Sheehan, Daniel Desmond (‘D. D.’)
Sheehan, Daniel Desmond (‘D. D.’) (1873–1948), journalist, labour leader, MP, barrister, and soldier, was born 28 May 1873 at Dromtariffe, Kanturk, Co. Cork, the eldest of the three sons and one daughter of Daniel Sheehan, tenant farmer, and his wife, Ellen (née Fitzgerald). He…...
Skeffington, Clotworthy
Skeffington, Clotworthy (1743–1805), 2nd earl of Massereene, eccentric, was born 28 January 1743, eldest son of Clotworthy Skeffington, 1st earl of Massereene (c.1713–1757) and his second wife, Anne (c.1715–1805), daughter of Henry Eyre of Row Tor, Derbyshire. At 14 he…...
Smillie, Robert (‘Bob’)
Smillie, Robert (‘Bob’) (1857–1940), trade unionist, socialist, and politician, was born 17 March 1857 in Belfast, younger of two sons of working-class parents of Scottish origin. Till early adulthood he styled the family name as ‘Smellie’. Orphaned at an early age, the brothers…...
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 …...
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…...
Spring, Daniel
Spring, Daniel (1910–88), politician, trade unionist, and sportsman, was born 22 July 1910 in Spa Rd, Tralee, Co. Kerry, fifth eldest among five sons and nine daughters of Arthur Spring, butcher, and Catherine Spring (née Commane). Educated at Strand St. national school, he worked…...
Stacey, William
Stacey, William (1926–81), trade unionist, was born 21 October 1926 at 59 Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin, the son of William Stacey, a labourer, and his wife Margaret (née McGauley). Growing up in East Wall, he attended St Laurence O'Toole's …...
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…...
Stewart, Alexander
Stewart, Alexander (1854–1926), trade unionist and political activist, was born in October 1854 in Glasgow, Scotland; no details of his parents are known. He appears to have been educated locally at what he described as ‘a private adventure school’ which was identified with the…...
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…...
Swift, (Laurence) John
Swift, (Laurence) John (1896–1990), trade unionist and labour historian, was born 26 August 1896 in Dundalk, Co. Louth, the eldest of two sons and two daughters of Patrick Swift, a master baker, and his wife Alice (née Deane), daughter of a Dundalk businessman. Known generally as…...
Tennant, Margaret Mary Edith (May) (née Abraham)
Tennant, Margaret Mary Edith (May) (née Abraham) (1869–1946), promoter of workers’ rights and public health, was born 5 April 1869 at Rathgar, Co. Dublin, the only daughter of Dr George Whitley Abraham, a lawyer in the civil service, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Cornelius Curtain…...
Tobin, Daniel Joseph
Tobin, Daniel Joseph (1872–1955), trade union leader, was born 2 April 1872 in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, son of John Tobin, shopkeeper, and Bridget Tobin (née Kennelly). He attended national school locally before emigrating with a brother to the United States, settling in Cambridge…...
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…...
Tully, James
Tully, James (1915–92), politician and trade unionist, was born 18 September 1915 in Carlanstown, Kells, Co. Meath, second youngest among ten children of John Tully, cattle-herd, and Ann Tully (née Flood). He was educated at Carlanstown national school and St Patrick's Classical School…...
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…...
Walker, William
Walker, William (1871–1918), socialist and trade unionist, was born 9 January 1871 at 35 McCluny St., Belfast, son of Francis Walker, shipyard boilermaker and latterly trade-union official, and Sarah Walker (née McLaughlin). After attending St George's national school, he was…...
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) (…...
Wright, James Lendrew
Wright, James Lendrew (1816–93), USA labour leader, was born 6 April 1816 to a protestant family in Co. Tyrone, of whom nothing else is known except that the family emigrated first to St John, in the British colony of New Brunswick, and thence to the US, settling in Philadelphia in…...