Abbadie, Jacques (James)
Abbadie, Jacques (James) (1654?–1727), huguenot dean of Killaloe, preacher, and apologist of the Christian religion, was born in Nay in Béarn, France, third child of Pierre Abbadie and Violente Abbadie (née de Fortaner). He received his early education at the local protestant…...
Abbott, Thomas Kingsmill
Abbott, Thomas Kingsmill (1829–1913), scholar and clergyman, was born 26 March 1829 in Dublin, son of Joseph Abbott, clerk of the peace, and his wife Jane Kingsmill. Thomas entered TCD 9 June 1846 as a sizar (his father being dead),…...
Abercrombie, Sir (Leslie) Patrick
Abercrombie, Sir (Leslie) Patrick (1879–1957), architect and town planner, was one of the most influential figures in the development of town planning in early twentieth-century Ireland. He was born on 6 June 1879 at Ashton upon Mersey in Cheshire, England, seventh of nine children…...
Abernethy, John
Abernethy, John (1680–1740), presbyterian minister of Scots descent, was born 19 October 1680, probably at Brigh, Co. Tyrone, where his father, also John (d. 1703), was minister 1674–84. His mother was a daughter of John Walkinshaw of Walkinshaw, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Abernethy…...
Acheson, Robert
Acheson, Robert (1763–1824), presbyterian minister and United Irish leader, was born near Clough, Co. Antrim, son of James Acheson, farmer, and his second wife, Elizabeth; her brother Thomas Reid was minister of Glenarm, Co. Antrim. Robert Acheson graduated in medicine from…...
Adair, Archibald
Adair, Archibald (d. 1647), Church of Ireland bishop, was fourth son of Ninian Adair and Helen or Elizabeth Adair (née Gordon) of Kinhilt, Wigtownshire, Scotland, and was thus connected to leading families in Scotland and Co. Antrim. He graduated MA…...
Adair, Patrick
Adair, Patrick (c.1624–1694), presbyterian minister and historian, was the third son of John Adair, of Genoch in Galloway. He graduated from the University of St Andrews in 1642 and proceeded in 1644 to study divinity in the University of Glasgow. When licensed he travelled to…...
Adams, Bernard
Adams, Bernard (1566–1626), Church of Ireland bishop of Limerick, was born in Middlesex. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford (BA 1586, MA 1590), and elected fellow. Appointed bishop of Limerick (1603…...
Adams, Michael
Adams, Michael (1937–2009), publisher and catholic activist, was born in Dublin on 22 June 1937, eldest of three children (two boys and a girl) of Francis Adams, cattle dealer, victualler and JP for Co. Fermanagh, and his wife Mary or Maud (née Atteridge), a protestant and daughter…...
Adrain, Robert
Adrain, Robert (1775–1843), mathematician, was born 30 September 1775 in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, eldest among five children of a schoolteacher; his parents' names are not known. He received a good education, though he was self-taught in the higher mathematics. He lost both…...
Áed
Áed (d. 700), bishop of Sléibte (Sletty, on the border of Co. Carlow and Co. Laois), which belonged to the Uí Bairrche sept of Laois, was son of Broccán according to the genealogies. Because of the growth in Armagh's influence and claims to metropolitan status in the latter half of…...
Áed
Áed (982/3–1056), son of Cróngille Ua Foirréid and bishop and scholar at Armagh, belonged, like many bishops of Armagh, to the Cenél nÉogain, the most powerful of the dynasties of the Northern Uí Néill. He is best known as the subject of the poem ‘Uasal epscop Éirenn Áed’: here the…...
Áedán (Aidan)
Áedán (Aidan) (d. 651), founder and first bishop of Lindisfarne, was effectively ruler of the church of Northumbria from c.635 till his death. The mission of Paulinus from Canterbury (begun in 625) was superficially successful, culminating in the establishment of an…...
Áed Dub
Áed Dub (‘black [haired]’) (d. 639), bishop of Kildare, belonged to the ruling Uí Dúnlainge dynasty of north Leinster; his father Colmán Már and his brother Fáelán (qv) were overkings of Leinster. Another of his brothers, Áed Find, was ancestor…...
Affraic
Affraic (d. 743) was abbess of Kildare 733–43. Her rare personal name, a borrowing of the Latin Africa, was also borne by a later abbess of Kildare who died in 834 and by an obscure minor saint, daughter of one Cumlachtach, associated with Imlech Tuascirt (LL…...
Agar, Charles
Agar, Charles (1735–1809), 1st earl of Normanton and Church of Ireland archbishop, was born 22 December 1735 at Gowran Castle, Co. Kilkenny, third son among four sons and a daughter of Henry Agar (1707–46), MP for Gowran, and his wife Anne (1707–65), daughter of Welbore Ellis (…...
Aher, David
Aher, David (c.1778–1842), cartographer and civil engineer, was probably the son of Patrick Aher, a Cork surveyor; he trained under his father, in the ‘French school of [John] Rocque’ (qv). A leading Irish surveyor-…...
Aikenhead, Mary
Aikenhead, Mary (1787–1858), foundress of the congregation of the Religious Sisters of Charity and of St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, was born 19 January 1787 in Cork city, eldest of four children – three daughters and one son – of David Aikenhead, apothecary, son of a Scottish…...
Ailbe
Ailbe (d. 527?), patron of the church of Imlech Ibair (Emly, on the Limerick/Tipperary border), Munster's most important church till it was superseded by Cashel in the early twelfth century, was Munster's premier saint, whence the saying Mumu uili . . . iar cúl Ailbe, ‘…...
Ailerán (Aileranus Sapiens)
Ailerán (Aileranus Sapiens) (d. 665), fer léigind (lector or chief scholar) of the monastery of Clonard, Co. Meath, died in the great cholera or plague, termed the Buide Conaill (AU 665). His obit is given as 29 December in the Martyrology of Tallaght and in the…...
Ainsworth, Sir John Francis
Ainsworth, Sir John Francis (1912–81), 3rd baronet, palaeographer, and archivist, was born 4 January 1912 in London, the only son of Thomas Ainsworth, later 2nd baronet, a racehorse breeder and master of various packs of foxhounds in Ireland, and his first wife, Edina Dorothy Hope (…...
Airbertach
Airbertach (d. 1016), son of Cos Dobráin, was at the time of his death airchinnech or superior of the monastery of Ros Ailithir (Ross Carbery, Co. Cork). The only other reference to him in historical sources, an entry in the Annals of Inisfallen, states that in the year 990 Ros…...
Aird, John
Aird, John (c.1760–1832), civil engineer, was born in Scotland; nothing is known of his parents or early life. In 1794 he began working for John Rennie (qv), one of the best-known engineers in Europe at the time, and remained with…...
Airechtach
Airechtach (d. 794), abbot of Armagh, belonged to the line of Fáelán within the ecclesiastical lineage of Uí Bressail, which in turn represented a discard segment of the ruling dynasty of Airthir (baronies of Upper and Lower Orior, Co. Armagh). He was a priest at Armagh when Affiath was…...
Alen (Allen), John
Alen (Allen), John (1476–1534), archbishop and administrator, was the son of Edward Alen and his wife Catherine (daughter of Sir John St Leger), and cousin of Sir John Alen (qv). He was educated at Oxford and Cambridge (…...