Griffin, Noel
Griffin, Noel (1926–81), businessman, was born on 23 December 1926 in Upper Leeson Street, Dublin, the eldest son of Joseph Griffin of Sandymount, Dublin, and his wife Maureen (née Nicholson). Joseph Griffin was in the IRA's Dublin Brigade during the war of independence and fought…...
Groome, Joe
Groome, Joe (c.1908–77), political activist and hotelier, was born in Dublin, the son of Joseph Groome, hotelier. In 1909 his father purchased a hotel at 8 Cavendish Row, Dublin, and called it Groome's Hotel; young Joe grew up at this address. He was educated at St Peter'…...
Guiney, Denis
Guiney, Denis (1893–1967), retail businessman, was born 9 September 1893 at Knockawinna, Brosna, Co. Kerry, eldest son and second child among five sons and two daughters of Cornelius Guiney, small farmer, and Julia Guiney (née Crowley). He was educated at Knockaclarig national school;…...
Guiney, Mary
Guiney, Mary (1901–2004), businesswoman and centenarian, was born 2 March 1901, daughter of John Leahy, a farmer of Creeves, near Shanagolden, Co. Limerick, and his wife Hannah (née Cuddihy). Mary, known as May when she was a young woman, had at least one older brother and an older…...
Hackett, Sir Thomas
Hackett, Sir Thomas (d. 1706), merchant, banker, and Jacobite mayor of Dublin, was the second of two sons of James Hackett, of a family long established in Co. Tipperary. His mother was Alson Hackett, daughter of Jasper White, and he had three sisters. He was engaged in…...
Haughey, Edward Enda
Haughey, Edward Enda (1944–2014), Baron Ballyedmond, businessman and politician, was born on 5 January 1944 in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co. Louth, the only son and youngest of three children of Edward Haughey, farmer and cattle dealer of Kilcurry, near Dundalk, Co. Louth…...
Heeney, Cornelius
Heeney, Cornelius (1754–1848), businessman and philanthropist, was born in King's Co. (Offaly) to catholic parents. Virtually nothing is known of his early life except that a relative gave him a start in business in Dublin, so that when he followed his father to America in 1784 he…...
Hennessy, Richard
Hennessy, Richard (c.1729–1800), brandy merchant and distiller, was born about 1724 according to his army record, but more reliably about 1729 according to his marriage certificate, in Ballymacmoy, Co. Cork, the son of James Hennessy. He was the first member of the famous…...
Hennig, Paul Gottfried Johannes (John)
Hennig, Paul Gottfried Johannes (John) (1911–86), scholar and businessman, was born 3 March 1911 in Leipzig, Germany, fourth of five children of Fürchtegott Max Hennig, protestant theologian and teacher, and his wife Berta Johanna (neé Clemen) who was from a family of distinguished…...
Herlihy, Nora
Herlihy, Nora (1910–88), founder of the Irish credit union movement, was born 27 February 1910 at Ballydesmond, Co. Cork, the third of twelve children of Denis Herlihy, a teacher, and Nora Herlihy (née Mulcahy). Having taught firstly in Belmullet, Co. Mayo, Nora's father was appointed…...
Higgins, Patrick ('Pat')
Higgins, Patrick ('Pat') (1923–2007), baker and businessman, was born on 5 August 1923 at the family home in Kilmore near the village of Kilkeely, Co. Mayo, one of four children of Patrick Higgins, farmer, and his wife Mary (née O'Grady). He worked in a number of bakeries in Mayo and…...
Hughes, Bernard (‘Barney’)
Hughes, Bernard (‘Barney’) (1808–78), master baker, entrepreneur, and liberal reformer, was born 8 July 1808, second among eight children of Peter Hughes, probably a tradesman or labourer, and Catherine Hughes (née Quinn), of Blackwaterstown, near Armagh. Bernard, known as ‘Barney…...
