Wilson, Daniel Martin
Wilson, Daniel Martin (1862–1932), lawyer and politician, was born in Limerick, son of the Rev. Dr David Wilson (1819–94), moderator of the presbyterian general assembly 1865–7. His father was married twice: first (1845) to a daughter of William McFurran, and secondly to Jessie…...
Wilson, John
Wilson, John (1626–1695/6), playwright and lawyer, was the eldest son of Dr Aaron Wilson (1583–1643) and his wife Mary. He was born in London and baptised 27 December 1626 in the parish of St Stephen, Walbrook, where his father was rector. Aaron Wilson, a native of Carmarthen, was…...
Wilson, William Edward
Wilson, William Edward (1851–1908), astronomer, was born 19 July 1851 at Greenisland, near Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, the only son of John Wilson (d. 1906), landowner, of Daramona House, Streete, Co. Westmeath, and his wife Francis Patience, daughter of the Rev.…...
Winder, Frank (Francis Gerard Augustine)
Winder, Frank (Francis Gerard Augustine) (1928–2007), biochemist, naturalist and mountaineer, was born 14 April 1928 in Dublin, one of four sons of Percy Winder (d. 1950), secretary of the Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Society and a freeman of the city of Dublin, and his second…...
Windisch, Wilhelm Oscar Ernst
Windisch, Wilhelm Oscar Ernst (1844–1918), Sanskrit and Pali scholar and celticist, was born 4 September 1844 in Dresden, Germany, son of a teacher, was educated at the Kreuzschule in Leipzig, and went on to Leipzig University (1863), where he studied classical and comparative philology…...
Winter, Catherine
Winter, Catherine (fl. 1848–70), publicist and campaigner, was apparently the only daughter among four children of James Nicholas Maillard, brigade major in the army, and Catherine Stubber, who were married in Dublin in 1801. Her father's family was from the West Indies.…...
Wolfe, Arthur
Wolfe, Arthur (1739–1803), 1st Viscount Kilwarden , politician and judge, was born 19 January 1739, the fifth surviving son of John Wolfe (1700–60), owner of Forenaughts, Co. Kildare, and his wife Mary (d. 1804), only daughter of William Philpot, a Dublin merchant. After attending…...
Wood, Ernest Mounteney
Wood, Ernest Mounteney (1909–91), barrister, was born in Dublin on 12 July 1909, third of three sons of Albert Ernest Wood (1874–1941) KC, and his wife Edyth (née Gillespie). His elder brother Wilfred, also a barrister, died tragically young in…...
Workman, Thomas
Workman, Thomas (1843–1900), naturalist, traveller, and businessman, was born 14 August 1843, third son among fifteen children of Robert Workman and Jane Workman (née Service) of Ceara, Malone Road, Belfast. His father's family was originally from Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Scotland,…...
Woulfe, Peter
Woulfe, Peter (1727?–1803), chemist, mineralogist, and inventor of ‘Woulfe's bottle’, was born in Co. Limerick. After being schooled in Limerick by the Rev. Robert Cashin, he went to Paris to study under Guillaume-Francois Rouelle, on the advice of…...
Woulfe, Stephen
Woulfe, Stephen (1787–1840), judge, MP, and first catholic baron of the Irish exchequer, was born at Chaude Fontaine, near Liège (then in the Holy Roman Empire, later in Belgium), second son of Stephen Woulfe, landowner, of Tiermaclane, Ennis, Co. Clare, and his wife Honora,…...
Wright, Charles Henry Hamilton
Wright, Charles Henry Hamilton (1836–1909), Hebraist and theologian, was born 9 March 1836 in Dublin, second son among ten children of Edward Thomas Wright, Doctor of Laws (LLD), barrister, of Floraville, Donnybrook, Dublin, and his wife Charlotte (née Wright) of Beech Hill, Donnybrook…...
Wright, Edward Perceval
Wright, Edward Perceval (1834–1910), naturalist, was born 27 December 1834 in Dublin, eldest of five sons in a family of ten children of Edward Thomas Wright (1810–81), barrister, and Charlotte (née Wright), his wife and cousin. He was educated at home, and at 16 became a clerk in…...
