Abraham, James Johnston
Abraham, James Johnston (1876–1963), surgeon and writer, was born 16 August 1876 in Kingsgate St., Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, son of William Abraham (1849–1933) of Co. Fermanagh, tea merchant, general supplier, JP, and methodist circuit…...
Adams, John Bodkin
Adams, John Bodkin (1899–1983), doctor, was born 20 January 1899 in Randalstown, Co. Antrim, elder son of Samuel Adams, watchmaker, and Ellen Adams (née Bodkin) from Desertmartin, Co. Londonderry, and grew up in Ballinderry, Co. Antrim. His brother died in 1916. His father retired…...
Alexander, James
Alexander, James (d. 1815?), historian of the battle of New Ross and miscellaneous writer, was a native of Harristown, near Monastereven, Co. Kildare. Nothing has been ascertained of his family other than that he had a brother, Wentworth, and that he was a cousin-german of Sir…...
Arthur, William
Arthur, William (1819–1901), methodist minister and author, was born 3 February 1819, probably in Kells, Co. Antrim, son of James Arthur and Margaret Arthur (née Kennedy), and spent his childhood in Westport, Co. Mayo. Though brought up an episcopalian, he attended (1837–9)…...
Averell, Adam
Averell, Adam (1754–1847), Primitive Wesleyan clergyman, was born 7 May 1754 at Mullan, Co. Tyrone, son of Adam Averell and Mary Averell (née Johnston). He spent some time in his childhood with his grandmother Johnston. His relation John Averell, bishop of Limerick, for whom his…...
Bennis, Elizabeth (Eliza)
Bennis, Elizabeth (Eliza) (1725–1802), methodist activist and diarist, was probably born in Limerick, one of two surviving daughters of Isaac and Alice (née Mitchell) Patten . The Pattens were presbyterian, and Elizabeth had a conventionally pious upbringing and evidently received…...
Beshoff, Ivan
Beshoff, Ivan (1882?–1987), Russian immigrant and purveyor of fish and chips, was said in obituaries in the Irish Times and elsewhere to have been born in 1882 (or perhaps 1884) at Dacha Rurey, near Odessa in Ukraine, son of a magistrate, and, after briefly studying chemistry,…...
Blachford, Theodosia
Blachford, Theodosia (1744–1817?), philanthropist and leading methodist, was born at her father's residence in Rosanna, Co. Wicklow, only daughter of William Tighe (qv), landowner and MP, and Lady Mary Tighe of Rathmore, Co. Meath,…...
Blomfield, Sara Louisa
Blomfield, Sara Louisa , Lady (1859–1939), Bahá'í pioneer and humanitarian, was born in Knockanevin, Borrisoleigh, near Thurles, Co. Tipperary, the daughter of Matthew (Matthias) John Ryan and his wife Emily (née Crowe). Religious tension between her catholic father and anglo-…...
Bradford, Robert John
Bradford, Robert John (1941–81), unionist politician and methodist minister, was born 8 June 1941 in Ballykelly, Limavady, Co. Londonderry, seventh child of his father, who sold his milk business while his mother was in hospital giving birth to Robert. Having moved to Grove St., Belfast…...
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…...
Cambridge, Alice
Cambridge, Alice (1762–1829), preacher, was born 1 January 1762 in Bandon, Co. Cork, of a presbyterian mother and anglican father, of whom no further details are known. She was brought up in the established church. Though she completed her formal education at an early age, she…...
Clare, Anthony Ward
Clare, Anthony Ward (1942–2007), psychiatrist and media personality, was born 24 December 1942 in Dublin, the youngest of three children (two girls and a boy) of Bernard Clare, state solicitor with the land registry, and his wife Agnes (née Dunne). Clare recalled his father as a gentle…...
Clarke, Adam
Clarke, Adam (1760/62–1832), methodist minister and scholar, was born at Moybeg, near Maghera, Co. Londonderry, son of John Clarke (fl. 1762), schoolmaster, whose early marriage to a Miss McLean prevented him from completing a degree in…...
Cleaver, John
This is a co-subject for the entry on Cleaver, Sir (James) Frederick. View the original entry....
Cleaver, Sir (James) Frederick
Cleaver, Sir (James) Frederick (1875–1936), businessman, was born 8 June 1875 in Belfast, third son of John Cleaver and Mary Anne Cleaver (née Spence). John Cleaver (1842–1926) was born in England, possibly in Sussex. He came to Belfast as a young man, and worked in a draper's shop…...
Cole, Richard Lee
Cole, Richard Lee (1878–1963), methodist minister and historian, was born 24 January 1878 in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, second of five sons of the Rev. Richard Cole (1847–1925), methodist minister and editor of the Irish Christian Advocate, and Margaret Anne Cole (née Lee). He…...
Crawford, William
Crawford, William (1843–1926), methodist minister and principal of Wesley College, was born 17 April 1843, son of William Crawford, a civil servant in Dublin Castle; no details of his mother are known. Educated at Wesleyan Connexional School (1850–59), he entered…...
Crofton, Sir John Wenman
Crofton, Sir John Wenman (1912–2009), physician, scientist and public health campaigner, was born on 27 March 1912 at the family home, 55 Merrion Square South, Dublin, the only son (between two sisters) of William Mervyn Crofton, physician and bacteriologist, and his wife Mary…...
Crookshank, Charles Henry
Crookshank, Charles Henry (1836–1915), methodist minister and historian, was born 29 January 1836 at Cayaga, Upper Canada, younger son of Alexander Crookshank – a prominent solicitor and son of the judge Alexander Crookshank (qv…...
Crook, William
Crook, William (1823–97), methodist minister and historian, was born 1 November 1823, at Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford, the eldest son of the Rev. William Crook (1784–1862) of Cosbystown, Co. Fermanagh, a prominent methodist minister, and Jane Crook (née Vipond) of Cork. Educated at…...
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’)
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’) (1829–99), nun and author, was born 6 May 1829 at Coolock, Co. Dublin, the elder of two children of Dr Samuel Cusack and his wife, Sarah (née Stoney). Early life and conversion to catholicism She was educated privately, learning informally…...
Dunlop, Daniel Nicol
Dunlop, Daniel Nicol (1868–1935), businessman and esotericist, was born 28 December 1868 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, only child of Alexander Dunlop, described variously as an architect or builder, and Catherine Dunlop (née Nicol) (1847–73). His father, a stern authoritarian, was…...
Eaton, Timothy
Eaton, Timothy (1834–1907), merchant in Canada, was born in March 1834 in the townland of Clougher, near Ballymena, Co. Antrim, fourth son among nine children of John Eaton and Margaret Eaton (née Craig). His father died two months before Timothy was born, and Margaret Eaton…...
Embury, Philip
Embury, Philip (1728–73), methodist preacher, was one of at least four sons and one daughter of tenant farmer Andreas Imberger, a German Palatine immigrant of 1709. Embury was baptised (29 September 1728) a member of the Church of Ireland in Ballingrane, Co. Limerick. With his cousin…...