Fitzgerald, Maurice
Fitzgerald, Maurice (1590–1649), catholic landowner and soldier, was eldest son of Gerald fitz Philip Fitzgerald and his second wife, Joan Walsh of Shanganagh, Dublin. Born into a junior branch of the family of the earls of Kildare, he held an estate of 5,000 acres in the parish…...
Fitzgibbon, Denis (‘Din Joe’)
Fitzgibbon, Denis (‘Din Joe’) (1921–98), businessman and broadcaster, was born in Cork city. He was reared and educated locally in a traditional catholic environment, attending Presentation Brothers College, Cork. He was a noted rugby player for the Dolphin club and for Munster.…...
Fitzgibbon, Edward
Fitzgibbon, Edward (1803–57), journalist known as ‘Ephemera’, was born in August 1803 in Limerick, son of a land agent; nothing else is known of his family. On the death of his father (1817) he went to London, aged 14, and two years later was articled to a surgeon. Within two…...
Fitzharris, Edward
Fitzharris, Edward (c.1648–1681), soldier and conspirator, was the second son of Sir Edward Fitzharris (d. in or before 1700), of Kilfinane, Co. Limerick, and his wife, Ellen Fitzgerald. He was probably a grandson of Sir Edward Fitzharris (d. April 1641), a lawyer and…...
Fitzjames, James
Fitzjames, James (1670–1734), duke of Berwick , soldier and Jacobite, was born 21 August 1670 at Moulins, France, eldest son of James, duke of York (later James II (qv)) and his mistress Arabella Churchill, sister of…...
Fitzmaurice, James Christopher
Fitzmaurice, James Christopher (1898–1965), aviator, was born 6 January 1898 at 35 Mountjoy Prison Cottages, North Circular Road, Dublin, second of three sons and one daughter of Michael Fitzmaurice, prison warder, and Mary Agnes Fitzmaurice (née Riordan), both of whose families…...
Fitzpatrick, John (‘Jack’)
Fitzpatrick, John (‘Jack’) (d. p.1693?), army officer and politician, was the son of Florence Fitzpatrick, of Castletown, in the barony of Upper Ossory, Queen's County, who was a member of the commons in the confederate general assembly, 1642–9. The Fitzpatricks had…...
Fitzwilliam, Oliver
Fitzwilliam, Oliver (d. 1667), 2nd Viscount Merrion and earl of Tyrconnell , landowner and army officer, was the eldest son of Thomas Fitzwilliam, 1st Viscount Merrion, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Oliver Plunkett, fourth Baron Louth. The Fitzwilliams were an important…...
Flanagan, John Woulfe
Flanagan, John Woulfe (1852–1929), journalist on The Times, was born 6 April 1852, the eldest of six sons and five daughters in the family of Stephen Woulfe Flanagan (1817–91), PC (Ire.), a judge of the landed estates court and owner of 3…...
Flanagan, Terence Philip ('T. P.'; 'Terry')
Flanagan, Terence Philip ('T. P.'; 'Terry') (1929–2011), painter, was born 15 August 1929 at 18 The Hollow, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, the eldest among four sons and three daughters of William Flanagan and his wife Margaret (née Maguire). His father held a series of clerical jobs in…...
Flannery, Austin
Flannery, Austin (1925–2008), priest, scholar, editor, journalist and social justice campaigner, was born William ('Liam') Flannery on 10 January 1925 at Rear Cross, Co. Tipperary, the eldest of seven children of William K. Flannery and his wife Margaret Flannery (née Butler),…...
Flood, John
Flood, John (1835–1909), Fenian, journalist and politician, was baptised on 25 May 1835 in Howth parish, Co. Dublin, son of a shipping merchant based in the area who was originally from Wexford; no further details of his family are known. After a local national school education, he was…...
