Bailey, Mary (‘Lady Bailey’) (née Westenra)
Bailey, Mary (‘Lady Bailey’) (née Westenra) (1890–1960), aviator, was born on 1 December 1890 at 30 Grosvenor Square, London, to Derrick (Derry) Warner William Westenra (1853–1921), the fifth Baron Rossmore, and his wife Mittie (née Naylor) (d. 1953), the daughter of a wealthy English…...
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…...
Blackwood, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-
Blackwood, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple- (1826–1902), 1st marquess of Dufferin and Ava , diplomat and writer, was born in Florence on 21 June 1826, the only child of Price Blackwood, 4th Baron Dufferin and Clandeboye (in the Irish peerage), and his wife,…...
Booth, Sir Henry William Gore-
Booth, Sir Henry William Gore- (1843–1900), 5th baronet, landlord, and Arctic explorer, was born at Lissadell House, Co. Sligo, second son among two sons and three daughters of Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th baronet, landlord, and MP for Sligo, and his second wife, Caroline Susan (née…...
Bryans, Robert Harbinson ('Robin Harbinson'; 'Robert Harbinson')
Bryans, Robert Harbinson ('Robin Harbinson'; 'Robert Harbinson') (1928–2005), memoirist and travel writer, was born on the Newtownards Road, Belfast, on 24 April 1928, third child and only son of Robert Bryans, musician and window cleaner, and his wife Georgina (née Campbell), known as…...
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…...
Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox-
Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox- (1941–2011), traveller and writer, was born on 22 February 1941 in Ceylon (latterly, Sri Lanka). Her father, Gerald Hamilton Lenox-Conyngham, a tea planter in Wattegoda, in the south of the island, was descended from an Ulster ascendancy family and…...
Godley, John Raymond
Godley, John Raymond (1920–2005), 3rd Baron Kilbracken of Killegar , pilot, journalist, traveller, landowner and environmentalist, was born 17 October 1920 in Chester Street, Belgravia, London, England, the eldest of two sons (Wynne being the younger) and a daughter (Kathleen) of…...
Graves, Alfred Perceval
Graves, Alfred Perceval (1846–1931), writer, folklorist, and schools inspector, was born 22 July 1846 at 12 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, the second son of nine children of Charles Graves (qv), clergyman and mathematician, and Selina…...
Gwynn, Arthur Montagu
Gwynn, Arthur Montagu (1908–2008), medical doctor, naturalist, explorer and editor, was born 5 August 1908 in the family home, St Dymphna's, Clontarf, Dublin, second eldest of three sons and two daughters of Edward John Gwynn (qv),…...
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…...
Hammond, David Andrew ('Davy')
Hammond, David Andrew ('Davy') (1928–2008), singer, folklorist, television producer and documentary maker, was born on 5 December 1928 in Miss Kells's nursing home on the Castlereagh Road in Belfast, the son of Leslie Hammond, a tram driver, and his wife Annie (née Lamont). His parents…...
Heath, (Sophie) Mary (‘Lady Heath’) (née Peirce-Evans; other married name Eliott-Lynn)
Heath, (Sophie) Mary (‘Lady Heath’) (née Peirce-Evans; other married name Eliott-Lynn) (1896–1939), athlete and aviator, was born Sophie Catherine Theresa Mary Peirce-Evans on 17 November 1896 in Knockaderry, Co. Limerick, the only child of Jackie Peirce-Evans and his wife and former…...
Hudson, Henry
Hudson, Henry (1798–1889), collector of traditional music, was born 23 March 1798, probably in Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, third son of Edward Hudson and Frances Hudson (née Barton). Family tradition states that he was given the middle name ‘Philerin’ (‘love of Ireland’), which suggests…...
Kavanagh, Lady Harriet Margaret
Kavanagh, Lady Harriet Margaret (1800–85), artist, traveller, and antiquarian, was second daughter among three sons and four daughters of Richard Le Poer Trench (qv), later 2nd earl of Clancarty, and Henrietta Margaret Le Poer Trench…...
Leared, Arthur
Leared, Arthur (1822–79), physician and traveller, was born in Wexford, son of Richard Leared, merchant. He graduated BA (1845), MB (1847), and MD (1860) from…...
Le Blond, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’) Alice Frances (née Hawkins-Whitshed; other married names Burnaby, Main)
Le Blond, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’) Alice Frances (née Hawkins-Whitshed; other married names Burnaby, Main) (1860–1934), mountaineer, author and photographer, was born 26 June 1860 in Dublin, the only child of Sir St Vincent Bentinck Hawkins-Whitshed, 3rd (and last) baronet of Killincarrick…...
Longfield, Cynthia Evelyn
Longfield, Cynthia Evelyn (1896–1991), entomologist and traveller, was born 16 August 1896 at 20 Pont St., Belgravia, London, youngest of three daughters of Lt-col. Mountifort John Courtenay Longfield and his wife Alice Elizabeth (née Mason) of Castle Mary, Cloyne, Co. Cork, the…...
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…...
McClintock, Sir Francis Leopold
McClintock, Sir Francis Leopold (1819–1907), Royal Naval officer and Arctic explorer, was born 8 July 1819 at 1 Seatown Place, Dundalk, Co. Louth, eldest surviving son of Henry McClintock, collector of customs in Dundalk and formerly an officer in the 3rd Dragoon Guards, and his…...
McGrath, William
McGrath, William (1916–91), loyalist and paedophile, was born 11 December 1916 in Belfast, son of Abraham McGrath and Jane McGrath (née Warrington). McGrath came from a methodist background; in later years he worked with presbyterian and Free Presbyterian churches while operating as a…...
Megaw, Basil
Megaw, Basil (1913–2002), archaeologist and folklife scholar, was born in Belfast on 22 June 1913, the third of four sons of Arthur Stanley Megaw, solicitor and writer, and his wife (Helen Isabel) Bertha (née Smith). Arthur Stanley Megaw (1873–1961) was a younger son of Robert Megaw…...
Moryson, Fynes
Moryson, Fynes (1566–1630), secretary to Lord Mountjoy and writer on Ireland, was third surviving son of Thomas Moryson (d. 1591), of Cadeby, Lincolnshire, England, clerk of the pipe and MP (for Great Grimsby in the parliaments of 1572, 1584, 1586, and 1588–9), and his wife…...
Nicholson, Asenath
Nicholson, Asenath (1792–1855), traveller and social reformer, was born 24 February 1792, youngest child and only daughter among three children of Michael Hatch (c.1747–1830), farmer, and his wife, Martha (maiden name unknown; 1745–1837), in Chelsea, Vermont, USA. Educated at…...