Wright, Sir Almroth Edward
Wright, Sir Almroth Edward (1861–1947), bacteriologist, was born at Middleton Tyas, near Richmond, Yorkshire, England, second of five sons of the Rev. Charles Wright (qv), an Irish clergyman, and his Swedish wife Eva…...
Wrixon, Sir Henry John
Wrixon, Sir Henry John (1839–1913), lawyer and politician, was born 18 October 1839 in Cork, son of Arthur Nicholas Wrixon, later county court judge in Victoria, Australia, and his wife Charlotte Matilda, daughter of Capt. William Bace, who fought under the duke of…...
Wyche, Sir Cyril
Wyche, Sir Cyril (c.1632–1707), chief secretary, lord justice, and forfeited estates trustee, was born in Constantinople, where his father, Sir Peter Wyche (d. 1643), was English ambassador. His mother, Jane Wyche, was a daughter of Sir William Meredith of Stansley in…...
Wylie, Samuel Brown
Wylie, Samuel Brown (1773–1852), presbyterian minister, and oriental and classical scholar, was born 21 May 1773 at Moylarg, Co. Antrim, son of Adam Wylie, a prosperous farmer, and Margaret Wylie (née Brown). Educated locally, he entered the University of Glasgow, where he…...
Wylie, William Evelyn
Wylie, William Evelyn (1881–1964), judge and doyen of the RDS, was born 26 June 1881 at Kenilworth House, Kenilworth Square, Dublin (the residence of his maternal uncle John Girdwood Drury), son of the Rev. Robert Beatty Wylie, LLD, minister (…...
Wyndham, Thomas
Wyndham, Thomas (1681–1745), lord chancellor of Ireland, was born 27 December 1681, fourth and youngest son of John Wyndham of Norrington, Wiltshire, England, twice MP for Salisbury, and his wife Alice, daughter of Thomas Fownes of Dorset. He was also grandson of a notable English…...
Yeats, Bertha Georgie (‘George’)
Yeats, Bertha Georgie (‘George’) (1892–1968), scholar, occultist, publisher, and wife of William Butler Yeats (qv), was born 16/17 October 1892 at The Grove, Fleet, Hampshire, daughter of William Gilbert Hyde Lees , captain in the 4th…...
Yelverton, Barry
Yelverton, Barry (1736–1805), 1st Viscount Avonmore , lawyer and MP, was born 28 May 1736 near Newmarket, Co. Cork, eldest son of Francis Yelverton (1705–46), of Blackwater, and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1804), daughter of Jonas Barry of Kilbrin, all of Co. Cork. Yelverton's family…...
Young, Matthew
Young, Matthew (1750–1800), clergyman, Irish scholar, and natural philosopher, was born 3 October 1750 at Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, fourth son of Owen Young, a minor landowner who impoverished his family through dissolute habits, and Olivia Maria Young (née Bell). He was educated at the…...
Young, Sydney
Young, Sydney (1857–1937), chemist, was born 29 December 1857 at Farnworth, Lancs., third son of Edward Young, JP and prosperous Liverpool merchant, and his wife Grace Martha, daughter of James Kimmins of Stonehouse, Glos. He was educated at…...
Zeuss, Johann Kaspar
Zeuss, Johann Kaspar (1806–56), philologist, linguist, and founder of Celtic studies, was born 22 July 1806 in the village of Vogtendorf, near Kronach in Upper Franconia, Germany, fourth among six children of Michael Zeuss, stonemason, and Margaretha Zeuss (neé Hanna). Although he…...
Zimmer, Heinrich
Zimmer, Heinrich (1851–1910), philologist, historian, and Celtic scholar, was born 11 December 1851 in Castellaun in the Rhineland, Germany, son of a peasant farmer. After pursuing his early education at Kreuznach, he spent some time at the universities of Strasburg, Tübingen, and…...