Foster, (Frederic) Gordon
Foster, (Frederic) Gordon (1921–2010) statistician and informatics pioneer, was born on 24 February 1921 in Belfast, one of three children of Robert Foster, motor garage manager, and his wife Florence Evelynn (née Magee). The family were then living on Eglantine Avenue, Lisburn Road.…...
Godkin, James
Godkin, James (1806–79), Congregational minister, writer, and journalist, was born at Gorey, Co. Wexford, possibly to William and Hester Godkin, whose sons Edward and William were baptised in Christ Church (Church of Ireland), Gorey, in 1809 and 1812. His family was comfortably…...
Guinness, Henry Grattan
Guinness, Henry Grattan (1835–1910), evangelist and religious writer, was born 11 August 1835 at Montpelier House, Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin, the eldest of the family of three sons and one daughter of Captain John Grattan Guinness (1783–1850), and Jane Lucretia (d.…...
Harrison, Thomas
Harrison, Thomas (1619–82), nonconformist minister, was born in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, son of Robert Harrison, merchant. He attended the local grammar school, matriculated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1636 and received his BA…...
Harvey, Joshua Reuben
Harvey, Joshua Reuben (1804–87), physician and naturalist, was born in Cork, into a quaker family, son of Reuben Harvey (1770–1830), American consul in Cork, and Mary Harvey (née Fennell). He entered TCD, graduating…...
Heitler, Walter
Heitler, Walter (1904–81), theoretical physicist and philosopher, was born 2 January 1904 in Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany, son of Adolf Heitler, a Jewish engineering professor, and Ottilie Heitler (née Rudolf ). His largely classical early education left him with a lifelong interest…...
Henry, Robert Mitchell
Henry, Robert Mitchell (1873–1950), classicist and university administrator, was born 11 February 1873 in Belfast, son of Robert Mitchell Henry (1824–91), who was himself son of a Reformed Presbyterian minister, William Henry (1789–1852). Robert M. Henry sen., having started his…...
Herzog, Isaac (Yitzak) Halevi
Herzog, Isaac (Yitzak) Halevi (1888–1959), first chief rabbi of the Irish Free State, was born at Lomza, Poland, the only son of Rabbi Joel Herzog, rabbi of the Polish Jewish community in Paris, and Miriam Liba Herzog (née Cirowitz). With an initial education provided by his father, by…...
Irvine, Alexander Fitzgerald
Irvine, Alexander Fitzgerald (1863–1941), minister, social activist, orator, and author, was born 19 January 1863 in Scott's Entry, Antrim town, ninth among twelve children (five of whom died young) of Jamie Irvine, an illiterate protestant shoemaker, and Anna Irvine (née Gilmore), an…...
Jacob, Joshua
Jacob, Joshua (1801–77), quaker reformer and grocer, was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, second son of Samuel Watson Jacob, merchant, and Mary Jacob (née Jackson). He was educated at Newtown school, Waterford; in Leeds, Yorkshire; and finally at Ballitore, Co. Kildare. After an…...
Kelly, Thomas
Kelly, Thomas (1769–1855), clergyman and founder of the Kellyite sect, was born 13 July 1769 at Kellyville, near Athy, Co. Kildare, son of the Rt Hon. Thomas Kelly, judge in the court of common pleas; nothing is known of his mother. Thomas junior…...
Kelly, William
Kelly, William (1821–1906), biblical critic and Brethren leader, was born in May 1821 in the townland of Ballyfrennis, near Millisle, Co. Down, the only son of William Kelly, a presbyterian, described as a ‘gentleman’, who died 14 April 1823, aged twenty-five, when William was not…...
Lánczos, Cornelius
Lánczos, Cornelius (Kornél) (1893–1974), theoretical physicist, was born 2 February 1893 in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, eldest of five children of Carolus Löwy, lawyer, and Adél Hahn. During the early 1900s the family changed their name to Lánczos, a Hungarian form of the Jewish name Löwy…...
Logan, James
Logan, James (1674–1751), scientist and public servant in America, was born 20 October 1674 at Lurgan, Co. Armagh, son of Patrick Logan, a schoolmaster and former Church of Scotland clergyman who became a quaker, and his wife, Isabel Logan (née Hume) – both had moved to Ireland from…...
Lonsdale, Kathleen
Lonsdale, Kathleen (1903–71), X-ray crystallographer and pacifist, was born 28 January 1903 in Charlotte House, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, youngest among ten children of Henry Frederick Yardley (d. 1923), an English-born former soldier and postmaster of Newbridge, and his wife Jessie…...
Lyttle, Richard
Lyttle, Richard (1866–1905), land campaigner, nationalist, and non-subscribing presbyterian minister, was born 6 March 1866 at Barnhill, a farm near Dromore, Co. Down, owned by his father, Richard Lyttle, a merchant in Dromore whose family had been gentlemen farmers near…...
Mather, Nathaniel
This is a co-subject for the entry on Mather, Samuel. View the original entry....
Mather, Samuel
Mather, Samuel (1626–71), Independent minister, was born in Much Woolton, Lancashire, England, eldest son of Richard Mather (1596–1669) and his wife, Catherine Hoult (d. 1655). Richard Mather was an anglican minister turned nonconformist, while Catherine Hoult's family was…...
Nicholson, William Patteson
Nicholson, William Patteson (1876–1959), evangelist, was born on 3 April 1876 in Cottown near Bangor, Co. Down, one among seven children of Capt. John G. Nicholson, merchant seaman, and his wife Ellen (née Campbell). The family was devoutly presbyterian; two sisters and a brother became…...
Penn, William
Penn, William (1644–1718), quaker leader and founder of Pennsylvania, was born 14 October 1644 in London, the elder of two sons (there was also a daughter) of William Penn (1621–70), a naval commander, and his wife, Margaret Penn (née Jasper) (1610?–1682). Penn's mother was the…...
Penrose, Cooper
Penrose, Cooper (1736–1815), quaker and merchant, was born 12 April 1736 in Co. Cork, eldest son among four children of John Penrose, timber merchant, and Anne Penrose (née Cooper). His father died when he was 4 and Cooper moved to Carlow and then Dublin, where the family lived at…...
Perrot, John
Perrot, John (d. 1665), quaker, is of unknown origins. He may have been born in Ireland. He claimed to be the illegitimate son of Sir John Perrot (qv), former lord deputy of Ireland, but there is no evidence to support his claim. In 1655 he…...
Perry (Shaw), Alice Jacqueline
Perry (Shaw), Alice Jacqueline (1885–1969), engineer and Christian Scientist, was born in Wellpark, Co. Galway, one of five daughters and one son of James Perry, engineer and county surveyor for Galway, originally from Garvagh, Co. Londonderry, and Martha Perry (née Park), from…...
Poole, Jacob
Poole, Jacob (1774–1827), philologist and antiquarian, who was descended from an old-established quaker family, was born 11 February 1774 in Growtown, Co. Wexford, son of Josiah Poole and his wife Sarah, daughter of Jacob Martin of Aghfad, Co. Wexford. The Pooles, originally from…...
Porter, Classon Emmett
Porter, Classon Emmett (1814–85), non-subscribing presbyterian minister and writer of local history and biography, particularly that of Irish presbyterianism, was born in Artikelly, near Limavady (then called Newtonlimavady), Co. Londonderry, first child of …...