Adams, Michael
Adams, Michael (1937–2009), publisher and catholic activist, was born in Dublin on 22 June 1937, eldest of three children (two boys and a girl) of Francis Adams, cattle dealer, victualler and JP for Co. Fermanagh, and his wife Mary or Maud (née Atteridge), a protestant and daughter…...
Águila, Don Juan del
Águila, Don Juan del (c.1541?–1603?), Spanish general, was born in Barracco in the province of Avila, Spain. He joined the army, serving in Flanders, in the Mediterranean fighting the Turks, and then in Flanders once more, rising to become a commander of a regiment.…...
Aiken, Jim
Aiken, Jim (1932–2007), music promoter and businessman, was one of seven or eight children born to Joseph Aiken and his wife Annie (née Fagan), and was raised on the family farm in Jonesborough, Co. Armagh, close to the border. After completing his secondary education, he studied…...
Alibrandi, Gaetano
Alibrandi, Gaetano (1914–2003), papal diplomat, was born 14 January 1914 in Castiglione, Sicily, to an aristocratic family. After secondary education at the diocesan seminary in Acireale, Alibrandi attended the Pontifical Seminary, Rome, and was ordained priest on 1 November 1936; he…...
Allen, Dave
Allen, Dave (1936–2005), comedian, was born David Edward Tynan O'Mahony on 6 July 1936 in a nursing home at 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin, youngest of three sons of (Gerard John) Cullen Tynan O'Mahony (nicknamed 'Pussy'), journalist, manager of the Irish Times, and raconteur,…...
Allen, Thomas
Allen, Thomas (d. 1634), merchant, was second son among three sons and two daughters of Edward Allen of Kilteel, Co. Dublin, and his wife Ales, daughter of Alderman Giles Allen of Dublin; his paternal grandfather, Thomas Alen, from Norfolk, had settled in Ireland in the 1530s…...
Altman, Albert Liebes Lascar
Altman, Albert Liebes Lascar (c.1853–1903), businessman and nationalist politician, was born c.1853 in Prussian Poland, the son of Moritz Altman (born Shagra Moshe ben Aharon) and his wife Deborah (born Devorah bat Chaim Liebes). He was the eldest of four surviving…...
Anderson, James Augustine
Anderson, James Augustine (1837–1903), Augustinian priest and politician, was born in Drogheda, Co. Louth, where his mother's family, the Kellys, were well-to-do (an uncle, John Kelly, served as mayor in 1871). He was educated locally and at the Armagh diocesan college. Deciding upon an…...
Archdekin (Ardsdekin, MacGiolla Cuddy), Richard
Archdekin (Ardsdekin, MacGiolla Cuddy), Richard (1619–93), Jesuit priest and scholar, was born 16 March 1619 in Kilkenny city, son of Nicholas Archdekin and his wife Ann (née Sherlock). After being educated at the classical school in Kilkenny, he travelled to Antwerp (1637) to study…...
Archer, James
Archer, James (1550–1620), Jesuit priest and administrator, was born at Kilkenny and belonged, it can be deduced, to a patrician family prominent in that city. To prepare for an ecclesiastical career he went (c.1564) to the Spanish Netherlands, to Louvain, a hotbed of the…...
Archer, James
Archer, James (c.1632–c.1680), military engineer and architect, was born in Kilkenny. His early life remains obscure, but he was a royalist, left Ireland at some point, and entered the French service; he later claimed to have served six years as a…...
Archer, Luke
Archer, Luke (d. 1644), abbot of Holy Cross, was probably a member of the Archer family of Kilkenny. He began his ecclesiastical career as a secular priest, rising to the positions of archdeacon of St Canice's, Kilkenny, and (January 1609) vicar apostolic of the diocese of…...
Archer, Patrick
Archer, Patrick (d. 1686), merchant, was fifth and youngest son of Walter Archer and Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Shee, from two of the leading families in the city of Kilkenny. Walter Archer served as mayor of Kilkenny in 1610; Patrick's older brother Henry sat as MP for the city…...
Arthur, Francis
Arthur, Francis (d. 1824), Limerick merchant and developer, belonged to a long-established catholic patrician family in that city. His father, Patrick (1716–99), mainly an importer of wine and timber, was one of the developers of a new suburb, Newtown Pery; he built a quay on the…...
Arthur, James
Arthur, James (1587/8–1654), Dominican priest, was a son of William Arthur, member of a leading merchant family in Limerick, and his wife, Beatrice (née Creagh). He entered the Irish college, Salamanca, on 5 November 1606 (NS), aged eighteen, and, after entering the Dominican…...
Arthur, Sir Daniel
Arthur, Sir Daniel (d. 1705), banker, was born probably in the 1620s in Co. Limerick or Co. Clare, son of Daniel Arthur, a catholic merchant, and Joan Arthur (née Arthur), presumably a kinswoman. He is known to have been a successful merchant, with property in Dublin as well…...
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)…...
Austin, John
Austin, John (1717–84), Jesuit priest, was born off Kevin Street, Dublin, on 12 April 1717. He showed promise as a youth, and was said to have come to the attention of Jonathan Swift (qv). He went to France and joined the Society of…...
Aylmer, Charles
Aylmer, Charles (1786–1847), Jesuit priest, was born 29 August 1786 at Painstown, near Kilcock, Co. Kildare, the seat of his father, Charles Aylmer (1720?–1801), one of the county's representatives at the Catholic Convention held in 1792, and said in 1798 to be worth £1,600 p.a.…...
Aylward, Richard
Aylward, Richard (1872–1954), Celticist, priest, and professor of Irish, was born in Aylwardstown, Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny, son of Edmond Aylward, farmer, and Johanna Aylward (née Phelan). He was educated in the Old Classical College, Kilmacow, and at St Kieran's College, Kilkenny…...
Bagenal, Walter
Bagenal, Walter (1614–52), soldier and politician, was eldest son of George Bagenal of Dunleckney, Co. Carlow, and Joan, daughter of Walter Butler (qv), 11th earl of Ormond. The Bagenals originated from Staffordshire in England and only…...
Bale, John
Bale, John (1495–1563), protestant writer and Church of Ireland bishop of Ossory, was born 21 November 1495 in the village of Cove, near Dunwich, Suffolk, England. He entered the Carmelite house at Norwich and began studying at Cambridge (probably Jesus College) in 1514, and was…...
Ball, Nicholas
Ball, Nicholas (c.1540–1610), merchant, mayor of Dublin, and MP, was born in Dublin about 1540, the second of the three sons of Bartholomew Ball, a merchant, and his wife, Margaret (qv) (née Bermingham). He had considerable…...
Bannon, John
Bannon, John (1829–1913), catholic priest and Confederate chaplain, was born 29 December 1829 at Rooskey, Co. Roscommon, son of James Bannon, a Dublin grain dealer, and his wife, Fanny (née O'Farrell). Bannon had a brother and at least one sister. He was educated locally in Dublin…...
Barnes, Colm
Barnes, Colm (1919–2003), businessman, was born 13 July 1919 in the family home at 258 Falls Road, Belfast, one of eleven children of Diarmuid (Jeremiah) Barnes (d. 1960), draper, and his wife Mary Frances (née McGinely). His father sat on Belfast city council as a nationalist…...