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…...
Bingham, George Charles
Bingham, George Charles (1800–88), 3rd earl of Lucan , soldier, landlord, and MP, was born 16 April 1800 in London, eldest son of Richard Bingham (1764–1839), 2nd earl of Lucan (1799–1839), and his wife Elizabeth (1770–1819), daughter of Henry Belasyse, 3rd earl of Fauconberg, and…...
Bingham, Sir Charles
Bingham, Sir Charles (1735–99), 1st earl of Lucan and MP, was born 22 September 1735, second son of Sir John Bingham (1696–1749), 5th baronet and governor of Co. Mayo, and Charlotte, only daughter of William Sarsfield, older brother of …...
Bingley, Sir John
Bingley, Sir John (d. 1638?), administrator, possibly a Chester relative of Sir Ralph Bingley, served in Dublin from c.1599 as deputy to the treasurer at war. As secretary (1 June 1603–2 February 1605) to Sir George Carey (qv), lord deputy, he allegedly enriched himself…...
Binns, John
Binns, John (1730?–1804), silk merchant, canal developer, and radical politician, was the son of Joshua Binns, who in 1719 was admitted to the Dublin weavers' guild by special grace. John Binns was admitted to the guild by birth in 1756, so he was probably born in the mid 1730s.…...
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,…...
Black, Robert Denis (R. D.) Collison ('Bob')
Black, Robert Denis (R. D.) Collison ('Bob') (1922–2008), economist, was born at Morehampton Terrace, Donnybrook, Dublin, on 11 June 1922, the son of William Robert Black, commercial clerk in the grain trade, and his wife Rose Anna Mary (née Reid). The family moved to Waltham…...
Blackwood, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-
Blackwood, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple- (1826–1902), 1st marquess of Dufferin and Ava , diplomat and writer, was born in Florence on 21 June 1826, the only child of Price Blackwood, 4th Baron Dufferin and Clandeboye (in the Irish peerage), and his wife,…...
Blackwood, Hariot Georgina (Rowan-Hamilton)
Blackwood, Hariot Georgina (Rowan-Hamilton) (1843–1936), marchioness of Dufferin and Ava , philanthropist and author, was born 5 February 1843, eldest of seven children of Archibald Rowan and Catherine Rowan-Hamilton (née Caldwell) of Killyleagh Castle, Co. Down. She married (23…...
Blackwood, Sir John
Blackwood, Sir John (1722–99), 2nd baronet and MP, was eldest son among three children of Sir Robert Blackwood (1694–1774), landowner and 1st baronet, of Ballyleidy, Upper Clandeboye, Co. Down, and his first wife Joyce, sister of Joseph…...
Blake, Caroline
Blake, Caroline (1835–1919), landlord and hotelier, was born Caroline Johanna Burke in 1835 in Co. Tyrone, to Henry A. Burke, a protestant clergyman, and Julia Burke (née Blake) of Co. Mayo. Little is known of her childhood, although she regularly spent holidays at Renvyle House in…...
Blake, James
Blake, James (p.1560–1635), alias ‘Caddell’, ‘Blackcaddell’, ‘Blague’, and ‘Diego de Blac(c)adell’, merchant, soldier, and double agent, was born in Galway, second son of Walter Blake (d. 1573) and his wife Juliana (née Browne). The aliases derive from variants on ‘Blake’…...
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, Sir Thomas
Blake, Sir Thomas (d. 1642), 2nd baronet, landowner, and mayor of Galway, was the elder son, of the two sons and three daughters, of Sir Valentine Blake (qv) of Galway and his first wife, Margaret, daughter of Robuck French of…...
Blake, Sir Valentine
Blake, Sir Valentine (1560–c.1634), merchant and mayor of Galway, was eldest of three sons of Walter Blake of Galway and Juliana Blake, daughter of James Browne of Galway. A leading merchant, trading at least with Spain and Portugal, by 1592 he was described as the…...
Blaney, Neal (Neil)
Blaney, Neal (Neil) (1889–1948), politician and businessman, was born 5 November 1889 in the family home at Rosnakill, Co. Donegal, fifth of six children of William Blaney, small farmer, and Anna Blaney (née Sweeney). Aged 12, he left school to work on the family farm, situated…...
Blenerhasset (Hasset, Blennerhassett), Thomas
Blenerhasset (Hasset, Blennerhassett), Thomas (1550?–1624), poet and undertaker in Ulster, was probably born at Horsford, Norfolk, and was a younger son of William Blenerhasset (d. 1598) and his wife Anne (née Colby), members of the Norfolk gentry. He seems to have studied at…...
Bloomfield, John Caldwell
Bloomfield, John Caldwell (1823–97), landlord and entrepreneur, was born 5 February 1823, eldest son of John Colpoys Bloomfield and Frances Arabella Bloomfield (née Caldwell); there were three other sons and a daughter. His mother, a descendant of Sir John Caldwell, was coheiress…...
Boland, Harry
Boland, Harry (1925–2013), businessman, was born Henry Boland on 21 September 1925 in the family home at Brian Road in Marino, Dublin, the fifth child of four sons and three daughters of Gerald Boland (qv), politician, and his wife Anne (née…...
Boland, William
Boland, William (1895–1960), businessman, was born in Bunnyconnellan, Ballina, Co. Mayo, the sixth of the seven children of Christopher Boland, farmer and partner in Reilly's and Boland, general merchant. Educated at CBS Synge Street…...
Bolton, Samuel H.
Bolton, Samuel H. (1828/9–1897), builder, progressed from being a carpenter and builder at South Richmond Street, Dublin (1858), to being head of the firm of general building contractors bearing his name (1896). He built the new Shelbourne Hotel, St Stephen's Green, the Ulster Bank…...
Booth, Sir Henry William Gore-
Booth, Sir Henry William Gore- (1843–1900), 5th baronet, landlord, and Arctic explorer, was born at Lissadell House, Co. Sligo, second son among two sons and three daughters of Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th baronet, landlord, and MP for Sligo, and his second wife, Caroline Susan (née…...
Bourke (Burke), Miles (Meiler)
Bourke (Burke), Miles (Meiler) (c.1585–1649), 2nd Viscount Bourke of Mayo , nobleman, was the eldest son, of the four sons and three daughters, of Theobald, 1st Viscount Bourke of Mayo (…...
Bourke (Burke), Theobald (Teabóid na Long, Tibbott-na-Long)
Bourke (Burke), Theobald (Teabóid na Long, Tibbott-na-Long) (1566/1567–1629), 1st Viscount Mayo , nobleman, was born at sea, the son of Richard (an Iarainn) Burke, sometime MacWilliam Lower, and of Gráinne O'Malley (qv…...
Bourke, Dermot Robert Wyndham-
Bourke, Dermot Robert Wyndham- (1851–1927), 7th earl of Mayo , landowner, politician, and patron of the arts, was born 2 July 1851, the son of Richard Southwell Bourke (qv), 6th earl of Mayo in the peerage of Ireland, and his…...