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…...
Galbraith, Joseph Allen
Galbraith, Joseph Allen (1818–90), professor of experimental philosophy and proponent of home rule, was born November 1818 in Dublin, the son of Richard Galbraith, a merchant and Scottish presbyterian, and his wife Rebecca. His father died in the 1820s, after which he largely…...
Godley, John Raymond
Godley, John Raymond (1920–2005), 3rd Baron Kilbracken of Killegar , pilot, journalist, traveller, landowner and environmentalist, was born 17 October 1920 in Chester Street, Belgravia, London, England, the eldest of two sons (Wynne being the younger) and a daughter (Kathleen) of…...
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…...
Graves, Charles
Graves, Charles (1812–99), clergyman, mathematician, and antiquarian, was born 6 November 1812 at 12 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, youngest child among four sons and one daughter of John Crosbie Graves, chief police magistrate of Dublin, and his wife Helena, daughter of the Rev. Charles…...
Graves, John Thomas
Graves, John Thomas (1806–70), jurist and mathematician, was born 4 December 1806 at 12 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, eldest son of four boys and one girl of John Crosbie Graves, chief police magistrate of Dublin, and his wife Helena, daughter of the Rev. Charles Perceval, rector of…...
Graydon, George
Graydon, George (c.1753–1803), cleric, geologist, and social reformer, was probably born at Killashee, Co. Kildare, one of four sons and a daughter of George Graydon, gentleman, and Jane Graydon (neé Maxwell). The eldest son, Robert (c.1744–1800), represented…...
Green, William Spotswood
Green, William Spotswood (1847–1919), marine scientist, was born 10 September 1847 in Youghal, Co. Cork, the only son and eldest of six children of Charles Green, JP, merchant of Youghal, and his wife Catherine Frances, daughter of Walter…...
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…...
Gwynn, Arthur Montagu
Gwynn, Arthur Montagu (1908–2008), medical doctor, naturalist, explorer and editor, was born 5 August 1908 in the family home, St Dymphna's, Clontarf, Dublin, second eldest of three sons and two daughters of Edward John Gwynn (qv),…...
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…...
Hamilton, Hugh
Hamilton, Hugh (1729–1805), Church of Ireland bishop and scientist, was born 26 March 1729 at Knock, Co. Dublin, eldest of four sons of Alexander Hamilton, attorney and later MP for Killyleagh (1739–60), and his wife Isabella, a Maxwell of Finnebrogue, Co. Down; there were also two…...
Hamilton, James Archibald
Hamilton, James Archibald (1747–1815), Church of Ireland clergyman and astronomer, was born at Athlone, Co. Westmeath, son of Col. Gustavus Hamilton and Jane Hamilton (née Giverdot). From 1754 he attended the Royal School at Armagh before entering…...
Hamilton, Sir William Rowan
Hamilton, Sir William Rowan (1805–65), mathematician, was born on the night of 3–4 August 1805 (the time was recorded as midnight) at his father's house in Dominick Street, Dublin. He was the second of five children who survived infancy, and the only son, of Archibald Hamilton (…...
Hamilton, William
Hamilton, William (1755–97), cleric and geologist, was born 16 December 1755 in Derry city, son of John Hamilton, merchant, and Elizabeth Hamilton (née Hope). He entered Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 1771 and had a distinguished academic career. He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1776,…...
Hart, Henry Chichester
Hart, Henry Chichester (1847–1908), naturalist and literary scholar, was born 29 July 1847 in Glenvar, Raheny, Dublin, second son of Andrew Searle Hart (qv) and Frances Hart (née MacDougall). His father's family was of Co.…...
Hart, Sir Andrew Searle
Hart, Sir Andrew Searle (1811–90), mathematician, was born 14 March 1811, youngest of five sons of the Rev. George Vaughan Hart (d. 1836), rector of Castlebar, Co. Mayo, and his wife, Maria Murray (née Hume), daughter of John Hume, dean of Derry. She inherited Glenalla, Co.…...
Harvey, William Henry
Harvey, William Henry (1811–66), botanist, phycologist, and systematist, was born 5 February 1811 at Summerville, Limerick city, youngest of eleven children of Joseph Massey Harvey, a quaker merchant, and Rebecca Harvey (neé Mark), also of that city. He was educated at Newtown,…...
Haughton, Samuel
Haughton, Samuel (1821–97), geologist, physiologist and mathematician, was born 21 December 1821 in Carlow, second of three sons of Samuel Haughton, merchant, and Sarah Haughton (née Hancock). Although of quaker stock, Haughton was brought up within the established church. He entered…...
Hayes, William
Hayes, William (1913–94), bacteriologist and molecular geneticist, was born 18 January 1913 at Edmondstown Park, Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, the son of William Hayes, businessman, then aged seventy-three, and Miriam Hayes (née Harris), the only child of his father's second marriage.…...
Heaton, Richard
Heaton, Richard (1601–66), cleric and botanist, was born 14 February 1601 at Moorehouse, Hooton Pagnall, Yorkshire, third of nine children of Francis Heaton, landowner, and his wife Ursulay. Only three children survived, but there is no further mention of the eldest son or…...
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…...
Helsham, Richard
Helsham, Richard (c.1682–1738), doctor and physicist, was born in Kilkenny city, son of Joshua Helsham, alderman and mayor (1692–4) of the city; nothing is known of his mother. In 1698, aged 15, Helsham proceeded from Kilkenny College to…...