Duffy, Louise Gavan
Duffy, Louise Gavan (1884–1969), educator, nationalist and Irish language enthusiast, was born 17 July 1884 in Cimiez, near Nice, the only daughter among four children of the marriage of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (qv), journalist and…...
Dunican, Laurence Kieran (‘L. Kieran’)
Dunican, Laurence Kieran (‘L. Kieran’) (1935–98), microbiologist, was born 29 January 1935 at 92 Marlborough Road, Donnybrook, Dublin, eldest among three sons and two daughters of James Joseph Dunican, teacher and dairy farmer of Horseleap, Co. Westmeath, and Mary Lucy Dunican (…...
Dunlevy, Margaret ('Pearl')
Dunlevy, Margaret ('Pearl') (1909–2002), physician and epidemiologist, was born Bridget Margaret Mary Dunlevy on 13 August 1909 at Mountcharles, Co. Donegal, the fifth of six children (four boys and two girls) of George Dunlevy, shopkeeper and merchant, and Maggie Dunlevy (née Doherty…...
Dunne, Seán
Dunne, Seán (1919–69), republican and labour activist, was born in Waterford city, youngest of three children of Michael Dunne, member of the RIC, and Brigid Dunne, and was educated at the CBS…...
Everett, James
Everett, James (1890–1967), Labour politician and trade unionist, was born 14 February 1890 in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, a son of Robert Everett, a small farmer and waiter, and Margaret Everett (née Doyle). He had one brother and a sister and attended the local national school in…...
Fahy, Francis Arthur
Fahy, Francis Arthur (1854–1935), songwriter and Irish-language activist, was born 27 September 1854 at Kinvara, Co. Galway, one of eight children of Thomas Fahy, shopkeeper, of Co. Clare, and Celia Fahy (née Marlborough) of Gort, Co. Galway. Educated at Kinvara national school, he…...
Fergus, John
Fergus, John (c.1700–1761), doctor of medicine and collector of books and manuscripts, was born in Co. Mayo, where a branch of the Ó Fearghusa family was to be found. His father's name was Mac Raith, and hence Dr Fergus was sometimes referred to in Irish as Seán mac Mac Raíth Ó…...
FitzGerald, Desmond
FitzGerald, Desmond (1911–87), architect, was born 5 November 1911 at Saint-Jean-du-Doigt (Finisterre) in Brittany, France, eldest of four sons of Desmond FitzGerald (qv), writer and future minister for external affairs in…...
Flannery, Martin Raymond
Flannery, Martin Raymond (1941–2013), theoretical physicist, was born on 8 January 1941 in Claudy, Co. Londonderry, one of the younger children in a family of seven of James Flannery and Bridget Flannery (née Lohan). His parents were the two teachers in the primary school at Altahoney,…...
Flannery, Thomas J. (Ó Flannghaile, Tomás)
Flannery, Thomas J. (Ó Flannghaile, Tomás) (1846–1916), Irish-language scholar and revivalist, was born 5 April 1846 in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, second son of Pádraig Ó Flannghaile and his wife Sadhbh Ní Chlochartaigh. He began his education under Peadar Ó hOisín, a local schoolmaster.…...
Flood, Finbarr
Flood, Finbarr (1938–2016), soccer player, managing director of Guinness brewery and chairman of the Labour Court, was born on 1 December 1938 in Kilmainham, Dublin, one of three children (and only son) to Jack Flood, a worker in Guinness, and his wife Eva Flood (née…...
Folens, Albert Joseph Marcel
Folens, Albert Joseph Marcel (1916–2003) Flemish nationalist and educational publisher, was born 15 October 1916 in Bissegem, west Flanders (latterly part of the municipality of Kortrijk, formerly Courtrai) to a devoutly catholic Flemish‐speaking family. (Folens recalled saying many…...
Foley, Daniel (Ó Foghludha, Domhnall)
Foley, Daniel (Ó Foghludha, Domhnall) (1815–74), anglican minister and Irish-language scholar, grew up in a poor Irish-speaking family in Tralee, Co. Kerry. He worked for a time in the shop of Patrick Grey in Tralee. Influenced by a local clergyman, he left the Roman Catholic Church and…...
