nobleman, was the eldest son, of the four sons and three daughters, of Theobald, 1st Viscount Bourke of Mayo (…...
Bourke, Patrick Martin Austin
Bourke, Patrick Martin Austin (1913–95), meteorologist and historian, was born 10 May 1913 in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, second son of Patrick M. Bourke, stationmaster, and Clare Bourke (née O'Sullivan). He was educated at Mount Sion CBS…...
Bourke, Theobald
Bourke, Theobald (c.1615?–1653), 3rd Viscount Mayo , soldier and politician, was son and heir of Miles Bourke (qv), 2nd Viscount Mayo, and Honora, daughter of Sir John Bourke of Derrymaclaghtny, Co. Galway.…...