Barran, Nicholas
Barran, Nicholas (c.1555–1613), merchant and politician, was eldest son of Edmund Barran, alderman and sheriff of Dublin, and his wife Mary, daughter of Alderman Nicholas Humphrey, mayor of Dublin (1541). Elected sheriff for the year 1590–91 and alderman in 1592, he…...
Barry, Anthony (‘Tony’)
Barry, Anthony (‘Tony’) (1901–83), merchant and politician, was born 7 June 1901 in Cork, eldest among eleven children of James J. Barry, tea and wine merchant of Ballyhooly, Co. Cork, and Annie Barry (née Ryan; d. February 1950). The family lived at ‘Lansdowne’, St Patrick's Hill…...
Barry, David Fitz-James de
Barry, David Fitz-James de (1550–1617), 3rd Viscount Buttevant , was second son of James Fitz-Richard Barry Roe, lord of Ibawne, 2nd Viscount, and his wife Ellen (Eileen), daughter of Cormac MacCarthy Reagh. On the outbreak of the second Desmond rebellion (1579), he initially…...
Barry, Michael Joseph
Barry, Michael Joseph (1817–89), Young Irelander, poet, and journalist, was born 26 March 1817 in Blackrock, Cork city, eldest among five children of Michael Joseph Barry, a catholic merchant, and his wife Anne (née England). John England (qv…...
Béaslaí, Piaras
Béaslaí, Piaras (1881–1965), writer, revolutionary, politician, language revivalist, and journalist, was born Percy (later Pierce , Piaras) Beazley on 15 February 1881 in Liverpool, England, second of three sons of Patrick Langford Beazley, editor of the Catholic Times from…...
Beaumont (McGavock), Máirín (Mary)
Beaumont (McGavock), Máirín (Mary) (1894–1972), teacher and nationalist, was born 7 December 1894 in Glenarm, Co. Antrim, one of the four daughters of William McGavock, a merchant, and Annie McGavock , a sister of Eoin MacNeill (qv).…...
Beckett, Mary
Beckett, Mary (1926–2013), writer, was born on 28 January 1926 in the family home at 48 Knutsford Drive, Belfast, the third of four children to Seán Beckett, a school principal, and his wife Catherine (née Bryson). The family were catholic, and she was educated at St Columban's…...
Behan, Brian Finbar Oliver Plunkett
Behan, Brian Finbar Oliver Plunkett (1926–2002), writer, radical, and bohemian, was born Brian Desmond Behan (the name appearing on the birth certificate) on 10 November 1926 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, while the family were residing at 14 Russell St., the third of five children of…...
Behan, Dominic
Behan, Dominic (1928–89), writer, balladeer, and broadcaster, was born 22 October 1928 in Dublin, fourth child of five children of Stephen Behan, house painter, and Kathleen Behan (qv) (née Kearney). Educated at St Agatha's School, North…...
Beirne, Bryan Patrick
Beirne, Bryan Patrick (1918–98), entomologist and pest control expert, was born 22 January 1918 in Ballygeary, Co. Wexford, the elder son of Patrick Beirne, tax inspector with UK Customs and Excise and later the Irish Revenue Commissioners, and his wife Mabel, daughter of…...
Bellew (Bedlowe), James
Bellew (Bedlowe), James (d. 1606), merchant and mayor of Dublin, was the son of John Bellew and Anne, daughter of Edward Dowdall, of Co. Louth. Most likely he was born in Louth, but by 1560 he had moved to Dublin. A wealthy merchant trading with Spain, he was very active in…...
Bellew, Christopher Dillon
Bellew, Christopher Dillon (1763–1826), catholic gentleman and activist, was the eldest son of Michael Bellew of Mount Bellew, Co. Galway, and his wife Jane, daughter of Henry Dillon. Born into a wealthy catholic family, one of the few that had prospered during the penal era, he…...
