Alexander, Cecil Frances
Alexander, Cecil Frances (1818–95), hymn-writer, known in her family as Fanny, was born in Eccles Street, Dublin, second daughter (and third among seven children) of John Humphreys and Elizabeth Frances Humphreys (née Reed). Her mother's brother was Thomas Reed (1796–1883), a general…...
Andrews, William (‘Billy’,‘Bill’) Nathaniel
Andrews, William (‘Billy’,‘Bill’) Nathaniel (Mac Andrieu, Liam) (1873–1939), musician, was born 9 January 1873 in Dublin, son of Arthur Andrews, printer, and Elizabeth Andrews (née Dunne), both protestants. He studied classical music and was instructed on the piano by his aunt (…...
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…...
Barbour, Sir John Milne
Barbour, Sir John Milne (1868–1951), industrialist and politician, was born 4 January 1868 at The Fort, Dunmurry, near Lisburn, Co. Antrim, son of John Doherty Barbour (chairman of one of Ulster's biggest flax-spinning firms) and Elizabeth Law Milne Barbour of Edinburgh. He was…...
Barrington, Samuel
Barrington, Samuel (d. 1693), clockmaker, may have been a son of Francis Barrington, a Cromwellian settler, who died in Limerick in 1683. He was flourishing in Dublin from 1665 to 1674 and had a contract for the maintenance of the Tholsel clock. He moved to Galway and then (1691…...
Beamish, Francis Bernard
Beamish, Francis Bernard (1802–68), politician and brewer, was born 5 April 1802, eighth son among twelve children of William Beamish (qv), founder of the Beamish & Crawford porter brewery, and his wife Anne, daughter of Robert…...
Beckett, John Stewart
Beckett, John Stewart (1927–2007), musician, conductor and composer, was born 5 February 1927 at the Red Cottage, Kilgobbin Road, Sandyford, Co. Dublin, youngest of three children (two sons and one daughter) of Gerald Beckett, medical doctor, and Margaret ('Peggy') Robinson Beckett (…...
Beckett, Walter Keohler
Beckett, Walter Keohler (1914–96), composer, musician, and writer, was born 27 July 1914 in Dublin, youngest of four children of James Walter Beckett (qv), building contractor and TD, and…...
Bernard, James Francis
Bernard, James Francis (1850–1924), 4th earl of Bandon, landowner and kidnapping victim, was born 12 September 1850, the son of Francis Bernard (b. 1810), 3rd earl of Bandon, and Catherine Mary (née Whitmore), daughter of Thomas Whitmore, of Apley Park, Shropshire. The Bernard family…...
Boucher, Edgar William John ('Billy')
Boucher, Edgar William John ('Billy') (1918–2003), musician and broadcaster, was born 5 December 1918 in Dublin, the son of George Alexander Boucher, a plumber, and his wife Sarah Maria (née Jones), a dressmaker; he had two older brothers and two or three older sisters. The family…...
Bourke, Dermot Robert Wyndham-
Bourke, Dermot Robert Wyndham- (1851–1927), 7th earl of Mayo , landowner, politician, and patron of the arts, was born 2 July 1851, the son of Richard Southwell Bourke (qv), 6th earl of Mayo in the peerage of Ireland, and his…...
Boyle, Ina (Selina Adelaide Philippa)
Boyle, Ina (Selina Adelaide Philippa) (1889–1967), composer, was born 8 March 1889 in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, daughter of Rev. William Foster Boyle, curate in Powerscourt parish, and his wife Philippa Augusta Jephson. Her father made violins and cellos as a hobby. She grew up at…...
Brady, Maziere
Brady, Maziere (1796–1871), lord chancellor of Ireland and patron of the arts, was born 20 July 1796 in Dublin, second of three sons of Francis Tempest Brady (1763–1821) of Willow Park, Booterstown, Co. Dublin, manufacturer of gold and silver thread, and Martha Brady (née Hodgson…...
Bunworth, Charles
Bunworth, Charles (c.1704–1772), clergyman, patron, and harper, was born in Newmarket, Co. Cork, second of at least three sons of Richard Bunworth, farmer, and Elizabeth Bunworth (née Philpot). He was educated by a family tutor, Mr Murdock, before entering…...
Butler (Thompson), Elizabeth
Butler (Thompson), Elizabeth (1846–1933), Lady Butler , military painter, was born 3 November 1846 at the Villa Claremont, near Lausanne, Switzerland, the elder daughter of Thomas James Thompson and Christiana Thompson (née Weller). The Thompsons were cosmopolitan in outlook,…...
Carney, Sir Richard
Carney, Sir Richard (d. 1692?), herald and painter, is said by Strickland to have been the son of Edward Carney, a Dublin tailor, and to have been appointed a herald in 1652 and principal herald of arms in Ireland in 1655. He was certainly the Richard Carney who was appointed…...
Carter, Charles Thomas
Carter, Charles Thomas (1735?–1804), musician and composer, was born in Dublin, elder son of Timothy Carter, chorister and music teacher; nothing is known of his mother. A member of the choir of Christ Church cathedral in his youth, Charles wrote two anthems for the cathedral's…...
Charley, William
Charley, William (1826–90), linen bleacher, was born 11 April 1826, second of three sons of William Charley, a prominent linen bleacher, and Isabella Charley (née Hunter) of Seymour Hill, near Dunmurry, Co. Antrim. His father, one of the founders of the Northern Banking Company of…...
Cleeve, Sir Thomas Henry
Cleeve, Sir Thomas Henry (1844–1908), industrialist, was born 5 June 1844 in Richmond, Quebec, Canada, eldest son among six sons and one daughter of Edward Elms Cleeve (1814–85), originally of Woolwich, England, and later of Cleveland, Quebec, and his wife Sophia Olivia (d. 1904),…...
Cogan, Philip
Cogan, Philip (c.1748–1833), organist, pianist, and composer, was probably born in Co. Cork, though his parentage is unclear. He was a choirboy and then a lay vicar at St Fin Barre's cathedral, Cork, before taking up a post as stipendiary in the choir of Christ Church…...
Collis, Peter
Collis, Peter (1929–2012), artist, was born in London on 16 November 1929, the son of Herbert Collis, an architect, and Phyllis Collis (née Clark). Growing up in Guildford, Surrey, and later at Esher, Surrey, he received a formal academic training in oil painting at Epsom College (…...
Collisson, William Alexander Houston
Collisson, William Alexander Houston (1865–1920), clergyman and musician, was born 20 May 1865 in Dublin, son of William Houston Collison and Elizabeth O'Callaghan. Before graduating from TCD (Mus.D.…...
Colthurst, John Colthurst Bowen-
Colthurst, John Colthurst Bowen- (1880–1965), army officer and murderer, was born John Colthurst Bowen in Cork on 12 August 1880, eldest son of Robert Walter Travers Bowen JP (who changed the family name to Bowen-Colthurst in 1882 to meet the…...
Conolly, Thurloe
Conolly, Thurloe (1918–2016), artist, was born in Cork city on 21 July 1918, the younger of two sons to William Joseph Conolly, a structural engineer, and his wife Constance Elizabeth Conolly (née Jeffares). According to family lore, the Conollys were descended from the eighteenth-…...
Cousser (Kusser), John (Johann) Sigismond
Cousser (Kusser), John (Johann) Sigismond (1660?–1727), composer and master of the king's music in Ireland, was born in Pressburg (later Bratislava) and baptised on 13 February 1660, the son of a Hungarian cantor and composer. In 1674 he moved with his parents and sister to Stuttgart…...