Bates, Sir (Richard) Dawson
Bates, Sir (Richard) Dawson (1876–1949), solicitor and NI cabinet minister, was born 23 November 1876 at Strandtown, east Belfast, son of Richard Dawson Bates, solicitor and clerk of the crown and peace for Belfast, and his wife Mary, daughter of Professor R. F. Dill of…...
Battersby, Thomas Stephenson Francis (‘Frank’)
Battersby, Thomas Stephenson Francis (‘Frank’) (1855–1933), lawyer, was born 17 April 1855, son of Francis Battersby and his wife Elizabeth (who died shortly after the birth), daughter of the Rev. Robert Stephenson Crooke. His father, though a qualified doctor, never practised,…...
Beatty, Alfred Chester
Beatty, Alfred Chester (1875–1968), mining engineer, art collector, and philanthropist, was born in New York on 7 February 1875, third son of John Cuming Beatty and his wife Hetty, daughter of William Gedney Bull. His paternal grandparents were born in Co. Armagh and Queen's Co. (…...
Beaufort, Daniel Augustus
Beaufort, Daniel Augustus (1739–1821), clergyman, architect, and cartographer, was born 1 October 1739 in London, son of Daniel Cornelius Beaufort and Esther Beaufort (née Gougeon), members of the huguenot community. The family moved to Ireland when Daniel's father became chaplain…...
Beckett, George Francis
Beckett, George Francis (1877–1961), architect, was born 15 April 1877 in Dublin, one of several sons in a family of five children of James Beckett , builder (founder and president of the Dublin Master Builders' Association), and his second wife, Frances (née Horner). He was…...
Beechey, Richard Brydges
Beechey, Richard Brydges (1808–95), artist, naval officer, and marine surveyor, was born 17 May 1808 in London, the youngest son of the noted portrait painter Sir William Beechey RA (1753–1839) and his second wife, Ann Phyllis…...
Behan, Beatrice
Behan, Beatrice (1925–93), artist and memoirist, was born 31 December 1925 at Mount St., Dublin, eldest daughter of the artist Cecil ffrench Salkeld (qv), ARHA, and Irma Salkeld (née Taesler…...
Beit, Sir Alfred Lane
Beit, Sir Alfred Lane (1903–94), art collector and patron, was born 19 January 1903 in London, younger son of Sir Otto Beit (1865–1930), industrialist of German birth, and his wife Lillian (d. 1946), daughter of T. L. Carter of New Orleans. Otto Beit inherited in 1906 the…...
Bell, Alan
Bell, Alan (1857–1920), policeman and resident magistrate, was born in Banagher, King's Co. (Offaly), one of at least two sons of the Rev. James Adamson Bell, Church of Ireland clergyman; his mother's name is unknown. Educated locally, he joined the…...
Bellew, William
This is a co-subject for the entry on Bellew, Sir Patrick. View the original entry....
Bellings (Bealing), Richard
Bellings (Bealing), Richard (c.1603–1677), lawyer, politician, and historian, was eldest son of Sir Henry Bellings (of an Old English catholic family with properties in Dublin and Kildare) and his wife Maud, about whom nothing else is known. Richard gained admittance to…...
Bell, John
Bell, John (c.1793–1861), antiquary, collector, and landscape painter, was the second son of John Bell, gentleman landowner, of Camelon, near Falkirk, Scotland. It is unclear when he settled in Ireland, but he was contributing articles to local newspapers in Newry, Co. Down…...
Bell, (John) Bowyer
Bell, (John) Bowyer (1931–2003), writer on the IRA and artist, was born 15 November 1931 in New York City, but grew up in Alabama after his parents moved there. He majored in history at undergraduate level at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia; at the same time he…...
Bennett, Richard Newton
Bennett, Richard Newton (1769–1836), lawyer, was born 28 October 1769 into a protestant family in Co. Wexford, eldest son of Richard Bennett, gentleman, and Hanagh Bennett (née Pearson). He graduated BA from…...
Benson, Sir John
Benson, Sir John (1812–74), architect and engineer, was the only son of John Benson of Collooney, Co. Sligo. He probably trained at the Dublin Society school of architectural drawing, and won premiums in 1832. His commissions in Co. Sligo included restoration work on Markree Castle…...
Beranger, Gabriel
Beranger, Gabriel (d. 1817), artist, was born c.1729 in Amsterdam of French huguenot origin. His parents and education are unknown, but he apparently came to Ireland in 1750 and stayed there until his death. He kept a print shop and artist's warehouse at 5 South George's St…...
Beresford, Marcus
Beresford, Marcus (1764–97), politician and lawyer, was born 14 February 1764 in Dublin, eldest of nine children of John Beresford (qv), commissioner of revenue and son of Marcus Beresford (1694–1763), 1st earl of Tyrone, and Anne…...
Bermingham, Patrick
Bermingham, Patrick (c.1460–1532), judge and administrator, was born in Ireland, and entered Lincoln's Inn, London, where between 1478 and 1476 he kept at least four terms and suffered a period of expulsion. He inherited his brother John's Irish estates in 1483. He appears…...
Berwick, Walter
Berwick, Walter (1800–68), barrister and judge, was the second son of Rev. Edward Berwick (qv), rector of Esker, Lucan, Co. Dublin, and his first wife, Annie Bermingham. He entered TCD in…...
Best, Richard
Best, Richard (1869–1939), Northern Ireland attorney general, lord justice of appeal, and politician, was born in Richhill, Co. Armagh, youngest son of Robert Best, weaver of Richhill, and his wife Anne (née Lemon or Leamon). Educated in Dundalk, he went on to pursue a glittering…...
Bewley, Charles Henry
Bewley, Charles Henry (1888–1969), barrister and diplomat, was born 12 July 1888 in Dublin, eldest son among four children of Henry Theodore Bewley (qv), MD and quaker, and Elizabeth…...
Bewley, Sir Edmund Thomas
Bewley, Sir Edmund Thomas (1837–1908), judge, genealogist, and professor of law, was born at the family home at Clara, King's Co. (Offaly), only son of Edward Bewley of Moate, Co. Westmeath, and Mary Bewley (née Mulock) of Kilnagarna, King's Co. He entered…...
Biggs, Michael
Biggs, Michael (1928–93), sculptor and letter-cutter, was born 26 August 1928 in Stockport, Cheshire, England, of English parents, second son of Claud Biggs, musician and teacher at the RIAM, Dublin, and Marjorie Biggs (née Markham). He…...
Bindon, Francis
Bindon, Francis (c.1690–1765), portraitist and architect, was fourth son among nine children of David Bindon (c.1650–1733) of Clooney, Co. Clare, landowner and MP for Ennis 1715–27, and Dorothy, daughter of Samuel Burton of Buncraggy, Co. Clare. He studied painting…...
Bing, Geoffrey Henry Cecil
Bing, Geoffrey Henry Cecil (1909–77), barrister and politician, was born 24 July 1909 at Rockport, Craigavad, Co. Down, son of Geoffrey Bing (an anglican clergyman who had founded a preparatory school there) and Irene Bing (née Duke). The family spent some time in China, and Bing…...