Aiken, Jim
Aiken, Jim (1932–2007), music promoter and businessman, was one of seven or eight children born to Joseph Aiken and his wife Annie (née Fagan), and was raised on the family farm in Jonesborough, Co. Armagh, close to the border. After completing his secondary education, he studied…...
Anderson, Gerry
Anderson, Gerry (1944–2014), musician, radio broadcaster and television presenter, was born Gerald Michael Anderson on 28 October 1944 in Derry, one of four children (three sons and a daughter) of John Anderson, a boiler and range-fireplace fitter who had joined the anti-treaty side…...
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…...
Arigho, John Edward (‘Jack’)
Arigho, John Edward (‘Jack’) (1907–99), rugby player, was born 10 July 1907 in 21 Victoria St., Dublin, second son of George Arigho and Mary Arigho (née Greene). Arigho's grandfather had emigrated to Ireland from Switzerland in the mid nineteenth century and had founded a printing…...
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…...
Barrett, Joseph
Barrett, Joseph (1902–52), GAA footballer, was born 17 July 1902 at 67 Rock St., Tralee, Co. Kerry, seventh of ten children of John Barrett, Tralee livestock dealer, and Nora Barrett (née O'Mahony) of Ballyduff, Co. Kerry. Educated locally, at the age of 14 he took up the family…...
Barry, Billie (Lillian)
Barry, Billie (Lillian) (1921–2014), performer and stage school founder, was born on 27 January 1921 in Drumcondra, Dublin, the youngest of fifteen children to John Clarke-Barry, orchestra leader and musician, and his wife Anne (née Hughes), an amateur operatic singer. The family were…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Bernelle, Agnes
Bernelle, Agnes (1923–99), singer and actress, was born Agnes Elizabeth Bernauer on 7 March 1923 in Berlin, Germany, daughter of Rudolph Bernauer (1880–1953), a Jewish-Hungarian actor, playwright, librettist, and theatrical director and impresario, and his second wife, Emmy (née Erb) (b…...
Bewerunge, Heinrich
Bewerunge, Heinrich (1862–1923), musicologist, educator, and composer, was born 7 December 1862 in Letmathe, Westphalia, Germany, the second of nine children of Heinrich Hermann Bewerunge (1836–1901), a building contractor from Lüchtringen-an-der-Weser, and his wife, Maria…...
Boland, John Mary Pius
Boland, John Mary Pius (1870–1958), politician, lawyer, and tennis player, was born on 16 September 1870 at 135 Capel Street, Dublin, the second son of Patrick Boland (1840–1877), a prosperous milling merchant, and his wife Mary Donnelly. After beginning his education at the Catholic…...
Boylan, Patrick Joseph
Boylan, Patrick Joseph (1879–1974), priest, biblical scholar, and Egyptologist, was born 2 December 1879 in Barrowhouse, near Athy, Co. Kildare, son of Patrick Boylan, a teacher at Shanganamore national school, and his wife Anne (née Walker), of Queen's County (Laois).…...
Bresnihan, Barry (Finbar Patrick Kevin)
Bresnihan, Barry (Finbar Patrick Kevin) (1944–2010), rheumatologist and rugby player, was born on 13 March 1944 at 15 Lower Hatch Street, Dublin, the only son (as well as three daughters) of Dr Con Bresnihan (d. 1974), GP, chief medical officer to the civil service, and medical…...
Brosnan, Patrick (‘Paddy Bawn’)
Brosnan, Patrick (‘Paddy Bawn’) (1917–95), Gaelic footballer, was born 16 November 1917 at Strand St., Dingle, Co. Kerry, son of Timothy Brosnan, fisherman, and Ellie Brosnan (née Johnson). He was educated at Dingle national school and the local…...
Browne, Henry Martyn
Browne, Henry Martyn (1853–1941), classicist and Jesuit priest, was born 7 August 1853 in Claughton, Woodchurch, Cheshire, England, the second of four sons and one daughter of John Wilson Browne, hardware merchant, born in Portugal (1824), and Jane Susan Browne (née McKnight), one…...
Bruen, James O'Grady (‘Jimmy’)
Bruen, James O'Grady (‘Jimmy’) (1920–72), amateur golfer, was born 8 May 1920 in Belfast, only child of James Bruen (d. 1950), bank official and company secretary, and Margaret Bruen (née Shepperson Cooke). The family moved to Blackrock, Cork, when he was very young. Throughout his…...
Buckley, Din (Den) Joe
Buckley, Din (Den) Joe (1919–2009), hurler, was born Denis Joseph Buckley at the family home in Roman Street, Cork city, on 19 March 1919, the sixth of eleven children of Timothy Buckley, shop assistant, and his wife Elizabeth (née Falvey). The working-class Blackpool district in…...
Bulger, Daniel Delany
This is a co-subject for the entry on Bulger, Lawrence Quinlivan ('Larry'). View the original entry....
Bulger, Lawrence Quinlivan ('Larry')
Bulger, Lawrence Quinlivan ('Larry') (1870–1928), rugby player and medical doctor, was born 5 February 1870 at his parents' home on Moore Street, Kilrush, Co. Clare, the youngest of five sons and two daughters of Daniel Scanlan Bulger (d. 1904), then a pawnbroker and draper, later a…...
Bulger, Michael Joseph
This is a co-subject for the entry on Bulger, Lawrence Quinlivan ('Larry'). View the original entry....
Bushnell, Anne
Bushnell, Anne (1939–2011), singer, was born on 28 March 1939 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, one of four children of John Kavanagh, a motor mechanic, of Arnott Street, Portobello, Dublin, and his wife Evelyn (née Ledwidge). She grew up in Milltown, Dublin, and danced as a child on the…...
Byrne, James Loughlin (‘Locky’)
Byrne, James Loughlin (‘Locky’) (1913–41), hurler, was born 28 April 1913 at 41 Morgan St., Waterford city, the only child of James Byrne, engine driver, and Johanna Byrne (née McGrath). He was educated locally at Mount Sion CBS. A…...
Cahill, Mabel Esmonde
Cahill, Mabel (1863–1905), tennis player, was born 2 April 1863 in Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny, twelfth of thirteen children of Michael Cahill, gentleman landowner and barrister-at-law, of Ballyconra House, Ballyragget, and his first wife, Margaret (née Magan), Ballymore, Co. Westmeath (…...