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.…...
Anster, John Martin
Anster, John Martin (1793–1867), poet, translator of Goethe's Faust, and regius professor of civil law in Dublin University, was born 21 October 1793 in Charleville, Cork, son of John Anster, distiller, and Mary Ann Anster (née Hiffernan). The family was catholic, and…...
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…...
Arkless, Brede (née Boyle)
Arkless, Brede (née Boyle) (1939–2006), rock climber and mountain guide, was born 10 August 1939 in Moston, Manchester, England, the daughter of James Boyle, a fitter, and his wife Mary (née Harrison). Born prematurely while her Dublin-resident parents were visiting family in Manchester…...
Aylmer, Sir Gerald
Aylmer, Sir Gerald (d. 1634), 1st baronet, landowner, was third son of Richard Aylmer of Lyons, Co. Kildare, and his wife Elinor, daughter of George Fleming. By 1582 he had travelled to London in pursuit of property claims, carrying commendations of his conduct during the recent…...
Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel
Bagenal (O'Neill), Mabel (c.1571–95), countess of Tyrone , was born in Newry, sixth daughter and youngest among eleven children of Sir Nicholas Bagenal (qv), marshal of the army in Ireland, and Eleanor Griffith…...
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…...
Ball, John
Ball, John (1818–89), scientist, politician, and mountain traveller, was born 20 August 1818 in Dublin, eldest son among four children of Nicholas Ball (qv), politician and judge, and Jane Ball (neé Sherlock) of Butlerstown, Co.…...
Barnewall, Nicholas
Barnewall, Nicholas (1668–1725), 3rd Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland , soldier, and catholic lobbyist, was born 15 April 1668, son of Henry Barnewall, 2nd Viscount Kingsland of Kingsland, and his second wife, Mary, daughter of Richard Nugent…...
Barnewall, Sir Nicholas
Barnewall, Sir Nicholas (1592–1663), 1st Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland , politician, was son of Sir Patrick Barnewall, of Turvey, Gracedieu, and Fieldstown, Co. Dublin, and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bagenal…...
Barrett, John
Barrett, John (d. 1693), soldier and Jacobite, emerged in James II’s (qv) reign (nothing being known of his early life) as the head of the Barrett family who held 400 acres in Castlemore, near Mallow, Co. Cork. MP for Mallow in…...
Barry, David Fitz-James de
Barry, David Fitz-James de (1550–1617), 3rd Viscount Buttevant , was second son of James Fitz-Richard Barry Roe, lord of Ibawne, 2nd Viscount, and his wife Ellen (Eileen), daughter of Cormac MacCarthy Reagh. On the outbreak of the second Desmond rebellion (1579), he initially…...
Barry, Garret (Gerat)
Barry, Garret (Gerat) (d. 1646), army officer, entered Spanish military service about 1601, by his own reckoning. It has been suggested that he departed Kinsale with the Spanish army in March 1601 with his father David Fitz Garrot Barry of Rincorran, his mother and three…...
Barry, John
Barry, John (1745–1803), United States Navy captain, was born at Ballysampson, Tacumshane parish, Co. Wexford, son of John Barry, clerk and small farmer, and Catherine Barry (née Kelly). After his family were evicted, they moved to Rosslare and the young Barry went to sea as a cabin boy…...
Bathe, William
Bathe, William (1564–1614), diplomat, author, and Jesuit, was born in Drumcondra castle on Easter Sunday 1564, son of John Bathe (d. 1586), Irish solicitor general, chancellor of the exchequer, and grandson of James Bathe (qv), chief…...
Bellew, Christopher Dillon
Bellew, Christopher Dillon (1763–1826), catholic gentleman and activist, was the eldest son of Michael Bellew of Mount Bellew, Co. Galway, and his wife Jane, daughter of Henry Dillon. Born into a wealthy catholic family, one of the few that had prospered during the penal era, he…...
Bellew, John
Bellew, John (1605/1606–79), politician and army officer, was the eldest son, of the three sons and one daughter, of Patrick Bellew of Lisraney, Co. Louth, and his wife, Mary, daughter of James and Ellice Warren of Warrenstown castle, Co. Louth. He was admitted to Gray's Inn on 9…...
Bellew, Sir John
Bellew, Sir John (d. 1693), 1st Baron Bellew of Duleek , Jacobite colonel, was son of Sir Christopher Bellew of Bellewstown and his wife Frances, daughter of Matthew Plunkett, Lord Louth. His father was made governor of Louth (30 October 1641) with the object of suppressing…...
Bellew, Sir Patrick
Bellew, Sir Patrick (1726?–95), 5th baronet and catholic activist, was second son among five children (four sons and a daughter) of Sir Edward Bellew (d. 1741), 3rd baronet (1734–41), of Barmeath Castle, Dunleer, Co. Louth, and Eleanor Bellew (née Moore) of Drogheda. After the…...
Belton, Andrew
Belton, Andrew (1882–1970), OBE, soldier, adventurer, and businessman, was born 17 April 1882 in Cleator Moor, Cumberland, son of John and Susannah Belton of Bowthorn Road, Cleator Moor. Educated locally at St Patrick…...
Berkeley, Sir John
Berkeley, Sir John (1607–78), 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton , soldier and politician, was baptised 1 February 1607, fifth and youngest son of Sir Maurice Berkeley of Bruton, Somerset, England, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Killigrew of Hanworth, Middlesex.…...
Bianconi, Charles
Bianconi, Charles (1786–1875), transport entrepreneur, was born Joachim Carlo Guiseppe Bianconi on 24 September 1786 at Tregolo, near Como in Lombardy, Italy, the second of five children of Pietro and Maria Bianconi. His father owned a farm and a silk mill, and was agent for the…...
Birmingham, John
Birmingham, John (1816–84), astronomer, polymath, and landowner, was born at Millbrook, near Tuam, Co. Galway in May 1816, the only son of Edward Birmingham (d. 1833, the youngest son of John (Sean Rua) Birmingham of Dalgin, a landowner with interests in the West Indies) and his wife,…...
Blacker, William
Blacker, William (1777–1855), militia officer and Orangeman, was born 1 September 1777 at Carrickblacker, near Portadown, Co. Armagh, first of four sons of Stewart Blacker (1740–1826), dean of Leighlin and owner of Carrickblacker, and his wife Eliza, daughter of Sir Hugh Hill (…...
Blackwell, James Bartholomew
Blackwell, James Bartholomew (c.1765–1820), soldier, was born in Ennis, Co. Clare. Aged about ten, he was sent to Paris to be educated for the priesthood at the Irish College, where his maternal granduncle, Dr Bartholomew Murray, MD…...