Abbott, Thomas Kingsmill
Abbott, Thomas Kingsmill (1829–1913), scholar and clergyman, was born 26 March 1829 in Dublin, son of Joseph Abbott, clerk of the peace, and his wife Jane Kingsmill. Thomas entered TCD 9 June 1846 as a sizar (his father being dead),…...
Acheson, Archibald
Acheson, Archibald (1776–1849), 2nd earl of Gosford, landowner, politician, and colonial governor, was born 1 August 1776, probably on the Acheson estate at Markethill, Co. Armagh, elder son among two sons and three daughters of Arthur Acheson (c.1742–1807), who succeeded as…...
Adair, John George
Adair, John George (1823–85), land speculator and evicting landlord, was born 3 March 1823 at Bellegrove, near Monasterevan, Co. Kildare, son of George Adair, landowner and agricultural improver, and his wife, Elizabeth Trench, sister of…...
Adair, Sir Robert Alexander Shafto
Adair, Sir Robert Alexander Shafto (1811–86), 2nd baronet, Baron Waveney, MP and author, was born 25 August 1811, elder son of Sir Robert Shafto Adair (1st baronet, of Flixton Hall, Suffolk, and Ballymena, Co. Antrim) and Elizabeth Adair (née Strode), and educated at Harrow (1823–8).…...
Adderley, Thomas
Adderley, Thomas (1715–91), landowner, MP, and entrepreneur, the only son of two children of Francis Adderley, Cork landowner, and Elizabeth Adderley (née Fowkes), was educated at TCD (BA 1735,…...
Adrian (Bor), Max
Adrian (Bor), Max (1903–73), actor, was born 1 November 1903 in Ireland, the son of Edward Norman Cavendish Bor, a Bank of Ireland agent (or manager), and Mabel Lloyd (née Thornton). The family lived successively at Maryborough, Callan, and Waterford. Max was educated at Portora…...
Áed
Áed (982/3–1056), son of Cróngille Ua Foirréid and bishop and scholar at Armagh, belonged, like many bishops of Armagh, to the Cenél nÉogain, the most powerful of the dynasties of the Northern Uí Néill. He is best known as the subject of the poem ‘Uasal epscop Éirenn Áed’: here the…...
Affrica (Affraic)
Affrica (Affraic) (fl. 1180–c.1219), daughter of Gofraid and wife of John de Courcy (qv), was a member of the royal family of Man and the Isles. Her father Gofraid (d. 1187), king of Man and the Isles, was a grandson of…...
Agar, James
Agar, James (1713–69), of Ringwood, Co. Kilkenny, MP and landowner, was born 7 September 1713, younger son of James Agar (1672–1733) of Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, MP, and his second wife, Mary (née Wemys). He was educated at the Rev. Edmund Lewis's school, Kilkenny, before graduating…...
Agar, James
Agar, James (1735–88), 1st Viscount Clifden , MP and landowner, was born 25 March 1735, eldest among four sons and one daughter of Henry Agar (1707–46) of Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, and his wife Anne, daughter of Welbore Ellis (qv), bishop of Meath 1732–4. He was…...
Aickin (Aikin), Francis
Aickin (Aikin), Francis (c.1736–1812) and his younger brother James (d. 1803), actors, were born in Dublin and apprenticed to their father, a weaver, before leaving him to begin their acting careers. Francis joined Philip Lewis's company of strolling players in 1754; his…...
Aickin, James
This is a co-subject for the entry on Aickin (Aikin), Francis. View the original entry....
Aífe (Aoife, Eva)
Aífe (Aoife, Eva) (fl. c.1153–1189) was the daughter of Diarmait Mac Murchada (qv) (d. 1171), king of Leinster, and of his wife Mór, daughter of …...
Ailerán (Aileranus Sapiens)
Ailerán (Aileranus Sapiens) (d. 665), fer léigind (lector or chief scholar) of the monastery of Clonard, Co. Meath, died in the great cholera or plague, termed the Buide Conaill (AU 665). His obit is given as 29 December in the Martyrology of Tallaght and in the…...
Ainsworth, Sir John Francis
Ainsworth, Sir John Francis (1912–81), 3rd baronet, palaeographer, and archivist, was born 4 January 1912 in London, the only son of Thomas Ainsworth, later 2nd baronet, a racehorse breeder and master of various packs of foxhounds in Ireland, and his first wife, Edina Dorothy Hope (…...
Alexander, James
Alexander, James (1730–1802), 1st earl of Caledon , MP, was third and youngest son of Nathaniel Alexander of Gunsland, Co. Donegal, alderman of Derry city, and Elizabeth Alexander (née McClintock) of Dunmore, Co. Londonderry; both families were related to many people of importance…...
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’)
Allan, Frederick James (‘Fred’) (1861–1937), Fenian, journalist and civil servant, was born 15 June 1861 in Dublin, the third son of William Gartley Allan (d. 1881?), a clerk in the accounts department of the Board of Public Works (until 1873), and his wife Ellen Batty (née Quince…...
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,…...
Alleyn, Sir James
Alleyn, Sir James (fl. 1425–57), landowner in Co. Meath, lawyer, and officeholder, appears in 1425 as a justice of the liberty of Ulster, with the title of knight. At or after the end of 1427 he and Sir Henry Fortescue (d. c.1460), chief justice of the king's bench…...
Allgood, Sara
Allgood, Sara (1883–1950), actress, was born 31 October 1883 in Dublin, daughter of George Allgood and Margaret Allgood (née Harold). Her father was a protestant printing compositor, son of an English army officer; her mother's family were catholic, owners of a junk shop. There were…...
Alton, Ernest Henry
Alton, Ernest Henry (1873–1952), classical scholar and public representative, was born 21 September 1873 at Marlinstown, near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, eldest son of James Poë Alton, banker, of Limerick and Marguerite Alton (née Keely). His abiding passion for classical literature was…...
Ancketill (Anketell), Henry
Ancketill (Anketell), Henry (1855–1930), writer, journalist and politician, was born 4 May 1855 in Ancketill's Grove, Co. Monaghan, the fourth son of Major Matthew John Anketell, deputy lieutenant and JP, and his wife, Catherine Frances…...
Anderson, Emily
Anderson, Emily (1891–1962), academic, civil servant, and translator, was born 17 March 1891 at Taylor's Hill, Galway, second daughter of Alexander Anderson (qv), professor of natural philosophy and later president of…...
Anderson, Gerry
Anderson, Gerry (1944–2014), musician, radio broadcaster and television presenter, was born Gerald Michael Anderson on 28 October 1944 in Derry, one of four children (three sons and a daughter) of John Anderson, a boiler and range-fireplace fitter who had joined the anti-treaty side…...
Anderson, John
Anderson, John (1815–1905), woollen merchant, geologist, bibliographer, and local politician, was born 8 July 1815 near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. After moving to Belfast he entered (1840) the woollen business in Donegall St. founded by James Young in 1795. Anderson's eminence…...