Abrahamson, Leonard
Abrahamson, Leonard (1896–1961), doctor, was born 29 April 1896 into a Jewish family in Semiatich, latterly in Belarus, second of four children of David and Frances Abrahamson. To escape pogroms his family emigrated to Newry, Co. Down, when he was 3 years old. He was educated at the…...
Boyce, James
Boyce, James (1909–66), actor and broadcaster, was born on 17 March 1909 in Belfast, the oldest of three sons of Hugh Boyce, a coachbuilder, and his wife Ellen (née Hayes), a dressmaker before marriage. The family, who were Christian Brethren in religion, lived in Rosebury Road, Ormeau…...
Boyd, John
Boyd, John (1912–2002), radio producer and playwright, was born 19 July 1912 at 9 Baskin Street, in a working-class area of east Belfast, the first of three children (two boys and a girl) of Robert Boyd, a fireman on steam engines and later an engine driver, and Jane Boyd (née Leeman).…...
Cowan, Adrian William David
Cowan, Adrian William David (1919–96), dentist, was born 26 August 1919 in Dublin, eldest among four sons and two daughters of Alfred Cowan (fl.1890s–1960s), dentist, and ‘Lib’ (Elizabeth?) Cowan (née Nurock). He was educated in Dublin at St Andrew’s College (1928–34),…...
Delmonte, (Simeon) Koert
Delmonte, (Simeon) Koert (1913–82), portrait and landscape painter, was born 15 April 1913 in van Mierlestraat, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, eldest of three children of Solomon Delmonte, banker, and his wife Nanetha, daughter of Simon Speyer, diamond merchant. His younger brother…...
Denny, Sir Edward
Denny, Sir Edward (1796–1889), MP and hymn-writer, was born 2 October 1796 in Dublin, eldest son of Sir Edward Denny, 3rd baronet, of Tralee Castle, Co. Kerry, and Elizabeth Denny, daughter and heir of Robert Day, MP. Educated at Eton, and later Exeter College, Oxford, he…...
Dowden, Richard
Dowden, Richard (1794–1861), politician, philanthropist, and naturalist, was born 12 April 1794 at Bandon, Co. Cork, second among seven children of Richard Dowden and Anne Dowden (née Keys). He originally studied medicine but was asked by the Jennings family to manage their magnesia and…...
Elliman, Louis
This is a co-subject for the entry on Elliman, Maurice (Moshe, Moses). View the original entry....
Elliman, Maurice (Moshe, Moses)
Elliman, Maurice (Moshe, Moses) (1872–1952), businessman, cinema and theatre impresario, was born 9 March 1872 into a Jewish family in Kovno, Lithuania, then part of the Russian empire. His father, Moshe Hellman, died before his second son was born and named after him. His mother…...
Frankau, Julia (‘Frank Danby’)
Frankau, Julia (‘Frank Danby’) (1859–1916), art historian and novelist, was born 30 July 1859 in Dublin, into an English Jewish family, seventh among nine children of Hyman Davis (d. 1871), dentist and later artist/photographer, and his wife Isabella. Her parents arrived in Dublin in…...
Goldblatt, Harold
Goldblatt, Harold (1901–82), theatre producer and actor, was born in Belfast. Little is known of his early life before he came to prominence in the 1920s with the Jewish Institute Dramatic Society. He was its founder, producer, and main actor; his first success was to win the…...
Goldin, Paul
Goldin, Paul (1927–2008), entertainer and clinical psychologist, was born Ronald Paul Gold in London on 15 April 1927, the son of Charles Gold and his wife Minnie (née Elbury). The Golds were a Jewish family living in London's East End, and Paul's father may have been a psychiatrist…...
Heitler, Walter
Heitler, Walter (1904–81), theoretical physicist and philosopher, was born 2 January 1904 in Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany, son of Adolf Heitler, a Jewish engineering professor, and Ottilie Heitler (née Rudolf ). His largely classical early education left him with a lifelong interest…...
