Mason, Thomas Holmes
Mason, Thomas Holmes (1877–1958), photographer, naturalist, meteorologist, and businessman, was born 9 September 1877, eldest among three children of Thomas Mason, optical manufacturer, and Sarah Mason (née Barry) of Dublin. Having worked in the family business in Parliament St.,…...
McCaughey, Sir Samuel
McCaughey, Sir Samuel (1835–1919), pastoralist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist in Australia, was born 30 June 1835 in Tullynewey, near Ballymena, Co. Antrim, eldest son and second child of Francis McCaughey, tenant of a large farm, and Eliza McCaughey (née Wilson), who later had…...
McCleery, Sir William Victor
McCleery, Sir William Victor (1887–1957), businessman and politician, was born 17 July 1887, son of the Rev. John Richard McCleery, of First Killyleigh presbyterian church, and Henrietta McCleery (née Hodgins). After being educated privately, he went into business, and quickly…...
McGrath, William
McGrath, William (1916–91), loyalist and paedophile, was born 11 December 1916 in Belfast, son of Abraham McGrath and Jane McGrath (née Warrington). McGrath came from a methodist background; in later years he worked with presbyterian and Free Presbyterian churches while operating as a…...
Mellon, Thomas
Mellon, Thomas (1813–1908), judge, investor, and banker, was born 3 February 1813 at Camp Hill Cottage, Castletown, near Omagh, Co. Tyrone, eldest of two sons and three daughters of Andrew Mellon (1785–1856), farmer, and his wife Rebecca (1789–1868), daughter of Samuel Wauchob,…...
Musgrave, Sir James
Musgrave, Sir James (1826–1904), businessman, was born 30 December 1826 at Lisburn, Co. Antrim, one of twelve children of Dr Samuel Musgrave (1770–1836), a physician, and his wife, Mary (d. 1862), daughter of William Riddel of Comber, Co. Down. (There is some dispute over his…...
Neilson, William (Mac Néill, Uilliam)
Neilson, William (Mac Néill, Uilliam) (1774–1821), presbyterian minister, classical and Irish-language scholar and writer, was born 12 September 1774 at Rademon, Kilmore, Co. Down, fourth among seven sons of the Rev. Moses Neilson (1739?–1823), schoolmaster and presbyterian minister of…...
Payne, Davy (Hugh David)
Payne, Davy (Hugh David) (1948?–2003), loyalist paramilitary, was born in Belfast, where he was brought up in the Woodvale area of the Shankill Road. He was involved in loyalist activism from his teens (although he later falsely claimed to have been radicalised by IRA bombings in the…...
Pottinger, Thomas
Pottinger, Thomas (c.1633–1715), merchant, was probably the second son of Edward Pottinger, ship's captain of Kirkwall, Orkney, and his third wife, Isobel Stewart. Thomas and his younger brother Edward (d. 1690) settled in Belfast in the early 1660s. In 1663 he married…...
Quigley, Sir George
Quigley, Sir George (1929–2013), civil servant and businessman, was born William George Henry Quigley into a presbyterian family on 26 November 1929 in Drumrot, Moneymore, Co. Londonderry, the son of William George Quigley, a potato inspector for the Ministry of Agriculture, and his…...
Robinson, Samuel
Robinson, Samuel (1865–1958), businessman and philanthropist, was born 9 June 1865 in Culcrum, near Cloughmills, Co. Antrim, eldest son among three sons and two daughters of Samuel Robinson, farmer, and Margaret Robinson (née Megaw). His mother's family, the Megaws, produced…...
Scott, William
Scott, William (1765–1858), shirt manufacturer, was born 12 March 1765 in the townland of Ballougry, in the Liberties of Derry city, the youngest of three sons of David Scott, a farmer, whose ancestors had held the farm since 1610. After a limited education, Scott was apprenticed to…...
Simms, Robert
Simms, Robert (1761–1843), United Irishman and businessman, was born probably in Belfast in March 1761 (he was baptised there on 20 March), the fifth child in the family of five sons and two daughters of Robert Simms, merchant and tanner, and his wife, Elizabeth Stevenson of…...
Simms, William
This is a co-subject for the entry on Simms, Robert. View the original entry....
Sinclair, John
This is a co-subject for the entry on Sinclair (Sinclaire), William. View the original entry....
Sinclair (Sinclaire), William
Sinclair (Sinclaire), William (1760–1807), linen manufacturer and radical, was second among four sons of Thomas Sinclair (1719–98), merchant, and his wife Hester Eccles Pottinger, whom he married in 1749. Thomas came to Belfast from Newtownards and served his apprenticeship with…...
Sinclair, Thomas
This is a co-subject for the entry on Sinclair, Thomas. View the original entry....
Sinclair, Thomas
Sinclair, Thomas (1838–1914), merchant and politician, was born 23 September 1838 in Belfast, son of Thomas Sinclair (1811–67), merchant and shipowner, and his wife Sarah (1800–49), daughter of William Archer of Hillsborough, Co. Down. Thomas Sinclair the elder was born and…...
Sinclair, Thomas
This is a co-subject for the entry on Sinclair (Sinclaire), William. View the original entry....
Swan, Harry Percival
Swan, Harry Percival (1879–1970), businessman, antiquarian, and author, was born 4 June 1879 at Ardeelan House, Buncrana, eldest child among five sons and three daughters of Thomas Swan, miller, and his wife Isabella, daughter of James Cooke of Belfast. His father owned a milling…...
Tennent, Robert
Tennent, Robert (1765–1837), medical doctor, merchant, and philanthropist, was born 9 August 1765, fourth child and second son (of five) of the Rev. John Tennent and Anne Tennent (née Patton). One brother died young in the West Indies in 1794. After completing his medical studies…...
Tennent, William
Tennent, William (1760–1832), Belfast merchant, banker, and United Irishman, was born 26 June 1760, second of the eight children and eldest of the five sons of the Rev. John Tennent, minister of the Seceding Presbyterian congregation of Roseyards, Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, and Anne…...
Tillie, William
Tillie, William (1822–1904), shirt manufacturer, was born in October 1822 in Crookston Mains, in the parish of Stow, Midlothian, Scotland, son of John Tillie and his wife Jannet Tillie (née Brown), who were substantial farmers; he had at least two brothers and a sister. Until Tillie…...
Walker, John
Walker, John (1768–1833), religious leader and classical scholar, was born in January 1768 in Co. Roscommon, son of the Rev. Matthew Walker, Church of Ireland clergyman. In January 1786 he entered TCD, being made a scholar in 1788,…...
Walmsley, James Andrew
Walmsley, James Andrew (1912–2008), Indian civil servant and Dublin businessman, was born 4 October 1912 at The Green, in the townland of Aughnahoory, near Kilkeel, Co. Down, eldest of four boys of James Charles Walmsley, a farmer, and Margaret ('Peggy') Walmsley (née Fairbairn),…...