Abercromby, Sir Ralph
Abercromby, Sir Ralph (1734–1801), soldier, was born at Menstrie, Clackmannan, Scotland, and baptised 26 October 1734, son of George Abercromby, lawyer and landowner, and Mary Abercromby (née Dundas). He studied law in Edinburgh and Leipzig before entering the British army at the…...
Adair, Sir William Thompson
Adair, Sir William Thompson (1850–1931), Royal Marine and UVF officer, was born 21 June 1850 (son of Gen. Sir Charles William Adair, KCB) and educated at Cheltenham College. He entered (1867) the…...
Adam (Adams), William Augustus
Adam (Adams), William Augustus (1865–1940), soldier, was born 27 May 1865 in Dublin, elder son among three children of the Rev. B. W. Adams, MRIA, author and rector of Santry, Co. Dublin, and his second wife Louisa Jane,…...
Águila, Don Juan del
Águila, Don Juan del (c.1541?–1603?), Spanish general, was born in Barracco in the province of Avila, Spain. He joined the army, serving in Flanders, in the Mediterranean fighting the Turks, and then in Flanders once more, rising to become a commander of a regiment.…...
Aherne, Eugene (John)
Aherne, Eugene (John) (d. 1806), radical and officer in the French army, was born at Lixnaw, Co. Kerry, probably in the 1760s. According to an informant of the Irish government identified only as ‘Jones’, Aherne studied in France at the Collège de Navarre before going to Scotland…...
Airey, Johanna (‘Josie’)
Airey, Johanna (‘Josie’) (1932–2002), legal-aid campaigner, was born 4 May 1932 at 154 Bandon Road, Cork city, one of two daughters and two sons of Michael Lynch , labourer, and Eileen Lynch (née Sullivan). Her parents both died early, leaving her in the care of her grandmother,…...
Aldworth, Sir Richard
Aldworth, Sir Richard (d. 1629), army officer, was second son of Richard Aldworth, verderer of Showwood forest, Oxfordshire. He served as a lieutenant in Ireland prior to 1603, was appointed provost-marshal of Munster for life (3 May 1610), with command of a troop of horse, and…...
Alen, Sir John
Alen, Sir John (d. 1561), lawyer and administrator, was the son of Warin Alen of Cotteshall, Norfolk, England, and cousin of his namesake John Alen (qv), archbishop of Dublin (1529–34) and a protégé of Cardinal Wolsey. He entered Gray…...
Alexander, (Conel) Hugh (O'Donel)
Alexander, (Conel) Hugh (O'Donel) (1909–74), chess master and code-breaker, was born 19 April 1909 in Cork, eldest child of Conel William Long Alexander (qv), professor of engineering at…...
Alexander, Sir Jerome
Alexander, Sir Jerome (1590–1670), judge and administrator, was born at Gressenhall, Norfolk, the eldest son of Jerome Alexander of Thorpland in Norfolk. Schooled at Aylsham, he entered Furnival's Inn on 1 July 1609, and also matriculated at Caius College, Cambridge, on 11…...
Allen, John
Allen, John (c.1780–1855), United Irishman and French army officer, was born in Dublin, son of Christopher Allen, dyer, of 44 Pimlico in the Liberties district, and in the early 1790s a member of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen. He went into the woollen-drapery trade…...
Alleyn, Sir James
Alleyn, Sir James (fl. 1425–57), landowner in Co. Meath, lawyer, and officeholder, appears in 1425 as a justice of the liberty of Ulster, with the title of knight. At or after the end of 1427 he and Sir Henry Fortescue (d. c.1460), chief justice of the king's bench…...
Anderson, Robert
This is a co-subject for the entry on Anderson, Sir Samuel Lee. View the original entry....
Anderson, Sir John D'Arcy
Anderson, Sir John D'Arcy (1908–1988), army officer, was born 23 September 1908 in Ballyhosset, Downpatrick, Co. Down, the only child of Major Reginald D'Arcy Anderson of Ballyhosset, Downpatrick, and his wife, Norah, daughter of Colonel Thomas Gracey of Blackheath, London. He won…...
Anderson, Sir Samuel Lee
Anderson, Sir Samuel Lee (1837–86), and Sir Robert (1841–1918), lawyers and secret-service administrators, were sons of Matthew Anderson of Londonderry, crown solicitor for Dublin. Samuel Lee, the elder, was named after an ancestor member of the apprentice boys of Derry in 1688;…...
Andrews, Sir James
Andrews, Sir James (1877–1951), lord chief justice of Northern Ireland, was born 3 January 1877 in Comber, Co. Down, third among five sons of Thomas Andrews of Comber, industrialist, and his wife Elizabeth, only daughter of James Alexander Pirrie of Clandeboye, Co. Down, and sister…...
Angulo, Gilbert de
Angulo, Gilbert de (d. 1213), lord of Morgallion and Anglo-Norman adventurer, belonged to a family of possible Flemish origin which had adopted its toponymic from Angle, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Gilbert and his brothers Philip and William were sons of Jocelin, baron of Navan, whose…...
Annesley, Francis
Annesley, Francis (1663–1750), barrister and politician, was born 14 October 1663, eldest son of the Hon. Francis Annesley (1628–a.1705) of Castlewellan, Co. Down, and his wife Deborah (d. 1672), daughter of Henry Jones (qv),…...
Anster, John Martin
Anster, John Martin (1793–1867), poet, translator of Goethe's Faust, and regius professor of civil law in Dublin University, was born 21 October 1793 in Charleville, Cork, son of John Anster, distiller, and Mary Ann Anster (née Hiffernan). The family was catholic, and…...
Archbold, John Frederick
Archbold, John Frederick (1785–1870), legal author, was second son of John Archbold of Boldbrook and Turvey, Co. Dublin. He entered Lincoln's Inn (1809) and became a barrister (1814). Unmarried, with no known interests other than the law, he became a prolific writer of treatises and…...
Archdale (Archdall), Mervyn
Archdale (Archdall), Mervyn (1763–1839), army officer and MP, was born 27 April 1763, eldest son among four sons and eight daughters of Col. Mervyn Archdall (1725–1813) of Castle Archdall, Co. Fermanagh, and Trillick, Co. Tyrone, and his wife the Hon. Mary (eldest daughter of…...
Archdale, Mervyn Edward
Archdale, Mervyn Edward (1812–95), army officer, politician, and landowner, was born 27 January 1812 in Dublin, the eldest of nine sons of Edward Archdall of Riversdale, Co. Fermanagh, and his wife Matilda, daughter of William Humphrys of Ballyhaise, Co. Cavan. Edward Archdall (1775…...
Archer, James
Archer, James (c.1632–c.1680), military engineer and architect, was born in Kilkenny. His early life remains obscure, but he was a royalist, left Ireland at some point, and entered the French service; he later claimed to have served six years as a…...
Archer, William (Liam) Aloysius
Archer, William (Liam) Aloysius (1892–1969), Irish Volunteer, army officer, and chief of staff, was born 18 June 1892 at 19 Aughrim St., Dublin, son of Edward Archer, post office telegraph inspector, and Susan Archer (née Matthews). Educated at St Peter's national school, Phibsborough,…...
Armstrong, Henry Bruce
Armstrong, Henry Bruce (1844–1943), politician and lawyer, was born 27 July 1844 at Hull House, Shoulden, Kent, England, second son of William Jones Wright Armstrong, JP, DL, and high sheriff of Co.…...