Delany, Mary
Delany, Mary (1700–88), artist, was born 14 May 1700 in Coulston, Wiltshire, England, elder daughter and second among four children of Col. Bernard Granville and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Martin Westcomb, former consul at Cadiz. Her father, the younger brother of George…...
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…...
Dering, Henrietta
Dering, Henrietta (c.1674–1729), portrait painter, was born in France, the only daughter among two children of Francis and Suzanne de Branlieu , a huguenot family who came to England in 1687. The will of her daughter, Mary Dering, dated 23 April 1746 and proved 13 June…...
Digby, Simon
Digby, Simon (c.1645–1720), miniature-painter and bishop of Elphin, was born at Kilminchy, Queen's Co. (Laois), youngest son of Essex Digby and his wife Thomasine, daughter of Sir William Gilbert of Kilminchy, Queen's Co. Essex Digby became dean of Cashel in 1661 and…...
Duff, Arthur Knox
Duff, Arthur Knox (1899–1956), composer, arranger, and music producer, was born 13 March 1899 at 27 Bloomfield Avenue, Dublin. His father, John William Duff, was from King's Co. (Offaly) and worked first as an accountant, later as a clerk in a local tobacco factory on the South…...
Dukes, Frederick Ernest (‘Fred’)
Dukes, Frederick Ernest (‘Fred’) (1912–98), engineer and campanologist, was born 23 May 1912 in Inchicore, Dublin, eldest of two sons and one daughter of George Dukes, railway foreman, originally of Staffordshire, then Dublin, and Mary Elizabeth (‘Lillie’) Dukes (née Erskine), of…...
Field, John
Field, John (1782–1837), pianist and composer, was born 16 or 26 July 1782 in Golden Lane, Dublin, and baptised at St Werburgh's church on 5 September. He was the eldest son of a Dublin couple, Robert Field, a theatre violinist (himself the son of John Field, a professional organist…...
French, Robert
French, Robert (1841–1917), photographer, was born 11 November 1841 in Dublin, eldest of the seven children of William French, a court messenger, and Ellen French (née Johnson). At the age of nineteen, in September 1860, he joined the Constabulary (later…...
French, (William) Percy
French, (William) Percy (1854–1920), songwriter, humourist, entertainer, and painter, was born 1 May 1854 in Cloonyquin House, parish of Tulsk, Co. Roscommon, second son and third child among four sons and five daughters of Christopher French (1821–97), landowner, and Susan Emma French…...
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…...
Geary (Garry), Thomas Augustine (Timothy)
Geary (Garry), Thomas Augustine (Timothy) (1775–1801), composer, was born in Dublin in 1775 (his date of birth is sometimes given as 1772), the son of Timothy Garry (senior). Geary (who signed himself ‘Timothy Garry’ at the age of fifteen) later adopted the first names Thomas Augustine…...
Goodman, James (Séamus Gudman)
Goodman, James (Séamus Gudman) (1828–96), clergyman, Irish-language scholar, and music collector, was born 22 September 1828 at Ballyameen near Dingle, Co. Kerry, second son among five sons and four daughters of Thomas Chute Goodman, clergyman, and Mary Goodman (née Gorham). Brought up…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Hamilton, Gustavus
Hamilton, Gustavus (c.1739–1775), miniaturist, was one of the younger children of the Rev. Gustavus Hamilton, vicar of Errigal in the diocese of Clogher, rector of Gallen, Co. Meath, and formerly curate in Enniskillen in 1721–2, when he married his wife Jane (née Cathcart…...
Hammond, David Andrew ('Davy')
Hammond, David Andrew ('Davy') (1928–2008), singer, folklorist, television producer and documentary maker, was born on 5 December 1928 in Miss Kells's nursing home on the Castlereagh Road in Belfast, the son of Leslie Hammond, a tram driver, and his wife Annie (née Lamont). His parents…...
Harrison, Frank Llewelyn
Harrison, Frank Llewelyn (1905–87), musicologist, organist, and composer, was born 29 September 1905 in Dublin, the second son of Alfred Francis and Florence May Harrison. He became a chorister at St Patrick's cathedral in 1912, occasionally playing the organ for cathedral…...
Harty, Sir (Herbert) Hamilton
Harty, Sir (Herbert) Hamilton (1879–1941), pianist, accompanist, composer, arranger, and conductor, was born 4 December 1879 in Hillsborough, Co. Down. His father, William Michael Harty (b. Limerick, 1852; d. Hillsborough, Co. Down, 1 November 1918), became a chorister and organ…...
Herbert, Victor
Herbert, Victor (1859–1924), composer, was born 1 February 1859 in Dublin, son of Edward Herbert, artist, and Fanny Herbert (née Lover). Victor's father died when he was 3, and he was initially raised by his grandfather, the novelist and composer …...
Hewson, George Henry Philips
Hewson, George Henry Philips (1881–1972), organist, composer, and teacher, was born 19 November 1881, youngest among ten children of Edmund Hewson and his wife Caroline (née Page). In 1888 he joined the school and choir of St Patrick's cathedral, Dublin. He showed an early aptitude…...
Hinde, John Wilfrid
Hinde, John Wilfrid (1916–97), photographer and postcard manufacturer, was born 17 May 1916 in Street, Somerset, England, into a close-knit Quaker family, who later became Christian Scientist. His great-grandfather was James Clark, co-founder of the Clark's footwear company. During…...
Holmes, Augusta Mary Anne
Holmes, Augusta Mary Anne (1847–1903), composer, was born 16 December 1847 in Paris of Irish parents, Captain Dalkieth Holmes, who had settled in Paris in 1820, and his wife, Augusta, née Shearer (d. 1857). Her mother published two pieces of prose: The law of Rouen, a…...
Hone, Eva Sydney (‘Evie’)
Hone, Eva Sydney (‘Evie’) (1894–1955), painter and stained-glass artist, was born 22 April 1894 at Roebuck Grove, Clonskeagh, Co. Dublin, youngest among four daughters of Joseph Hone, prominent maltster and director of the Bank of Ireland, and Eva Hone (née Robinson), who died…...