Abernethy, William
Abernethy, William (1864–1930), professional photographer, was the son of Robert Abernethy, farmer, from Comber, Co. Down. Details of his early life are lacking, even in obituaries published in the Belfast press. He learned his trade in Belfast, in the studio of a successful…...
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,…...
Anderson, Mark Louden
Anderson, Mark Louden (1895–1961), forester, was born 16 April 1895, son of the Rev. J. C. Anderson and Jeanie Anderson (née Boyd), of Kinneff, Scotland. His university career was interrupted by service in the British army (1914–19), where he won an MC…...
Anderson, Robert Andrew
Anderson, Robert Andrew (1860–1942), agriculturist, was born in June 1860 at Mount Corbet, Buttevant, Co. Cork, where his parents, Andrew Anderson, a Scot, and his Canadian wife, settled in 1851. He began work as a petty sessions clerk at Doneraile and became sub-agent to the local…...
Annesley, Hugh
Annesley, Hugh (1831–1908), 5th earl of Annesley , horticulturist, and politician, was born 26 January 1831 in Dublin, second son of William Richard Annesley (1772–1838), 3rd earl and MP for Downpatrick (1815–20), and his second wife, Priscilla Cecilia (d. 1891), daughter of Hugh…...
Ayton, Alexander
Ayton, Alexander (1829–1900), professional photographer, was born in Scotland but in the early 1860s came to Ireland, where he set up in business in Derry city, first at an address in the Crescent, then (1864) moving to a purpose-built studio in Kennedy Place. Thirty years later he…...
Baker, John Wynn
Baker, John Wynn (1726/7–1775), agricultural improver, was born in New York but lived in Lancashire until about 1761, when he settled in Ireland. In 1763 he took a farm at Loughlinstown, near Celbridge, Co. Kildare. He was the author of several pamphlets, the first of which, …...
Barbour, Harold Adrian Milne
Barbour, Harold Adrian Milne (1874–1938), promoter of agricultural improvement, was born in July 1874, probably at Dunmurry, Co. Antrim, the son of John Doherty Barbour (1823–1901), a linen manufacturer, and his wife, Elizabeth. He was educated in England (at Elstree, Harrow and…...
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, Hugh
Barton, Hugh (1766–1854), wine merchant and vineyard owner, grandson of Thomas Barton (qv) and fourth of six sons of William Barton (1723–92) of Grove, Fethard, Co. Tipperary, and his wife, Grace, was born on 8 January 1766 in Limerick at…...
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…...
Beatty, Francis Stewart
Beatty, Francis Stewart (1807-91), pioneer Irish photographer, of unknown parentage and place of birth but presumably born somewhere in the north of Ireland, is first documented in the 1830s in Belfast, where he was an engraver and linen ornament manufacturer. An elaborate double-…...
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…...
Bielenberg, Peter
This is a co-subject for the entry on Bielenberg, Christabel Mary Harmsworth. View the original entry....
Blacker, William
Blacker, William (1776–1850), land agent and agricultural writer, was born in 1776, probably in Co. Down, the third of four sons of St John Blacker, a clergyman who was then curate at Kilbroney, and his wife Grace, daughter of Maxwell Close of Elm Park, Co. Armagh. He became land…...
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, Fergus (Ignatius)
Bourke, Fergus (Ignatius) (1934–2004), photographer, was born 31 July 1934 in Bray, Co. Wicklow. His mother was Eileen (Eibhlín) Bourke (née Somers). His father Thomas Bourke (Tómas de Búrca), who worked for Dublin Corporation, was related to people prominent in twentieth‑century…...
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…...
Browne, Francis Patrick Mary
Browne, Francis Patrick Mary (1880–1960), photographer and Jesuit priest, was born 3 January 1880 in Sunday's Well, Cork, youngest of eight children of James Browne, flour merchant and JP, and Brigid Browne (née Hegarty; 1840–80), who died…...
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…...
Brownrigg, Thomas Marcus
Brownrigg, Thomas Marcus (1823–1901), police officer, and pioneer and experimental photographer, was born 8 June 1823 in Limerick, eldest son of Sir Henry John Brownrigg (1798–1873), inspector-general of constabulary (1858–65), and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Thomas…...
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…...
Bull, (George) Lucien
Bull, (George) Lucien (1876–1972), inventor, was born 5 January 1876 at 16 Upper Gloucester St., Dublin, one of two sons and two daughters of Cornelius Bull of Bedford, England, and Gabrielle Jouvé of Paris, owners of Bull's religious depository, Suffolk St., Dublin. Educated at…...
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…...