Hughes, John
Hughes, John (1865–1941), sculptor, was born 27 January 1865 at 21 Portland Place, Dublin, one of five children of Patrick Hughes, carpenter, and Mary Anne Hughes (née Grace). From 1872 to 1879 he attended the Christian Brothers’ O'Connell School, North Richmond St., Dublin, after which…...
Hunter, Richard (‘Dicky’) Henry
Hunter, Richard (‘Dicky’) Henry (1882/5–1970), anatomist and circus impresario, was born 15 May 1882/5 in Berbice, British Guiana (Guyana), son of parents (whose names remain unknown) from Portglenone, Co. Antrim, and was educated at Ballymena, Co. Antrim, at the Model School and…...
Hunt, John
Hunt, John (1957–2004), arts administrator, was born 15 April 1957 in Co. Limerick, and in infancy was adopted by John Durell Hunt (qv), art dealer and collector, medievalist and archaeologist, and his wife Gertrud ('Putzel') Franziska…...
Hurst, Brian Desmond
Hurst, Brian Desmond (1895–1986), film director, was born Hans Moore Hawthorn Hurst in east Belfast on 12 February 1895, seventh child (of five sons and three daughters) of Robert Hurst, shipyard metalworker, and his first wife, Esther (née Hawthorn). The family moved between Belfast…...
Hynes, (Oliver) Jerome (Morley)
Hynes, (Oliver) Jerome (Morley) (1959–2005), theatre and festival manager, and arts administrator, was born 30 September 1959 at St John of God nursing home, Ballymote, Co. Sligo, one of two sons and two daughters of Oliver P. Hynes (c.1920–2004), vocational teacher, and his…...
Inglis, Anthony Vivian (‘Tony’)
Inglis, Anthony Vivian (‘Tony’) (1911–97), film art director, was born 14 April 1911 in Dublin, son of John J. Inglis, civil engineer, and Annie Inglis (née O'Reilly). During the 1916 rising the family house in Mount St. was occupied by British soldiers. Tony had a brief vocation…...
Jordan, John Edward
Jordan, John Edward (1930–88), writer, actor, academic, and broadcaster, was born 8 April 1930 in Dublin, eldest of two sons and a daughter of John Anthony Jordan, cooper at Guinness's brewery, and Mary Agnes Jordan (née Byrne), born of Irish parents in Jarrow, England; both of Parkview…...
Kavanagh (Caomhánach), Séamus
Kavanagh (Caomhánach), Séamus (1910–64), teacher, actor, and broadcaster, was born 28 October 1910 in Sarsfield Quay, Dublin, son of Jack Kavanagh, shoemaker, and Julia Kavanagh (née Holohan). Educated at the Carmelite school in Whitefriar St., he was a monitor there for four years…...
Kean, Marie (Ní Catháin, Máire)
Kean, Marie (Ní Catháin, Máire) (1922–93), actress, was born 27 June 1922 in Rush, Co. Dublin, the daughter of John Kean, a ship's captain, and Margaret Kean (née Foley). Her interest in the theatre developed at an early age, when she attended shows given by travelling companies who…...
Keating, Seán
Keating, Seán (1889–1977), painter, was born in Limerick city 28 September 1889, one of three sons and three daughters of Joseph Keating, an accounts manager with a bakery firm and Anne Keating (née Hannan). He was educated initially at St Munchin's College, where he was a poor…...
Kelly, Charles Edward
Kelly, Charles Edward (1902–81), cartoonist and civil servant, was born 15 June 1902 in Dublin, the second of the seven children of Daniel Kelly, clerk, and his wife, Mary (née Darley). Educated at Synge Street CBS, Dublin, close to his…...
Kelly, David
Kelly, David (1929–2012), actor, was born on 11 July 1929 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, the son of Edward Kelly, a clerk, and his wife Hannah (née O'Connor). He grew up in Dublin, first in Fairview and then Clonskeagh, and attended Synge Street…...
