Boyce, James
Boyce, James (1909–66), actor and broadcaster, was born on 17 March 1909 in Belfast, the oldest of three sons of Hugh Boyce, a coachbuilder, and his wife Ellen (née Hayes), a dressmaker before marriage. The family, who were Christian Brethren in religion, lived in Rosebury Road, Ormeau…...
Boycott, Charles Cunningham
Boycott, Charles Cunningham (1832–97), land agent, was born 12 March 1832 at Burgh St Peter, Norfolk, England, eldest surviving son of William Boycatt (1798–1877), rector of Wheatacrebury, Norfolk, and Elizabeth Georgiana Boycatt (née Beevor). William Boycatt changed the family name…...
Boyd, Hugh
Boyd, Hugh (1690–1765), entrepreneur, was one of several sons of the Rev. William Boyd, vicar of Ramoan, Co. Antrim (who is said to have had at least two sons by a second marriage), and his first wife, Rose, daughter of Daniel MacNeill of Dunaneeny near Ballycastle. The Boyd family…...
Boyd, John
Boyd, John (1912–2002), radio producer and playwright, was born 19 July 1912 at 9 Baskin Street, in a working-class area of east Belfast, the first of three children (two boys and a girl) of Robert Boyd, a fireman on steam engines and later an engine driver, and Jane Boyd (née Leeman).…...
Boyd, Stephen
Boyd, Stephen (1928–77), actor, was born William Millar 4 July 1928 at Glengormley near Belfast. He took his mother's maiden name for the stage, and became a US citizen under that name in 1963. He began acting with the Carnmoney Amateur Dramatic Society, making his professional…...
Boylan, James
Boylan, James (1899–1982), footwear manufacturer and company director, was born 23 June 1899 in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, eldest son among five sons and six daughters of John Michael Boylan, small farmer at Ballybay, and Hannah Boylan (née Connolly). Educated locally, he left school (May…...
Boyle, Charles
Boyle, Charles (1670?–1704), 3rd earl of Cork , 2nd earl of Burlington , politician, was second child but first son of Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan (Ireland) and Baron Clifford (England), and Jane Boyle (née Seymour), daughter of the 2nd duke of Somerset. His grandfather was…...
Boyle, Henry
Boyle, Henry (1684–1764), 1st earl of Shannon and politician, was born in Castlemartyr, Co. Cork, son of Col. Henry Boyle of Castlemartyr (a son of Roger Boyle (qv), 1st earl of Orrery), and his wife Mary (daughter of…...
Boyle, Henry
Boyle, Henry (c.1668–1725), 1st Baron Carleton, politician, was the son of Charles Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan (Ireland) and Baron Clifford (England), and his first wife, Jane, daughter of William Seymour, 2nd duke of Somerset. His grandfather was…...
Boyle, John
Boyle, John (1707–62), 5th earl of Orrery, 5th earl of Cork, and 2nd Baron Marston , writer, was born 13 January 1707 in Westminster, London, the only son of Charles Boyle, 4th earl of Orrery, and of Lady Elizabeth Boyle (née Cecil). His birth has also been dated 2 January; the…...
Boyle, Murrough
Boyle, Murrough (1648–1718), 1st Viscount Blessington and MP, was born in Cork, son of Michael Boyle (qv), later Church of Ireland archbishop of Armagh (1678–1702) and lord chancellor (1665–85), and Mary Boyle (née O'Brien), daughter of…...
Boyle, Richard
Boyle, Richard (1566–1643), 1st earl of Cork, landowner and politician, was born 13 October 1566 in Kent, second son of Roger Boyle, a native of Herefordshire, and his wife Joan Naylor of Canterbury, who had made their home in Preston outside Faversham in the vicinity of Canterbury.…...
Boyle, Richard
Boyle, Richard (1727–1807), 2nd earl of Shannon and politician, was born in London 30 January 1727, eldest of six children of Henry Boyle (qv) of Castlemartyr, Co. Cork, 1st earl and speaker of the Irish house of commons (1733–56), and…...
Boyle, Richard
Boyle, Richard (1612–98), 2nd earl of Cork and 1st earl of Burlington, was born 20 October 1612 at Youghal College, Co. Cork, second son of Richard Boyle (qv), 1st earl of Cork (‘the great earl’), and…...
Boyle, Roger
Boyle, Roger (1621–79), 1st Baron Broghill and 1st earl of Orrery , soldier, politician, and writer, was born 25 April 1621 in Co. Waterford, twelfth child and third son to survive of Richard Boyle (qv), 1st earl of Cork, and his second wife…...
Brabazon, Reginald
Brabazon, Reginald (1841–1929), 12th earl of Meath , landowner, philanthropist, and disciplinarian, was born in London on 31 July 1841, the second son of William Brabazon, eleventh earl, and Harriet, second daughter of Sir Richard Brooke, sixth baronet, of Norton Priory, Cheshire…...
Bracken, Joseph K.
Bracken, Joseph K. (1852–1904), monumental sculptor and builder, local politician, and a founder in 1884 of the ‘Gaelic Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of National Pastimes’ which evolved to become the Gaelic Athletic Association (…...
Brady, Charles
Brady, Charles (1926–97), painter, was born 27 July 1926 in New York, son of Arthur Brady, an industrial hardware merchant. He is best known for small-scale paintings of still life and landscape. At the end of the second world war, while serving with the US navy, he suffered an…...
Brady, Maziere
Brady, Maziere (1796–1871), lord chancellor of Ireland and patron of the arts, was born 20 July 1796 in Dublin, second of three sons of Francis Tempest Brady (1763–1821) of Willow Park, Booterstown, Co. Dublin, manufacturer of gold and silver thread, and Martha Brady (née Hodgson…...
Brambell, Wilfrid
Brambell, Wilfrid (1912–85), actor, was born Henry Wilfrid Brambell 22 March 1912 at 6 Edenvale Road, Rathgar, Dublin, youngest of three sons of Henry Brambell, clerk in Guinness's brewery, and Edith Brambell (née Marks), an opera singer. He made his first stage appearance at the age of…...
Braose (Briouze, Briouse), William de
Braose (Briouze, Briouse), William de (d. 1211), lord of Braose in Normandy and Bramber and Brecon in Wales, was son of William de Braose and Bertha, daughter of William de Hereford. He succeeded his father in 1180 and by that time had already acquired a reputation as a ruthless…...
Braughall, Thomas
Braughall, Thomas (1730–1803), merchant and politician, was born in Dublin (no further details of his background are known), and was one of the most forthright radical catholics to emerge from the Dublin merchant community in the eighteenth century. Braughall's ancestors had taken…...
Breen, Dermot H.
Breen, Dermot H. (1924–78), founder of Cork International Film Festival and film censor, was born 18 August 1924 in Waterford, sixth child of James Breen and Brigid Breen. He was educated in Cork at the Presentation Brothers College and at the Provincial College. Initially a…...
Brenan, James
Brenan, James (1837–1907), painter and educationalist, was born in Dublin, the eldest son of Thomas Brenan. After studying art at the RDS school of design (then in Leinster House) and at the school of the…...
Brennan, Denis Gerard
Brennan, Denis Gerard (1927–83), actor and broadcaster, was born 20 June 1927 in Sandyford, Co. Dublin, into a theatrical family, youngest of three children of Patrick Joseph Brennan, farmer, and Eva Jane Brennan (née Hayden), songwriter, broadcaster, and producer of variety…...