Archer, James
Archer, James (c.1632–c.1680), military engineer and architect, was born in Kilkenny. His early life remains obscure, but he was a royalist, left Ireland at some point, and entered the French service; he later claimed to have served six years as a…...
Ashlin, George Coppinger
Ashlin, George Coppinger (1837–1921), architect, was born 28 May 1837 at Carrigrenane House, Co. Cork, third and youngest son of four children of John Musson Ashlin, a Corkman established as a corn merchant in London, and Dorinda Maria Ashlin (née Coppinger), from an old Co. Cork…...
Barrett, James Rupert Edward Boyd
Barrett, James Rupert Edward Boyd (c.1904–1976), architect, was born in Loughborough, Leicestershire, eldest of at least four sons of James Charles Boyd Barrett, electrical engineer, and Mary Jacqueline Boyd Barrett (née Robinson), and grandson of J. L.…...
Barrett, John (‘Jacky’)
Barrett, John (‘Jacky’) (1753–1821), eccentric scholar, was born in Ballyroan, Queen's Co. (Laois), son of the Rev. Daniel Barrett, Church of Ireland clergyman, and his wife Rossamund Gofton. Educated by a Mr Sheils in Dublin, he entered TCD…...
Barre, William Joseph
Barre, William Joseph (1830–67), architect, was born in Newry, Co. Down, and articled to Thomas Duff of Newry (1847–8) and Edward Gribbon of Dublin (1848–50) before establishing his practice (1850) in Newry. He gained immediate recognition with his controversial design for the…...
Bates, Daisy May
Bates, Daisy May (1859–1951), welfare worker for Aborigines, anthropologist, and eccentric, was born 21 October 1859 in Roscrea, Co. Tipperay, third among six children of James Dwyer , catholic tradesman and blacksmith, and Bridget Dwyer (née Hunt). Her twin brother, Francis, died…...
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…...
Bianconi, Charles
Bianconi, Charles (1786–1875), transport entrepreneur, was born Joachim Carlo Guiseppe Bianconi on 24 September 1786 at Tregolo, near Como in Lombardy, Italy, the second of five children of Pietro and Maria Bianconi. His father owned a farm and a silk mill, and was agent for the…...
Bloomfield, John Caldwell
Bloomfield, John Caldwell (1823–97), landlord and entrepreneur, was born 5 February 1823, eldest son of John Colpoys Bloomfield and Frances Arabella Bloomfield (née Caldwell); there were three other sons and a daughter. His mother, a descendant of Sir John Caldwell, was coheiress…...
Bowden, John
Bowden, John (fl. 1798–c.1822), architect, was possibly born in Blessington, Co. Wicklow; nothing is known of his family. He was educated at the Dublin Society school of architectural drawing (1798–c.1801), apprenticed to…...
Brenan, John
Brenan, John (1768–1830), physician and satirist, was born March 1768, eldest of six children of a minor landed catholic family from Ballaghide, Co. Carlow. The details of his early life are unknown. In 1793 he wrote epigrams and short verse for Dublin magazines. Claiming to have…...
Brett, (Sir) Charles Edward Bainbridge
Brett, (Sir) Charles Edward Bainbridge (1928–2005), solicitor, architectural historian and public figure in Northern Ireland, was born 30 October 1928 in Holywood, Co. Down, eldest of three children, two boys and a girl, of Charles Anthony Brett, a Belfast solicitor, and his wife…...
Bulkeley, Sir Richard
Bulkeley, Sir Richard (1660–1710), politician and eccentric philanthropist, was born 17 August 1660 in Dublin. His great-grandfather was Archbishop Lancelot Bulkeley (qv), while his father, Richard Bulkeley (1634–85), MP for…...
Butler, Eleanor Grace
Butler, Eleanor Grace (1914–97), countess of Wicklow, senator, social campaigner, and architect, was born 7 September 1914 at 89 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, one of five children of the architect Rudolf Maximilian Butler (qv), a…...
Byrne, Patrick
Byrne, Patrick (c.1782–1864), architect, was possibly the son of John Byrne, architect; his mother's name is not known. He entered the Dublin Society's schools in 1796, studied under Henry Aaron Baker (qv), and won premiums…...
Cahill, Pearse
Cahill, Pearse (1917–2011), aviator, businessman and race driver, was born Matthew Pearse Cahill (in honour of the executed leader of the 1916 rising) in Dublin on 26 January 1917, son of Hugh Cahill (1883–1966), of Glasnevin, Dublin, and his wife Caroline (née O'Connor). The owner-…...
Caldbeck, William Francis
Caldbeck, William Francis (c.1824–1872), architect and civil engineer, was the son of Richard Caldbeck and grandson of John Frederick Caldbeck (d. 1848) of Moyle Park, Clondalkin, Co. Dublin; his mother's name is not known, but she is said to have been Roman catholic, and…...
Clements, Nathaniel
Clements, Nathaniel (1705–77), treasury official, property developer, architect, and MP, was third of four surviving sons of Robert Clements (1664–1722), landowner, of Rathkenny, Co. Cavan, and Abbotstown, Co. Dublin, and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1742), daughter of…...
Conefrey, Peter
Conefrey, Peter (1880–1939), catholic priest and social critic, was born 9 June 1880 in Mohill, Co. Leitrim, son of James Conefrey, publican, and his wife Mary McGivney. There were many priests on both sides of the family. His uncle, Fr Thomas Conefrey, parish priest of Drumlish,…...
Conolly, Thurloe
Conolly, Thurloe (1918–2016), artist, was born in Cork city on 21 July 1918, the younger of two sons to William Joseph Conolly, a structural engineer, and his wife Constance Elizabeth Conolly (née Jeffares). According to family lore, the Conollys were descended from the eighteenth-…...
Craig, Maurice James Waldron
Craig, Maurice James Waldron (1919–2011), architectural historian, writer and poet, was born 25 October 1919 at 11 University Square, Belfast, elder of two sons of James Andrew Craig, a leading ophthalmic surgeon, and Blanche Craig (née Alice Blanche Sara Waldron), an Englishwoman.…...
Crosbie, Richard
Crosbie, Richard (1756?–1800?), balloonist, was born in Co. Wicklow, second son among five children of Sir Paul Crosbie, 4th baronet and barrack master at Bray, Co. Wicklow, and Mary Crosbie (née Daniel), an Englishwoman. His elder brother was (Sir)…...
Curran, Constantine Peter (‘Con’)
Curran, Constantine Peter (‘Con’) (1883–1972), lawyer and writer, was born 30 January 1883 in Dublin, younger of two children of Patrick Curran (d. 1924), head of the General Post Office (GPO) telegraph division, of Dublin, and Mary Elizabeth Curran (née McGahan), daughter of a Monaghan…...
Dargan, William
Dargan, William (1799–1867), engineer, was born 28 February 1799 in Co. Carlow. His parents were Patrick and Elizabeth Dargan, his father being a well-to-do farmer who was a tenant of Lord Portarlington. Much of William's early life is obscure. Likewise the exact place of birth is…...
De Chenu, (Roger) Noël
De Chenu, (Roger) Noël (1924–2002), architect, artist and actor, was born on 25 December 1924 in Drumcondra, Dublin, the son of Roger Louis de Chenu (1891–1964) and his wife Aileen (née McShane; b. 1893). Roger, a dress designer, originally came from Poitiers in France, and is said…...