Kelly, (Patrick) Colm
Kelly, (Patrick) Colm (1925–2002), director of Athlone Drama Festival, was born 19 January 1925 in Dysart, Co. Roscommon, youngest son in a family of seven sons and one daughter of Denis Joseph Kelly and his wife Fanny Lucy (née Power or Le Poer), who was born in Devonshire, England…...
Kenny, Kevin John
Kenny, Kevin John (1881–1954), advertising pioneer, commercial manager and publisher, was born on 22 June 1881 at 12 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin, one of eight children of Michael C. Kenny, a lithographic printer and Fenian, and Catherine Kenny (née Fleming), a book-folder (cloth…...
Kenny, Sean
Kenny, Sean (1932–73), set designer and architect, was born John Noel Kenny on 23 December 1932 in Portroe, Co. Tipperary, eldest among nine sons of Thomas Joseph Kenny, builder and former IRA man, and Nora Kenny (née Gleeson). He was educated…...
Kiernan, Catherine Brigid (‘Kitty’)
Kiernan, Catherine Brigid (‘Kitty’) (1893–1945), hotelier, and fiancée of Michael Collins (qv), was born 26 January 1893 in Granard, Co. Longford, fifth child and fourth daughter among six daughters and one son of Peter Kiernan, a…...
King, Richard
King, Richard (1907–74), stained-glass artist and illustrator, was born 7 July 1907 in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, elder of two sons of John J. King, sergeant in the RIC, and Margaret King (née Brereton). He was educated by the De la Salle…...
Laffan, William Mackay
Laffan, William Mackay (1848–1909), journalist, newspaper owner, and art connoisseur, was born 24 January 1848 at 41 Philipsburgh Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin, eldest of six children of Michael Laffan, clerk in the Custom House, and Ellen Sarah Laffan (née Fitzgibbon). William's…...
Lambert, Eugene
Lambert, Eugene (1928–2010), puppeteer and entertainer, was born in spring 1928 in Bayview Terrace, Sligo, one of two sons and one daughter in the family of John Malachy ('Jack') Lambert (d. 1943), county librarian of Sligo, and Eileen Lambert (née O'Connor; d. 1985). His mother had…...
La Rue, Danny
La Rue, Danny (1927–2009), female impersonator and entertainer, was born Daniel Patrick Carroll on 26 July 1927 at 10 Horgan's Buildings, Cork, the youngest of five children of Thomas Carroll (1895–1929), a carpenter, and his wife Mary Anne (née Dennehy) (1897–1976), a seamstress. He…...
Lavery, Sir John
Lavery, Sir John (1856–1941), portrait painter, was born 20 March 1856 in Belfast, son of Henry Lavery, a poor wine-and-spirit merchant who embarked in Liverpool (1859) on the emigrant clipper Pomona with the object of establishing himself in the United States. The…...
Lawless, Matthew James
Lawless, Matthew James (1837–64), painter, was born in Dublin, son of Barry Edward Lawless, barrister, of 13 Harcourt St., Dublin, and Jane Magdelene Lawless (née Byrne). He was educated at Prior School, Bath, England, where illness affected his hearing and left him in frail health…...
Leavy, (Mary) Patricia ('Pat') (née Judge)
Leavy, (Mary) Patricia ('Pat') (née Judge) (1936–2003), actress, was born on 27 July 1936 in a nursing home at 12 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin, daughter of Edmund Judge, a commercial traveller in drapery, of The Downes, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, who died in a car accident on 22 December…...
Leeson, Margaret (‘Peg’)
Leeson, Margaret (‘Peg’) (1727–97), prostitute, brothel-keeper, and memoirist, was born Margaret Plunket at Killough, Co. Westmeath, one of eight surviving children of Matthew Plunket, a wealthy farmer, and his wife, whose maiden name was O'Reilly. Most of what is known about Margaret…...
Lehane, Con
Lehane, Con (1912–83), republican, politician, solicitor and actor, was born in Belfast on 7 May 1912, the only surviving child of Denis Lehane (Donncadh Ó Liatháinn), an excise officer originally from Co. Cork, and his wife Mary (née Connolly), a native of the Falls Road in Belfast…...