Bewley, Henry Theodore
Bewley, Henry Theodore (1860–1945), physician and lecturer, was born 25 June 1860 at Willow Park, Booterstown, Co. Dublin, into a leading quaker family, only surviving son of Henry Bewley (qv), businessman, and Anne Bewley (née Pike). He…...
Bieler, Ludwig Josef Georg
Bieler, Ludwig Josef Georg (1906–81), Hiberno-Latin scholar, was born 20 October 1906 in Vienna, Austria, first child of Ludwig Bieler and Antonie Bieler (née Bäder), and educated at the Landstrasser Gymnasium, Vienna, where he obtained his Matura (leaving certificate) in…...
Birchensha (Berchensha, Birchenshaw, Birkenshaw), John
Birchensha (Berchensha, Birchenshaw, Birkenshaw), John (fl. 1641–1681), musical theorist, composer, teacher, and violist, was probably born in Dublin. He may have been the younger son of Sir Ralph Birchensha (fl. 1602), author of the verse account A discourse…...
Blackham, Dorothy Isabel
Blackham, Dorothy Isabel (1896–1975), artist and teacher, was born 1 March 1896 in 4 Beechwood Rd, Rathmines, Dublin, daughter of Charles H. Blackham, chief cashier at Kingsbridge railway terminus, and Jane Ruthven Blackham (née Lowry) of Killyleagh, Co. Down. She was related on her…...
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…...
Blennerhassett, Sir Rowland
Blennerhassett, Sir Rowland (1839–1909), 4th baronet, politician, and author, was born 5 September 1839 at Blennerville, Co. Kerry, the only son among two children of Sir Arthur Blennerhassett (1794–1849), 3rd baronet, a catholic landowner and high sheriff of Co. Kerry (1820), and…...
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen (1840–1922), eccentric, traveller, and poet, was born 17 August 1840 at Petworth House, Sussex, second son of Francis Scawen Blunt of Crabbet House, Sussex, who was a grenadier guard, and his wife Mary Chandler of Surrey, daughter of a Church of England…...
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…...
Borumborad, Achmet (Joyce, Patrick)
Borumborad, Achmet (Joyce, Patrick) (fl. 1772–82), quack and fraud, was a promoter of Turkish baths in Dublin. He claimed to have been born in, and to have fled from, Constantinople (Istanbul). His actual origins are unknown, though he was probably born in Co. Kilkenny.…...
Bourke, Ulick Joseph
Bourke, Ulick Joseph (1829–87), catholic priest, Irish-language revivalist, teacher, and antiquarian, was born 29 December 1829 at Laherdane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, son of Ulick Bourke and his wife Cecilia Sheridan. He was educated at Errew Monastery, Castlebar, and studied Irish…...
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),…...
Boylan, Patrick Joseph
Boylan, Patrick Joseph (1879–1974), priest, biblical scholar, and Egyptologist, was born 2 December 1879 in Barrowhouse, near Athy, Co. Kildare, son of Patrick Boylan, a teacher at Shanganamore national school, and his wife Anne (née Walker), of Queen's County (Laois).…...
Boyle, (Christopher) Kevin
Boyle, (Christopher) Kevin (1943–2010), lawyer, academic and human rights activist, was born on 23 May 1943 in Newry, Co. Down, the fourth of nine children of Louis Boyle, a taxi driver, and his wife Elizabeth (or Alice) (née McArdle). The family was catholic. Kevin was educated locally…...
Boyse, Samuel
Boyse, Samuel (1708–49), poet, translator, and hack writer, was born in Dublin in 1708, son of the Rev. Joseph Boyse (qv), the English-born presbyterian theologian, pamphleteer, and minister to the Wood St. church, Dublin. Educated…...
Bradley, Daniel Joseph ('Dan')
Bradley, Daniel Joseph ('Dan') (1928–2010), physicist, was born in Derry city on 18 January 1928, the son of John Columba Bradley, a Post Office worker, and his wife Margaret (née Keating), one of ten daughters of farming stock, originally from near Cashel, Co. Tipperary. He was the…...
Brandt, Ruth
Brandt, Ruth (1936–89), artist and teacher, was born 22 June 1936 in Dublin, eldest child of Frank Brandt, graphic designer, and the artist Muriel Brandt (qv) (née McKinley). She was educated at the Dominican convent, Santa…...
Brazil, Dame Johanna
Brazil, Dame Johanna (Sister Mary Phillipa ) (1896–1988), Sister of Mercy, teacher, and nurse, was born 25 December 1896 in Kilfinane, Co. Limerick, daughter of Thomas Brazil, farmer, and Julia Brazil (née Devane). Educated at the local convent national school, she was one of a group…...
Brenan, James
Brenan, James (1837–1907), painter and educationalist, was born in Dublin, the eldest son of Thomas Brenan. After studying art at the RDS school of design (then in Leinster House) and at the school of the…...
Brenan, John
Brenan, John (1768–1830), physician and satirist, was born March 1768, eldest of six children of a minor landed catholic family from Ballaghide, Co. Carlow. The details of his early life are unknown. In 1793 he wrote epigrams and short verse for Dublin magazines. Claiming to have…...
Brenan, Martin
Brenan, Martin (1901–82), priest and academic, was born 23 August 1901 at Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, one of five children of John Brenan, a labourer, and Kate Brenan (née Butler). After studying at Maynooth College he was ordained a priest of the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin in…...
Bridgeman, Joanna (Sister Mary Francis)
Bridgeman, Joanna (Sister Mary Francis) (1813–88), Sister of Mercy, educator, and Crimean war nurse, was born in Ballagh, Ruan, Co. Clare, one of four children (two sons and two daughters) of St John Bridgeman and his wife Lucy Reddan. Her mother was a relative of…...
Bridle, Kathleen
Bridle, Kathleen (1897–1989), artist and art teacher, was born 19 November 1897 at Swalecliff, Kent, England, second of three daughters of James Bridle, a lieutenant and coastguard, and Janet Bridle (née Flower), a school teacher. Due to her father's profession, her family moved to…...
Brooke, William Graham
Brooke, William Graham (1834–1907), public servant, influential Church of Ireland layman, and promoter of education, was born 16 July 1834 in Wyton, Huntington, England, the second son of Rev. Richard Sinclair Brooke, curate of Glendoen, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal (and from…...
Brosnahan, Seán
Brosnahan, Seán (1911–87), teacher and trade unionist, was born 26 August 1911 in Killaloe, Co. Clare, one of nine children of John Brosnahan, RIC sergeant, and Norah Brosnahan (née Ryan) (d. 1946). One of his brothers was Thomas J.…...