French, Seán
French, Seán (1889–1937), chemist and politician, was born John French on 29 May 1889 in Cork city, son of William French, coach trimmer, and his wife Ellen (née Twomey), of 25 King Street, Cork. After his education at the Christian Brothers' School, St Patrick's Place, Cork, and a…...
Gallagher, James (Ó Gallchobhair, Séamus)
Gallagher, James (Ó Gallchobhair, Séamus) (c.1684–1751), catholic bishop and author of published sermons in Irish, was born in the diocese of Kilmore; nothing is known of his parents. He was most likely ordained in Ireland around 1709 before being sent to the Continent to…...
Geehan, Thomas
Geehan, Thomas (fl. 1925–64), communist and unemployed workers leader, was born to a catholic family in Belfast, where he was reared in the Falls Road area. Employed as a textile worker, by the mid 1920s he was secretary of the west Belfast branch of the Northern Ireland…...
Gibney, (John) Arthur
Gibney, (John) Arthur (1931–2006), architect, was born 6 August 1931 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, the only child of John Gibney, a dentist, of 8 Orchard Road, off Clonliffe Road, Dublin, and his wife Margaret (née Green). After attending St Joseph's…...
Gibson, William (Mac Giolla Bhríde, Liam)
Gibson, William (Mac Giolla Bhríde, Liam) (1868–1942), 2nd Baron Ashbourne , Irish-language activist, was born 16 December 1868 in Dublin, eldest child of Edward Gibson (qv), 1st Baron Ashbourne, and Frances Maria Adelaide Gibson (née Colles…...
Gógan, Liam Seosamh
Gógan, Liam Seosamh (1891–1979), Irish-language poet, was born 24 October 1891 at 391 North Circular Road, Dublin, son of William J. Gogan, sweet merchant and Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) member, and Ellen Gogan (née Hendrick). He was educated in O'Connell's Christian Brothers'…...
Goldie, George
Goldie, George (1828–81), architect, was born in York, England, on 8 June 1828, the son of a medical doctor, George Goldie, and his wife Mary Anne, the second daughter of Joseph Bonomi the younger, an architect and Egyptologist. His great-grandfather was the Italian architect Joseph…...
Hackett, Rosanna ('Rosie')
Hackett, Rosanna ('Rosie') (1893–1976), trade unionist, was born 25 July 1893 at 14 Prebend Street, off Constitution Hill in the Dublin north city centre, elder of two daughters of John Hackett, described as a labourer at his marriage (October 1891) but working by Rosie's birth as a…...
Haicéad (Hackett), Pádraigín
Haicéad (Hackett), Pádraigín (1610s?–1654), Dominican priest and Gaelic poet, was probably born in the second decade of the seventeenth century, second son of James Hackett FitzPiers and his wife Margaret Kearney, of Baltarsna in the parish of Ballysheehan, Co. Tipperary. ‘Pádraigín’…...
Hanly, Dáithi
Hanly, Dáithi (1917–2003), architect and preservationist, was born David Patrick Hanly on 11 March 1917 at Glenview, Cavan town, one of at least five children (three sons and two daughters) of (Francis) Joseph Hanly (c.1880–1960), an instructor in the Department of…...
Harte, Francis ('Frank')
Harte, Francis ('Frank') (1933–2005), architect, lecturer, singer, and collector of traditional songs, was born 14 May 1933 in Dublin. His father, Peter Harte (d. 1977), was originally from a farm in Co. Sligo, but moved to Dublin and bought a pub, The Tap, in Chapelizod, then still…...
Haughey, Edward Enda
Haughey, Edward Enda (1944–2014), Baron Ballyedmond, businessman and politician, was born on 5 January 1944 in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co. Louth, the only son and youngest of three children of Edward Haughey, farmer and cattle dealer of Kilcurry, near Dundalk, Co. Louth…...