Alton, Ernest Henry
Alton, Ernest Henry (1873–1952), classical scholar and public representative, was born 21 September 1873 at Marlinstown, near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, eldest son of James Poë Alton, banker, of Limerick and Marguerite Alton (née Keely). His abiding passion for classical literature was…...
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…...
Atkinson, Robert
Atkinson, Robert (1839–1908), philologist, was born 6 April 1839 near Gateshead, Co. Durham, the only child of John and Ann Atkinson. He attended Anchorage Grammar School, and entered Trinity College Dublin (TCD) (1856), but spent 1857–8 at Liège, Belgium, and worked as a schoolmaster…...
Aylmer, Matthew
Aylmer, Matthew (c.1650–1720), 1st Baron Aylmer of Balrath , admiral, and commander-in-chief of the fleet, was second child and second son among three sons and one daughter of Christopher Aylmer (d. 1671), 1st baronet, of Balrath, Co. Meath, and his wife Margaret, third…...
Baillie (Bailie), James Kennedy
Baillie (Bailie), James Kennedy (1793?–1864), classicist and protestant clergyman, was the son of the Rev. Nicholas Ward Kennedy, a schoolmaster, and grandson of James Kennedy, a medical man in Co. Down. He entered TCD aged fourteen (1807),…...
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…...
Barry, John
Barry, John (1745–1803), United States Navy captain, was born at Ballysampson, Tacumshane parish, Co. Wexford, son of John Barry, clerk and small farmer, and Catherine Barry (née Kelly). After his family were evicted, they moved to Rosslare and the young Barry went to sea as a cabin boy…...
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…...
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…...
Beresford, Lord Charles William de la Poer
Beresford, Lord Charles William de la Poer (1846–1919), admiral and MP, was born 10 February 1846 in Baronstown, Dundalk, Co. Louth, second son of the Rev. John de la Poer Beresford (1814–66), 4th marquis of Waterford, and Christiana Beresford (1820–1905; née Leslie). He was…...
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…...
Bianconi, Charles
Bianconi, Charles (1786–1875), transport entrepreneur, was born Joachim Carlo Guiseppe Bianconi on 24 September 1786 at Tregolo, near Como in Lombardy, Italy, the second of five children of Pietro and Maria Bianconi. His father owned a farm and a silk mill, and was agent for the…...
Blackley, William Lewery
Blackley, William Lewery (1830–1902), clergyman, social reformer, and linguist, was born 30 December 1830 at Dundalk, Co. Louth, second son of Travers Robert Blackley, physician, and Eliza Blackley (née Lewery). From 1843 to 1845 he was educated in Brussels by Dr Carl Martin…...
Bloomfield, John Caldwell
Bloomfield, John Caldwell (1823–97), landlord and entrepreneur, was born 5 February 1823, eldest son of John Colpoys Bloomfield and Frances Arabella Bloomfield (née Caldwell); there were three other sons and a daughter. His mother, a descendant of Sir John Caldwell, was coheiress…...
Boyd, Henry
Boyd, Henry (1749?–1832), clergyman, poet, and translator, was born in Co. Tyrone, son of Charles Boyd, farmer; nothing is known of his mother. Educated by Mr Davison, he entered TCD as a sizar (June 1770), gained a scholarship (1773),…...
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).…...
Browne, Arthur
Browne, Arthur (1756?–1805), lawyer, legal and classical scholar, and MP, was born probably in Newport, Rhode Island, North America, the only son of Marmaduke Browne (1731–71), rector of Trinity church, Newport, and later a founding fellow of Rhode Island College (from 1804 Brown…...
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…...
Butcher, Samuel Henry
Butcher, Samuel Henry (1850–1910), scholar and politician, was born 16 April 1850 in Dublin, the elder son of Samuel Butcher (qv), clergyman, of Danesfort, Co. Kerry, and his wife, Mary (née Leahy), of South Hill, Killarney, Co. Kerry…...
Cahill, Pearse
Cahill, Pearse (1917–2011), aviator, businessman and race driver, was born Matthew Pearse Cahill (in honour of the executed leader of the 1916 rising) in Dublin on 26 January 1917, son of Hugh Cahill (1883–1966), of Glasnevin, Dublin, and his wife Caroline (née O'Connor). The owner-…...
Campbell, James Joseph
Campbell, James Joseph (1910–79), educationist, classical scholar, author, and broadcaster, was born 8 March 1910 at 237 New Lodge Road, Belfast, second child of James Campbell, barber, and Bridget Campbell (née McTaggart), whose first child died in infancy, and who later had…...
Cary (Tanfield), Elizabeth
Cary (Tanfield), Elizabeth (1585–1639), Viscountess Falkland , writer and translator, was born at Burford Priory, Oxfordshire, the only child and heir of Lawrence Tanfield (c.1551–1625), a wealthy lawyer, later appointed chief baron of the exchequer, and his wife,…...
Charles, Robert Henry
Charles, Robert Henry (1855–1931), Biblical scholar, was born 6 August 1855 at Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, probably in Loy House, fifth of the seven sons of Dr David H. Charles and Annie E. Charles (née Allen). He attended Belfast Academy and won a scholarship to…...
Clarke, Adam
Clarke, Adam (1760/62–1832), methodist minister and scholar, was born at Moybeg, near Maghera, Co. Londonderry, son of John Clarke (fl. 1762), schoolmaster, whose early marriage to a Miss McLean prevented him from completing a degree in…...
Clark, Wallace
Clark, Wallace (1926–2011), yachtsman, writer and businessman, was born in Upperlands, Co. Derry, on 20 November 1926, one of three children, two boys and a girl, of Harry Francis Clark, of Rockwood in Upperlands, and his wife Sybil Emily (née Stuart). His father was a director and…...