Glass, (John) Basil Caldwell
Glass, (John) Basil Caldwell (1926–2005), politician, lawyer, and judge, was born 21 May 1926 in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim, eldest of two sons and one daughter of John Glass (1894–1956), methodist minister, and his wife Muriel Florence (née Caldwell), whose father was also a methodist…...
Gordon, John Fawcett
Gordon, John Fawcett (1878–1965), politician and public servant, was born in Belfast, son of working-class parents, William James Gordon and Margaret Gordon (née Fawcett). At an early age, due to the death of his father, he spent part of his childhood in the USA with relatives and…...
Haughton, James
Haughton, James (1795–1873), social reformer and philanthropist, was born 5 May 1795 in Carlow town, eldest son of Samuel Pearson Haughton (1748–1828), corn merchant, and his wife Mary (née Pim) of Ruskin, Queen's Co. (Laois). Although both parents left the Society of Friends…...
Higgins, Henry Bournes
Higgins, Henry Bournes (1851–1929), politician in Australia, was born 30 June 1851 in Newtownards, Co. Down, second of six sons in a family of nine children of John Higgins, a banker who became a methodist minister, and his wife Ann, daughter of Henry Bournes, landowner, of Crossmolina…...
Hobson, (John) Bulmer
Hobson, (John) Bulmer (1883–1969), nationalist, was born 14 January 1883 at 5 Magdala Street, Belfast, the son of Benjamin Hobson, a grocer who was from a quaker family established in Ireland since the time of Cromwell, and his wife, Mary Ann Bulmer, a Yorkshire radical. Family…...
Ireton, Henry
Ireton, Henry (1611–51), soldier and lord deputy of Ireland, was the eldest son in the resolutely puritan gentry family of German and Jane Ireton of Attenborough, near Nottingham. Baptised on 3 November 1611, he was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, graduating in 1629, and…...
Irvine, Alexander Fitzgerald
Irvine, Alexander Fitzgerald (1863–1941), minister, social activist, orator, and author, was born 19 January 1863 in Scott's Entry, Antrim town, ninth among twelve children (five of whom died young) of Jamie Irvine, an illiterate protestant shoemaker, and Anna Irvine (née Gilmore), an…...
Jacob, Rosamond
Jacob, Rosamond (1888–1960), suffragist, republican, and writer, was born 13 October 1888 in Waterford city, third child of Louis Jacob (1841–1907) and Henrietta Jacob (née Harvey; 1849–1919). Louis Jacob worked in his father-in-law's house-agent and stockbroking firm in Waterford. Both…...
Jordan, Jeremiah
Jordan, Jeremiah (1829–1911), businessman, land campaigner and MP, was born in the townland of Tattinbar, parish of Aghavea, Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh, the eldest son of Samuel Jordan, tenant farmer, and his wife Elizabeth (née Warrell). He was 'a Wesleyan methodist of the third…...
Kelly, (John William) Basil
Kelly, (John William) Basil (1920–2008), barrister, politician and judge, was born 10 May 1920 in Co. Monaghan, one of two children and the only son of Thomas William Kelly and Emily Frances Kelly (née Donaldson). After the family had been burnt out of their farm they moved to Belfast,…...
Lee, Mary Agnes
Lee, Mary Agnes (1821–1909), suffragist in Australia, was born Mary Agnes Walsh on 14 February 1821 in Co. Monaghan, the daughter of John Walsh; her mother's name is unknown. Raised in Ulster, in 1844 she married George Lee, the organist and choirmaster of Armagh Cathedral; they had…...
Lowther, Sir Gerrard (Gerard)
Lowther, Sir Gerrard (Gerard) (1590–1660), lawyer and judge, was probably the natural son of Christopher Lowther of Penrith, Cumberland. He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 7 June 1605. He entered Gray's Inn in 1608 and was called to the bar in 1614. He was in Dublin as…...
Lyttle, Richard
Lyttle, Richard (1866–1905), land campaigner, nationalist, and non-subscribing presbyterian minister, was born 6 March 1866 at Barnhill, a farm near Dromore, Co. Down, owned by his father, Richard Lyttle, a merchant in Dromore whose family had been gentlemen farmers near…...
