Smith, John Shaw
Smith, John Shaw (1811–73), pioneer photographer, was born 18 October 1811 in Co. Cork, fifth of eight sons of John Smith and Mary Richardson, who had an estate of several hundred acres at Clonmult, Co. Cork. In 1839 John Shaw Smith married his cousin, Mary Louisa Richardson. They…...
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…...
Southern, Rowland
Southern, Rowland (1882–1935), marine zoologist, was born 9 May 1882 in Lancashire. He trained in chemistry at the Ramsay Laboratory, Bolton, and in 1902 obtained a position in the laboratory of the Dublin city analyst, Sir …...
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…...
Spratt, James
Spratt, James (1771–1853), seaman and inventor, was born 3 May 1771 at Harold's Cross, Dublin, son of James Spratt of Ballybeg, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. His family was descended from the Rev. Devereux Spratt (d. 1688) of Mitchelstown. He initially served in the merchant navy, and…...
Stafford, James Joseph snr
Stafford, James Joseph snr (1860–1947), merchant and ship owner, was born in Wexford town, eldest son among two sons and four daughters of Patrick Stafford of Wexford, merchant, and Elizabeth Stafford (née Cullenmore) of Yoletown, Co. Wexford. He was educated (1867–78) at the…...
Stephens, William Lawson (‘Billie’)
Stephens, William Lawson (‘Billie’) (1911–97), naval officer, was born 9 August 1911 in Belfast, son of Edward Rowley Stephens, shipping agent and timber merchant, of Kinnegar, Holywood, and Lilian Stephens (née Dash). Educated locally, he later attended Shrewsbury School before…...
Stoker, Henry Hugh (or Hew) Gordon Dacre (‘Harry’)
Stoker, Henry Hugh (or Hew) Gordon Dacre (‘Harry’) (1885–1966), naval officer and actor, was born 2 February 1885 in York St., Dublin, second son of William Stoker, surgeon and FRCSI, and Jeannie Stoker (née…...
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…...
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…...
Tenison, Edward King
Tenison, Edward King (1805–78), pioneer photographer, landed gentleman, and MP, was born 21 January 1805, second son of Col. Thomas Tenison of Castle Tenison (later Kilronan Castle), Co. Roscommon, MP for Boyle 1792, and Lady Frances Anne King, daughter of Edward, 1st earl of…...
Thompson, Samuel (Sam)
Thompson, Samuel (Sam) (1916–65), playwright and shipyard worker, was born 21 May 1916 at 2 Montrose Street, Ballymacarrett, Belfast, one of the eight children of Hugh Thompson, lamplighter and part-time sexton of the Church of Ireland St Clement's church, and his wife, Margaret, née…...
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…...
Tuckey, James Hingston
Tuckey, James Hingston (1771–1816), naval officer and explorer, was born at Greenhill, near Mallow, Co. Cork, son of the Reverend Thomas Tuckey (1708–72), rector of Litter and Marshallstown, and his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of the Reverend James Hingston, prebendary of…...
Tyrrell, John (‘Jack’)
Tyrrell, John (‘Jack’) (1905–88), naval architect, was born 16 June 1905 in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, son of Michael Tyrrell (qv), shipbuilder, and Mary Tyrrell (neé Abraham). Since at latest the 1770s, generations of Tyrrells had owned,…...
Tyrrell, Michael
Tyrrell, Michael (1869–1948), shipbuilder, was born 6 January 1869 at Arklow, Co. Wicklow, son of John Tyrrell, shipbuilder and founder (1864) of John Tyrrell & Sons Ltd, and Dorah Tyrrell (neé Murray). Since at least the 1770s the Tyrrell family had designed, built, owned, or…...
Vereker, Charles
Vereker, Charles (1768–1842), 2nd Viscount Gort , naval and militia officer, and MP, was the second son of Thomas Vereker of Roxborough, Limerick, and his wife Juliana, sister of John Prendergast Smyth, 1st Viscount Gort. His Vereker ancestry was Flemish but the family was long…...
Wafer, Lionel
Wafer, Lionel (d. 1705), surgeon, buccaneer, topographer, and ethnographer, was probably born in Ireland or to an Irish catholic family abroad. In A new voyage & description of the isthmus of America (1699), the work on which his reputation rests, he states: in my…...
Warren, Sir Peter
Warren, Sir Peter (1703–52), admiral in the British navy, was born 10 March 1703 at Warrenstown, Co. Meath, third son among three sons and two daughters of Michael Warren, Roman catholic landowner, and Catherine Warren (née Aylmer). Educated locally, he entered the Royal Navy in…...
Webb, David Allardice
Webb, David Allardice (1912–94), botanist and marine biologist, was born 12 August 1912 in Dublin, only son of George Randolph Webb (d. 1929), mathematician, philosopher, and fellow of TCD, and his wife Ella (née Ovenden) (…...
Welch, Robert John
Welch, Robert John (1859–1936), photographer, was born 22 July 1859 in or near Strabane, Co. Tyrone, second of six children and second of the three sons of David Welch and Martha Welch (née Graham), daughter of a local shoemaker, who was aged 17 at the time of her marriage in 1857.…...
West, John
West, John (1812–87), chartist and textile worker, was born 20 February 1812 in Dublin. His father died when he was a child and he was taken by his mother to live in Manchester; no other details of his family are known. He started work as an adolescent in the textile trade, and…...
Winder, Frank (Francis Gerard Augustine)
Winder, Frank (Francis Gerard Augustine) (1928–2007), biochemist, naturalist and mountaineer, was born 14 April 1928 in Dublin, one of four sons of Percy Winder (d. 1950), secretary of the Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Society and a freeman of the city of Dublin, and his second…...
Wright, George Newenham
Wright, George Newenham (1794?–1877), clergyman, schoolmaster, topographical writer and biographer, was born in London probably in 1793 or 1794. He was the youngest of the four sons of Thomas Wright (qv), a surgeon of Great Ship St.,…...