Alexander, Cecil Frances
Alexander, Cecil Frances (1818–95), hymn-writer, known in her family as Fanny, was born in Eccles Street, Dublin, second daughter (and third among seven children) of John Humphreys and Elizabeth Frances Humphreys (née Reed). Her mother's brother was Thomas Reed (1796–1883), a general…...
Andrews, William (‘Billy’,‘Bill’) Nathaniel
Andrews, William (‘Billy’,‘Bill’) Nathaniel (Mac Andrieu, Liam) (1873–1939), musician, was born 9 January 1873 in Dublin, son of Arthur Andrews, printer, and Elizabeth Andrews (née Dunne), both protestants. He studied classical music and was instructed on the piano by his aunt (…...
Bailey, Mary (‘Lady Bailey’) (née Westenra)
Bailey, Mary (‘Lady Bailey’) (née Westenra) (1890–1960), aviator, was born on 1 December 1890 at 30 Grosvenor Square, London, to Derrick (Derry) Warner William Westenra (1853–1921), the fifth Baron Rossmore, and his wife Mittie (née Naylor) (d. 1953), the daughter of a wealthy English…...
Barton, Frederick (Derick)
Barton, Frederick (Derick) (1900–93), athlete, farmer, and political activist, was born in London on 19 June 1900, the eldest son of Bertram Hugh Barton and his wife, Lilian (née Carden). The Barton family had lived in Ireland since Elizabethan times and built Straffan House, Co.…...
Barton, Robert Childers
Barton, Robert Childers (1881–1975), agriculturist and revolutionary, was born 14 March 1881, eldest son of Charles William Barton, DL, landowner, of Glendalough House, Annamoe, Co. Wicklow, and Agnes Alexandra Frances, fourth daughter of the…...
Beckett, John Stewart
Beckett, John Stewart (1927–2007), musician, conductor and composer, was born 5 February 1927 at the Red Cottage, Kilgobbin Road, Sandyford, Co. Dublin, youngest of three children (two sons and one daughter) of Gerald Beckett, medical doctor, and Margaret ('Peggy') Robinson Beckett (…...
Beckett, Walter Keohler
Beckett, Walter Keohler (1914–96), composer, musician, and writer, was born 27 July 1914 in Dublin, youngest of four children of James Walter Beckett (qv), building contractor and TD, and…...
Bielenberg, Peter
This is a co-subject for the entry on Bielenberg, Christabel Mary Harmsworth. View the original entry....
Blackwood, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-
Blackwood, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple- (1826–1902), 1st marquess of Dufferin and Ava , diplomat and writer, was born in Florence on 21 June 1826, the only child of Price Blackwood, 4th Baron Dufferin and Clandeboye (in the Irish peerage), and his wife,…...
Booth, Eva Selina Gore-
Booth, Eva Selina Gore- (1870–1926), poet, mystic, trade unionist and suffragist, was born on 22 May 1870 at Lissadell, Co. Sligo, the second of three daughters (and two sons) of Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th baronet and Arctic explorer, and his wife, Georgina (née Hill) of Tickhill castle…...
Booth, Sir Henry William Gore-
Booth, Sir Henry William Gore- (1843–1900), 5th baronet, landlord, and Arctic explorer, was born at Lissadell House, Co. Sligo, second son among two sons and three daughters of Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th baronet, landlord, and MP for Sligo, and his second wife, Caroline Susan (née…...
Boucher, Edgar William John ('Billy')
Boucher, Edgar William John ('Billy') (1918–2003), musician and broadcaster, was born 5 December 1918 in Dublin, the son of George Alexander Boucher, a plumber, and his wife Sarah Maria (née Jones), a dressmaker; he had two older brothers and two or three older sisters. The family…...
Boyle, Ina (Selina Adelaide Philippa)
Boyle, Ina (Selina Adelaide Philippa) (1889–1967), composer, was born 8 March 1889 in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, daughter of Rev. William Foster Boyle, curate in Powerscourt parish, and his wife Philippa Augusta Jephson. Her father made violins and cellos as a hobby. She grew up at…...
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…...
Bryans, Robert Harbinson ('Robin Harbinson'; 'Robert Harbinson')
Bryans, Robert Harbinson ('Robin Harbinson'; 'Robert Harbinson') (1928–2005), memoirist and travel writer, was born on the Newtownards Road, Belfast, on 24 April 1928, third child and only son of Robert Bryans, musician and window cleaner, and his wife Georgina (née Campbell), known as…...
Bunworth, Charles
Bunworth, Charles (c.1704–1772), clergyman, patron, and harper, was born in Newmarket, Co. Cork, second of at least three sons of Richard Bunworth, farmer, and Elizabeth Bunworth (née Philpot). He was educated by a family tutor, Mr Murdock, before entering…...
Capper, Wilfrid Meredyth
Capper, Wilfrid Meredyth (1905–89), conservationist and creator of the Ulster Way, was born in Belfast on 12 July 1905, the second son of four children (two boys and two girls) of John Malcolmson Capper, a cotton yarn merchant, and Elizabeth Jane Capper (née Stewart); the family was…...
Carter, Charles Thomas
Carter, Charles Thomas (1735?–1804), musician and composer, was born in Dublin, elder son of Timothy Carter, chorister and music teacher; nothing is known of his mother. A member of the choir of Christ Church cathedral in his youth, Charles wrote two anthems for the cathedral's…...
Cavan, Harry (Henry Hartrick)
Cavan, Harry (Henry Hartrick) (1916–2000), football administrator and trade union official, was born on 19 May 1916 in Mary Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, the eldest child of Walter Cavan, a motor body maker, and his wife Clara (née Quinn). Educated locally, he left school at 14 to…...
Charley, William
Charley, William (1826–90), linen bleacher, was born 11 April 1826, second of three sons of William Charley, a prominent linen bleacher, and Isabella Charley (née Hunter) of Seymour Hill, near Dunmurry, Co. Antrim. His father, one of the founders of the Northern Banking Company of…...
Cogan, Philip
Cogan, Philip (c.1748–1833), organist, pianist, and composer, was probably born in Co. Cork, though his parentage is unclear. He was a choirboy and then a lay vicar at St Fin Barre's cathedral, Cork, before taking up a post as stipendiary in the choir of Christ Church…...
Collisson, William Alexander Houston
Collisson, William Alexander Houston (1865–1920), clergyman and musician, was born 20 May 1865 in Dublin, son of William Houston Collison and Elizabeth O'Callaghan. Before graduating from TCD (Mus.D.…...
Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox-
Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox- (1941–2011), traveller and writer, was born on 22 February 1941 in Ceylon (latterly, Sri Lanka). Her father, Gerald Hamilton Lenox-Conyngham, a tea planter in Wattegoda, in the south of the island, was descended from an Ulster ascendancy family and…...
Cosby, Pole
Cosby, Pole (1703–66), ‘improving’ landowner, was born 14 April 1703, the only son of Dudley Cosby, landowner, and Sarah Cosby (née Pole), of Stradbally Hall, Queen's Co. (Laois). The Cosbys were among the first planter families in Queen's Co. in the 1550s, and became one of the…...
Cousser (Kusser), John (Johann) Sigismond
Cousser (Kusser), John (Johann) Sigismond (1660?–1727), composer and master of the king's music in Ireland, was born in Pressburg (later Bratislava) and baptised on 13 February 1660, the son of a Hungarian cantor and composer. In 1674 he moved with his parents and sister to Stuttgart…...