Gahagan, Usher
Gahagan, Usher (d. 1749), classical scholar and criminal, was perhaps from Co. Westmeath and may have been educated at TCD, though he did not take a degree. He converted to catholicism, much to the consternation of his family, who…...
Gahan, (Winifred) Muriel Françoise
Gahan, (Winifred) Muriel Françoise (1897–1995), promoter of cooperation and traditional crafts, was born 27 October 1897 at Magherabeg House, near Donegal town, the second daughter of (Fredrick George) Townsend Gahan, a civil engineer with the Congested Districts Board, and…...
Gallagher, Patrick
Gallagher, Patrick (1951–2006), businessman, was born on 8 May 1951 in Holles Street hospital, Dublin, the second son of Matt Gallagher, businessman, and his wife Helena Patricia (née Sheeran). He was raised from 1957 in palatial surrounds at Hollywood Rath, Mulhuddart, Co. Dublin. The…...
Gandy, James
Gandy, James (1619–89), portrait painter, was born in Exeter, England, and is thought to have been a pupil or assistant of Sir Anthony Van Dyck (d. 1641). He was one of the many artists influenced by the French and Dutch schools, and he moved to Ireland (1662) with his patron the…...
Gandy, William
This is a co-subject for the entry on Gandy, James. View the original entry....
Geddes, Wilhelmina Margaret
Geddes, Wilhelmina Margaret (1887–1955), stained-glass artist, was born 25 May 1887 at her maternal grandparents’ home, Drumreilly, Co. Leitrim, eldest of four children of Belfast-born William Geddes, site engineer with the Sligo, Leitrim, and Northern Counties Railway, and Eliza Geddes…...
Gibbings, Robert John
Gibbings, Robert John (1889–1958), engraver, illustrator, and author, was born 23 March 1889 in Co. Cork, son of the Rev. Edward Gibbings, rector of Carrigrohane, and Caroline Gibbings (née Day). He was educated at boarding schools in Fermoy and Cork before entering…...
Gibson, Violet Albina
Gibson, Violet Albina (1876–1956), failed assassin, was born 31 August 1876 in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, to Edward Gibson (qv), a wealthy lawyer and politician, and Frances Maria Adelaide Gibson (née Colles), the daughter of a barrister. Violet was…...
Gifford, Grace (Evelyn)
Gifford, Grace (Evelyn) (1888–1955), cartoonist and republican, was born 4 March 1888 at 8 Temple Villas, Palmerston Park, Rathmines, Dublin, one of twelve children of Frederick Gifford, a wealthy solicitor, and Isabella Gifford (née Burton), a niece of the artist Sir…...
Gilbert, Irene
Gilbert, Irene (c.1910–1985), fashion designer, was born in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Both in private conversation and public interview she was always secretive and little is therefore known of her parentage or early life, although on one occasion she did explain that while…...
Gill, Mollie (Ní Giolla, Máire)
Gill, Mollie (Ní Giolla, Máire) (1891–1977), camogie player and administrator, was born Mary Anne Gill on 24 March 1891 at Murphystown, near Leopardstown, in south Co. Dublin, the daughter of James Gill, a shoe-maker, and his wife Jane (neé Daly). Census records suggest that she was the…...
Gleeson, Evelyn
Gleeson, Evelyn (1855–1944), designer, was born 15 May 1855 in Knutsford, Cheshire, the daughter of Irish-born Edward Moloney Gleeson, a medical doctor. Her father had a practice in Knutsford but on a trip to Ireland he was struck by the poverty and unemployment and, with the advice…...
Goold, Vere Thomas St Leger
Goold, Vere Thomas St Leger (1853–1909), first notable Irish lawn tennis player, was born 2 October 1853 in Waterford, sixth son among seven children of George Ignatius Goold, justice of the peace and resident magistrate, and his wife Clara, daughter of Major General James Webber-Smith…...
Gordon, William Robert
Gordon, William Robert (1872–1955), painter, was born 19 August 1872 at Ballynahinch, Co. Down, the son of William Gordon, a gardener, and Nancy Gordon (née Moffat). He was educated at the Southwell school, Downpatrick, before going to England at age 14 to work in the Port Sunlight…...
Goulding, Sir William Basil
Goulding, Sir William Basil (1909–82), 3rd baronet, businessman and modernist, was born 4 November 1909 at Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, the elder of two sons of Sir William Lingard Amphlett Goulding (qv) and his wife Nesta Violet (née Wright). Educated at Winchester…...
Goulet, Yann Renard-
Goulet, Yann Renard- (1914–99), artist and sculptor, was born Jean Gustave Réné Goulet on 20 August 1914 at Saint-Nazaire, Brittany, France, son of Gustave Goulet, hotelier and chef. After being educated locally he began studying architecture before winning a scholarship to the…...
Grant, Albert
Grant, Albert (1831–99), MP, financial promoter, and fraudster, was born Abraham Zachariah Gottheimer in Dublin, 18 November 1831, son of Bernard/ Berton Gottheimer, a Jewish immigrant from central Europe, who traded in fancy goods from his premises at 61 Fleet St., Dublin. While he…...
Gray, Eileen
Gray, Eileen (1878–1976), furniture designer and architect, was born 9 August 1878 at the family home, Brownswood House near Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, youngest child and third daughter of James McLaren Smith , son of Richard Smith of Hazelgreen and his wife Eveleen, only child of…...
Gregory, (William) Robert
Gregory, (William) Robert (1881–1918), painter, theatre designer, sportsman, and airman, was born 20 May 1881 in London, only child of Sir William Gregory (qv) of Coole Park, Co. Galway, and his second wife, Isabella Augusta…...
Grogan, Nathaniel
Grogan, Nathaniel (c.1740–1807), painter, was born in Cork, son of a woodturner and blockmaker; nothing else is known of his parents. Though apprenticed to his father, he began to show some aptitude for drawing using chalks, the only materials available to him. He received…...
Gubbins, Beatrice
Gubbins, Beatrice (1878–1944), watercolour artist and traveller, was born 19 September 1878 in Co. Limerick, the youngest of the two sons and five daughters of Thomas Wise Gubbins, distiller, and his wife, Frances Gertrude (née Russell) of Askeaton, Co. Limerick. The family moved to…...
Guinness, Mary Catherine (‘May’)
Guinness, Mary Catherine (‘May’) (1863–1955), painter, was born 11 March 1863 in Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, third among seven children and eldest of three daughters of Thomas Hosea Guinness, solicitor, of Tibradden House, Rathfarnham, and his wife Mary, only daughter and heiress of…...
Gulston ('Scott'), Peter Craig
Gulston ('Scott'), Peter Craig (1931–2013), thief, variously described as the 'king of the cat burglars' and 'the human fly', was born on 18 February 1931 in Belfast, the younger of two children, to Frederick Arnott Gulston, chief commercial traveller for White, Tompkins and Courage…...
Gyles, Althea
Gyles, Althea (1868–1949), poet and artist, was born in Kilmurry, Co. Waterford. Her father, George Gyles, came from a well-connected Anglo-Irish family, who, according to W. B. Yeats (qv), were ‘so haughty that their neighbours…...
Halloran (O'Halloran), Laurence Hynes
Halloran (O'Halloran), Laurence Hynes (1765–1831), schoolmaster, clergyman, writer, and forger, was born 29 December 1765 in Co. Meath. Orphaned while still a young child, he was raised by his uncle, Judge William Gregory, before attending Westminster School. In 1785 he opened a…...