Andrews, George
Andrews, George (c.1575–1648), protestant bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, was born at Daventry, Northants., England, educated at Magdalen College, Oxford (BA 1592, MA 1599), and ordained (25…...
Annesley, Mabel Marguerite
Annesley, Mabel Marguerite (1881–1959), wood engraver and watercolourist, was born 25 February 1881 at Castlewellan, Co. Down, only daughter among two children of Hugh, 5th earl of Annesley, of Castlewellan, and his first wife, Mabel Wilhelmina Frances (née Markham). She was educated at…...
Archdall, Mervyn
Archdall, Mervyn (1723–91), clergyman and antiquary, was born 22 April 1723 in Dublin, elder son among two sons and three daughters of William Archdall, goldsmith, and his wife Henrietta, a widow who was daughter of Henry Gonne, curate of Finglas. William Archdall was Dublin assay…...
Archdekin (Ardsdekin, MacGiolla Cuddy), Richard
Archdekin (Ardsdekin, MacGiolla Cuddy), Richard (1619–93), Jesuit priest and scholar, was born 16 March 1619 in Kilkenny city, son of Nicholas Archdekin and his wife Ann (née Sherlock). After being educated at the classical school in Kilkenny, he travelled to Antwerp (1637) to study…...
Archer, Forster
Archer, Forster (1758/9–1826), protestant clergyman and inspector of prisons, was born in Co. Cork, the son of Richard Archer, a merchant. He entered TCD, aged seventeen (1 July 1776), graduated BA…...
Archer, James
Archer, James (1550–1620), Jesuit priest and administrator, was born at Kilkenny and belonged, it can be deduced, to a patrician family prominent in that city. To prepare for an ecclesiastical career he went (c.1564) to the Spanish Netherlands, to Louvain, a hotbed of the…...
Archer, Luke
Archer, Luke (d. 1644), abbot of Holy Cross, was probably a member of the Archer family of Kilkenny. He began his ecclesiastical career as a secular priest, rising to the positions of archdeacon of St Canice's, Kilkenny, and (January 1609) vicar apostolic of the diocese of…...
Ardgal
Ardgal (d. 970), son of Matudán and overking of Ulaid 950–70, was of the Dál Fiatach dynasty. He succeeded his father Matudán son of Áed, overking of Ulaid 937–50, who was slain by the Uí Echach. During the reign of Ardgal, the Ulaid faced a threat from the Northern Uí Néill; in…...
Arlow, William James ('Bill')
Arlow, William James ('Bill') (1926–2006), anglican cleric and peacemaker, was born in Banbridge, Co. Down, on 23 November 2006, son of William John Arlow, a printer on the local newspaper, and his wife Mary (née Wilson). One of his parents was the child of a protestant father and a…...
Armour, James Brown
Armour, James Brown (1841–1928), presbyterian minister and political campaigner, was born 20/31 January 1841, youngest of six children of William Armour and Jane Armour (née Brown), who both came of presbyterian tenant-farmer families in Kilraughts, north Co. Antrim; the Armours…...
Armstrong, Arthur
Armstrong, Arthur (1924–96), painter, was born 12 January 1924 at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, one of three sons among six children of James Charlton Armstrong, house-painter and decorator, and his wife Margaret (née Howard). Soon after his birth the family moved to Belfast. He…...
Armstrong, Edward Allworthy
Armstrong, Edward Allworthy (1900–78), clergyman, ornithologist, and scholar, was born 8 October 1900 in Belfast, son of Hamilton Armstrong and Mary Armstrong (née Allworthy), and grandson of Samuel Allworthy, a prominent Belfast physician. Armstrong was educated at…...
Armstrong, James
Armstrong, James (1781?–1839), unitarian minister and educationist, was born at Ballynahinch, Co. Down, where his father John Armstrong (1754?–1837) was a merchant; his mother, Margaret (1751?–1836), was a daughter of John Strong (d. 1780), presbyterian minister at Ballynahinch (…...
Armstrong, John Ward
Armstrong, John Ward (1915–87), Church of Ireland archbishop of Armagh, was born 30 September 1915 in Belfast, eldest of four sons of John Armstrong, an official of Belfast corporation, and Elizabeth Armstrong (née Ward). He was educated at Belfast Royal Academy and…...
Armstrong, Sir Walter
Armstrong, Sir Walter (1850–1918), art historian and gallery director, was born 7 February 1850 in Roxburghshire, Scotland, eldest son of Walter Armstrong of Hawick, and educated at Harrow and Oxford (BA 1873). He taught at art schools in London…...
Arthur, James
Arthur, James (1587/8–1654), Dominican priest, was a son of William Arthur, member of a leading merchant family in Limerick, and his wife, Beatrice (née Creagh). He entered the Irish college, Salamanca, on 5 November 1606 (NS), aged eighteen, and, after entering the Dominican…...
Arthur, Margaret (Xavieria)
Arthur, Margaret (Xavieria) (1674?–1743), abbess of the Benedictine convent at Ypres, was a daughter of Francis Arthur (d. 1712) and his wife Margaret (née Macnamara) (d. 1710). The Arthurs and Macnamaras were catholic patrician families from Limerick and Clare whose politics were…...
Arthur, William
Arthur, William (1819–1901), methodist minister and author, was born 3 February 1819, probably in Kells, Co. Antrim, son of James Arthur and Margaret Arthur (née Kennedy), and spent his childhood in Westport, Co. Mayo. Though brought up an episcopalian, he attended (1837–9)…...
Artrí
Artrí (d. 821), son of Cathal and overking of Munster, belonged to the Éoganacht Glendamnach dynasty of north Co. Cork. His father is generally identified as Cathal (qv) son of Finguine, a very important and able king of Munster (721–42),…...
Artrí
Artrí (d. 833), bishop and abbot of Armagh, was son of Conchobar – perhaps Conchobar (qv) son of Donnchad Midi (qv) and king of Tara 819–33. This parentage would attach him to the Clann…...
Asgall (Askulf; Hasculf)
Asgall (Askulf; Hasculf) (d. 1171), son of Ragnall and ruler of Dublin, belonged to the Hiberno-Scandinavian line of Torcall (Thorkell), which had emerged to rule Dublin in the person of Thorkell, grandfather of Asgall, following the failure of…...
Ashe, St George
Ashe, St George (1658–1718), scholar and Church of Ireland bishop, was born in Co. Roscommon, in 1658, the second of three sons of Thomas Ashe, a landowner of English extraction, and Jane White of Richerstown. He entered TCD in 1671,…...
Ashford, William
Ashford, William (1746–1824), artist, was christened on 20 May 1746 in St Martin's parish church, Birmingham, the son of Richard Ashford of Birmingham. Nothing is recorded of his early life in England but he almost certainly had some form of technical and/or artistic education. He…...
Assicus (T'Assach)
Assicus (T'Assach) (d. c.508), an artisan – i.e. coppersmith – of supposed Gaulish origin, came to Ireland at some stage during the mission of St Patrick (qv) and was later consecrated a bishop by him.…...
Atherton, John
Atherton, John (1598–1640), churchman, was born in Somerset, England, son of John Atherton, rector of Bawdrip (nothing is known of his mother), and was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he took his MA degree (1621). Although he showed promise…...