Ensor, John
Ensor, John (d. 1787), architect and developer, travelled as a young man from Coventry, England, to Ireland in the 1730s with his younger brother George. Their parents are said to have been Job Ensor and his wife Mary Hill. John was associated with…...
Fagan, James Bernard
Fagan, James Bernard (1873–1933), actor-manager, director and playwright, was born 18 May 1873 in Belfast, the eldest son of the surgeon John (later Sir John) Fagan (qv) of Queen's County (Laois) and Mary Catherine Fagan (née Hughes) of…...
Fallon, Gabriel Joseph
Fallon, Gabriel Joseph (1898–1980), actor, author, and critic, was born 17 August 1898 at 28 Leinster Avenue, Dublin, son of Peter Joseph Fallon, law clerk, and Mary Josephine Fallon (née Rafferty). Educated at O'Connell's school in Dublin, he joined the civil service as a land…...
Falloon, Cecil Samuel Gordon ('Paddy')
Falloon, Cecil Samuel Gordon ('Paddy') (1911–2003), businessman, hotelier, and restorer of historic buildings, was born 10 July 1911 in Camly Macullagh, a townland near Newtownhamilton in south Co. Armagh, younger son and youngest of four children of Samuel Falloon, farmer, and his…...
Farren, Elizabeth
Farren, Elizabeth (1762–1829), countess of Derby and actress, was born 6 July 1762 either in Cork, Bath, or Southampton, to George Farren, surgeon and apothecary of Cork, and his wife Margaret (née Wright), daughter of a wealthy brewer in Liverpool who latterly fell on hard times.…...
Fay, Frank J. (Francis John)
Fay, Frank J. (Francis John) (1870–1931), actor and theatre producer, was born 30 August 1870 at 10 Lower Dorset Street, Dublin, the eldest son of four children of William Patrick Fay, a government clerk, and his wife, Martha Fay (née Dowling). He was educated at Belvedere College…...
Fay, William George (‘Wille’)
Fay, William George (‘Wille’) (1872–1947), actor and producer, was born 12 November 1872 at Rathmines, Dublin, one of four children of William Patrick Fay, a government clerk, and his wife, Martha (née Dowling), from a midlands farming family. After teaching for a time at the Model…...
Fitzgerald, Barry
Fitzgerald, Barry (1888–1961), actor, was born 10 March 1888 in Dublin and christened William Joseph Shields, eldest son of Adolphus William Shields, compositor and well-known Dublin union organiser, and Fanny Shields (née Ungerland). Educated at Merchant Taylors’ School and Skerry's…...
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…...
Fitzgerald, Geraldine Mary Wilma
Fitzgerald, Geraldine Mary Wilma (1913–2005), actress and stage director, was born 24 November 1913 at 85 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin, one of two daughters and two sons of Edward Martin Fitzgerald (1886–1965), a lawyer, who was Roman catholic, and his wife Edith Marie (née Richards) (…...
Fitzgerald, James (Jim)
Fitzgerald, James (Jim) (1929–2003), theatre and television director, was born 13 August 1929 in Clontarf, Dublin, son of Gerald Fitzgerald and Kathleen Fitzgerald (née Keogh); his father worked in theatre as a stage carpenter, stage manager, and actor. Reared on Dublin’s northside, Jim…...
FitzGerald, Susan
FitzGerald, Susan (1949–2013), actor, was born on 28 May 1949 in Leicester, to Irish parents Emily FitzGerald (née Irwin) and William FitzGerald, a general practitioner. She was the eldest of six children, with three brothers and two sisters. The FitzGeralds were a well-connected family…...
Fitzhenry, Elizabeth
Fitzhenry, Elizabeth (c.1722–1790), leading actress, was born Elizabeth Flanagan in Abbey St., Dublin, daughter of the proprietor of the Old Ferry Boat tavern. She was sometimes mistakenly referred to as Mary Flannigan; her real name appears on her first marriage…...
Fitzsimons, Jack
Fitzsimons, Jack (1930–2014), architect, writer and politician, was born on 26 April 1930 in the county home at Trim, Co. Meath, one of a family of six of John (Jack) Fitzsimons, a farm labourer, and Annie Fitzsimons (née Monaghan), a former domestic servant, living at Kilbeg,…...
Flaherty, Bernard (Williams, Barney)
Flaherty, Bernard (Williams, Barney) (1823–76), actor, was born 20 July 1823 in the barracks, Cork, the son of Michael Flaherty. The family emigrated to America, where Michael became a grocer and later a boarding-house keeper near the Bowery, in Manhattan, New York. Bernard grew up…...
Flaherty, Robert
Flaherty, Robert (1884–1951), filmmaker, was born 16 February 1884 in Iron Mountain, Michigan, eldest among seven children of Robert Flaherty, a protestant miner who had emigrated from Ireland by way of Quebec, and his catholic, German-born wife, Susan (née Kloeckner). Robert was…...
Flanagan, Pauline
Flanagan, Pauline (1925–2003), actress, was born 29 June 1925 in Sligo town, youngest child of Patrick J. Flanagan and his wife Elizabeth (née McLynn). Her paternal family, originally from Co. Fermanagh, were driven out by anti‐catholic pogroms and resettled in Sligo, where her parents…...
Ford, John
Ford, John (1894–1973), film director, was born 1 February 1894 at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA, as John Martin Feeney, fourth son among five sons and six daughters of Seán Feeney, Roman Catholic farmer and saloon-keeper, and Barbara ‘Abby’ Feeney (née Curran); his father had emigrated to…...
Fossett, Edward
Fossett, Edward (c.1895–1951), horseman and circus owner, was born near London, son of Sir Robert Fossett, originally of Islington, and Mary Fossett (née Francis), a bareback rider from Co. Wexford who performed as ‘Miss Mini’ in the family business, Sir Robert Fossett's…...
Fossett, Edward (Teddy)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Fossett, Edward. View the original entry....
Fossett, Robert (Bobby)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Fossett, Edward. View the original entry....
Fowke, Francis
Fowke, Francis (1823–65), captain in the Royal Engineers, architect, and engineer, was born 7 July 1823 at Ballysillan, Belfast, Co. Antrim, elder of two sons of John Fowke (1794–1851), lieutenant of the 68th Regiment of Foot, and his first wife, Jane (née Ferguson; d. 1828). He was…...
French, (William) Percy
French, (William) Percy (1854–1920), songwriter, humourist, entertainer, and painter, was born 1 May 1854 in Cloonyquin House, parish of Tulsk, Co. Roscommon, second son and third child among four sons and five daughters of Christopher French (1821–97), landowner, and Susan Emma French…...
Friel, Brian
Friel, Brian (1929–2015), playwright and writer, was born near Omagh, Co. Tyrone, on either 9 or 10 January 1929 (he possessed separate birth certificates for both dates), the third child of Patrick ‘Paddy’ Friel and Mary Christina McLoone. He had two older sisters, Nanette and Mary,…...
Fuller, James Franklin
Fuller, James Franklin (1835–1924), architect, novelist, and antiquary, was born at Nedanone, near Derryquin, Co. Kerry, the only son among three children of Thomas Harnett Fuller (d. 1886), landowner, and his wife Frances Diana (d. 1872), daughter of Francis Bland,…...