Ainsworth, Thomas Joseph ('Joe')
Ainsworth, Thomas Joseph (Joe; ‘Two Gun Joe’) (1927–2015), garda, was born 17 May 1927 at his parents’ home at Davitt’s Terrace, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, the elder of two sons of Harry (Henry) Ainsworth, a victualler, and his wife Margaret (née Feeney). Ainsworth was…...
Barrett, John (‘Jacky’)
Barrett, John (‘Jacky’) (1753–1821), eccentric scholar, was born in Ballyroan, Queen's Co. (Laois), son of the Rev. Daniel Barrett, Church of Ireland clergyman, and his wife Rossamund Gofton. Educated by a Mr Sheils in Dublin, he entered TCD…...
Bernard, James Francis
Bernard, James Francis (1850–1924), 4th earl of Bandon, landowner and kidnapping victim, was born 12 September 1850, the son of Francis Bernard (b. 1810), 3rd earl of Bandon, and Catherine Mary (née Whitmore), daughter of Thomas Whitmore, of Apley Park, Shropshire. The Bernard family…...
Brady, Joe
Brady, Joe (c. 1857–1883), Fenian and assassin, was born in Dublin, second of twenty sons and five daughters of Thomas Brady, a paviour of forty years standing with Dublin corporation. After serving an apprenticeship with Dublin corporation, Joe was employed by the corporation…...
Brenan, John
Brenan, John (1768–1830), physician and satirist, was born March 1768, eldest of six children of a minor landed catholic family from Ballaghide, Co. Carlow. The details of his early life are unknown. In 1793 he wrote epigrams and short verse for Dublin magazines. Claiming to have…...
Bulkeley, Sir Richard
Bulkeley, Sir Richard (1660–1710), politician and eccentric philanthropist, was born 17 August 1660 in Dublin. His great-grandfather was Archbishop Lancelot Bulkeley (qv), while his father, Richard Bulkeley (1634–85), MP for…...
Burke, William
Burke, William (1793?–1829), murderer, was born probably at Urney, near Strabane, Co. Tyrone, son of Neil Burke, labourer. Born into a catholic, Irish-speaking family, he received some education and was servant to a presbyterian minister for a time. When he tired of this he tried the…...
Colthurst, John Colthurst Bowen-
Colthurst, John Colthurst Bowen- (1880–1965), army officer and murderer, was born John Colthurst Bowen in Cork on 12 August 1880, eldest son of Robert Walter Travers Bowen JP (who changed the family name to Bowen-Colthurst in 1882 to meet the…...
Conefrey, Peter
Conefrey, Peter (1880–1939), catholic priest and social critic, was born 9 June 1880 in Mohill, Co. Leitrim, son of James Conefrey, publican, and his wife Mary McGivney. There were many priests on both sides of the family. His uncle, Fr Thomas Conefrey, parish priest of Drumlish,…...
Connolly, Patrick Joseph
Connolly, Patrick Joseph (1927–2016), barrister and attorney general of Ireland, was born 25 May 1927 at 70 Botanic Road, Glasnevin, Dublin. He was the elder of two sons born to Patrick Joseph Connolly, principal of Ballyboughal national school, and his wife Ellen (‘Nellie’; née O’Hara…...
Dobbs, Francis
Dobbs, Francis (1750–1811), Volunteer, author, and MP, was born 27 April 1750, second son among four sons and a daughter of the Rev. Richard Dobbs (c.1694–1775), rector (1743–75) of Lisburn cathedral, Co. Antrim, and his wife Mary (d. 1796), widow of Cornet McMannus, and…...
Fortune, Sean
Fortune, Sean (1953–99), catholic priest and paedophile, was born in Gorey, Co. Wexford, on 20 December 1953. He was educated in Gorey at the Loreto Convent and the Christian Brothers' School, and then became a member of the Christian Brothers' juniorate in Dún Laoghaire (1969–73). In…...
Freney, James
Freney, James (c.1719–1788), robber, was born in Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny, son of John Freney, bailiff, and Alice Freney (née Phelan). John Freney was taken into the employment of Joseph Robbins at Ballyduff near Thomastown at the age of 10, was apprenticed as a gardener,…...
Gahagan, Usher
Gahagan, Usher (d. 1749), classical scholar and criminal, was perhaps from Co. Westmeath and may have been educated at TCD, though he did not take a degree. He converted to catholicism, much to the consternation of his family, who…...
Gallagher, Patrick
Gallagher, Patrick (1951–2006), businessman, was born on 8 May 1951 in Holles Street hospital, Dublin, the second son of Matt Gallagher, businessman, and his wife Helena Patricia (née Sheeran). He was raised from 1957 in palatial surrounds at Hollywood Rath, Mulhuddart, Co. Dublin. The…...
Halloran (O'Halloran), Laurence Hynes
Halloran (O'Halloran), Laurence Hynes (1765–1831), schoolmaster, clergyman, writer, and forger, was born 29 December 1765 in Co. Meath. Orphaned while still a young child, he was raised by his uncle, Judge William Gregory, before attending Westminster School. In 1785 he opened a…...
Hare, William
This is a co-subject for the entry on Burke, William. View the original entry....
Hodnett, George Desmond ('Hoddy')
Hodnett, George Desmond ('Hoddy') (1918–90), musician, journalist and bohemian, was born 25 February 1918 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, son of George Pope Hodnett (1890–1982), soldier, and Lauré Hodnett (née Faschnacht), a native of Switzerland; he had at least one sibling, a brother…...
MacNaghten, John
MacNaghten, John (1722–61), murderer, was born in 1722, probably in Benvarden, Co. Antrim, elder of two sons of Bartholomew MacNaghten, landowner in Co. Antrim and merchant in Derry city, and his wife Mary (née MacManus); he also had a sister. When John was about six, his father…...
McAuley, Jeremiah (‘Jerry’)
McAuley, Jeremiah (‘Jerry’) (c.1839–84), reformed criminal and missionary, was born in Ireland, the abandoned son of a counterfeiter. Raised by his grandmother as a Roman Catholic, he did not attend school and at the age of 13 was sent to America to live with his sister…...
O'Donnell, Charles James O'Cahan
O'Donnell, Charles James O'Cahan (1850–1934), civil servant, politician, and controversialist, was probably born 28 May 1850 at Port Louis, Mauritius, youngest son of Capt. Bernard MacDonald of the Northumberland Fusiliers, from Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, and Mary MacDonald (née…...
Sadleir, John
Sadleir, John (1813–56), banker, politician, speculator, and swindler, was born 17 November 1813 at Shronell House in the parish of Shronell near Tipperary town, fifth of seven children born to Clement William Sadleir, a protestant farmer and middleman, whose earliest known…...
Sheehy, Edmund
Sheehy, Edmund (1733–66), farmer executed for murder, of Lodge (parish of Ardfinnan, Co. Tipperary), was the son of Ellin Fitzpatrick. He was otherwise known as ‘Buck’ Sheehy, a term indicative of semi-gentleman status, as he had an income of £300 or £400 a year, and was a person…...
Smyth, Brendan
Smyth, Brendan (1927–97), catholic priest and paedophile, was born John Gerard Smyth in Nansen Street, off the Falls Road, west Belfast, on 6 June 1927. He was educated at Barracks Street CBS, Belfast. In 1945 he joined the Norbertine…...
Taylor, William Desmond
Taylor, William Desmond (1872–1922), silent film director and celebrity murder victim, was born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner at Straw Hill House, Carlow town, Co. Carlow, on 26 April 1872, second child and oldest son among two daughters and three sons (one of whom died in infancy) of…...