Bairéad, Tomás
Bairéad, Tomás (1893–1973), short-story writer and journalist, was born 7 July 1893 in Baile Dóite, Moycullen, Co. Galway, one of two sons and two daughters of Michael Barrett, farmer, and Mary (Mary Frank) Barrett (née McDonough), both of Moycullen, and received his only formal…...
Balfe, John Donnellan
Balfe, John Donnellan (1816–80), politician, journalist, and British government spy, was born in Co. Meath, son of James Balfe, gentleman, and Sara Balfe (née Sutherland). He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, and had a brief career in the British army, joining…...
Barnes, William
Barnes, William (1801-86), poet and philologist, was born at Bagber Common in the Blackmore Vale, Dorset, England, and baptised on 20 March 1801, son of John Barnes, tenant farmer, and Grace Barnes (née Scott). After a variety of occupations, including the making of woodcuts, he…...
Barrett, Richard
Barrett, Richard (c.1793/4–1854), journalist, was born possibly in Co. Cork, son of Richard Barrett, gentleman. His mother may have been Eleanor Stannard. Little is known of his early life but after working briefly as a brewer he became a journalist. A protestant, he was…...
Barrett, Stephen Declan
Barrett, Stephen Declan (1913–76), journalist, lawyer, politician, and judge, was born 26 December 1913 in Cork, second of three children of George Barrett, leader-writer for the Cork Examiner and later editor of the Evening Echo, and Alice Mary Barrett (née O'…...
Barrington, Margaret (Louise)
Barrington, Margaret (Louise) (1896–1982), writer and journalist, was born 10 May 1896 in Malin, Co. Donegal, one of three daughters of Richard Barrington, RIC sergeant (later district inspector), and Charlotte Barrington (née Scott). Owing…...
Barron, Philip Fitzgerald
Barron, Philip Fitzgerald (1801/2?–1844), Celticist and Hebraist, was born in Durrow House, Stradbally, Co. Waterford, one of seven children of Richard Barron of Durrow and Catherine Barron, daughter of Philip Hay of Co. Wexford. Though some sources give 1797 as his year of birth, …...
Barry, Michael Joseph
Barry, Michael Joseph (1817–89), Young Irelander, poet, and journalist, was born 26 March 1817 in Blackrock, Cork city, eldest among five children of Michael Joseph Barry, a catholic merchant, and his wife Anne (née England). John England (qv…...
Barry, William
Barry, William (1841–75), journalist, was born in Co. Cork, one of at least two sons, probably of an innkeeper. After an apprenticeship on a Cork newspaper, he worked in Dublin and subsequently in London (1865), where, arriving quite unknown, he quickly established himself,…...
Bartley, Patrick Joseph Plunkett Sheridan
Bartley, Patrick Joseph Plunkett Sheridan (1878–1948), journalist and local government official, was born 6 May 1878, son of William Bartley, farmer, and Mary Bartley (née Plunkett) of Prospect House, Mountnugent, Co. Cavan. Little is known of his early years, but he was said to…...
Barton, Arthur Henry ('Harry')
Barton, Arthur Henry ('Harry') (1916–2006), naval officer, writer, broadcaster, and public figure in Northern Ireland, was born 13 January 1916 in Belfast, only son of Arthur Willis Barton (qv), then Church of Ireland curate in…...
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…...
Battersby, William Joseph
Battersby, William Joseph (1794/5–1873), catholic bookseller and writer, is first mentioned in 1825, in Wilson's Dublin Directory, as a printer at 33 Winetavern Street, Dublin. He was to flourish in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, a period of rapidly growing catholic…...
Béaslaí, Piaras
Béaslaí, Piaras (1881–1965), writer, revolutionary, politician, language revivalist, and journalist, was born Percy (later Pierce , Piaras) Beazley on 15 February 1881 in Liverpool, England, second of three sons of Patrick Langford Beazley, editor of the Catholic Times from…...
Beaty, James
Beaty, James (1798–1892), politician and newspaper proprietor in Canada, was born near Killeshandra, Co. Cavan, in 1798, possibly on 2 September. He was the youngest of five sons of Robert Beaty, land surveyor, and Catherine Beaty (née Crawford); his father was of a fairly…...
Bedell, William
Bedell, William (1571–1642), scholar and churchman, was born in late December 1571 at Black Notley, Essex, England, second son of John Bedell and his wife, Elizabeth Elliston, and entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1584, the year of its foundation. He graduated in 1588, took his…...
Behan, Dominic
Behan, Dominic (1928–89), writer, balladeer, and broadcaster, was born 22 October 1928 in Dublin, fourth child of five children of Stephen Behan, house painter, and Kathleen Behan (qv) (née Kearney). Educated at St Agatha's School, North…...
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…...
Bergin, Liam Diarmuid
Bergin, Liam Diarmuid (1913–94), newspaper proprietor and editor, was born 15 August 1913 at Athy Road, Carlow town, son of Patrick C. Bergin, publican and merchant, and Kathleen Bergin (née Conlan). Educated at Newbridge College boarding school, he joined the Nationalist and…...
Bergin, Stanley Francis
Bergin, Stanley Francis (1925–69), cricketer and journalist, was born 19 November 1925 at 8 St John's Road, Sandymount, Dublin, as Stanislaus Mary Bergin, youngest of seven sons of Bernard Christopher Bergin, assistant director GPO, and…...
Berwick, Edward
Berwick, Edward (1754?–1820), classicist and anglican clergyman, was born in Co. Down, son of Duke Berwick, gentleman. After attending the Rev. Saumarez Dubourdieu's school in Lisburn, Co. Antrim, he entered TCD (1770), gained a…...
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…...
Binchy, Maeve
Binchy, Maeve (1939–2012), novelist and journalist, was born Ann Maeve Binchy on 28 May 1939 in Glenageary, Co. Dublin, the daughter of Maureen Binchy (née Blackmore) of Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, a nurse, and William Francis Binchy of Charleville, Co. Cork, a barrister. Her father…...
Bingley, William
Bingley, William (fl. 1763–99), journalist and editor, appears to have been born in England; very little is known about his early life. He began his career as a radical journalist, taking over the North Briton when John Wilkes was forced to withdraw from…...
Binns, John
Binns, John (1772–1860), radical politician and journalist, was born 22 December 1772 in Dublin, second son of John Binns, a wealthy ironmonger, and his wife Mary, daughter of Benjamin Pemberton of Mount Olive, near Raheny, Co. Dublin. The Binnses were Moravians in religion and…...