Brownrigg, Thomas Marcus
Brownrigg, Thomas Marcus (1823–1901), police officer, and pioneer and experimental photographer, was born 8 June 1823 in Limerick, eldest son of Sir Henry John Brownrigg (1798–1873), inspector-general of constabulary (1858–65), and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Thomas…...
Broy, Eamon (‘Ned’)
Broy, Eamon (‘Ned’) (1887–1972), double agent and Garda commissioner, was born 22 December 1887 in Ballinure, Co. Kildare, the son of Patrick Broy, farmer, and his wife, Mary (née Barry). Educated locally, he joined the RIC on 2 August…...
Bruce, William
Bruce, William (1702–55), publisher and writer, was born in Killyleagh, Co. Down, the youngest of the three sons of the Rev. James Bruce (qv) (1660?–1730), and his wife, Margaret (née Trail), of Tullychin (d. 1706). He was educated at the…...
Bruce, William
Bruce, William (1757–1841), presbyterian minister and schoolmaster, was born in Dublin on 30 July 1757. He was the second son, in the family of seven, of Samuel Bruce (1722–67), presbyterian minister at Wood Street, Dublin, and his wife, Rose (1728–1806), daughter of Robert Rainey…...
Brugha, Máire MacSwiney
Brugha, Máire MacSwiney (1918–2012), teacher, author and charity worker, was born on 23 June 1918 in Cork to Terence MacSwiney (qv) and Muriel MacSwiney (qv) (née Murphy). From…...
Bruodin (MacBrody), Anthony
Bruodin (MacBrody), Anthony (d. 1680), Franciscan author and lecturer, was the son of Miler Bruodin, a landowner, and Margaret O'Mollony; he was a member of a bardic family of Ballyhogan, Co. Clare, who traditionally acted as chroniclers and genealogists to the O'Brien kings of…...
Bryant, Sophie
Bryant, Sophie (1850–1922), educationist, home ruler, Celticist, and suffragist, was born 15 February 1850 in Sandymount, Dublin, second daughter and third child of Sophia Willock (née Morris) of Dublin and Skreen Castle, and the Rev. William Alexander Willock (d. 1879 in London),…...
Bryce, James
Bryce, James (1806–77), geologist and teacher, was born 22 October 1806 at Killaig, near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, third son of James Bryce (qv) (1767–1857) and Catherine Bryce (née Annan). His father had recently been appointed…...
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…...
Bullen, Denis Brenan
Bullen, Denis Brenan (1802–66), surgeon and lecturer, probably born in Cork, was baptised 2 June 1802, second son (and second child) among three sons and five daughters of William Bullen, MD, and his wife Catherine Quindan. He was educated…...
Burchill, Eveline
Burchill, Eveline (1905–87), dance teacher, was born 20 November 1905 in Cork, one of three daughters and four children of James Orr Burchill, managing director of the Singer sewing-machine company, and Lucy Burchill (née Power). The family subsequently moved to Dublin, settling in…...
Burke, Frank (James Francis) (Feargus de Búrca)
Burke, Frank (James Francis) (Feargus de Búrca) (1895–1987), republican, teacher, and sportsman, was born 8 April 1895 at Carbury, Co. Kildare, son of Henry Joseph Burke, farmer, and Maria Burke (née Kelly). One of the first pupils enrolled at…...
Burke, James Dominic
Burke, James Dominic (1833–1904), Christian Brother and pioneer of technical education, was born in December 1833 in Limerick, eldest among five sons and two daughters of John Burke, cabinet-maker, and Mary Burke (née Ahern). He was educated at the…...
Burke, Patrick (Thomas; 'Tom')
Burke, Patrick (Thomas; 'Tom') (1923–2008), Carmelite priest, scientist and co-founder of the Young Scientist exhibition, was born Thomas Burke on 4 November 1923 in Dublin, one of five children (four boys and a girl) of Edmund Burke, and his wife Elizabeth (née Traynor), who later…...
Burrows (Dobbin), Rachel
Burrows (Dobbin), Rachel (1912–87), actress, broadcaster, and teacher, was born 29 April 1912 in Limerick, the daughter of Peter Dobbin, county surveyor for Co. Clare, and Kathleen (née Vance), his second wife. Reared in Kilkishen House, Co. Clare, she was educated at St Brandon's…...
Butler, Isaac
Butler, Isaac (1689/90?–1755), almanac maker, botanist, and antiquary, was by 1725 in business as a bookseller and publisher in Patrick Street, Dublin; he was a quarter-brother of the printers’ guild (1728–31). His first almanac was Advice from the stars (1725), which he…...
Butler, James Bayley
Butler, James Bayley (1884–1964), biologist and academic, was born 8 April 1884 at Secundrabad, India, only son among four children of Col. James William Butler and Henrietta Butler (née Bayley). His father had been an administrator in the East India Company. On his family's…...
Butler, Katherine
Butler, Katherine (1914–2000), Sister of Charity, teacher, and writer, was born 27 May 1914 in Dublin, first child of James Bayley Butler (qv), professor of biology in UCD, and…...
Butler, Rudolph Maximilian
Butler, Rudolph Maximilian (1872–1943), architect, professor, and editor, was born 30 September 1872 in Dublin, only son of John Butler (d. 1882), barrister, and Augusta Butler (née Brassart), a German from Schleswig-Holstein. He was educated in Dublin and (after the death of his…...
Butler, William Francis Thomas
Butler, William Francis Thomas (1869–1930), educationist and historian, was born 22 December 1869 at Canal St., Newry, Co. Down, eldest among three sons and three daughters of Thomas Butler, resident magistrate, and Annie Butler (née Barry). A leasing dispute had forced the Butler…...
Byers, Margaret
Byers, Margaret (1832–1912), educationist, suffragist, and philanthropist, was born 15 April 1832 in Windsor Hill, Rathfriland, Co. Down, fourth child and only daughter of Andrew Morrow , farmer and mill operator, and Margaret Morrow (née Herron). After the death (c.1840…...
Byrne (O'Byrne), Patrick James
Byrne (O'Byrne), Patrick James (1759–1819), president of Maynooth College, was born in Eglish, Co. Tyrone, one of at least three children of Art O'Byrne (1710–92), farmer, and Martha O'Byrne (née Kempson). He studied at the Irish College of Nantes, France, where, after gaining a…...
Byrne, Patrick
Byrne, Patrick (1740/41–1814), printer, bookseller, and United Irishman, had a flourishing business in Dublin, at 35 College Green (1779–85) and 108 Grafton Street (1785–99). Byrne's business was probably the largest of its kind in Ireland in the eighteenth century. One indication…...
Byrne, William (Aloysius)
Byrne, William (Aloysius) (1872–1933), poet (‘William Dara ’) and professor of English, was born 30 January 1872 in Rathangan, Co. Kildare. His father, Joseph, who became the principal teacher in the local national school, married Marcella Murray (October 1870) and William was the…...
Callan, Margaret (née Hughes) (Thornton MacMahon)
Callan, Margaret (née Hughes) (Thornton MacMahon) (c.1817–c.1883), writer, teacher, and nationalist, was born in Newry, Co. Down, the daughter of Phillip Hughes, a local flax buyer, and his wife, Susan Gavan, of Latnamard, Co. Monaghan, the aunt of…...