Boyd, Robert
Boyd, Robert (1805–31), soldier and revolutionary, was born 7 December 1805 in Templemore, Co. Londonderry, the son of Archibald Boyd (d. c.1827), city treasurer, and his wife Annie (née MacNeil); he had three (possibly four) brothers and a sister. Educated at the Free…...
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, 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…...
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 (…...
Bradstreet, Dudley
Bradstreet, Dudley (1711–63), spy and fortune-hunter, was born in Co. Tipperary, youngest son of John Bradstreet, a landowner whose family had received considerable Cromwellian land grants. Raised by a foster-family because of his father's high-living, Dudley later attributed his…...
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…...
Brady, Thomas
Brady, Thomas (1752–1827), Baron von Brady , Feldzeugmeister (general of artillery) in the Austrian army, was born in Cootehill, Co. Cavan. Destined for the church, he was sent to Vienna to study theology. Here he attracted the attention of the empress Maria Theresa, who…...
Brandt, Muriel (Kathleen)
Brandt, Muriel (Kathleen) (1909–81), artist, was born 16 January 1909 in Colenso Parade, Belfast, second child of Hugh McKinley, post-office official, and Florence Ann McKinley (née Furness). Having attended the Belfast College of Art (1932–3), she won the Sorelba scholarship for…...
Brandt, Ruth
Brandt, Ruth (1936–89), artist and teacher, was born 22 June 1936 in Dublin, eldest child of Frank Brandt, graphic designer, and the artist Muriel Brandt (qv) (née McKinley). She was educated at the Dominican convent, Santa…...
Braose, Philip de
Braose, Philip de (fl. 1172–77), Anglo-Norman adventurer, was the son of Philip de Braose, lord of Bramber in Sussex. As a younger son of his father, and so not in line to inherit the extensive family estates in Sussex and the Welsh marches, Philip chose to come to Ireland…...
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…...
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, Austin Joseph
Brennan, Austin Joseph (1894–1983), revolutionary and soldier, was born 8 April 1894 at Meelick Cross, Co. Clare, near Limerick city, second son of Patrick Brennan and Mary Brennan (née Clancy), farmers. After his education at the local national school he worked on the family farm.…...
Brennan, Joseph
Brennan, Joseph (1887–1976), civil servant and banker, was born 18 November 1887 at Hill Terrace, Bandon, Co. Cork, eldest son among seven children of Joseph Brennan (d. 1948), businessman, and his wife Mary (née Hickey). He was educated at the local national school, Clongowes…...
Brennan, Michael
Brennan, Michael (1896–1986), revolutionary and army chief of staff, was born 2 February 1896 in Meelick, Co. Clare, third son of Patrick Brennan, farmer, and Mary Brennan (née Clancy). Educated at St Munchin's College, Limerick, aged 15 he joined Fianna Éireann and was sworn into…...
Brereton, Sir William
Brereton, Sir William (1789–1864), British army general and inspector-general of the Irish Constabulary, was son of Maj. William Brereton, of Dublin and Bath, officer in the 6th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and later master of ceremonies at the Assembly Rooms in Bath, and his second…...
Brereton, William
Brereton, William (c.1485–1541), soldier and lord justice of Ireland, was of a gentry family from Chester. He was knighted at Tournai, Flanders (1513), and seems to have spent much of his career in Cheshire and to have had no connection with Ireland before being sent there…...
Brian Bórama (Bóruma, Boru)
Brian Bórama (Bóruma, Boru) (d. 1014), high-king of Ireland, was born towards the middle of the tenth century. The surviving sources record the event under the year 941, but may have done so retrospectively in recognition of the fame he acquired relatively quickly in death. His epithet…...
Bridle, Kathleen
Bridle, Kathleen (1897–1989), artist and art teacher, was born 19 November 1897 at Swalecliff, Kent, England, second of three daughters of James Bridle, a lieutenant and coastguard, and Janet Bridle (née Flower), a school teacher. Due to her father's profession, her family moved to…...
Briscoe, Robert Emmet
Briscoe, Robert Emmet (1894–1969), republican, Zionist, and businessman, was born 25 September 1894 at Lower Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin, third child and second son among four sons and three daughters of Abraham William Briscoe, merchant, native of Zagar, Kovno, Lithuania, and…...
Brocas, Henry
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BROCAS, Henry, senior
BROCAS, Henry, senior (1762/5–1837), painter and engraver, was born in Dublin, the fifth son of Robert Brocas of Dublin, and Bridget Brocas (née Taylor) of Wexford. His brother James (1754–80) was also an artist. Self-taught, Henry made a particular study of the English masters, and…...
Brocas, James Henry
This is a co-subject for the entry on BROCAS, Henry, senior. View the original entry....
Brocas, Samuel Frederick
This is a co-subject for the entry on BROCAS, Henry, senior. View the original entry....