Dering, Henrietta
Dering, Henrietta (c.1674–1729), portrait painter, was born in France, the only daughter among two children of Francis and Suzanne de Branlieu , a huguenot family who came to England in 1687. The will of her daughter, Mary Dering, dated 23 April 1746 and proved 13 June…...
Derrick, Samuel
Derrick, Samuel (1724–69), writer, was born in Ireland, of a Co. Carlow family which had become impoverished; nothing is known of his parents. Apprenticed to a linen-draper, he found business uncongenial, and escaped to London in his twenties, briefly and very unsuccessfully…...
De Vere, Aubrey Thomas
De Vere, Aubrey Thomas (1814–1902), poet and author, was born 10 January 1814 at Curragh Chase, Co. Limerick, the third son in a family of five sons and three daughters of Aubrey Thomas Hunt, afterwards Sir Aubrey de Vere (qv), 2nd…...
De Vere (Hunt), Sir Aubrey
De Vere (Hunt), Sir Aubrey (1788–1846), 2nd baronet, dramatist, poet, and country gentleman, was born 28 August 1788 at Curragh Chase, parish of Adare, Co. Limerick, eldest son of Sir Vere Hunt, and his wife Eleanor, daughter of William Cecil Pery (1721–94), bishop of Limerick. Sir…...
De Vere, Sir Stephen Edward
De Vere, Sir Stephen Edward (1812–1904), polemicist, poet, and country gentleman, was born 26 July 1812 at Curragh Chase, parish of Adare, Co. Limerick, second son of Sir Aubrey de Vere (qv) and Mary de Vere (née Spring-Rice…...
Devereux, Robert
Devereux, Robert (1565–1601), 2nd earl of Essex , royal favourite, and lord lieutenant of Ireland, was born 10 November 1565, eldest son of Walter Devereux (qv), 1st earl of Essex, and his wife Lettice (Laetitia) (d. 1634), daughter of…...
Devlin, Edith Florence Newman
Devlin, Edith Florence Newman (1926–2012), lecturer in English, was born on 21 September 1926, in Swords, Co. Dublin, the youngest among three sons and two daughters of Hugh Gaw and Eva Gaw (née Newman). Her mother was a teacher in a Church of Ireland primary school, and her father, who…...
Digby, Simon
Digby, Simon (c.1645–1720), miniature-painter and bishop of Elphin, was born at Kilminchy, Queen's Co. (Laois), youngest son of Essex Digby and his wife Thomasine, daughter of Sir William Gilbert of Kilminchy, Queen's Co. Essex Digby became dean of Cashel in 1661 and…...
Dillon, Michael
Dillon, Michael (1915–62), physician, writer, Buddhist novice-monk and the first person known to surgically transition from female to male, was born Laura Maud Dillon on 1 May 1915 in Ladbroke Grove, London, England. Dillon was the second child of Robert Arthur Dillon (1865–1925),…...
Dillon, Thomas
Dillon, Thomas (1615–1673/4), 4th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallen, army officer, was born in March 1615, second son of Sir Christopher Dillon of Ballylagham, Co. Mayo, lord president of Connacht, and Lady Jane, eldest daughter of James Dillon, 1st earl of Roscommon. He was a…...
Dillon, Wentworth
Dillon, Wentworth (1637–85), 4th earl of Roscommon , poet, was born (probably in Ireland) in October 1637, only son of James Dillon, 3rd earl of Roscommon, who had been converted to protestantism by James Ussher (qv). His mother…...
Dobbs, Francis
Dobbs, Francis (1750–1811), Volunteer, author, and MP, was born 27 April 1750, second son among four sons and a daughter of the Rev. Richard Dobbs (c.1694–1775), rector (1743–75) of Lisburn cathedral, Co. Antrim, and his wife Mary (d. 1796), widow of Cornet McMannus, and…...