Malcolm, Andrew George
Malcolm, Andrew George (1818–56), physician and social reformer, was born 17 December 1818 in Newry, Co. Down, sixth child and fourth son among five sons and two daughters of the Rev. Andrew George Malcom (1782–1823), presbyterian minister, and Eleanor Malcom (née Hunter). Andrew…...
McArthur, Sir William
McArthur, Sir William (1809–87), politician, was born on 6 July 1809 in Malin, Co. Donegal, the fifth child of the five sons and two daughters of John McArthur, Wesleyan minister, and his wife, Sarah (née Finlay), of Malin. He was educated at private schools in Stranorlar, Co.…...
McCusker, (James) Harold
McCusker, (James) Harold (1940–90), politician, was born 7 February 1940 in William Street, Lurgan, Co. Armagh, son of James Harold McCusker and his wife Lily. His early life was overshadowed by his father's premature death (aged thirty-seven), which left the family in straitened…...
McGrath, William
McGrath, William (1916–91), loyalist and paedophile, was born 11 December 1916 in Belfast, son of Abraham McGrath and Jane McGrath (née Warrington). McGrath came from a methodist background; in later years he worked with presbyterian and Free Presbyterian churches while operating as a…...
McIvor, (William) Basil
McIvor, (William) Basil (1928–2004), politician, barrister and judge, was born 17 June 1928 in Tullyhommon, Co. Fermanagh (the southern side of Pettigo – 'I am a British citizen with about 120 feet to spare' (McIvor, 8)), second of three sons of Frederick McIvor, methodist minister, and…...
Mitchel, John
Mitchel, John (1815–75), nationalist and journalist, was born on 3 November 1815 at Camnish, near Dungiven, Co. Londonderry, eldest surviving child among two sons and four daughters of John Mitchel (1781–1840), presbyterian minister of the Dungiven congregation, and his wife Mary…...
Musa, Jennifer ('Mummy'; Jennifer Jehanzeba Qazi Musa)
Musa, Jennifer ('Mummy'; Jennifer Jehanzeba Qazi Musa) (1917–2008), politician, tribal elder and nurse, was born Bridget Wren on 11 November 1917 in Tarmons, Tarbert, Co. Kerry, one of five daughters and two sons of John Wren, a small-holding farmer, and his wife Johanna (née…...
Nicholson, Asenath
Nicholson, Asenath (1792–1855), traveller and social reformer, was born 24 February 1792, youngest child and only daughter among three children of Michael Hatch (c.1747–1830), farmer, and his wife, Martha (maiden name unknown; 1745–1837), in Chelsea, Vermont, USA. Educated at…...
Nixon, John William
Nixon, John William (1877–1949), policeman and politician, was born 1 June 1877 in Graddum, Co. Cavan, into a methodist family; other family details are unknown. He joined the RIC in 1899, served in Belfast, Donegal, Antrim, Mayo,…...
Parker, Henry
Parker, Henry (1604–52), parliamentarian pamphleteer, was born in 1604, the fifth son of Sir Nicholas Parker (d. 1619) and his third wife, Katherine Temple. His family, important Sussex gentry, was based at Ratton. Little is known of his early life until he attended Oxford, where…...
Patterson, Sarah (‘Saidie’)
Patterson, Sarah (‘Saidie’) (1904–85), trade unionist and peace activist, was born 25 November 1904 at 32 Woodvale St., Shankill Road, Belfast, eldest of three children of William Patterson (d. 1912), shipyard blacksmith, and Sarah Patterson (née Moore), both of whom were devout…...
Perry (Shaw), Alice Jacqueline
Perry (Shaw), Alice Jacqueline (1885–1969), engineer and Christian Scientist, was born in Wellpark, Co. Galway, one of five daughters and one son of James Perry, engineer and county surveyor for Galway, originally from Garvagh, Co. Londonderry, and Martha Perry (née Park), from…...