O'Flaherty, Roderick (Ó Flaithbheartaigh, Ruaidhrí)
O'Flaherty, Roderick (Ó Flaithbheartaigh, Ruaidhrí) (1629–1718), historiographer, was born in late 1629 at Moycullen, Co. Galway, to Hugh O'Flaherty, proprietor of the castle and manor of Moycullen, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Alderman Martin Darcy of Galway city and a…...
O'Flanagan, James Roderick
O'Flanagan, James Roderick (1814–1900), lawyer and writer, was born at Fermoy, Co.Cork, on 1 September 1814, son of Captain John Fitch O'Flanagan of the Dunshaughlin yeomanry, a catholic gentleman farmer, protégé of Lord Fingall, and barracks master of Fermoy (1808–48), and his…...
O'Flanagan, Theophilus
O'Flanagan, Theophilus (c.1762–1814), classical and Irish scholar, was born in the parish of Tulla, Co. Clare, son of Mathghamhain Ó Flannagáin, scribe and hedge-schoolmaster. He was baptised Tadhg but later on entering TCD…...
O'Gorman, Thomas (‘The Chevalier’)
O'Gorman, Thomas (‘The Chevalier’) (1732–1809), officer in French service, scholar, and entrepreneur, was by his own account born 16 September 1732 at Castletown, Co. Clare, son of Matthew O'Gorman (or MacGorman) and his wife Margaret, daughter of Donough O'Loughlin of Castletown…...
O'Halloran, Sylvester
O'Halloran, Sylvester (1728–1807), surgeon and historian, was born 31 December 1728 at Caherdavin, Co. Clare, third son of Michael O'Halloran, a prosperous catholic farmer, and Mary O'Halloran (née McDonnell). His brothers were Joseph Ignatius, later a member of the Society of Jesus,…...
O'Hanlon, John (‘Lageniensis’)
O'Hanlon, John (‘Lageniensis’) (1821–1905), priest, hagiologist, historian, folklorist, and poet, was born 30 April 1821 in Stradbally, Queen's County (Laois), son of Edward Hanlon (d. early 1840s), who probably owned a tanyard in the town, and Honora Hanlon (1793/4–1887). He was…...
O'Hart, John
O'Hart, John (1824–1902), teacher and genealogist, was born in December 1824 into an Irish-speaking family in Crossmolina, Co. Mayo, fifth and longest surviving among six sons of Shane (John) O'Hart and Nora O'Hart (née Geraghty) from the nearby parish of Glenhest. Of his four sisters,…...
O'Hegarty, Patrick Sarsfield (‘P. S.’)
O'Hegarty, Patrick Sarsfield (‘P. S.’) (1879–1955), revolutionary, writer, and civil servant, was born 29 December 1879 at Carrignavar, Co. Cork, son of John Hegarty, plaster and stucco worker, and Katherine Hegarty (née Hallanan), who came of west Cork farming stock, as did…...
O'Heyne, John
O'Heyne, John (c.1648–1713), Dominican priest and historian, was born near Athenry; his writings, curiously, do not mention his own parentage. He was the great-nephew on his father's side of Dominic Burke (qv)…...
Ó hUallacháin, Colmán
Ó hUallacháin, Colmán (1922–79), educator, linguist, Irish-language activist and priest, was born Liam Holohan on 8 December 1922 in Dublin, eldest among four sons and two daughters of Garry Holohan (Gearóid Ó hUallacháin) (1894–1967), imprisoned republican soldier, and latterly an…...
O'Kelly, Michael Joseph (‘Brian’)
O'Kelly, Michael Joseph (‘Brian’) (1915–82), archaeologist, was born 5 November 1915 in Springmount, Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick, son of Joseph O'Kelly, a national school teacher, and Elizabeth O'Kelly (née McAuliffe). After receiving secondary education at Rockwell college, Co.…...
O'Leary, Daniel Florence
O'Leary, Daniel Florence (1801–54), soldier, historian, and diplomat, was born in February 1801 in 89/90 Barrack St., Cork, eighth of ten children of Jeremiah O'Leary, butter merchant, and his wife, Catherine O'Leary (not related), both natives of Cork. In Europe in 1816…...
