Abraham, James Johnston
Abraham, James Johnston (1876–1963), surgeon and writer, was born 16 August 1876 in Kingsgate St., Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, son of William Abraham (1849–1933) of Co. Fermanagh, tea merchant, general supplier, JP, and methodist circuit…...
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’)
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’) (1861–1937), Fenian, journalist and civil servant, was born 15 June 1861 in Dublin, the third son of William Gartley Allan (d. 1881?), a clerk in the accounts department of the Board of Public Works (until 1873), and his wife Ellen Batty (née Quince…...
Aston, Ernest Albert
Aston, Ernest Albert (1873–1949), journalist and urban planner, was born 6 October 1873 in Dublin, eldest of at least three sons and a daughter of Thomas J. Aston, book-keeper, and Jane Hawkshaw Aston (née Bennett). After education at Wesley College and training as an engineer, he…...
Boyse, Samuel
Boyse, Samuel (1708–49), poet, translator, and hack writer, was born in Dublin in 1708, son of the Rev. Joseph Boyse (qv), the English-born presbyterian theologian, pamphleteer, and minister to the Wood St. church, Dublin. Educated…...
Buchanan, George Henry Perrott
Buchanan, George Henry Perrott (1904–89), journalist and writer, was born 9 January 1904 in Kilwaughter, Co. Antrim, second child and younger of two sons and one daughter of the Rev. Charles Henry Leslie Buchanan (1863–1939) and Florence Buchanan (née Moore). He was educated at…...
Burkitt, James Parsons
Burkitt, James Parsons (1870–1959), ornithologist and engineer, was born 20 August 1870 at Killybegs, Co. Donegal, second son among five sons and two daughters of Thomas Henry Burkitt, presbyterian minister, and Emma Eliza Burkitt (née Parsons). He was educated at Galway grammar…...
Cameron, Charles
Cameron, Charles (1841–1924), politician, newspaper proprietor and medical doctor, was born in Dublin on 18 December 1841, the son of John Cameron, newspaper proprietor, and his wife Ellen (née Galloway). John Cameron founded the Glasgow North British Daily Mail – subsequently…...
Cameron, John
Cameron, John (1724–99), presbyterian minister and writer, was born in Scotland; some sources say near Edinburgh, though Kinross is also mentioned. Nothing is known of his parents. He was apprenticed to an Edinburgh bookseller, and among the books picked up a love of literature…...
Capper, Wilfrid Meredyth
Capper, Wilfrid Meredyth (1905–89), conservationist and creator of the Ulster Way, was born in Belfast on 12 July 1905, the second son of four children (two boys and two girls) of John Malcolmson Capper, a cotton yarn merchant, and Elizabeth Jane Capper (née Stewart); the family was…...
Carlisle, Alexander Montgomery
Carlisle, Alexander Montgomery (1854–1926), ship designer and businessman, and his two brothers John Carlisle (1856–1945), engineer and shipowner, and Henry Montgomery Carlisle (1863?–1945), shipowner, were sons of John Carlisle (d. 1884), teacher, and Catherine Carlisle (née…...
Corry, John
This is a co-subject for the entry on Corry, Sir James Porter White. View the original entry....
Cowan, (Robert) Barry
Cowan, (Robert) Barry (1948–2004), journalist and broadcaster, was born 1 February 1948 in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, one of two sons of Fred Cowan, a manager in the Ulster Transport Authority, and his wife Myrtle (née Gilliland Patterson). Barry was brought up a presbyterian. The…...
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt)
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt) (1874–1949), engineer and Irish-language enthusiast, was born Ernest Edwin Joynt, 11 November 1874, at the family residence in Knox St., Ballina, Co. Mayo, only son among four children of Richard Watson Joynt, editor of the Ballina Herald…...
Donaghy, John Lyle
Donaghy, John Lyle (1902–49), poet, was born near Larne, Co. Antrim, on 28 July 1902, the eldest son of Revd John Lyle Donaghy, a minister of First Larne Presbyterian Church, and Jessie Meikle Donaghy (née Gardner-Smith). Educated at Larne grammar school and…...
Drennan, William
Drennan, William (1754–1820), physician, patriot, and minor poet, was born 23 May 1754 at his father's manse in Rosemary St., Belfast, third surviving child and only son of the Rev. Thomas Drennan and his wife Anne (née Lennox). Thomas Drennan (1696–1768) was born 25 December…...
Duncan, George Alexander
Duncan, George Alexander (1902–2006), economist, was born 15 May 1902 in the family home in Bridge Street, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the second son of Alexander Duncan, a physician and surgeon, and his wife Elizabeth (née Linn). He was educated at Ballymena Academy and Campbell College…...
Fraser (Frazer), John
Fraser (Frazer), John (1803/4–1852), poet and cabinet-maker, was born in Birr, King's Co. (Offaly), into a presbyterian family, originally bearing the name de Jean (possibly of huguenot extraction). There are conflicting accounts of his date of birth. It is asserted in one…...
Gamble, John
Gamble, John (1770?–1831), physician, traveller, and writer, was born at Strabane, Co. Tyrone, into a local presbyterian family and reared by an uncle (perhaps John Sproull of Strabane), an apothecary. It is likely that he came under the influence of…...
Gilbert, Stephen
Gilbert, Stephen (1912–2010), writer and businessman, was born on 22 July 1912 in Newcastle, Co. Down, eldest of five children (two sons and three daughters) of William Gilbert (1862–1935), director of Samuel McCausland and Co. tea and seed merchants (founded 1825), and his second wife…...
Greacen, Robert Henry
Greacen, Robert Henry (1920–2008), poet and critic, was born on 24 October 1920 in Bennett Street, Derry city, only child of Henry Greacen and his wife Elizabeth (née McCrea). Henry Greacen, from a presbyterian farming background in north Co. Monaghan, had at one time held a…...
Haddick, Victor Anderson
Haddick, Victor Anderson (1887–1950), soldier, traveller, writer, and film maker and promoter, was born 14 June 1887 at Crinkill (Crinkle), Parsonstown (Birr), King's Co. (Offaly), the eldest son of Richard J. Haddick, a soldier, and his wife Jane Anne (née Anderson). He was educated…...
Herbison, David
Herbison, David (1800–80), linen weaver and poet, was born 14 October 1800 in Mill St., Ballymena, Co. Antrim, third son of William Herbison, innkeeper, and his wife Elizabeth (née Wilson). They probably had at least one more child, a daughter. David suffered from smallpox when he…...
Hewitt, John Harold
Hewitt, John Harold (1907–87), poet, was born 28 October 1907 at 96 Clifton Park Avenue, Belfast, the younger of two children (his sister, Eileen, was born 20 February 1902) of Robert Telford Hewitt, schoolmaster, and Elinor Hewitt (née Robinson). Both of his paternal grandparents had…...
Hincks, Sir Francis
Hincks, Sir Francis (c.1807–85), businessman, journalist, politician, and colonial administrator, was born 14 December 1807 in Cork, the youngest of nine children of the Reverend Thomas Dix Hincks (qv), presbyterian…...
Huddleston, Robert
Huddleston, Robert (1814–87), poet, was born 5 April 1814 in Moneyrea, near Comber, Co. Down, son of James and Agnes Huddleston of Moneyrea, farmers. He was educated in Cowan's school, Moneyrea; when he grew up, he farmed about fifteen acres, and, like his father, repaired guns. He…...