Foley, Donal
Foley, Donal (1922–81), journalist and editor, was born 4 September 1922 in Ring, Co. Waterford, seventh among twelve children of Daniel Joseph Foley, headmaster in Ferrybank, Co. Waterford, and Catherine Foley (née Power). His childhood was idyllic, between the small village of…...
Ford, Patrick
Ford, Patrick (1837–1913), journalist and land reformer, was born 12 April 1837 in Galway, the son of Edward Ford (1805–80) and his wife Anne (née Ford) (1815–1893). He emigrated with his parents to the US in 1845 and never revisited Ireland. Although he devoted his life to Irish…...
Forristal, Desmond Timothy ('Des')
Forristal, Desmond Timothy ('Des') (1930–2012), priest, broadcaster and writer, was born on 25 September 1930 at 70 Botanic Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, to Anthony James Forristal, civil servant, and his wife Máirín Genevieve (née McInerney), who were then living at 8 Weston Villas,…...
Frankau, Julia (‘Frank Danby’)
Frankau, Julia (‘Frank Danby’) (1859–1916), art historian and novelist, was born 30 July 1859 in Dublin, into an English Jewish family, seventh among nine children of Hyman Davis (d. 1871), dentist and later artist/photographer, and his wife Isabella. Her parents arrived in Dublin in…...
Fuller, Stephen
Fuller, Stephen (1899–84), farmer, political activist and survivor of the 1923 Ballyseedy massacre, was born on 25 December 1899 at Fahavane, a hamlet just outside the village of Kilflynn, north of Tralee, Co. Kerry. The eldest child of Daniel Fuller, ‘an extensive farmer’, (…...
Furlong, George Joseph
Furlong, George Joseph (1898–1987), art historian and gallery director, was born 1 February 1898 in Dundrum, seven miles north-west of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, son of Michael Furlong, hotel proprietor, and Kate Mary Furlong (née Bourke). Although he was orphaned at 9, the family…...
Gallagher, Frank
Gallagher, Frank (1893–1962), journalist, author, and republican, was born 22 February 1893 in Cork, one of a family of four brothers and five sisters of James Gallagher, an accountant, and his wife Kathleen Gallagher (née Whitely). Educated at Presentation College, Cork, he…...
Gardiner, Marguerite (Margaret)
Gardiner, Marguerite (Margaret) (1789–1849), countess of Blessington , writer, journalist, and society hostess, was born 1 September 1789 at Knockbrit, Co. Tipperary, the second daughter and fourth child of Edmund Power and his wife Ellen (née Sheehy), both from well-established…...
Geary, Francis (‘Frank’) Joseph
Geary, Francis (‘Frank’) Joseph (1891–1961), journalist and newspaper editor, was born 2 August 1891 in Kilkenny city, youngest son of Patrick Geary – grocer, GAA stalwart, and supporter of…...
Gifford, Grace (Evelyn)
Gifford, Grace (Evelyn) (1888–1955), cartoonist and republican, was born 4 March 1888 at 8 Temple Villas, Palmerston Park, Rathmines, Dublin, one of twelve children of Frederick Gifford, a wealthy solicitor, and Isabella Gifford (née Burton), a niece of the artist Sir…...
Gill, Thomas Patrick
Gill, Thomas Patrick (1858–1931), journalist, politician, and secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, was born 25 October 1858 at Ballygraigue, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, the first of the four sons of Robert Gill, a civil engineer who was assistant county…...
Gorham, Maurice Anthony Coneys
Gorham, Maurice Anthony Coneys (1902–75), author, journalist, and broadcasting administrator, was born in London on 19 August 1902, the younger child of James John Gorham, doctor, formerly of Clifden, Co. Galway, and his wife Mary Smith of Lancaster. His sister Mary Honora was…...
Gorman, Sir John Reginald
Gorman, (Sir) John Reginald (1923–2014), soldier, policeman, businessman, civil servant and politician, was born on 1 February 1923 at Mullaghmore House, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, the eldest of four children of Major John Kearney (Jack) Gorman (1891–1980), an RUC officer, and his…...