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 (…...
Alison, Francis
Alison, Francis (1705–79), presbyterian minister and educator in America, was born in the parish of Leck, Co. Donegal, son of Robert Alison, weaver, who may have been fairly well off, and who seems to have died in 1725; his mother's name is unknown, but her first name was possibly…...
Anderson, Emily
Anderson, Emily (1891–1962), academic, civil servant, and translator, was born 17 March 1891 at Taylor's Hill, Galway, second daughter of Alexander Anderson (qv), professor of natural philosophy and later president of…...
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…...
Anderson, Sir Robert
Anderson, Sir Robert (1837–1921), 1st baronet, businessman, was born 1 December 1837, probably in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, son of James Anderson of Ballybay and Elizabeth Anderson (née Ker) of Newbliss. At 15 he joined the firm of John…...
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…...
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…...
Armstrong, James
Armstrong, James (1781?–1839), unitarian minister and educationist, was born at Ballynahinch, Co. Down, where his father John Armstrong (1754?–1837) was a merchant; his mother, Margaret (1751?–1836), was a daughter of John Strong (d. 1780), presbyterian minister at Ballynahinch (…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Barry, David
Barry, David (1873–1938), businessman, was born 4 April 1873 in Ballycarry, Co. Antrim, son of William Barry, teacher, and Sarah Barry (née Weatherhead). In 1887 he joined the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway Co. and in 1891 he joined the shipping firm of G. & J. Burns…...
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…...
Blease, William John ('Billy')
Blease, William John ('Billy') (1914–2008), Baron Blease of Cromac, trade unionist and politician, was born 28 May 1914 in Gosford Street, off the Ormeau Road, Belfast, eldest of three sons and one daughter of William John Blease (1886–1954), restaurant chef and trade-union activist,…...
Bowman, Alexander
Bowman, Alexander (1855–1924), trade unionist, was born 16 March 1855 at Dromara, Co. Down, eldest child among three sons and two daughters of William McKeown, farmer and weaver, and his wife Elizabeth (née Rodgers). McKeown was a catholic; Rodgers, a presbyterian, had been previously…...
Boyd, Thomas William (‘Tom’)
Boyd, Thomas William (‘Tom’) (1903–91), socialist and trade unionist, was born 13 April 1903 in Woodstock Road, east Belfast, one of nine children of James Boyd, shipyard clerk, and Mary Boyd (née McCully), both originally from Co. Down. He left Ravenscroft national school,…...
Brown, James
This is a co-subject for the entry on Brown, Alexander. View the original entry....
Bruce, William
Bruce, William (1757–1841), presbyterian minister and schoolmaster, was born in Dublin on 30 July 1757. He was the second son, in the family of seven, of Samuel Bruce (1722–67), presbyterian minister at Wood Street, Dublin, and his wife, Rose (1728–1806), daughter of Robert Rainey…...
Bryce, James
Bryce, James (1806–77), geologist and teacher, was born 22 October 1806 at Killaig, near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, third son of James Bryce (qv) (1767–1857) and Catherine Bryce (née Annan). His father had recently been appointed…...
Burn, Thomas Henry
Burn, Thomas Henry (1875–1949), trade unionist and politician, was born in Belfast, son of Thomas Henry Burn. Little is known of his family life but he was educated at Belfast National School and subsequently trained as a lithographic printer. The Ulster Unionist Labour…...
Butt, Mahmood (‘Mike’)
Butt, Mahmood (‘Mike’) (1927–88), restaurateur, was born 7 May 1927 in Nairobi, Kenya, into an Islamic Indian family of one daughter and five sons of Ahmed Butt, railway engineer, and Zakia Butt. He was educated at a catholic school in Nairobi. After running a fleet of hire cars…...
Byers, Margaret
Byers, Margaret (1832–1912), educationist, suffragist, and philanthropist, was born 15 April 1832 in Windsor Hill, Rathfriland, Co. Down, fourth child and only daughter of Andrew Morrow , farmer and mill operator, and Margaret Morrow (née Herron). After the death (c.1840…...
Cameron, Charles
Cameron, Charles (1841–1924), politician, newspaper proprietor and medical doctor, was born in Dublin on 18 December 1841, the son of John Cameron, newspaper proprietor, and his wife Ellen (née Galloway). John Cameron founded the Glasgow North British Daily Mail – subsequently…...
Campbell, Henry James
Campbell, Henry James (1813–89), benefactor of Campbell College, was probably born in Newtownards, Co. Down, second son among two sons and two daughters of Henry Campbell (d. 1814) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Michael Campbell of Ballyalton, Co. Down. He was apprenticed to…...