Murphy, James Cavanah (Cavanagh)
Murphy, James Cavanah (Cavanagh) (c.1760–1814), artist, topographer, and architect, was a native of Blackrock, Co. Cork. He is known as ‘James Murphy architect’ in his published works and it is not clear when ‘Cavanah/Cavanagh’ was inserted into his name. His parentage is…...
Nelson, Brian
Nelson, Brian (1947–2003), loyalist paramilitary and undercover agent, was born 30 September 1947 in Belfast, one of six children of Adam Nelson, shipyard worker, and his wife Maisie. His parents lived on Crosby Street in the Shankill Road area of west Belfast. The family had catholic…...
Neville, Parke
Neville, Parke (1812–86), civil engineer, architect, and land surveyor, was born in Dublin, son of Arthur Neville, engineer and surveyor; his mother's name is not known. The Neville family had been associated with engineering and surveying in Ireland for at least four generations. His…...
Osborne, Richard Boyse
Osborne, Richard Boyse (1815–1900), civil engineer and urban planner, was born 3 November 1815 in London, eldest son of Richard Boyse Osborne of Graige, Bannow, Co. Wexford, and his wife Lucinda, daughter of John Humphrey (or Humfrey) of Killerig, Co. Carlow. Childhood details are…...
Outlaw, William
This is a co-subject for the entry on Kyteler (Kettle, Keyetler), Dame Alice. View the original entry....
Payne, Davy (Hugh David)
Payne, Davy (Hugh David) (1948?–2003), loyalist paramilitary, was born in Belfast, where he was brought up in the Woodvale area of the Shankill Road. He was involved in loyalist activism from his teens (although he later falsely claimed to have been radicalised by IRA bombings in the…...
Pearce, Sir Edward Lovett
Pearce, Sir Edward Lovett (d. 1733), architect and surveyor, was probably born in the late 1690s. His father was Major-general Edward Pearce (d. 1715) of Witlingham, Norfolk, and Dublin, who was a brother of Major-general Thomas Pearce (d. 1739), and a first cousin of Sir John…...
Power, Robert
Power, Robert (1794–1869), army officer and surveyor general of Van Diemen's Land, was born at Knockbrit, near Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, second son of Edmund Power, merchant, JP, and editor of the unsuccessful Clonmel Gazette, and…...
Rocque, John (Jean)
Rocque, John (Jean) (c.1704–1762), cartographer, surveyor, and landscape designer, was born in France into a huguenot family of four children. After spending some time in Geneva, Rocque arrived in England (c.1709). His earliest published works, consisting mainly…...
Ryan, Luke
Ryan, Luke (1750–89), privateer and smuggler, was born on 14 February 1750 in Rush, Co. Dublin, the son of Michael Ryan, a farmer of Kenure, near Rush, and his wife Mary (née Taylor). As a child he attended the country school at Hackettstown, near Skerries, Co. Dublin. In 1762 he…...
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…...
Seward, William Wenman
Seward, William Wenman (d. 1805), attorney and writer, may have been born in Dublin. Little is known of his family or early life. In May 1776 he was admitted as an exchequer attorney at King's Inns, Dublin, and from c.1782 he lived at Prussia St., conducting his legal…...
Shackleton, Francis Richard (‘Frank’)
Shackleton, Francis Richard (‘Frank’) (1876–1941), Dublin Herald of Arms (1905–7), was born 19 September 1876 at Kilkea House, Kilkea, Co. Kildare, second son of Henry Shackleton and Henrietta Letitia Sophia Shackleton (née Gavan). His elder brother was Sir…...
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…...
Sherrard, Thomas
Sherrard, Thomas (c.1750–1837), surveyor and planner, was born to parents whose names are not known, but he was related to a William and David Sherrard, merchants in Dublin, and possibly to Sherrards in Drogheda, Co. Louth. The family name is commoner in the north of…...
Smith, Charles
Smith, Charles (1715?–1762), apothecary, topographer, and writer, was born in Co. Waterford. Details of his life remain obscure, but he was educated in medicine and worked as an apothecary in Lismore (1739–44) and Dungarvan, Co. Waterford (1744–60). He is remembered as a pioneer of…...
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…...
Somerville, Henry Boyle Townshend
Somerville, Henry Boyle Townshend (1863–1936), naval officer, hydrographer, and author, was born 7 September 1863 on his family's historic estate at Drishane, Castletownshend, near Castle Haven, Co. Cork, third son of Lt.-col. Thomas Henry Somerville (later high sheriff of Cork) and his…...
Speed, John
Speed, John (1552–1629), historian and cartographer, was born in 1552 in Farndon, Cheshire. His father was also called John and was a member of the Merchant Taylors’ Company; his mother was Elizabeth Cheynye. He was brought up in his father's trade and in 1580 was himself admitted…...
Stokes, Gabriel
Stokes, Gabriel (1682–1768?), surveyor and mathematical-instrument maker, was baptised 23 April 1682 at St Nicholas Within, Dublin, son of John Stokes, tailor, of Back Lane, Dublin; nothing is known of his mother. Attending the Blue Coat (King's Hospital) School, he began his…...
Stotherd, Richard Hugh
Stotherd, Richard Hugh (1828–95), army officer and surveyor, was born 25 November 1828 at Augher Castle, Co. Tyrone, son of Lieut. (later Gen.) Richard John Stotherd (1796–1879) and his first wife, Elizabeth Sydney (d. 1853), daughter of Hugh Boyle of…...
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’)
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’) (1740/50–1807), executioner, is thought to have been born in Co. Kerry into a tenant farming family between 1740 and 1750. The location of her birth and names of her parents are not known, and available details of her life are largely anecdotal or…...
Taylor, Alexander
Taylor, Alexander (1746–1828), military engineer, surveyor, and cartographer, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland; his father may have been William Taylor, a surveyor at Fort George, near Inverness. Having first worked as a land surveyor in Scotland, Alexander joined the army in 1777 and…...
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…...
Tighe, William
Tighe, William (1766–1816), politician, topographer, and landowner, was born 5 May 1766, the eldest son of William Tighe (1738–82), landowner of Rossanagh, Co. Wicklow, and MP for Athboy, Co. Meath (1761–76), and his wife, Sarah (née Fownes) of Woodstock, Co. Kilkenny. William…...