Ivory, Thomas
Ivory, Thomas (1732?–1786), architect, was born in Cork city and initially worked as an apprentice carpenter. Moving to Dublin, he worked as a gunstock carver in the workshop of the gunsmith Alderman Thomas Truelock. He later took lessons in architectural drawing from a Mr Bell…...
Jackson, Thomas
Jackson, Thomas (1807–90), architect, was born in Waterford city, eldest son of Anthony Jackson, a quaker and freeman of the city, who was descended from Anthony Jackson, a quaker who left Lancashire in 1649 and settled in Meath. Thomas was articled to the architect George Dymond in…...
Johnson, Rosanna (‘Rosie’)
Johnson, Rosanna (‘Rosie’) (1891–1987), street trader, was born 24 March 1891, daughter of William Walsh, labourer, of 6 Turner's Cottages, Dublin, and Julia Walsh (née Reilly). At the age of 12 she was selling violets on the street for a penny a bunch and by the time she was 17 she…...
Johnston, Francis
Johnston, Francis (1760/61–1829), architect, was the second of two sons of William Johnston (1728–92) of Armagh, architect and builder, and his first wife, Margaret, daughter of James Houston. The family, originally from Scotland, settled in Ireland in the early seventeenth century with…...
Joly, Jaspar Robert
Joly, Jaspar Robert (1819–92), book collector, was born at Hollywood House, Brackagh, Clonbulloge, King's Co. (Offaly), on 26 May 1819, the eldest of three sons of Henry Edward Joly (1784–1852), a clergyman, and his wife Martha, daughter of Robert Revelle of Hartwill, Co. Wicklow…...
Jones, Richard
Jones, Richard (1641–1712), 1st earl of Ranelagh , tax farmer, politician, and architect, was born 8 February 1641 in the house of his uncle, Viscount Dungarvan, in Long Acre, London, the only son of Arthur Jones and Katherine Jones…...
Joyce, Michael
Joyce, Michael (1851–1941), sailor, Shannon pilot and MP, was born 4 September 1851 at Merchant's Quay, Limerick, the son of Richard Joyce, a Shannon pilot, and his wife Bridget (née Tubbs). His grandfather, John Joyce, had also been a Shannon pilot. Educated at the Christian Brothers'…...
Kellett, Sir Henry
Kellett, Sir Henry (1806–75), vice-admiral (RN) and polar explorer, was born 2 November 1806 at Clonacody, Co. Tipperary, son of John Dalton Kellett; nothing is known of his mother. His cousin was Commander Arthur Kellett, RN. He entered the Royal…...
Kennedy, Patrick
Kennedy, Patrick (1801–73), writer, folklorist, and bookseller, was born in Kilmyshal, near Bunclody, Co. Wexford, in early 1801. Little is known of his family life other than that his father was Patrick Kennedy and that he appears to have been the fourth child born to his parents.…...
Kenny, Sean
Kenny, Sean (1932–73), set designer and architect, was born John Noel Kenny on 23 December 1932 in Portroe, Co. Tipperary, eldest among nine sons of Thomas Joseph Kenny, builder and former IRA man, and Nora Kenny (née Gleeson). He was educated…...
King, William Donald Aelian ('Bill')
King, William Donald Aelian ('Bill') (1910–2012), submarine captain and yachtsman, was born on 23 June 1910 in Church Avenue, Farnborough, Hampshire, the only son of four children of William King, army officer, originally from Co. Galway, and his wife Georgina Marie (née Mackenzie…...
Langrishe, Richard
Langrishe, Richard (1834–1922), architect and engineer, was born 6 November 1834 in Knocktopher Abbey, Kilkenny, younger son among two sons and one daughter of Rev. Sir Hercules Langrishe, politician and clergyman, and Maria Langrishe (née Cottingham) of Somerville, Co. Cavan.…...
