Adair, Patrick
Adair, Patrick (c.1624–1694), presbyterian minister and historian, was the third son of John Adair, of Genoch in Galloway. He graduated from the University of St Andrews in 1642 and proceeded in 1644 to study divinity in the University of Glasgow. When licensed he travelled to…...
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, 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…...
Anderson, Robert
This is a co-subject for the entry on Anderson, Sir Samuel Lee. View the original entry....
Barkley, John Monteith
Barkley, John Monteith (1910–97), presbyterian minister, scholar and historian, was born in Belfast on 18 October 1910, the only son of Robert James Barkley and his wife Mary Darcus (née Monteith). He had a younger sister. When John was born the family was living with his mother's…...
Benmohel, Nathan Lazarus
Benmohel, Nathan Lazarus (1802/3–69), linguist, was born in Hamburg, Germany, son of Lazarus Benmohel (d. 1841), a rabbi, and his wife, a rabbi's daughter. He settled in Ireland c.1827–9 as a teacher of languages in Dublin. Aged twenty-nine, he entered…...
Benn, George
Benn, George (1801–82), businessman and historian of Belfast, was born on 1 January 1801 at Tandragee, Co. Armagh, the youngest son in the family of four sons and five daughters of John Benn (1767–1853), a Belfast brewer, and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1859), daughter of James Craig…...
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…...
Bruce, William
Bruce, William (1790–1868), presbyterian minister and classicist, was born in Belfast on 16 November 1790, the second son of William Bruce (qv) (1757–1841), presbyterian minister, and his wife, Susannah (née Hutton). After a schooling…...
Bryce, James
Bryce, James (1838–1922), 1st Viscount Bryce , politician, historian, jurist, and chief secretary for Ireland (1905–7), was born 10 May 1838 in a small terraced house in Arthur St., Belfast, eldest of two sons and two daughters of James Bryce…...
Bryce, James
Bryce, James (1806–77), geologist and teacher, was born 22 October 1806 at Killaig, near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, third son of James Bryce (qv) (1767–1857) and Catherine Bryce (née Annan). His father had recently been appointed…...
Bryson, Samuel Maziere
Bryson, Samuel Maziere (1776–1853), apothecary and Celticist, was born 9 March 1776, probably at Holywood, Co. Down, youngest of 21 sons of James Bryson (qv) (1730?–1796), presbyterian minister. After studying medicine at Edinburgh, he…...
Burkitt, James Parsons
Burkitt, James Parsons (1870–1959), ornithologist and engineer, was born 20 August 1870 at Killybegs, Co. Donegal, second son among five sons and two daughters of Thomas Henry Burkitt, presbyterian minister, and Emma Eliza Burkitt (née Parsons). He was educated at Galway grammar…...
Caldwell, Andrew
Caldwell, Andrew (1733–1808), barrister, politician, and social figure, was born on 19 December 1733, the first of three sons of Charles Caldwell (1707–76), solicitor to the commissioners of revenue and agent to Lord Bessborough, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin…...
Crawford, Adair
Crawford, Adair (1748–96), doctor and chemist, was born in Ballytromery, near Crumlin, Co. Antrim, third son among four sons and two daughters of Thomas Crawford, presbyterian minister in Crumlin 1724–82, and Anne Crawford (née Mackay). His brothers were Thomas Crawford,…...
Davidson, Samuel
Davidson, Samuel (1806–98), biblical scholar, was born probably in September 1806 in Kellswater, Co. Antrim, son of Abraham Davidson, farmer, and Margaret Davidson (née Mewha), who had at least one other child, a daughter. Samuel attended a local school, for whose master, James…...
Dickson, Charles
Dickson, Charles (1886–1978), physician and historian, was born at Dromore, Co. Down, on 20 January 1886, son of John Mitchel Dickson, a linen merchant whose mother, Matilda (d. 1897), was a sister of John Mitchel (qv). Later the family, who…...
Dill, Sir Samuel
Dill, Sir Samuel (1844–1924), classical scholar, historian, and educationalist, was born 26 March 1844 at Hillsborough, Co. Down, eldest son of the Rev. Marcus Dill, DD, presbyterian minister of Hillsborough, and Anna Dill (née Moreland). He…...
Drummond, James
Drummond, James (1786?–1863), botanist, was born near Forfar, Angus, Scotland, probably in late 1786 or early 1787, as he was baptised in the parish church of Inverarity on 8 January 1787. He was the eldest child among two sons and two daughters of Thomas Drummond (b. 1757), a…...
Duffin, Emma Sylvia
Duffin, Emma Sylvia (1883–1979), nurse, diarist and welfare worker, was born 8 November 1883 in Belfast, fourth daughter in a family of seven daughters and two sons of Adam Duffin (qv) and Maria Duffin (née Drennan). The family was well-to-do…...
Fearon, William Robert
Fearon, William Robert (1892–1959), biochemist, was born 14 October 1892 in Holles St., Dublin, the only son of a presbyterian minister, William Fearon of Kells, Co. Meath, and Nannie Fearon (neé Morrow). His father died when he was very young and from the age of 3 he lived with…...
Findlater, Sir William
Findlater, Sir William (1824–1906), solicitor and MP, was born 1 January 1824, the only son of William Findlater, of Londonderry, and his wife Sophia (née Huffington) of Fahan, Co. Donegal. His father, who had been born in Scotland, died in 1831. With his three sisters, he spent…...
Frankau, Julia (‘Frank Danby’)
Frankau, Julia (‘Frank Danby’) (1859–1916), art historian and novelist, was born 30 July 1859 in Dublin, into an English Jewish family, seventh among nine children of Hyman Davis (d. 1871), dentist and later artist/photographer, and his wife Isabella. Her parents arrived in Dublin in…...
Gamble, Josias (or Josiah) Christopher
Gamble, Josias (or Josiah) Christopher (1778–1848), presbyterian minister and chemical manufacturer, was born in August 1778, fourth of five sons of David Gamble, farmer, from near Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, whose wife's maiden name was Rutherford, and who also had a daughter.…...
Gibson, Sir Maurice
Gibson, Sir Maurice (1913–87), judge, was born 1 May 1913 in Belfast, son of William James Gibson, chemist, and his wife, Edith Mary. He was educated at the RBAI and took a first-class honours degree at…...