Acheson, Robert
Acheson, Robert (1763–1824), presbyterian minister and United Irish leader, was born near Clough, Co. Antrim, son of James Acheson, farmer, and his second wife, Elizabeth; her brother Thomas Reid was minister of Glenarm, Co. Antrim. Robert Acheson graduated in medicine from…...
Alexander, Sir William
Alexander, Sir William (1743–1822), 1st baronet, wholesale merchant, and Dublin alderman, of Belcamp, Booterstown, and Mountjoy Square, Dublin, was born 3 March 1743, son of William Alexander (d. c.1788), wholesale merchant and linen factor, of Mary's Abbey, Dublin (…...
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, John
Anderson, John (1815–1905), woollen merchant, geologist, bibliographer, and local politician, was born 8 July 1815 near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. After moving to Belfast he entered (1840) the woollen business in Donegall St. founded by James Young in 1795. Anderson's eminence…...
Andrews, Sir John Lawson Ormrod (‘Jack’)
Andrews, Sir John Lawson Ormrod (‘Jack’) (1903–86), politician and businessman, was born 15 July 1903 at Maxwell Court, Comber, Co. Down, the only son among the three children of John Miller Andrews (qv), later prime minister of…...
Andrews, Thomas
Andrews, Thomas (1843–1916), politician and linen magnate, was born 26 February 1843 in Comber, Co. Down, fourth and youngest son of John Andrews, JP, and his wife, Sarah, daughter of William…...
Annesley, Arthur
Annesley, Arthur (1614–86), 1st earl of Anglesey , politician, was born 10 July 1614 in Dublin, son of Francis Annesley (qv), Lord Mountnorris and Viscount Valentia, and his wife Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Philips of Picton,…...
Archer, Thomas
Archer, Thomas (d. 1800), rebel, was born in Castle Street, Ballymena, Co. Antrim. A presbyterian and a shoemaker's apprentice, he enlisted in the Antrim militia. On the outbreak of the 1798 rebellion he deserted from his regiment to join the rebels who occupied Ballymena on 7…...
Armour, James Brown
Armour, James Brown (1841–1928), presbyterian minister and political campaigner, was born 20/31 January 1841, youngest of six children of William Armour and Jane Armour (née Brown), who both came of presbyterian tenant-farmer families in Kilraughts, north Co. Antrim; the Armours…...
Arnott, Sir John
Arnott, Sir John , (1814–98), first baronet, businessman, philanthropist, and politician, was born in Auchtermuchty, Fife, Scotland, on 26 July 1814, the third son of John Arnott (d. 1878), JP, manufacturer, of Greenfield, Auchtermuchty, and…...
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…...
Bagwell, John
Bagwell, John (1752–1816), landowner and MP, was the only son among four children of William Bagwell (c.1728–1756) of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, presbyterian, banker, merchant, and MP for Clonmel (January–July 1756), and Jane Bagwell, daughter of John Harper of Belgrove, Co. Cork…...
Baird, Ernest Austin
Baird, Ernest Austin (1930–2003), unionist politician and businessman, was born 13 June 1930 in Ballycrampsie, on the Malin peninsula in Co. Donegal, son of Samuel Baird, a farmer, and his wife Rachel (née Fulton); he had two sisters. In 1953 the family moved to Belfast. Although Baird…...
Barber, Samuel
Barber, Samuel (1738?–1811), presbyterian minister and radical, was born in the parish of Killead, Co. Antrim, younger son of John and Sarah Barber, farmers. He entered Glasgow University in 1757 and graduated MA in 1759. On 28 August 1761 he…...
Barnhill, John ('Jack') Eccles Nixon
Barnhill, John ('Jack') Eccles Nixon (1905–71), senator and businessman, was born 11 April 1905 at Brickfield, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, the third child and second son in a family of at least five children (two sons and three daughters) of William Wilson Barnhill (1867–1950), a well-to-do…...
Barr, Andrew (Andy)
Barr, Andrew (Andy) (1913–2003), trade unionist and communist, was born 23 September 1913 at 29 Cluan Place, off Mountpottinger Road, Ballymacarrett, Belfast, second child among two sons and five daughters (two other children died in infancy) of Andrew Barr (d. 1986, aged 98), a…...
Bell, David
Bell, David (d. 1890), presbyterian minister and Fenian activist, was born near Mosside, Co. Antrim, son of Thomas Bell, seceding presbyterian minister at Mosside for forty-seven years, and Jane Bell (d. 1852; maiden name unknown); they had also at least one daughter. He was…...
Biggar, Joseph Gillis
Biggar, Joseph Gillis (1828–90), politician, was born 10 August 1828 in Belfast, eldest son of Joseph Biggar, prosperous merchant and subsequently chairman of the Ulster Bank, and his wife Isabella, daughter of William Houston of Ballyearl, Co. Antrim. After schooling at the…...
Birch, Thomas Ledlie
Birch, Thomas Ledlie (1754–1828), radical and presbyterian minister, was born at Birch Grove, Gilford, Co. Down, youngest among nine children of John Birch, a large farmer and officer in the Down militia, and his wife Jane, daughter of John Ledlie of Arboe, Co. Tyrone, a prosperous…...
Blease, William John ('Billy')
Blease, William John ('Billy') (1914–2008), Baron Blease of Cromac, trade unionist and politician, was born 28 May 1914 in Gosford Street, off the Ormeau Road, Belfast, eldest of three sons and one daughter of William John Blease (1886–1954), restaurant chef and trade-union activist,…...
Bond, Oliver Cromwell
Bond, Oliver Cromwell (c.1761–1798), United Irish leader, was born in Co. Donegal, son of a presbyterian minister, and was apprenticed as a youth to a Derry haberdasher. Moving to Dublin in the early 1780s to trade in woollen goods at 54 Pill Lane, he took up residence (1786)…...
Bowman, Alexander
Bowman, Alexander (1855–1924), trade unionist, was born 16 March 1855 at Dromara, Co. Down, eldest child among three sons and two daughters of William McKeown, farmer and weaver, and his wife Elizabeth (née Rodgers). McKeown was a catholic; Rodgers, a presbyterian, had been previously…...
Boyd, Thomas William (‘Tom’)
Boyd, Thomas William (‘Tom’) (1903–91), socialist and trade unionist, was born 13 April 1903 in Woodstock Road, east Belfast, one of nine children of James Boyd, shipyard clerk, and Mary Boyd (née McCully), both originally from Co. Down. He left Ravenscroft national school,…...
Boyse, Samuel
Boyse, Samuel (1708–49), poet, translator, and hack writer, was born in Dublin in 1708, son of the Rev. Joseph Boyse (qv), the English-born presbyterian theologian, pamphleteer, and minister to the Wood St. church, Dublin. Educated…...
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…...