Waldron, Laurence Ambrose
Waldron, Laurence Ambrose (1858–1923), stockbroker, patron of the arts, and MP, was born on 14 November 1858 at Ballybrack, Co. Dublin, fourth son of Laurence Waldron (1811–75), JP, DL, and MP for Co.…...
Walker, Dorothy
Walker, Dorothy (1929–2002), writer and critic, was born 16 January 1929 at 3 Mountjoy Square, Dublin, the daughter of Walter Cole, a stallholder at the city of Dublin fruit and vegetable market, and his wife, Moira. Following her education at the Dominican convent in Wicklow (1937–46)…...
Walsh, Thomas
Walsh, Thomas (1914–88), scientist and agricultural administrator, was born in Piercestown, Co. Wexford, fourth son of modest farmers. Walsh was educated at Piercestown national school and Wexford CBS before attending…...
Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton
Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton (1903–95), scientist, educator, and Nobel prize laureate, was born 6 October 1903 in Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, elder of two children of the Rev. John Arthur Walton and Anna Elizabeth Walton (née Sinton). His father, a methodist minister, was born…...
Ward, James
Ward, James (1851–1924), artist and educator, was born 17 November 1851 at Gavins Buildings, Shankill Road, Belfast, eldest son of James Ward, house painter. He was educated at local schools and received private art lessons before attending the Government School of Art, Belfast. He…...
Ward, Mary
Ward, Mary (1827–69), artist, naturalist, and astronomer, was born 27 April 1827 in Ballylin, near Ferbane, King's Co. (Offaly), youngest among three daughters and one son of the Rev. Henry King (1799–1857) of Ballylin, and Harriette King (née Lloyd), of Gloster, King's Co. Her…...
Watson, James
Watson, James (c.1740–1790), mezzotint engraver, was born in Dublin but there are few details of his family or early life; his older brother was William Watson (d. 1765), painter of portraits and historical subjects. Educated at the Dublin Society schools, James trained as…...
Watts, William Arthur ('Bill')
Watts, William Arthur ('Bill') (1930–2010), scientist and provost of TCD, was born on 26 May 1930 in Upper Mayor Street, in Dublin's East Wall area, his maternal grandparents' home. His mother, Bess Dickinson, had moved to Dublin from England as a child, and in 1925 married William…...
Wayman, Patrick Arthur
Wayman, Patrick Arthur (1927–98), astronomer, was born 8 October 1927 in Bromley, Kent, England, one of twin boys and an elder son of Lt-col. Lewis John Wayman and Mary Wayman (née Palmer). Educated at the City of London School (1937–45) and Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1945–8), he…...
Webb, David Allardice
Webb, David Allardice (1912–94), botanist and marine biologist, was born 12 August 1912 in Dublin, only son of George Randolph Webb (d. 1929), mathematician, philosopher, and fellow of TCD, and his wife Ella (née Ovenden) (…...
Wejchert, Alexandra
Wejchert, Alexandra (1921–95), sculptor, was born 16 October 1921 in Cracow, Poland, daughter of Tedeusz Wejchert, who ran a shipping business in Gdansk. In 1939 she went to study architecture in Warsaw University and there experienced the German invasion of Poland, which haunted…...
Went, Arthur Edward James
Went, Arthur Edward James (1910–80), fisheries biologist and historian, was born 21 January 1910 in London, first child and only son of Edward B. Went and Louisa A. Went of Mitcham, Surrey. He left school at the age of 15 to work in a chemical laboratory but in his spare time…...
Werner, Louis Joseph
Werner, Louis Joseph (c.1858–1936), ophthalmologist, was born in Dublin, one of the three sons of the French artist and portrait painter Louis Wernerife. The Franco–Prussian War had forced the emigration of his parents from Alsace to Ireland, via London. Setting up a…...
West, Francis Robert
West, Francis Robert (c.1749–1809), artist, was born in Dublin, eldest son of Robert West (qv), artist and founder of a school of drawing which from 1746 was subsidised by the Dublin Society. After Robert West's death (October 1770…...
West, Robert
West, Robert (d. 1770), painter, draughtsman, and art teacher, was born in Waterford city, the son of an alderman. Little is known about his early years, except that he studied in Paris (c.1735) under François Boucher and Carle Vanloo, and supposedly earned the first…...
West, Robert
West, Robert (d. 1790), stuccodore and Dublin property developer, was probably born in Dublin between c.1720 and 1730. His family background and early life is unknown but it is possible that he was descended from a long line of Dublin-based builders and artisans such as…...
West, Robert Lucius
West, Robert Lucius (c.1774–1850), painter, was born in Dublin, son of Francis Robert West (qv), painter and master of the Dublin Society figure school, and his second wife, Ellen (née Walsh). His grandfather,…...
West, Trevor
West, Trevor (1938–2012), mathematician, politician and sportsman, was born on 8 May 1938 in Cork, the eldest of four sons of Timothy Roberts West, headmaster of Midleton College, Co. Cork, and Dorothy Trevor West (née McNeill), of Charleston, Ballinacurra, Co. Cork, who was CEO of…...
Wheatley, Francis
Wheatley, Francis (1747–1801), artist, was born in Wild Court, Covent Garden, London, son of a master tailor; no other details of his parents are known. He studied under the artist Daniel Fournier (c.1700–c.1766) and in William Shipley's drawing school, where he…...
Wheeler, Thomas Sherlock
Wheeler, Thomas Sherlock (1899–1962), chemist, was born 10 April 1899 at 48 Clonliffe Road, Dublin, eldest son of Martin Redmond Wheeler, clerk (MA), and Bridget Wheeler (née Sherlock). He received his early education in the O'Connell Schools,…...
Whelan, (Michael) Leo
Whelan, (Michael) Leo (1892–1956), portrait and genre painter, was born 17 January 1892 at 20 St George's Villas, Fairview, Co. Dublin, one of two sons and three daughters of Maurice Whelan, a draper, of Co. Kerry ancestry, and Mary Whelan (née Cruise), from Co. Roscommon. The…...
White, (Patrick) James
White, (Patrick) James (1913–2003), arts administrator, art critic and art historian, was born 16 September 1913 in Holles St. maternity hospital, Dublin, son of Thomas John White, a bank clerk, of Grove Cottage, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, and (Mary) Florence White (née Coffey). His…...
Whittaker, Sir Edmund Taylor
Whittaker, Sir Edmund Taylor (1873–1956), mathematician, theoretical physicist, and director of Dunsink observatory, was born 24 October 1873 in Birkdale, near Southport, Lancs., eldest child of John Whittaker, railway engineer and contractor, and his wife Selina, daughter of…...
Whitty, Sophia St John
Whitty, Sophia St John (1877–1924), woodcarver, teacher, and cooperativist, was born 4 November 1877 at 69 Upper Leeson St., Dublin, daughter of Richard Lawrence Whitty, gentleman, of that address, and his wife Jane Alicia, second daughter of Hugh Palliser Hickman (1805–83),…...
Widdess, John (‘Jack’) David Henry
Widdess, John (‘Jack’) David Henry (1906–82), medical historian, librarian, and biologist, was born 1 August 1906 in Limerick, son of Matthew Widdess, pharmaceutical chemist, and Emily Widdess (née Irwin). He was educated at Wesley College, Dublin. He won prizes, was admitted…...