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),…...
Abell, Joshua
Abell, Joshua (1793–1846), philanthropist, was born 15 November 1793 in Cork city into a long established and talented quaker family, among eleven children of Richard Abell, a well known merchant, and his wife Elizabeth Beale. He was educated at the quaker boarding school of…...
Abraham, James Johnston
Abraham, James Johnston (1876–1963), surgeon and writer, was born 16 August 1876 in Kingsgate St., Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, son of William Abraham (1849–1933) of Co. Fermanagh, tea merchant, general supplier, JP, and methodist circuit…...
Abrahamson, Leonard
Abrahamson, Leonard (1896–1961), doctor, was born 29 April 1896 into a Jewish family in Semiatich, latterly in Belarus, second of four children of David and Frances Abrahamson. To escape pogroms his family emigrated to Newry, Co. Down, when he was 3 years old. He was educated at the…...
Adair, Robert
Adair, Robert (1710/11?–1790), surgeon, was born in Ireland and trained in Dublin as a surgeon. He was obliged to leave the country when detected in a love affair, apparently with a married woman, who may have been Laetitia Pilkington…...
Adams, John Bodkin
Adams, John Bodkin (1899–1983), doctor, was born 20 January 1899 in Randalstown, Co. Antrim, elder son of Samuel Adams, watchmaker, and Ellen Adams (née Bodkin) from Desertmartin, Co. Londonderry, and grew up in Ballinderry, Co. Antrim. His brother died in 1916. His father retired…...
Adams, Robert
Adams, Robert (1791–1875), surgeon, was born in Dublin, son of Samuel Adams, solicitor, and his wife (née Filgate), and was apprenticed successively to William Hartigan (qv) (1810) and George Stewart (1813), surgeon general to the…...
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…...
Alcock, Benjamin
Alcock, Benjamin (1801–p.1859), anatomist, was born in Kilkenny in May 1801, youngest of five known children of Nathaniel Alcock, doctor and mayor of the city, and his wife Deborah Prim. Benjamin, after studying at Kilkenny College, entered…...
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’)
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’) (1861–1937), Fenian, journalist and civil servant, was born 15 June 1861 in Dublin, the third son of William Gartley Allan (d. 1881?), a clerk in the accounts department of the Board of Public Works (until 1873), and his wife Ellen Batty (née Quince…...
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…...
Allen, Frederick Martin Brice
Allen, Frederick Martin Brice (1898–1972), medical professor, was born 20 June 1898 in Ulsterville Avenue, Belfast, son of William Allen, a grocer, and his wife Annie Allen (née Holden). He studied medicine (1915–20) at QUB, graduating…...
Allen, Richard
Allen, Richard (1803–86), philanthropist and anti-slavery and temperance campaigner, was born 8 January 1803 at Harold's Cross, Dublin, into a quaker family, fourth child and second son among fifteen children of Edward Weston Allen, draper, and Ellen/Eleanor Allen (née Burton),…...
Allison, Richard Sydney
Allison, Richard Sydney (1899–1978), neurologist and historian, was born 15 May 1899 in Belfast to William and Eliza Allison, and attended RBAI and QUB. Before completing his…...
Allman, William
Allman, William (1776–1846), physician and botanist, was born 7 February 1776 at Kingston, Jamaica, son of Thomas Allman, described as a ‘gentleman’; from the age of four he was brought up in his mother's native Waterford. He entered TCD…...
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…...
Ambrose, Robert
Ambrose, Robert (1855–1940), medical doctor and politician, was born at Limerick, son of Michael Ambrose of Newcastle West, Co. Limerick. He studied at QCG and QCC (…...
Ancketill (Anketell), Henry
Ancketill (Anketell), Henry (1855–1930), writer, journalist and politician, was born 4 May 1855 in Ancketill's Grove, Co. Monaghan, the fourth son of Major Matthew John Anketell, deputy lieutenant and JP, and his wife, Catherine Frances…...
Anderson, Gerry
Anderson, Gerry (1944–2014), musician, radio broadcaster and television presenter, was born Gerald Michael Anderson on 28 October 1944 in Derry, one of four children (three sons and a daughter) of John Anderson, a boiler and range-fireplace fitter who had joined the anti-treaty side…...
Andrews, Eamonn
Andrews, Eamonn (1922–87), broadcaster, was born 19 December 1922 at 11 Synge Street, Dublin, eldest among five surviving children (two sons and three daughters; another son died in infancy) of William Andrews, an ESB carpenter, and…...
Andrews, Niall Dermott
Andrews, Niall Dermott (1937–2006), politician, was born 19 August 1937, in the Stella Maris nursing home, 17 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, youngest of four sons of C. S. 'Todd' Andrews (qv), civil servant, who resided at 10…...
Andrews, Thomas
Andrews, Thomas (1813–85), doctor, physical chemist, and university administrator, was born 19 December 1813 at 3 Donegall Square, Belfast, eldest son of Thomas John Andrews, linen merchant, of the well known Andrews family of Comber, and Elizabeth Andrews (née Stevenson) of…...
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…...