Acheson, Robert
Acheson, Robert (1763–1824), presbyterian minister and United Irish leader, was born near Clough, Co. Antrim, son of James Acheson, farmer, and his second wife, Elizabeth; her brother Thomas Reid was minister of Glenarm, Co. Antrim. Robert Acheson graduated in medicine from…...
Adair, Patrick
Adair, Patrick (c.1624–1694), presbyterian minister and historian, was the third son of John Adair, of Genoch in Galloway. He graduated from the University of St Andrews in 1642 and proceeded in 1644 to study divinity in the University of Glasgow. When licensed he travelled to…...
Alexander, James
Alexander, James (d. 1815?), historian of the battle of New Ross and miscellaneous writer, was a native of Harristown, near Monastereven, Co. Kildare. Nothing has been ascertained of his family other than that he had a brother, Wentworth, and that he was a cousin-german of Sir…...
Alexander, Sir William
Alexander, Sir William (1743–1822), 1st baronet, wholesale merchant, and Dublin alderman, of Belcamp, Booterstown, and Mountjoy Square, Dublin, was born 3 March 1743, son of William Alexander (d. c.1788), wholesale merchant and linen factor, of Mary's Abbey, Dublin (…...
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’)
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’) (1861–1937), Fenian, journalist and civil servant, was born 15 June 1861 in Dublin, the third son of William Gartley Allan (d. 1881?), a clerk in the accounts department of the Board of Public Works (until 1873), and his wife Ellen Batty (née Quince…...
Anderson, John
Anderson, John (1815–1905), woollen merchant, geologist, bibliographer, and local politician, was born 8 July 1815 near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. After moving to Belfast he entered (1840) the woollen business in Donegall St. founded by James Young in 1795. Anderson's eminence…...
Andrews, Sir John Lawson Ormrod (‘Jack’)
Andrews, Sir John Lawson Ormrod (‘Jack’) (1903–86), politician and businessman, was born 15 July 1903 at Maxwell Court, Comber, Co. Down, the only son among the three children of John Miller Andrews (qv), later prime minister of…...
Annesley, Arthur
Annesley, Arthur (1614–86), 1st earl of Anglesey , politician, was born 10 July 1614 in Dublin, son of Francis Annesley (qv), Lord Mountnorris and Viscount Valentia, and his wife Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Philips of Picton,…...
Archer, Thomas
Archer, Thomas (d. 1800), rebel, was born in Castle Street, Ballymena, Co. Antrim. A presbyterian and a shoemaker's apprentice, he enlisted in the Antrim militia. On the outbreak of the 1798 rebellion he deserted from his regiment to join the rebels who occupied Ballymena on 7…...
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…...
Arnott, Sir John
Arnott, Sir John , (1814–98), first baronet, businessman, philanthropist, and politician, was born in Auchtermuchty, Fife, Scotland, on 26 July 1814, the third son of John Arnott (d. 1878), JP, manufacturer, of Greenfield, Auchtermuchty, and…...
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)…...
Asmal, (Abdul) Kader
Asmal, (Abdul) Kader (1934–2011), human rights jurist, anti-apartheid campaigner and South African government minister, was born on 8 October 1934 in Stanger (KwaDukuza), Natal, South Africa, the youngest of eight children (six sons and two daughters) of Ahmed Asmal, grocer, and his…...
Bagwell, John
Bagwell, John (1752–1816), landowner and MP, was the only son among four children of William Bagwell (c.1728–1756) of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, presbyterian, banker, merchant, and MP for Clonmel (January–July 1756), and Jane Bagwell, daughter of John Harper of Belgrove, Co. Cork…...
Baird, Ernest Austin
Baird, Ernest Austin (1930–2003), unionist politician and businessman, was born 13 June 1930 in Ballycrampsie, on the Malin peninsula in Co. Donegal, son of Samuel Baird, a farmer, and his wife Rachel (née Fulton); he had two sisters. In 1953 the family moved to Belfast. Although Baird…...
Ballance, John
Ballance, John (1839–93), New Zealand politician, was born 27 March 1839, eldest among ten children surviving to adulthood of Samuel Ballance and Mary Ballance (née McNeice) of Ballypitmave near Glenavy, Co. Antrim; she was from a quaker background, while the Ballances were a…...
Barber, Samuel
Barber, Samuel (1738?–1811), presbyterian minister and radical, was born in the parish of Killead, Co. Antrim, younger son of John and Sarah Barber, farmers. He entered Glasgow University in 1757 and graduated MA in 1759. On 28 August 1761 he…...
Barbour, William Pirrie ('Bill')
Barbour, William Pirrie ('Bill') (1920–2009), teacher, and community and political activist, was born in Newtownards, Co. Down, son of Walter Terence Barbour, a director of the Combe Barbour engineering firm, and his wife Blanche (née Redman), whose father owned wine shops in London…...
Barkley, John Monteith
Barkley, John Monteith (1910–97), presbyterian minister, scholar and historian, was born in Belfast on 18 October 1910, the only son of Robert James Barkley and his wife Mary Darcus (née Monteith). He had a younger sister. When John was born the family was living with his mother's…...
Barnhill, John ('Jack') Eccles Nixon
Barnhill, John ('Jack') Eccles Nixon (1905–71), senator and businessman, was born 11 April 1905 at Brickfield, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, the third child and second son in a family of at least five children (two sons and three daughters) of William Wilson Barnhill (1867–1950), a well-to-do…...
Barr, Andrew (Andy)
Barr, Andrew (Andy) (1913–2003), trade unionist and communist, was born 23 September 1913 at 29 Cluan Place, off Mountpottinger Road, Ballymacarrett, Belfast, second child among two sons and five daughters (two other children died in infancy) of Andrew Barr (d. 1986, aged 98), a…...
Bell, David
Bell, David (d. 1890), presbyterian minister and Fenian activist, was born near Mosside, Co. Antrim, son of Thomas Bell, seceding presbyterian minister at Mosside for forty-seven years, and Jane Bell (d. 1852; maiden name unknown); they had also at least one daughter. He was…...
Benn, George
Benn, George (1801–82), businessman and historian of Belfast, was born on 1 January 1801 at Tandragee, Co. Armagh, the youngest son in the family of four sons and five daughters of John Benn (1767–1853), a Belfast brewer, and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1859), daughter of James Craig…...
Biggar, Joseph Gillis
Biggar, Joseph Gillis (1828–90), politician, was born 10 August 1828 in Belfast, eldest son of Joseph Biggar, prosperous merchant and subsequently chairman of the Ulster Bank, and his wife Isabella, daughter of William Houston of Ballyearl, Co. Antrim. After schooling at the…...
Birch, Thomas Ledlie
Birch, Thomas Ledlie (1754–1828), radical and presbyterian minister, was born at Birch Grove, Gilford, Co. Down, youngest among nine children of John Birch, a large farmer and officer in the Down militia, and his wife Jane, daughter of John Ledlie of Arboe, Co. Tyrone, a prosperous…...