Ferguson, John
Ferguson, John (1836–1906), publisher, home-ruler, and land reformer, was born 18 April 1836 in Belfast, the son of Leonard Ferguson (d. 1844?), who was in the provision trade there and whose family were tenant farmers in Co. Antrim and related to the United Irish martyr…...
Ferrar, John
Ferrar, John (1742–1804), printer and historian, was born in 1742 in Limerick city, the only son of William Ferrar (sometimes spelt Farrier), bookbinder and printer, and Rose Ferrar (née Paine or Payne). The first member of this family to settle in Limerick was William Ferrar, a cavalry…...
Finlay, Francis Dalzell
Finlay, Francis Dalzell (1793–1857), journalist and printer, was born 12 July 1793 at Newtownards, Co. Down, son of John Finlay, tenant farmer. He joined the Belfast Monthly Magazine (1812–14) as a printer, and when it closed he set up his own printing press at Joy's Entry…...
Finn, Edmund
Finn, Edmund (d. 1777), printer, publisher, and bookseller, is known to have been at work in Cork in 1766, but from 1767 he worked at Kilkenny, at St Mary's Churchyard (1767) and then at High Street (1767–77), where he founded, edited, printed, and published an influential twice…...
Finnerty, Peter
Finnerty, Peter (1766?–1822), printer, journalist and parliamentary and war reporter, was born probably at Loughrea, Co. Galway, where his father was a small tradesman. In the 1790s he served as an apprentice to William Corbet (qv),…...
Fitzgerald, Barry
Fitzgerald, Barry (1888–1961), actor, was born 10 March 1888 in Dublin and christened William Joseph Shields, eldest son of Adolphus William Shields, compositor and well-known Dublin union organiser, and Fanny Shields (née Ungerland). Educated at Merchant Taylors’ School and Skerry's…...
Fitzgerald, James (Jim)
Fitzgerald, James (Jim) (1929–2003), theatre and television director, was born 13 August 1929 in Clontarf, Dublin, son of Gerald Fitzgerald and Kathleen Fitzgerald (née Keogh); his father worked in theatre as a stage carpenter, stage manager, and actor. Reared on Dublin’s northside, Jim…...
Fitzpatrick, Hugh
Fitzpatrick, Hugh (d. 1818), printer and bookseller, was said by an obituarist to be ‘descended from a noble Irish family’ and seems to have been a nephew of Sir Jeremiah Fitzpatrick (qv), of whose will he and his son…...
Fitzpatrick, John Lalor
This is a co-subject for the entry on Lalor, Patrick (‘Patt’). View the original entry....
Flaherty, Bernard (Williams, Barney)
Flaherty, Bernard (Williams, Barney) (1823–76), actor, was born 20 July 1823 in the barracks, Cork, the son of Michael Flaherty. The family emigrated to America, where Michael became a grocer and later a boarding-house keeper near the Bowery, in Manhattan, New York. Bernard grew up…...
Flaherty, Robert
Flaherty, Robert (1884–1951), filmmaker, was born 16 February 1884 in Iron Mountain, Michigan, eldest among seven children of Robert Flaherty, a protestant miner who had emigrated from Ireland by way of Quebec, and his catholic, German-born wife, Susan (née Kloeckner). Robert was…...
Flannery, Austin
Flannery, Austin (1925–2008), priest, scholar, editor, journalist and social justice campaigner, was born William ('Liam') Flannery on 10 January 1925 at Rear Cross, Co. Tipperary, the eldest of seven children of William K. Flannery and his wife Margaret Flannery (née Butler),…...
Folens, Albert Joseph Marcel
Folens, Albert Joseph Marcel (1916–2003) Flemish nationalist and educational publisher, was born 15 October 1916 in Bissegem, west Flanders (latterly part of the municipality of Kortrijk, formerly Courtrai) to a devoutly catholic Flemish‐speaking family. (Folens recalled saying many…...
Ford, John
Ford, John (1894–1973), film director, was born 1 February 1894 at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA, as John Martin Feeney, fourth son among five sons and six daughters of Seán Feeney, Roman Catholic farmer and saloon-keeper, and Barbara ‘Abby’ Feeney (née Curran); his father had emigrated to…...
Fossett, Edward
Fossett, Edward (c.1895–1951), horseman and circus owner, was born near London, son of Sir Robert Fossett, originally of Islington, and Mary Fossett (née Francis), a bareback rider from Co. Wexford who performed as ‘Miss Mini’ in the family business, Sir Robert Fossett's…...
Fossett, Edward (Teddy)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Fossett, Edward. View the original entry....
Fossett, Robert (Bobby)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Fossett, Edward. View the original entry....
Fox, Richard Kyle
Fox, Richard Kyle (1846–1922), publisher and patron of sports, was born on Albertbridge Road, Belfast, on 12 August 1846. Fox's father James was a carpenter and mason, and his mother Mary (née Kyle) was the daughter of Henry Kyle, a Belfast presbyterian minister. As a teenager Fox…...
Fox, William (‘Billy’)
Fox, William (‘Billy’) (1939–74), farmer and politician, was born in January 1939 in Cortubber, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan, the only son of William Fox and his wife, Helen. He was educated at the local national school and Victor Weymount grammar school, Carrickmacross, and then worked…...
Franckton (Francke), John
Franckton (Francke), John (d. 1620), printer and bookseller, was probably born into a Dublin family and became apprentice to the queen's printer in Ireland, William Kearney. Upon Kearney's death in 1598 or 1599, Franckton succeeded him informally as royal printer, and he appears…...
French, (William) Percy
French, (William) Percy (1854–1920), songwriter, humourist, entertainer, and painter, was born 1 May 1854 in Cloonyquin House, parish of Tulsk, Co. Roscommon, second son and third child among four sons and five daughters of Christopher French (1821–97), landowner, and Susan Emma French…...
Friel, Brian
Friel, Brian (1929–2015), playwright and writer, was born near Omagh, Co. Tyrone, on either 9 or 10 January 1929 (he possessed separate birth certificates for both dates), the third child of Patrick ‘Paddy’ Friel and Mary Christina McLoone. He had two older sisters, Nanette and Mary,…...
Fuller, Stephen
Fuller, Stephen (1899–84), farmer, political activist and survivor of the 1923 Ballyseedy massacre, was born on 25 December 1899 at Fahavane, a hamlet just outside the village of Kilflynn, north of Tralee, Co. Kerry. The eldest child of Daniel Fuller, ‘an extensive farmer’, (…...
Gaine, Hugh
Gaine, Hugh (1726–1807), printer and newspaper editor in New York, was born in Portglenone, Co. Antrim, the son of Hugh Gaine, possibly a merchant. There was at least one other son, who also emigrated. The family was Church of Ireland, although in a 1766 religious census family…...
Gallagher, Patrick
Gallagher, Patrick (1870–1966), cooperative organiser, was born 25 December 1870 at Cleendra, in the Rosses district of Co. Donegal, one of two sons and seven daughters of Pat Gallagher, small farmer and migrant labourer, and his wife, a Boyle from Falmore, Co. Donegal. The family lived…...