Lanyon, Sir Charles
Lanyon, Sir Charles (1813–89), civil engineer and architect, was born 6 January 1813 at Eastbourne, Sussex, third son of John Jenkinson Lanyon, purser in the Royal Navy, and Catherine Lanyon (née Mortimer). Privately educated locally, he was articled under Jacob Owen (from 1832 of…...
Leask, Harold Graham
Leask, Harold Graham (1882–1964), architectural historian and archaeologist, was born 7 November 1882 in Dublin, probably at the family home in Harold's Cross, youngest among (at least) three sons and three daughters of Robert H. Leask, Scottish-born architect and engineer, and Anna…...
Lecky, Squire Thornton Stratford
Lecky, Squire Thornton Stratford (1838–1902), master mariner, cartographer, and writer on navigation, was born in Downpatrick, Co. Down, fifth son of Holland Lecky of Castle Lecky, Magilligan, Co. Londonderry, and Ballyholland House, Co. Down, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the…...
Leeson, John
Leeson, John (d. 1855?), architect, was probably born in Dublin. His parentage is unknown, although he may have been a direct or collateral relative of James Leeson, carpenter, who was active in Co. Dublin c.1806, and William Leeson, architect, who worked from the 1760s to…...
Lever, James
Lever, James (1760–1833), architect and contractor, was born in Lancashire, England, son of a tradesman; his parents are unknown, but he always claimed to be a nephew of Sir Ashton Lever, an eccentric high sheriff who collected shells and stuffed birds. Apprenticed to a local…...
Lucas, Charles Davis
Lucas, Charles Davis (1834–1914), Royal Navy officer, awarded the first Victoria Cross, was born 19 February 1834 at Drumargole, Co. Armagh, son of Davis Lucas, bank official, of Clontibert and Drumargole, a member of the Lucas-Scudamore family of Castleshane, Co. Monaghan. He…...
Lynn, William Henry
Lynn, William Henry (1829–1915), architect and landscape painter, was born 27 December 1829 at St John's Point, Co. Down, elder of two sons of Lt Henry Lynn, RN, of the Irish Coast Guard Service, and Margaretta Lynn (née Ferres). He was educated at a…...
Lyster, Thomas William
Lyster, Thomas William (1855–1922), librarian and author, was born 17 December 1855 in Co. Kilkenny, son of Thomas Lyster of Rathdowney, Co. Laois, and Jane Lyster (née Smith) of Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. Of a quaker family, he was educated at Wesley College, Dublin, before…...
Mac Amhlaigh, Dónall Peadar
Mac Amhlaigh, Dónall Peadar (1926–89), author, journalist, and labourer, was born 10 December 1926 in Co. Galway, the eldest of three sons and one daughter of James McCauley and his wife, Mary McCauley (née Condon). James McCauley was born in Limerick and served with the Munster…...
MacDermott, Martin
MacDermott, Martin (1823–1905), poet and architect, was born 8 April 1823 in Dublin, son of John MacDermott (1785–1842), prosperous merchant and perfumer, and Amélie Thérèse MacDermott (née Boshell), of French descent. Although educated as a catholic on Usher's Quay and later at a…...
MacDonnell, Randell
MacDonnell, Randell (c.1633–1711), naval commander and Jacobite, was second son of Sir James MacDonnell, 2nd baronet of Moye, a cousin of Randal MacDonnell (qv), 2nd earl and later marquis of Antrim. His mother was Mary…...
MacEoin, Uinseann Ó Rathaille
MacEoin, Uinseann Ó Rathaille (1920–2007), architect, journalist, campaigner, republican, socialist, and mountain climber, was born Vincent O'Rahilly McGuone on 4 July 1920 in Pomeroy, Co. Tyrone, one of four children of Malachy McGuone, a wine and spirit merchant who owned the…...
MacKay, John William
MacKay, John William (1831–1902), miner and businessman, was born in Dublin, son of a Scottish father and an Irish mother. His family were desperately poor, and in 1840 they emigrated to America. Following his arrival in New York, he was educated at a public school but his father…...