Ó Lúing, Seán
Ó Lúing, Seán (1917–2000), translator and author, was born 16 May 1917 in Ballyferriter, Co. Kerry, youngest among three sons of Séamas Ó Lúing, farmer, and his wife, whose maiden name was Ní Mhainnín. Seán was brought up bilingually and received his earliest education in the local…...
O'Mahoney, Katharine Aloysia O'Keeffe
O'Mahoney, Katharine Aloysia O'Keeffe (1851–1908), editor, educator, and writer, was born in Co. Kilkenny, daughter of Patrick O'Keeffe (b. 1803) and his wife Rose (b. 1824; maiden name unknown). The O'Keeffes emigrated to Methuen, Massachusetts, USA, c.1851 when she was ten…...
O'Mahony, Conor
O'Mahony, Conor (1594–1656), Jesuit academic and author, was a native of Muskerry, west Co. Cork. Little of his early life is known until his entrance into the Irish College at Seville, probably in 1614, where he studied philosophy and theology for three and four years…...
O'Mahony, Eoin Seosamh
O'Mahony, Eoin Seosamh (‘Pope ’) (1904–70), barrister, genealogist, journalist, and broadcaster, was born in Monkstown in Cork on 22 March 1904, the only surviving son of Daniel O'Mahony, city analyst for Cork, and his wife (and cousin), Julia O'Keeffe. He was at school in Cork at…...
O'Malley, Gráinne (Grace) (‘Granuaile’)
O'Malley, Gráinne (Grace) (‘Granuaile’) (c.1530–1603?), noblewoman and sea captain, was the daughter of Eoghan O'Malley (usually known as Dubhdarra O'Malley), lord of Umhall (now the barony of Murrisk, Co. Mayo), and Margaret, daughter of Conchobhar O'Malley. Gráinne (or…...
Ó Maolchonaire, Fearfeasa
Ó Maolchonaire, Fearfeasa (fl. 1630–46), one of the Four Masters, son of Lochlainn, was from the group of townlands in Co. Roscommon called Baile Uí Mhaolchonaire (see the writers' prefaces to the works of the ‘four masters’). His father may be the ‘Loughlin O'…...
Ó Maolmhuaidh, Proinsias (Francis O'Molloy)
Ó Maolmhuaidh, Proinsias (Francis O'Molloy) (d. 1677), grammarian and theologian, was probably born in the very early seventeenth century, and most likely in the part of Co. Offaly known as Fircall, or O'Molloy's Country. It is stated that he was of noble birth, being related to…...
Ó Meallàin, Toirdhealbhach (alias Feardorcha?)
Ó Meallàin, Toirdhealbhach (alias Feardorcha?) (Turlough O'Mallon) (fl. 1640s–1650s), Gaelic annalist and poet, was a Franciscan priest in the small friary at Gort Tamlacht na Muc in the Brantry district of Co. Tyrone during the early 1640s. The Ó Mealláins had been a prominent…...
O'Meara, John
O'Meara, John (1915–2003), academic, was born 18 February 1915 at Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, the elder of two sons of Patrick O'Meara, a small businessman from Ilaunmore on Lough Derg, and Mary O'Meara (née Donelan). The very early death of his father, at the end of 1915, and the troubled…...
O'Meara, Kathleen
O'Meara, Kathleen (1839–88), novelist and biographer, was born in Dublin, the daughter of Den[n]is O'Meara of Tipperary. When she was about five, she moved with her parents to France, where they had connections: a grandfather, Barry…...
O'Neill, Thomas Patrick
O'Neill, Thomas Patrick (1921–96), historian, was born 1 November 1921 in Ballon, Co. Carlow, the son of Thomas O'Neill, a farmer, and his wife, Anna Maria (née Murphy); he had two brothers, John and Maurice. He was educated in the local national school, at Knockbeg College, and at…...
Ó Riain (O'Ryan), Henry
Ó Riain (O'Ryan), Henry (fl. 1633), Dominican priest and Latin poet, probably received his classical education at Munster and pursued his philosophical and theological studies at Rome or elsewhere in Italy. Resident at Rome in 1633, he was commissioned to compose a…...
O'Rourke, John
O'Rourke, John (1809–87), priest and historian, may have come from a farming background and appears to have had some knowledge of Irish; some of his passing remarks refer to personal memories of the bitter hostility felt towards agents and bailiffs and a sense, instilled in the…...