Dillon, Brian Francis (Father Matthew)
Dillon, Brian Francis (Father Matthew) (1905–79), Benedictine monk and headmaster, was born in Dublin on 13 March 1905, the fifth and youngest son of John Dillon (qv) and his wife, Elizabeth…...
Dill, Sir Samuel
Dill, Sir Samuel (1844–1924), classical scholar, historian, and educationalist, was born 26 March 1844 at Hillsborough, Co. Down, eldest son of the Rev. Marcus Dill, DD, presbyterian minister of Hillsborough, and Anna Dill (née Moreland). He…...
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…...
Dombrain, Sir James
Dombrain, Sir James (1793–1871), comptroller general of the Irish coastguard, was born in Canterbury, Kent, son of Abraham Dombrain. He was of French huguenot stock and it is believed that his family were descended from the D'Embron family of Rouen, Normandy. He joined the Royal…...
Donovan, Robert
Donovan, Robert (1862–1934), journalist and professor, was born 24 May 1862 in Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow, son of Thomas Donovan. (Some obituaries state he was an only son, but the Irish Independent says a brother was parish priest of Kill, Co. Kildare.) Educated at St…...
Dooge, James Clement Ignatius ('Jim')
Dooge, James Clement Ignatius ('Jim') (1922–2010), academic and politician, was born on 30 July 1922 in Grange Road West, Birkenhead, near Liverpool, the only son of Denis Dooge, marine engineer, and his wife Veronica (née Carroll). The Dooges were a family of engineers, most notably…...
Dougherty, Sir James Brown
Dougherty, Sir James Brown (1844–1934), presbyterian minister, academic, politician, and under-secretary for Ireland (1908–14), was born 13 November 1844 at Garvagh, Co. Londonderry, eldest of two sons of Archibald Dougherty, surgeon, and Matilda Dougherty (née Brown), both of…...
Dowden, Edward
Dowden, Edward (1843–1913), literary critic, academic, and unionist, was born 3 May 1843, second son of John Wheeler Dowden and Alicia Dowden (née Bennett); his elder brother was John Dowden (qv). He was educated privately at first,…...
Drelincourt, Mary
This is a co-subject for the entry on Drelincourt, Peter. View the original entry....
Dudley, Thomas (‘Bang Bang’)
Dudley, Thomas (‘Bang Bang’) (1906–81), eccentric, was born on 13 February 1906 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin. Raised in an orphanage in Cabra, he lived for much of his adult life on Mill Lane near The Coombe in the Liberties. Although he worked briefly as a kitchen porter in Rialto…...
Duffy, Louise Gavan
Duffy, Louise Gavan (1884–1969), educator, nationalist and Irish language enthusiast, was born 17 July 1884 in Cimiez, near Nice, the only daughter among four children of the marriage of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (qv), journalist and…...
Duncan, George Alexander
Duncan, George Alexander (1902–2006), economist, was born 15 May 1902 in the family home in Bridge Street, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the second son of Alexander Duncan, a physician and surgeon, and his wife Elizabeth (née Linn). He was educated at Ballymena Academy and Campbell College…...
Dunkin, William
Dunkin, William (1707?–65), poet and schoolmaster, was born in Dublin, son of Patrick Dunkin (d. 1719?), gentleman, who may have been briefly curate of Dromiskin, Co. Louth, before his early death. William's mother apparently also died young, but nothing else is known of her. In 1720…...
Eagar, Margaret Alexandra ('Margaretta')
Eagar, Margaret Alexandra ('Margaretta') (1863–1935), nursery nurse to the Russian imperial family, was born in Limerick on 12 August 1863. She was the fifth of eleven children born to Francis MacGillycuddy Eagar and his wife Frances Holden. From 1855–80, Francis Eagar was governor of…...
Edgeworth, Maria
Edgeworth, Maria (1768–1849), novelist, essayist, and educationist, was born at Black Bourton Manor, Oxfordshire, England, the estate of the Hungerford family; her maternal grandmother was a Hungerford heiress. Her date of birth is sometimes given as 1 January 1767. Edgeworth considered…...
Edgeworth, Richard Lovell
Edgeworth, Richard Lovell (1744–1817), landowner, inventor, and writer, was born 31 May 1744 in Bath, Somerset, second son and seventh among eight children of Richard Edgeworth, lawyer and landowner, and his wife Jane, daughter of Samuel Lovell, a Welsh judge. Of the children only…...
Elrington, Charles Richard
Elrington, Charles Richard (1787–1850), Church of Ireland clergyman and professor of divinity, was born 25 March 1787 in Dublin, the elder son (there were also several daughters) of Thomas Elrington (qv), provost of…...
Elrington, Thomas
Elrington, Thomas (1760–1835), provost of TCD and Church of Ireland bishop, was born 18 December 1760 near Dublin, only child of Richard Elrington and Catherine Elrington. Educated at TCD, he entered in 1775, becoming scholar in 1778.…...
English, Adeline (‘Ada’)
English, Adeline (‘Ada’) (1875–1944), doctor, academic, and nationalist, was born 10 January 1875 in Caherciveen, Co. Kerry, younger daughter of Patrick English, pharmaceutical chemist, and Nora English (née McCardle). She was reared in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, though her father may…...
Esposito, Michele
Esposito, Michele (1855–1929), musician and professor of piano at the RIAM, was born 29 September 1855 at Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples, in Italy. In 1865 he won a scholarship to the Naples Conservatory where he studied piano…...
Evans, Emyr Estyn
Evans, Emyr Estyn (1905–89), Ireland's first professor of geography, was born 29 May 1905, youngest of four sons and one daughter of the Rev. George Owen Evans, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Wales, and Elizabeth Evans (née Jones). Born in Shrewsbury, he spent his early…...
Farran, George Philip
Farran, George Philip (1876–1949), marine taxonomist and fisheries scientist, was born 21 November 1876 at Knocklyon House, Templeogue, Co. Dublin, eldest among two sons and two daughters of Edmond Chomley Farran, a man of private income, of Belcamp Park, Raheny, Co. Dublin, and…...
Farrell, Brian
Farrell, Brian (1929–2014) broadcaster and academic, was born Bernard Brendan Farrell on 9 January 1929 at 16 Lowe Street, Miles Platting, Manchester, England. He was the fourth of five children of Francis (Frank) Farrell, a railway porter from Glasgow (whose family were from Wicklow),…...
Feldman, Elaine
Feldman, Elaine (1916–2006), public figure and founder of a secondary school for the Jewish community, was born on 31 March 1916 at 19 Kenilworth Park, Harold's Cross, Dublin, the second child of Maurice Freeman and his wife Ada (née Price). Maurice Freeman had come to Ireland from…...
Finlay, Peter
This is a co-subject for the entry on Finlay, Thomas Aloysius. View the original entry....