Bellew, Sir John
Bellew, Sir John (d. 1693), 1st Baron Bellew of Duleek , Jacobite colonel, was son of Sir Christopher Bellew of Bellewstown and his wife Frances, daughter of Matthew Plunkett, Lord Louth. His father was made governor of Louth (30 October 1641) with the object of suppressing…...
Bellew, Sir Patrick
Bellew, Sir Patrick (1726?–95), 5th baronet and catholic activist, was second son among five children (four sons and a daughter) of Sir Edward Bellew (d. 1741), 3rd baronet (1734–41), of Barmeath Castle, Dunleer, Co. Louth, and Eleanor Bellew (née Moore) of Drogheda. After the…...
Belton, Andrew
Belton, Andrew (1882–1970), OBE, soldier, adventurer, and businessman, was born 17 April 1882 in Cleator Moor, Cumberland, son of John and Susannah Belton of Bowthorn Road, Cleator Moor. Educated locally at St Patrick…...
Belton, Paddy
Belton, Paddy (1926–87), politician and businessman, was born Patrick Fitzgibbon Belton on 26 June 1926 at 5 Mount Street Crescent, Dublin, the third of four sons of Patrick Belton (qv) and his wife Mary (née Fitzgibbon). His father, a…...
Belton, Patrick
Belton, Patrick (1884–1945), revolutionary, politician, and businessman, was born 7 November 1884, youngest of seven children of Richard Belton, farmer, and Mary Belton (née Rhatigan), of Rathcline, Lanesborough, Co. Longford. Educated at McKenna's School, he joined the civil service in…...
Bernard, Agnes Morrogh (Mother Mary Arsenius)
Bernard, Agnes Morrogh (Mother Mary Arsenius) (1842–1932), nun, teacher, and founder of Providence Mill, Foxford, Co. Mayo, was born 24 February 1842 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the eldest child of John Morrogh , of a prominent catholic family from Glanmire, Cork, and Frances…...
Betagh, Thomas
Betagh, Thomas (1738–1811), Jesuit priest and educator, was born in May 1738 in Kells, Co. Meath, into a family of tanners whose ancestors had lost their estates in the Cromwellian confiscation. He received his early education at Kells, but was enrolled in the Jesuit academy in…...
Bewerunge, Heinrich
Bewerunge, Heinrich (1862–1923), musicologist, educator, and composer, was born 7 December 1862 in Letmathe, Westphalia, Germany, the second of nine children of Heinrich Hermann Bewerunge (1836–1901), a building contractor from Lüchtringen-an-der-Weser, and his wife, Maria…...
Bianconi, Charles
Bianconi, Charles (1786–1875), transport entrepreneur, was born Joachim Carlo Guiseppe Bianconi on 24 September 1786 at Tregolo, near Como in Lombardy, Italy, the second of five children of Pietro and Maria Bianconi. His father owned a farm and a silk mill, and was agent for the…...
Binchy, Maeve
Binchy, Maeve (1939–2012), novelist and journalist, was born Ann Maeve Binchy on 28 May 1939 in Glenageary, Co. Dublin, the daughter of Maureen Binchy (née Blackmore) of Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, a nurse, and William Francis Binchy of Charleville, Co. Cork, a barrister. Her father…...
Birmingham, John
Birmingham, John (1816–84), astronomer, polymath, and landowner, was born at Millbrook, near Tuam, Co. Galway in May 1816, the only son of Edward Birmingham (d. 1833, the youngest son of John (Sean Rua) Birmingham of Dalgin, a landowner with interests in the West Indies) and his wife,…...
Blake, John
Blake, John (c.1594–1680), merchant, was the eldest son, of the four sons and one daughter, of Nicholas Blake, merchant, of Galway, and his second wife, Juliana, daughter of Valentine French. He was head of the senior, but by no means most prosperous, branch of the Blake…...
Blake, Mary Elizabeth
Blake, Mary Elizabeth (1840–1907), poet, was born in September 1840 at Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, daughter of Patrick McGrath and his wife Mary (née Murphy). The family emigrated in 1846 to Quincy, Massachusetts, USA, where Patrick McGrath was a marble-worker and businessman. After…...