Hitchcock, Reginald Ingram Montgomery (‘Rex Ingram’)
Hitchcock, Reginald Ingram Montgomery (‘Rex Ingram’) (1893–1950), film director,was born 18 January 1893 at 58 Grosvenor Square, Rathmines, Dublin, the elder of two sons of Francis Ryan Montgomery Hitchcock, clergyman and Donnellan lecturer at Trinity College Dublin (1912), and his wife…...
Hurwitz, Lewis (Louis) John
Hurwitz, Lewis (Louis) John (1926–71), neurologist, was born 9 February 1926, the youngest of the four sons and two daughters of Barnet Harris (‘Barney’) Hurwitz, linen merchant and president of the Belfast Jewish community, and Cana Hurwitz (née Clein), of Cork. Barney received…...
Lánczos, Cornelius
Lánczos, Cornelius (Kornél) (1893–1974), theoretical physicist, was born 2 February 1893 in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, eldest of five children of Carolus Löwy, lawyer, and Adél Hahn. During the early 1900s the family changed their name to Lánczos, a Hungarian form of the Jewish name Löwy…...
Lentin, Louis
Lentin, Louis (1933–2014), theatre, film and television producer and director, was born in Limerick on 11 December 1933, the first of six children of Isaac Lentin, who owned a women’s tailoring business, and Annie Rose (Hyacinth) Lentin (née Goldberg). His parents were the children of…...
Lewis, Helen
Lewis, Helen (1916–2009), Holocaust survivor, dance teacher, choreographer and memoirist, was born Helena Katz on 22 June 1916 into a well-off Jewish family in Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian empire (Bohemia became part of the new state of Czechoslovakia in 1918). She was an only…...
Macartney, James
Macartney, James (1770–1843), surgeon and anatomist, was born 8 March 1770 in Armagh city, youngest surviving child among four sons and two daughters of James Macartney (d. 1790), gentleman farmer, and Mary Macartney (née Maxwell). He was educated at the Endowed Classical School,…...
Malcolm, Andrew George
Malcolm, Andrew George (1818–56), physician and social reformer, was born 17 December 1818 in Newry, Co. Down, sixth child and fourth son among five sons and two daughters of the Rev. Andrew George Malcom (1782–1823), presbyterian minister, and Eleanor Malcom (née Hunter). Andrew…...
Marsh, Sir Henry
Marsh, Sir Henry (1790–1860), physician, was born in Loughrea, Co. Galway, into a distinguished clerical family, descendant of the protestant archbishop Francis Marsh (qv), and son of the Rev. Robert Marsh, rector of Killinane, Co.…...
McGrath, William
McGrath, William (1916–91), loyalist and paedophile, was born 11 December 1916 in Belfast, son of Abraham McGrath and Jane McGrath (née Warrington). McGrath came from a methodist background; in later years he worked with presbyterian and Free Presbyterian churches while operating as a…...
Musa, Jennifer ('Mummy'; Jennifer Jehanzeba Qazi Musa)
Musa, Jennifer ('Mummy'; Jennifer Jehanzeba Qazi Musa) (1917–2008), politician, tribal elder and nurse, was born Bridget Wren on 11 November 1917 in Tarmons, Tarbert, Co. Kerry, one of five daughters and two sons of John Wren, a small-holding farmer, and his wife Johanna (née…...
Rosen, Hans Waldemar
Rosen, Hans Waldemar (1904–94), music teacher and choral conductor, was born 15 July 1904 in Dresden, Germany, the only child of Ferdinand Rosetzka and Hedwig Rosetzka (née Thiele). In 1919 his father changed the family name to Rosen. Primarily of German extraction, he was reared in…...
Scriven, Joseph Medlicott
Scriven, Joseph Medlicott (1819–86), preacher and hymn writer, was born 10 September 1819 at Ballymoney Lodge, near Banbridge, Co. Down, son of John Scriven, captain in the army and later churchwarden of Seapatrick parish church, and Jane Scriven (née Medlicott), possibly related…...