Aiken, Jim
Aiken, Jim (1932–2007), music promoter and businessman, was one of seven or eight children born to Joseph Aiken and his wife Annie (née Fagan), and was raised on the family farm in Jonesborough, Co. Armagh, close to the border. After completing his secondary education, he studied…...
Algar, Joseph
Algar, Joseph (1890–1958), chemist, was born 15 April 1890 at 22 Arnott St, Dublin, eldest of eight children of Herbert Okell Algar, originally from Warwickshire, and Celia Algar (née Kelly) from Dublin. His father, who converted to catholicism on his marriage, was a master tailor…...
Anderson, Gerry
Anderson, Gerry (1944–2014), musician, radio broadcaster and television presenter, was born Gerald Michael Anderson on 28 October 1944 in Derry, one of four children (three sons and a daughter) of John Anderson, a boiler and range-fireplace fitter who had joined the anti-treaty side…...
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…...
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…...
Atkins, Henry St John
Atkins, Henry St John (1896–1987), president of UCC, was born in Cork on 19 March 1896, son of Patrick Atkins and Agnes Atkins (née Egan); he was educated at North Monastery school in Cork, and graduated…...
Ball, John
Ball, John (1728–1804), silk manufacturer, was probably the John Ball who was the son of Richard and Abigail Ball of Dublin and was baptised at St Catherine's church in April 1728. Richard Ball's forebears lived at Ardee, Co. Louth, and were descended from a Cromwellian officer,…...
Ball, John
Ball, John (1818–89), scientist, politician, and mountain traveller, was born 20 August 1818 in Dublin, eldest son among four children of Nicholas Ball (qv), politician and judge, and Jane Ball (neé Sherlock) of Butlerstown, Co.…...
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.…...
Barry, Billie (Lillian)
Barry, Billie (Lillian) (1921–2014), performer and stage school founder, was born on 27 January 1921 in Drumcondra, Dublin, the youngest of fifteen children to John Clarke-Barry, orchestra leader and musician, and his wife Anne (née Hughes), an amateur operatic singer. The family were…...
Barry, Vincent Christopher
Barry, Vincent Christopher (1908–75), chemist, was born at Cork on 17 May 1908, the youngest in the family of seven sons and four daughters of a post office official, James Barry, and his wife, Agnes (née Stack), daughter of a small businessman. After a schooling by the Christian…...
Behan, Dominic
Behan, Dominic (1928–89), writer, balladeer, and broadcaster, was born 22 October 1928 in Dublin, fourth child of five children of Stephen Behan, house painter, and Kathleen Behan (qv) (née Kearney). Educated at St Agatha's School, North…...
Beirne, Bryan Patrick
Beirne, Bryan Patrick (1918–98), entomologist and pest control expert, was born 22 January 1918 in Ballygeary, Co. Wexford, the elder son of Patrick Beirne, tax inspector with UK Customs and Excise and later the Irish Revenue Commissioners, and his wife Mabel, daughter of…...
Bernal, John Desmond
Bernal, John Desmond (1901–71), scientist, was born 10 May 1901 at Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, eldest of three sons and two daughters of Samuel George Bernal, farmer, of Brookwatson, Nenagh, and his wife Elizabeth Miller, daughter of a Presbyterian minister in San José, California.…...
Bernelle, Agnes
Bernelle, Agnes (1923–99), singer and actress, was born Agnes Elizabeth Bernauer on 7 March 1923 in Berlin, Germany, daughter of Rudolph Bernauer (1880–1953), a Jewish-Hungarian actor, playwright, librettist, and theatrical director and impresario, and his second wife, Emmy (née Erb) (b…...
Bewerunge, Heinrich
Bewerunge, Heinrich (1862–1923), musicologist, educator, and composer, was born 7 December 1862 in Letmathe, Westphalia, Germany, the second of nine children of Heinrich Hermann Bewerunge (1836–1901), a building contractor from Lüchtringen-an-der-Weser, and his wife, Maria…...
Birmingham, John
Birmingham, John (1816–84), astronomer, polymath, and landowner, was born at Millbrook, near Tuam, Co. Galway in May 1816, the only son of Edward Birmingham (d. 1833, the youngest son of John (Sean Rua) Birmingham of Dalgin, a landowner with interests in the West Indies) and his wife,…...
Boran, Nicholas (Nixie)
Boran, Nicholas (Nixie) (1903–72), trade unionist, was born in 1903 at Massford in the colliery district north of Castlecomer in Co. Kilkenny, the second in a family of four born to George Boran, a small farmer and coal carter, and his wife, Mary (née Maher). Nicholas attended…...
Bourke, Patrick Martin Austin
Bourke, Patrick Martin Austin (1913–95), meteorologist and historian, was born 10 May 1913 in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, second son of Patrick M. Bourke, stationmaster, and Clare Bourke (née O'Sullivan). He was educated at Mount Sion CBS…...
Boylan, Eugene
Boylan, Eugene (Richard Kevin) (1904–64), physicist, monk, and writer, was born 3 February 1904 in Bray, Co. Wicklow, and was baptised Richard Kevin Boylan, one of at least three sons and two daughters of Richard Joseph Boylan, manager of the Hibernian Bank, and Agnes Honoria…...
Bradley, Daniel Joseph ('Dan')
Bradley, Daniel Joseph ('Dan') (1928–2010), physicist, was born in Derry city on 18 January 1928, the son of John Columba Bradley, a Post Office worker, and his wife Margaret (née Keating), one of ten daughters of farming stock, originally from near Cashel, Co. Tipperary. He was the…...
Brosnahan, Seán
Brosnahan, Seán (1911–87), teacher and trade unionist, was born 26 August 1911 in Killaloe, Co. Clare, one of nine children of John Brosnahan, RIC sergeant, and Norah Brosnahan (née Ryan) (d. 1946). One of his brothers was Thomas J.…...
Burke, James Dominic
Burke, James Dominic (1833–1904), Christian Brother and pioneer of technical education, was born in December 1833 in Limerick, eldest among five sons and two daughters of John Burke, cabinet-maker, and Mary Burke (née Ahern). He was educated at the…...
Burke, Patrick (Thomas; 'Tom')
Burke, Patrick (Thomas; 'Tom') (1923–2008), Carmelite priest, scientist and co-founder of the Young Scientist exhibition, was born Thomas Burke on 4 November 1923 in Dublin, one of five children (four boys and a girl) of Edmund Burke, and his wife Elizabeth (née Traynor), who later…...