Hughes, Pat
Hughes, Pat (1924–99), prospector and businessman, was born Patrick Joseph Hughes on 14 March 1924 near Keady, Co. Armagh, the only son of three children of Charles Hughes, a building contractor of Keady, and his wife Mary. When he was around 10, his catholic family moved to Newry,…...
Hurley, Michael Anthony
Hurley, Michael Anthony (1923–2011), ecumenist and theologian, was born on 10 May 1923 in Ardmore, Co. Waterford, the eldest of four children (two boys and two girls) of Michael Hurley, a small businessman, and his wife Johanna (née Foley), who kept a guest house. He won a…...
Jacob, Joshua
Jacob, Joshua (1801–77), quaker reformer and grocer, was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, second son of Samuel Watson Jacob, merchant, and Mary Jacob (née Jackson). He was educated at Newtown school, Waterford; in Leeds, Yorkshire; and finally at Ballitore, Co. Kildare. After an…...
Jennings, Vincent
Jennings, Vincent (1937–2010), newspaper editor and executive, was born 26 March 1937 in Church Road, East Wall, Dublin, the youngest of five children of Patrick Jennings, a railway clerk, and his wife Maud (née Brett). His mother died when he was four and his father subsequently…...
Jones, Gerard (‘Gerry’)
Jones, Gerard (‘Gerry’) (1919–99), civil servant, company director, and political activist, was born 15 June 1919 in Bandon, Co. Cork, seventh child of Timothy Jones, of Bandon, builder and company director, and Mary Jones (née Keon). Educated at Rockwell College, Cashel, Co. Tipperary…...
Jones, Liam
Jones, Liam (1935–2000), stockbroker, was born 6 October 1935 in Liverpool, England, second son of two sons of William Jones and Molly Jones (née Barry), teacher, of Dublin. Following the death of his father (1936) shortly after his birth, the family returned to Dublin (1936)…...
Kavanagh, James Blake
Kavanagh, James Blake (1822–86), priest, nationalist, and philosophical and scientific writer, was born in Kilballyowen, in the parish of Killaveny, Co. Wicklow, son of Thomas Kavanagh and Mary Kavanagh (née McDonald). He received his early education at St Peter's College, Wexford…...
Kelly, Thomas
Kelly, Thomas (1868–1942), politician and book dealer, was born 13 September 1868 in Dublin, son of Isaac Kelly, waiter, and Sarah Kelly (née Pitts), of Townsend St., Dublin. Educated intermittently at CBS Westland Row (1874–86), he…...
Kennedy, Kieran
Kennedy, Kieran (1935–2013), economist, was born on 14 July 1935 in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, the fourth of five sons of Patrick Kennedy, a garda, and his wife Margaret (née Callahan). As his father was transferred frequently, Kieran spent much of his early life alone with his grandmother…...
Kenny, Desmond Warren
Kenny, Desmond Warren (1917–91), co-founder of Kenny's Bookshop and Art Gallery, was born 13 October 1917 in Galway city, second son and fourth among six children of Cork-born Thomas Joseph Warren Kenny, founding editor of the Connacht Tribune newspapers, and Katherine…...
Kenny, Kevin John
Kenny, Kevin John (1881–1954), advertising pioneer, commercial manager and publisher, was born on 22 June 1881 at 12 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin, one of eight children of Michael C. Kenny, a lithographic printer and Fenian, and Catherine Kenny (née Fleming), a book-folder (cloth…...
Keogh, John
Keogh, John (1740–1817), silk merchant and catholic politician, was born probably in Dublin, the son of Cornelius Keogh (1708?–1774) and his wife, Abigail (1711?–1779). He served an apprenticeship, probably with the firm of the Dublin merchant Hugh O'Connor (d. 1783) in the Isle…...
Keon, Miles
Keon, Miles (1738?–p.1805), catholic gentleman, was born in or before 1738, a son of Gerald or Garret or George Keon (the records differ) and his wife Ellinor (née Dermott or MacDermott). The Keons were numerous in Co. Leitrim. A member of a protestant line, Robert Keon,…...