Blackley, William Lewery
Blackley, William Lewery (1830–1902), clergyman, social reformer, and linguist, was born 30 December 1830 at Dundalk, Co. Louth, second son of Travers Robert Blackley, physician, and Eliza Blackley (née Lewery). From 1843 to 1845 he was educated in Brussels by Dr Carl Martin…...
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…...
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-…...
Bodkin (Bodekin, Bodikin), Christopher
Bodkin (Bodekin, Bodikin), Christopher (c.1505–1572), catholic and Church of Ireland archbishop of Tuam, was born in Galway, the son of John Bodkin, mayor of Galway in 1518. Said to have been educated at Oxford, he was provided to the see of Kilmacduagh 3 September 1533…...
Bolton, Theophilus
Bolton, Theophilus (c.1678–1744), archbishop and benefactor, was born in Borisool, Co. Mayo, and graduated BA (1698), MA (1701), BD and…...
Bonnell, James
Bonnell, James (1653–99), government official and exemplar of the pious life, was born 14 November 1653 in Genoa, Italy, only son and one of two children of Samuel Bonnell, merchant, and his wife Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Sayer of Norwich, England. Samuel's grandfather had…...
Booth, James
Booth, James (1806–78), mathematician and educationist, was born 25 August 1806, the eldest of the three children of John and Ellen Booth. John Booth was a landowner at Lavagh, Co. Leitrim; his son was to inherit about 100 acres. James was educated by a local clergyman, and…...
Bouhéreau, Élie (Elias)
Bouhéreau, Élie (Elias) (1643–1719), huguenot bibliophile, librarian, cleric, diarist, and administrator, was born 5 May 1643 at La Rochelle, France, son of Élie Bouhéreau, pastor of Fontenay, and Blandine Bouhéreau (née Richard). The family was of the upper middle class. He was…...
Boulter, Hugh
Boulter, Hugh (1672–1742), Church of Ireland archbishop of Armagh, was born 4 January 1672, the son of John Boulter of the parish of St Katharine Cree in the city of London. Educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1687, but transferred to…...
Boyd, Henry
Boyd, Henry (1749?–1832), clergyman, poet, and translator, was born in Co. Tyrone, son of Charles Boyd, farmer; nothing is known of his mother. Educated by Mr Davison, he entered TCD as a sizar (June 1770), gained a scholarship (1773),…...
Boyle (Bole), John
Boyle (Bole), John (fl. 1596–1639), minister, was born in Scotland, graduated MA from Edinburgh in 1596, and must have been ordained a minister in Scotland. In 1600, being blind, he was discharged by the general assembly from all…...
Boyle, Michael
Boyle, Michael (1615?–1702), Church of Ireland archbishop of Armagh, lord chancellor and lord justice, was probably born c.1615 (he gave his age as 64 in April 1679), the elder son among two sons and nine daughters of Richard Boyle (…...
Boyle, Richard
Boyle, Richard (d. 1645), Church of Ireland archbishop of Tuam, was the second son of Michael Boyle, merchant, of London, and his wife, Jane, daughter of William Peacock, and was elder brother of Michael Boyle, bishop of Waterford (1619–35). He appears to have been admitted to…...
Boyle, Roger
Boyle, Roger (c.1617–1687), Church of Ireland bishop of Clogher, was perhaps the son of Thomas Boyle, vicar of Timoleague and a relative of Richard Boyle (qv), earl of Cork, or of Robert Boyle, vicar of Carrickmacross and…...
Boyton, Charles
Boyton, Charles (1799?–1844), clergyman and political campaigner, was born in Dublin, son of John William Boyton, a prominent doctor and king's professor (1792–1826) of the institutes of medicine in TCD; it is possible that his mother…...
Brady, Hugh
Brady, Hugh (c.1527–1584), protestant bishop of Meath, was born in Trim, Co. Meath, son of a landowner in Dunboyne, Co. Meath; no more details of his parents are known. He is said to have studied at Oxford, but there is no evidence of this in the college registers. His…...
Brady, Nicholas
Brady, Nicholas (1659–1726), Church of Ireland clergyman and writer, was born on 28 October 1659 in Bandon, Co. Cork, the second son of Major Nicholas Brady of Richmond, Surrey, and also of Bandon, and his wife, Martha, daughter of Luke Gernon, a Munster provincial judge. The…...
Brady, William Maziere
Brady, William Maziere (1825–94), clergyman and historian, was born 8 January 1825 in Dublin, son of Sir Nicholas William Brady (1791–1843), manufacturer of gold and silver lace, of Willow Park and Killiney Park, Co. Dublin, and Catherine Anne Brady (d. 1839), daughter of Peter…...
Bramhall, John
Bramhall, John (1594–1663), Church of Ireland bishop, was born in Pontefract, Yorkshire, England, and baptised there in St Giles's church on 18 November 1594, eldest among six children of Peter Bramhall, Carleton, Pontefract. His mother's name is not known. He attended Pontefract…...
Brinkley, John
Brinkley, John (1766?–1835), astronomer and bishop, was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, and baptised 31 January 1767, illegitimate son of John Toler and Sarah Brinkley, who later married James Boulter. He was educated by clergymen in Suffolk (it is not known at whose expense…...
Bristow, William
Bristow, William (1736–1808), clergyman and sovereign of Belfast, was born 24 October 1736 in Wiltshire, son of Skeffington Bristow, Church of Ireland clergyman, and Elizabeth Bristow (née Grattan), clergyman's daughter and cousin of Henry…...
Brittaine, George
Brittaine, George (1788–1848), protestant evangelical preacher and novelist, was born in 1788 in Dublin, the son of Rev Patrick Brittain (1762–1804), curate of St James's parish from 1789 to 1804. (The spelling Brittaine was adopted by George). He entered…...
Brodrick, Charles
Brodrick, Charles (1761–1822), Church of Ireland archbishop of Cashel, was born 3 May 1761 in London, the fourth son of George Brodrick (1730–1765), third Viscount Midleton, and his wife, Albinia, née Townshend (c.1737–1808). The Brodrick family had estates in England and…...
Brontë, Patrick
Brontë, Patrick (1777–1861), Church of England clergyman and writer, was born 17 March 1777, in Emdale, Drumballyroney, Co. Down, the eldest of the ten children of Hugh Prunty , or Brunty, a protestant farm labourer, and Eleanor or Alice (née McClory), born a catholic. He is known…...
Brooke, Stopford Augustus
Brooke, Stopford Augustus (1832–1916), clergyman and author, was born 14 November 1832 at ‘Glendoen’, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, eldest of eight children of the Rev. Richard Sinclair Brooke, the local curate, and Anna Brooke (née Stopford). When his maternal grandfather and…...