Abbott, Thomas Kingsmill
Abbott, Thomas Kingsmill (1829–1913), scholar and clergyman, was born 26 March 1829 in Dublin, son of Joseph Abbott, clerk of the peace, and his wife Jane Kingsmill. Thomas entered TCD 9 June 1846 as a sizar (his father being dead),…...
Abernethy, William
Abernethy, William (1864–1930), professional photographer, was the son of Robert Abernethy, farmer, from Comber, Co. Down. Details of his early life are lacking, even in obituaries published in the Belfast press. He learned his trade in Belfast, in the studio of a successful…...
Acheson, Anne Crawford
Acheson, Anne Crawford (1882–1962), sculptor, was born in Portadown, Co. Armagh, one of several daughters of John Acheson and Harriet Glasgow Acheson, and was educated in Victoria College and later in the School of Art (both in Belfast) and then at the Royal College of Art, London,…...
Áed
Áed (982/3–1056), son of Cróngille Ua Foirréid and bishop and scholar at Armagh, belonged, like many bishops of Armagh, to the Cenél nÉogain, the most powerful of the dynasties of the Northern Uí Néill. He is best known as the subject of the poem ‘Uasal epscop Éirenn Áed’: here the…...
Ailerán (Aileranus Sapiens)
Ailerán (Aileranus Sapiens) (d. 665), fer léigind (lector or chief scholar) of the monastery of Clonard, Co. Meath, died in the great cholera or plague, termed the Buide Conaill (AU 665). His obit is given as 29 December in the Martyrology of Tallaght and in the…...
Allan, Henry
Allan, Henry (1865–1912), painter, was born 18 June 1865 in Dundalk, Co. Louth, youngest son of William Allan, distiller, of Bachelor's Walk, Dundalk, and his wife Anne, daughter of the Rev. Solomon Browne, presbyterian minister of Castledawson, Co. Londonderry. He began his…...
Alment, Mary Martha
Alment, Mary Martha (1834–1908) artist, was born 9 April 1834 at St Mary's Abbey, Dublin, the daughter of William F. Alment, who was the son of John Alment (1740?–1787), a huguenot scientific and mathematical instrument maker. Mary studied art at the…...
Almqvist, Bo Gunnar
Almqvist, Bo Gunnar (1931–2013), folklore scholar, was born on 5 May 1931 in Edsgatan, a small community in Alster, a farming district in the province of Varmland, Sweden, an area noted for its old customs and traditions. He was the youngest child, born eleven years after his…...
Alton, Bryan Gerard
Alton, Bryan Gerard (1919–91), physician, politician and goldsmith, was born in Dublin on 5 June 1919, the only child of Norman Bindon Alton, bank inspector, and his wife, Mary Frances (née Hayes). The family lived at 119 Morehampton Road until his father died in 1925. Bryan and his…...
Alton, Ernest Henry
Alton, Ernest Henry (1873–1952), classical scholar and public representative, was born 21 September 1873 at Marlinstown, near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, eldest son of James Poë Alton, banker, of Limerick and Marguerite Alton (née Keely). His abiding passion for classical literature was…...
Anderson, Emily
Anderson, Emily (1891–1962), academic, civil servant, and translator, was born 17 March 1891 at Taylor's Hill, Galway, second daughter of Alexander Anderson (qv), professor of natural philosophy and later president of…...
Anderson, Lily
Anderson, Lily (1922–82), social campaigner and communist, joined the Communist Party in 1942 and served for many years on its subcommittees for social services, education, and women. She was best known as a campaigner for better nursery facilities in Belfast during the 1960s. Her…...
Annesley, Mabel Marguerite
Annesley, Mabel Marguerite (1881–1959), wood engraver and watercolourist, was born 25 February 1881 at Castlewellan, Co. Down, only daughter among two children of Hugh, 5th earl of Annesley, of Castlewellan, and his first wife, Mabel Wilhelmina Frances (née Markham). She was educated at…...
Anster, John Martin
Anster, John Martin (1793–1867), poet, translator of Goethe's Faust, and regius professor of civil law in Dublin University, was born 21 October 1793 in Charleville, Cork, son of John Anster, distiller, and Mary Ann Anster (née Hiffernan). The family was catholic, and…...
Armstrong, Arthur
Armstrong, Arthur (1924–96), painter, was born 12 January 1924 at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, one of three sons among six children of James Charlton Armstrong, house-painter and decorator, and his wife Margaret (née Howard). Soon after his birth the family moved to Belfast. He…...
Armstrong, Sir Walter
Armstrong, Sir Walter (1850–1918), art historian and gallery director, was born 7 February 1850 in Roxburghshire, Scotland, eldest son of Walter Armstrong of Hawick, and educated at Harrow and Oxford (BA 1873). He taught at art schools in London…...
Ashford, William
Ashford, William (1746–1824), artist, was christened on 20 May 1746 in St Martin's parish church, Birmingham, the son of Richard Ashford of Birmingham. Nothing is recorded of his early life in England but he almost certainly had some form of technical and/or artistic education. He…...
Assicus (T'Assach)
Assicus (T'Assach) (d. c.508), an artisan – i.e. coppersmith – of supposed Gaulish origin, came to Ireland at some stage during the mission of St Patrick (qv) and was later consecrated a bishop by him.…...
Aston, William George
Aston, William George (1841–1911), Japanese scholar and diplomat, was born 9 April 1841, near Derry, the son of George Robert Aston, a Unitarian minister. In the early 1850s the family moved to Saintfield, Co. Down, where his father established a school in which Aston himself taught…...
Atkinson, Robert
Atkinson, Robert (1839–1908), philologist, was born 6 April 1839 near Gateshead, Co. Durham, the only child of John and Ann Atkinson. He attended Anchorage Grammar School, and entered Trinity College Dublin (TCD) (1856), but spent 1857–8 at Liège, Belgium, and worked as a schoolmaster…...
Augustinus (Pseudo-)
Augustinus (Pseudo-) (fl. mid 7th cent.) was author of the tract ‘De mirabilibus sacrae [or ‘sanctae’] scripturae’, internally datable to 655. It deals in an unusually rationalistic fashion – for the medieval period – with the ‘wonders’ or miracles related in Scripture.…...
Ayton, Alexander
Ayton, Alexander (1829–1900), professional photographer, was born in Scotland but in the early 1860s came to Ireland, where he set up in business in Derry city, first at an address in the Crescent, then (1864) moving to a purpose-built studio in Kennedy Place. Thirty years later he…...
Bacon, Francis
Bacon, Francis (1909–92), artist, was born 28 October 1909 at 63 Lower Baggot St., Dublin, second eldest of three sons and two daughters of Anthony Edward (‘Eddy’) Mortimer Bacon, and his wife Christina Winifred (‘Winnie’) Loxley Firth, both of England. His father, a former captain…...
Baillie (Bailie), James Kennedy
Baillie (Bailie), James Kennedy (1793?–1864), classicist and protestant clergyman, was the son of the Rev. Nicholas Ward Kennedy, a schoolmaster, and grandson of James Kennedy, a medical man in Co. Down. He entered TCD aged fourteen (1807),…...
Baillie, William
Baillie, William (1723–1810), printmaker and art dealer, was born 11 June 1723 at Kilbride, Co. Carlow, the second son of the upholsterer Robert Baillie of Celbridge, Co. Kildare, and his wife Susanna (née Antrobus). After his education at Dr…...