Plunket, Katharine
Plunket, Katharine (1820–1932), botanical and landscape painter, was born 22 November 1820 at Kilsaran rectory, Co. Louth, the eldest of five daughters of Thomas Span Plunket (qv) (1792–1866), protestant curate of the parish,…...
Pollen, John Hungerford
Pollen, John Hungerford (1820–1902), architect, artist, and author, was born 19 November 1820 in London, second son of Richard Pollen, barrister, and his wife Anne, daughter of Samuel Pepys Cockerell. Educated at Durham House (1829–33) and Eton (1833–8), in May 1838 he…...
Pooley, Thomas
Pooley, Thomas (c.1644–1723), artist and politician, was born near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, one of nine children (four sons and five daughters) of Thomas Pooley, attorney, and his wife, Mary. In 1652 the family moved to Dublin, where Pooley senior worked as an…...
Quin, Henry
Quin, Henry (1717–91), medical doctor and lapidary, was probably born in Dublin, one of two sons and one daughter of Thomas Quin (d. 1767), an eminent apothecary in the city, and Isabella Quin (née Brownrigg), daughter of Henry Brownrigg, of Annagh, Gorey, Co. Wexford. He was…...
Rawdon, John
Rawdon, John (1720–93), 1st earl of Moira, landowner, patron of the arts, and opposition peer, was born 17 March 1720, second (but first surviving) son of Sir John Rawdon, 3rd baronet, of Rawdon Hall, Yorkshire, and Moira, Co. Down, and Dorothy, daughter of Sir…...
Reid, Christina
Reid, Christina (1942–2015), playwright, was born on 12 March 1942 in Ardoyne in North Belfast, the eldest of three children and only daughter of James Orchin, a Belfast dock worker, and Christina Orchin, who worked as a linen mill worker and later a waitress. Although the family…...
Rider (Ryder), John
Rider (Ryder), John (1562–1632), Church of Ireland bishop of Killaloe and lexicographer, was born at Carrington, Cheshire, son of Edward de Rythre of Carrington and his wife Emily Periam. In 1576 he entered Jesus College, Oxford, where he graduated …...
Robertson, Olivia Melian
Robertson, Olivia Melian (1917–2013), writer, artist and co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis, was born on 13 April 1917 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, to Manning Durdin Robertson (qv), urban planner and architect, and…...
Robinson, Lennox
Robinson, Lennox (1886–1958), playwright and director, was born Esmé Stuart Lennox Robinson on 4 October 1886 near Douglas, Co. Cork, youngest of seven children (of whom twins died in infancy) of Andrew Craig Robinson, stockbroker, and Emily Anna Robinson (née Jones). When Lennox was…...
Rodway, Norman John Frank
Rodway, Norman John Frank (1929–2001), actor and theatre producer, was born 7 February 1929 in Dublin, son of Frank Rodway, manager of a shipping agency, and Lilian Rodway (née Moyles). The couple had recently moved to Dublin from London. They settled in Malahide, north of Dublin, where…...
Rothwell, Richard
Rothwell, Richard (1800–68), portrait and subject painter, was born 20 November 1800 in Dublin. His father has generally been stated to be James Rothwell (possibly a soldier) of Lisdaly, near Cloghen, King's Co. (Offaly), though primary source evidence suggests that he was the son of…...
Rugheimer, Gunnar
Rugheimer, Gunnar , (1923–2003), RTÉ controller of programmes, was born 26 February 1923 in Stockholm, Sweden, to Carl Rügheimer (b. 1893), hat manufacturer, and his wife Sonja Traugott (b. 1901); both were Jewish and had been born in Sweden of Danish descent. After attending…...
Sall, Andrew Fitzjohn
Sall, Andrew Fitzjohn (1624–82), scholar and sometime Jesuit, was born into an Old English family in the city of Cashel, Co. Tipperary; nothing is known of his parents. More than five Jesuits bore the name Sall (Sál, Sale). With such a background it is not surprising to find the young…...
Sampson, George Vaughan
Sampson, George Vaughan (1763–1827), clergyman, linguist, survey writer, and agricultural and social reformer, was born in Co. Antrim, though his father, Arthur Sampson, was at the time rector of Templemore, Co. Londonderry. His mother was Mary Mercer, daughter of George Spaight…...
Shea, Daniel
Shea, Daniel (1777–1836), orientalist, was born in Co. Limerick in 1777, son of Daniel Shea, farmer. He entered TCD aged 16 in June 1793, studying classics, and soon distinguished himself as a student of some ability. In 1797 he was awarded a scholarship. Some of his friends were…...
Sheridan, Thomas
Sheridan, Thomas (1719–88), actor, theatre manager, and orator, was third son of Thomas Sheridan (qv), schoolmaster and essayist, of Dublin; nothing is known of his mother. He was educated at home by his father until the age of 13.…...
Simpson, Alan Patrick
Simpson, Alan Patrick (1920–80), theatre director, was born in Baggot Street, Dublin, son of Walter Simpson, Church of Ireland minister. Sent to Belfast to broaden his outlook, he was educated at Campbell College and spent a brief period in Germany before returning to Dublin in the late…...
Singleton, Robert Corbet
Singleton, Robert Corbet (1810–81), clergyman, classical scholar, and hymn-writer, was born 9 October 1810 in Dublin, second son of Francis Corbet, gentleman, of Dublin and Aclare, Co. Meath, and his wife, Frances (d. 1860), daughter of Joseph Deane, MP, of Terenure, Co. Dublin.…...
Southerne, Thomas
Southerne, Thomas (1660–1746), dramatist and soldier, was born 12 February 1660 at Oxmantown, Dublin, youngest child among four sons and two daughters of Francis Southerne, founder-member of the brewers' corporation of Dublin, and his wife Margaret. Educated at the free school in…...
Stanford, William Bedell
Stanford, William Bedell (1910–84), classical scholar and senator, was born 6 January 1910 in Belfast, third child and only son (among four daughters) of the Rev. Bedell Stanford, rector of Dundrum, Co. Down, and Susan Stanford (née Jackson). Since the Rev. Stanford declined to…...
St George, Richard St George Mansergh
St George, Richard St George Mansergh (c.1752–98), landlord, artist and soldier, was born Richard St George Mansergh, the only son of James Mansergh, landowner and soldier of Macrony Castle, Co. Cork, and his second wife Mary, a natural daughter of Lieutenant-General…...
Stokes, Whitley
Stokes, Whitley (1830–1909), lawyer and Celtic scholar, was born 28 February 1830 in Dublin, the eldest son of Dr William Stokes (qv), heart specialist, and his wife, Mary, daughter of John Black of Glasgow. The Stokes children were raised…...
Swiney (Swiny, Swinny, MacSwinny), Owen Mac
Swiney (Swiny, Swinny, MacSwinny), Owen Mac (1680–1754), playwright and theatre manager, was born near Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. He appears to have joined the army as a young man but by spring 1703 was in London as associate of Christopher Rich at the Drury Lane theatre, where he…...
Taylor, William Desmond
Taylor, William Desmond (1872–1922), silent film director and celebrity murder victim, was born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner at Straw Hill House, Carlow town, Co. Carlow, on 26 April 1872, second child and oldest son among two daughters and three sons (one of whom died in infancy) of…...
Thaddeus, Henry Jones
Thaddeus, Henry Jones (c.1859–1929), artist, was born Henry Thaddeus Jones at 32 Nile St., Cork, eldest in the large family of Thomas Jones, artisan specialising in ‘japanning’ (imitating oriental decoration on laquerware), and his wife, an O'Sullivan of west Cork. Henry…...