Docwra (Dowkra, Dockwra, Dockwraye, Dockquerye, Docura), Sir Henry
Docwra (Dowkra, Dockwra, Dockwraye, Dockquerye, Docura), Sir Henry (1564–1631), 1st baron of Culmore , soldier and administrator, was baptised on 30 April 1564, younger son of Edmund Docwra of Chamberhouse manor, Thatcham, Berkshire, England, and his wife Dorothy. He joined the…...
Donnellan, Anne
Donnellan, Anne (c.1700–62), literary critic, and promoter of literature, learning, and the arts, was the daughter of Nehemiah Donnellan (qv), MP and chief baron of the Irish exchequer (c.1702–05), by his…...
Dougan, (Alexander) Derek
Dougan, (Alexander) Derek (1938–2007), footballer and author, was born 20 January 1938 at 41 Susan Street in the Newtownards Road district of east Belfast, the eldest of six children (three boys and three girls) of John 'Jackie' Dougan, a boilermaker at the Harland and Wolff…...
Dowden, Edward
Dowden, Edward (1843–1913), literary critic, academic, and unionist, was born 3 May 1843, second son of John Wheeler Dowden and Alicia Dowden (née Bennett); his elder brother was John Dowden (qv). He was educated privately at first,…...
Doyle, Sir John
Doyle, Sir John (1756–1834), British army general, was born in Dublin, fourth son of Charles Doyle of Bramblestown, Co. Kilkenny, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Nicholas Milley of Johnville, Co. Kilkenny. He attended the school of the Rev. Benjamin Hobart in Carlow.…...
Drew, Catherine
Drew, Catherine (1832–1910), journalist and writer, was born 27 May 1832 in Broughshane, Co. Antrim, the third of eight daughters of the Rev. Thomas Drew (qv), DD, curate of the joint parish of St Patricks, Skerry and Racavan in Broughshane (…...
Drew, Sir Thomas
Drew, Sir Thomas (1838–1910), architect and antiquary, was born 18 September 1838 at Victoria Place, Belfast, into the large family of the Rev. Dr Thomas Drew (qv), son of a Limerick grocer, and Isabella Drew (née Dalton; 1802–69), daughter…...
Drury, Sir William
Drury, Sir William (1527–79), soldier and administrator, was born on 2 October 1527 at Hawstead, Suffolk, the third son of Sir Robert Drury of Hedgerley, Buckinghamshire, and Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Brudenell. He was educated at Gonville Hall, Cambridge, then became a…...
Du Bois, Lady Dorothea
Du Bois, Lady Dorothea (Annesley ) (1728–74), poet, novelist, and playwright, was born in Dublin, the eldest of seven daughters of Richard Annesley (qv), Lord Altham, later 6th earl of Anglesey, and his wife, Ann (née Simpson),…...
Duff, Charles St Lawrence
Duff, Charles St Lawrence (1894–1966) author, barrister and linguist, was born on 7 April 1894 in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, the youngest of ten children to grow to adulthood of John Duff, secretary of the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway, and his wife Anne Marie Duff (…...
Dunkin, William
Dunkin, William (1707?–65), poet and schoolmaster, was born in Dublin, son of Patrick Dunkin (d. 1719?), gentleman, who may have been briefly curate of Dromiskin, Co. Louth, before his early death. William's mother apparently also died young, but nothing else is known of her. In 1720…...
Edelstein, (Eli) Joseph
Edelstein, (Eli) Joseph (1886–1939), writer and public speaker, was born 30 August 1886 at 31 Warren Street, Portobello, Dublin, son of Abraham Maurice Edelstein, a commercial traveller who later went into business as a picture-frame maker and gilder, and his wife Jane (née Moisel);…...
Erle, Thomas
Erle, Thomas (c.1650–1720), soldier and lord justice of Ireland, was second-born but first surviving son of Thomas Erle (d. 1650) of Axmouth, Devon, and his wife Susanna, daughter of William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford (…...