Murphy, John
Murphy, John (c.1755–1832), engraver and educational publisher, was born in Cork city and reared in its northern suburbs, around Mallow Lane. At the age of seventeen he emigrated to London, led by his ‘predilection for the Fine Arts and a desire to cultivate an inclination for…...
Murphy, Seamus
Murphy, Seamus (1907–75), sculptor, was born 15 July 1907 at Greenhill, Burnfort, near Mallow, Co. Cork, one of five sons of James Murphy, engine driver, and Margaret Murphy (née Sheehan); four daughters died in infancy. While he was still a young child the family moved to Cork city…...
Ó Briain, Liam
Ó Briain, Liam (1888–1974), republican, scholar of Romance languages, and Irish-language enthusiast, was born 16 September 1888 at 10 Church Street, North Wall, Dublin, seventh child of Arthur O'Brien, clerk, and Mary O'Brien (née Christie), who was from Co. Meath. He was christened…...
O'Connell, Peter (Ó Conaill, Peadar)
O'Connell, Peter (Ó Conaill, Peadar) (1755–1826), schoolmaster and lexicographer, was born at Carne, Killimer, Co. Clare (a townland latterly designated as Carrowdotia, on the Shannon estuary 8 km east of Kilrush), one of four sons and two daughters of Tadhg Ó Conaill and Áine Ó Conaill…...
O'Conor, Roderic Anthony
O'Conor, Roderic Anthony (1860–1940), artist, was born 17 October 1860 in Miltown, Co. Roscommon, second child and eldest son of Roderic Joseph O'Conor, barrister and high sheriff (1863) of Co. Roscommon, and Eleanor Mary O'Conor (née Browne) of Co. Meath. The O'Conors were a…...
O'Conway, Matthias James
O'Conway, Matthias James (1766–1842), linguist and lexicographer, was born 3 February 1766 in Galway, son of Matthew O'Conway (who was according to one source a ‘merchant’ of that city) and his wife Elizabeth O'Hogan. We know of only one other sibling, an older brother, John. A native…...
O'Flanagan, Theophilus
O'Flanagan, Theophilus (c.1762–1814), classical and Irish scholar, was born in the parish of Tulla, Co. Clare, son of Mathghamhain Ó Flannagáin, scribe and hedge-schoolmaster. He was baptised Tadhg but later on entering TCD…...
Ó hUallacháin, Colmán
Ó hUallacháin, Colmán (1922–79), educator, linguist, Irish-language activist and priest, was born Liam Holohan on 8 December 1922 in Dublin, eldest among four sons and two daughters of Garry Holohan (Gearóid Ó hUallacháin) (1894–1967), imprisoned republican soldier, and latterly an…...
O'Malley, Tony (Anthony)
O'Malley, Tony (Anthony) (1913–2003), painter, was born 25 September 1913 in Bridge Street, Callan, Co. Kilkenny, eldest of two sons and two daughters of Patrick O'Malley, a commercial traveller for Singer sewing machines, and his wife Margaret (née Ryan), from the Callan area, who…...
Ó Maolmhuaidh, Proinsias (Francis O'Molloy)
Ó Maolmhuaidh, Proinsias (Francis O'Molloy) (d. 1677), grammarian and theologian, was probably born in the very early seventeenth century, and most likely in the part of Co. Offaly known as Fircall, or O'Molloy's Country. It is stated that he was of noble birth, being related to…...
O'Meara, Frank
O'Meara, Frank (1853–88), landscape painter, was born in Carlow on 30 March 1853, the youngest of the seven children of Thomas O'Meara, a medical doctor, and his wife, Sarah (née Isbourne). His grandfather Dr Barry Edward O'Meara…...
O'Meara, John
O'Meara, John (1915–2003), academic, was born 18 February 1915 at Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, the elder of two sons of Patrick O'Meara, a small businessman from Ilaunmore on Lough Derg, and Mary O'Meara (née Donelan). The very early death of his father, at the end of 1915, and the troubled…...
Ó Monacháin, Ailbhe
Ó Monacháin, Ailbhe (1889–1967), illustrator and Irish-language activist, was born 26 January 1889 in Belfast and christened Alfred Monahan, youngest of four sons and two daughters of Wexford-born Robert Joseph Monahan, sawyer, and Johanna Monahan (née Nolan). He was educated in Belfast…...
Ó Riain (O'Ryan), Henry
Ó Riain (O'Ryan), Henry (fl. 1633), Dominican priest and Latin poet, probably received his classical education at Munster and pursued his philosophical and theological studies at Rome or elsewhere in Italy. Resident at Rome in 1633, he was commissioned to compose a…...
O'Sullivan, Donal
O'Sullivan, Donal (1904–77), priest and arts administrator, was born Daniel Joseph Sullivan on 27 July 1904 in Donemark, Bantry, Co. Cork, the only son among two children of John Sullivan, a national school teacher, and Mary Anne Sullivan (née Keohane). After receiving primary and…...
O'Sullivan, Seán
O'Sullivan, Seán (1906–64), artist, was born John O'Sullivan on 20 June 1906 in 44 St Joseph's Terrace, Dublin, son of John O'Sullivan, carpenter, and Mary O'Sullivan (née Taylor). Educated at Synge Street Christian Brothers' School and Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, where he was…...
Pearse, James
Pearse, James (1839–1900), sculptor, was born on 8 December 1839 at 24 Plumtree Street, Bloomsbury, London, the second of three sons of James Pearse, frame-maker, and his first wife Mary Ann (née Thompson). The family was impoverished and moved to Birmingham (c.1847), where…...
Pearse, William (‘Willie’)
Pearse, William (‘Willie’) (1881–1916), revolutionary and sculptor, was born 15 November 1881 at 27 Great Brunswick St. (Pearse St.), Dublin, second son among two sons and two daughters of James Pearse, a monumental sculptor originally from London, and his second wife,…...
Plunkett, Richard (Risteard Pluincéid)
Plunkett, Richard (Risteard Pluincéid) (fl. 1662), Franciscan friar and dictionary compiler, is of obscure origins. The Plunketts were one of the most prominent Old English families of the Pale, with titles such as ‘lord of Louth’, ‘Lord Dunsany’, and ‘baron of Killeen’.…...
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…...
Power, Albert George
Power, Albert George (1881–1945), sculptor, was born 16 November 1881 at Barrack Street (now Benburb Street), Dublin, second of two sons and one younger daughter of Henry Power, watchmaker, and Mary Power (née Atkins), embroideress. He was educated at the Christian Brothers national…...
Rákóczi, Basil
Rákóczi, Basil (1908–79), painter and psychoanalyst, was born 31 May 1908 in Chelsea, London, son of Ivan Rákóczi, Hungarian composer, violinist, and artist, and Charlotte May Dobbey, who went by the name ‘Dolly Wilce’ and was an artist's model from Co. Cork. His parents, who were…...
Ryan, John
Ryan, John (1925–92), editor, painter, and broadcaster, was born 19 February 1925 in Camden St., Dublin, the third among eight children of Seamus Ryan, businessman, and Agnes Ryan (née Harding), both of Co. Tipperary. His father was the founder of Monument Creameries in Dublin,…...
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…...
Sheridan, Noel
Sheridan, Noel (1936–2006), artist, actor, and arts administrator, was born 12 December 1936 in Dublin, one of three children (two daughters and a son) of Cecil (Brinsley) Sheridan, entertainer, and his wife Ann ('Nan') (née Doyle). Cecil Sheridan (1910–80) was born 21 December 1910…...