Blathmac
Blathmac (d. 825), son of Flann, prior or acting abbot of Iona, was guardian of the relics of Colum Cille (qv) during the absence of the abbot, Diarmait, and was murdered by the vikings. According to Walafrid Strabo's ‘Vita…...
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen (1840–1922), eccentric, traveller, and poet, was born 17 August 1840 at Petworth House, Sussex, second son of Francis Scawen Blunt of Crabbet House, Sussex, who was a grenadier guard, and his wife Mary Chandler of Surrey, daughter of a Church of England…...
Boisil
Boisil (d. c.660), abbot of Melrose, Roxburghshire, Scotland, was a successor of the Columban mission to Scotland and Northumbria. Bede (‘Historia ecclesiastica’, iv, 27) describes him as ‘a priest of great virtues, endowed with the spirit of prophecy’. He became the…...
Borumborad, Achmet (Joyce, Patrick)
Borumborad, Achmet (Joyce, Patrick) (fl. 1772–82), quack and fraud, was a promoter of Turkish baths in Dublin. He claimed to have been born in, and to have fled from, Constantinople (Istanbul). His actual origins are unknown, though he was probably born in Co. Kilkenny.…...
Bransfield, Edward
Bransfield, Edward (c.1785–1852), sailor and explorer, was born in Ballinacurra, Midleton, Co. Cork, about 1785; the date is calculated from his age at date of death, as recorded from his death certificate. He was the son of a sea captain who is thought to have been of…...
Brenan, John
Brenan, John (1768–1830), physician and satirist, was born March 1768, eldest of six children of a minor landed catholic family from Ballaghide, Co. Carlow. The details of his early life are unknown. In 1793 he wrote epigrams and short verse for Dublin magazines. Claiming to have…...
Brendan (Brénainn)
Brendan (Brénainn) of Birr (d. 565/73), saint in the Irish tradition, was the son of Neman. The historical facts concerning him are few, and nothing survives of his monastic foundation at Birr, Co. Offaly. He is said to have been educated at the great monastery of Bangor. According…...
Brendan (Brénainn)
Brendan (Brénainn) of Clonfert (d. 577/83), saint in the Irish tradition, monastic founder, and reputed voyager, is believed to have been born in the district around what is now Tralee, Co. Kerry, into a south-western branch of the Ciarraige: the Ciarraige Luachra, of whom he is the…...
Bricc (Briccín da Beccóg)
Bricc (Briccín da Beccóg) (fl. 7th cent.), associated with Túaim Drecain (Tomregan, Co. Cavan), was a descendant of Ailill Ólom (qv), ancestral figure of the Éoganachta of Munster, according to late genealogies. At the time of…...
Broccán (Brogan) Clóen
Broccán (Brogan) Clóen (‘squint[-eyed]’) (d. 650), abbot of Ros Tuirc in Ossory, was credited with the poem, ‘Ní car Brigit búadach bíth’, on the miracles of St Brigit (qv). According to its preface, Broccán's…...
Browning, Michael
Browning, Michael (d. 1689), captain of the Mountjoy, whose Christian name occurs in various forms, including Micah, Micaiah, Micaill, and Mihal, is said to have been a native of Derry city, although the family is not mentioned in the city's hearth-money rolls. He was a…...
Brown, William
Brown, William (1777–1857), merchant captain and first admiral-in-chief of the Argentine navy, was born 22 June 1777 in Foxford, Co. Mayo. (John De Courcy Ireland has suggested that Brown was the extramarital son of a Roman catholic woman from Foxford and George Browne (c.…...
Buite
Buite (d. 521) was the founder of the monastery of Mainistir Buite (Monasterboice, Co. Louth), and is a saint in the Irish tradition. The only biographical source is a late and imperfect Latin Life, according to which he was a a son of Brónach, a member of the Cianachta Breg of…...
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…...
Button, Sir Thomas
Button, Sir Thomas (d. 1634), naval officer, was the fourth son of Miles Button of Worlton, Glamorgan, thrice sheriff of that county, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Edward Lewis of Y Fan. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Walter Rice of Dynevor, Carmarthenshire, and may have…...
Cadoc
Cadoc (fl. c.497–570) of Llancarfan, one of the best known of the early Welsh saints and monastic founders, had many close links with Ireland. The sources for his life are late but contain some material of historical value. The earliest Lives are by Lifris, abbot of…...
Cadróe
Cadróe (d. 974 × 978), abbot, was born of noble family into an Irish community in Scotland, probably in the west or north-west. He received his first education from a teacher named Beanus or Béoán, and was subsequently educated at Armagh. He set out from Scotland on a pilgrimage…...
Caillín
Caillín (fl. late 6th/early 7th cent.), patron saint of Fenagh (Fidnacha Maige Réin), Co. Leitrim, has no published Life and the extant accounts of him, all late, are almost entirely imaginary. Yet the archaeological evidence for his foundation at Fenagh and his…...
Caimín
Caimín (d. 654), founder of the monastery of Inis Celtra on the island of Lough Derg, near Scariff, Co. Clare, is said to have been a half-brother to Guaire Aidni (qv) (d. 663), king of Connacht. Although his pedigree, which makes him…...
Caínchomrac
Cainnech
Cainnech (d. 600/03), son of Luigthech, founder and first abbot of Achad Bó in Osraige (Aghaboe, Co. Laois) and saint in the Irish tradition, probably belonged to the lineage of Corco Dalláin. There are marked difficulties, however, in relation to his ancestry, his early…...
Cairnech
Cairnech (fl. 5th/6th cent.), a saint reputedly of Welsh or Cornish origin and known outside Ireland as Carannog, was probably born in the region of Cardigan (Dyfed) in south-west Wales, but his travels brought him into contact with places in Ireland, Cornwall, and…...
Camelacus (Cáemlach?, Camulacus)
Camelacus (Cáemlach?, Camulacus) ( fl. 5th cent.), an almost unknown saint in the Irish tradition, is mentioned in the late seventh-century ‘Collectanea’ of Tírechán (qv) in the Book of Armagh (f. 11r a): ‘And crossing the River…...
Cameron, Robert Rupert Gibson
Cameron, Robert Rupert Gibson (1903–79), naval architect, was born 24 October 1903 at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, second of three children of Gibson Cameron, a baker, and his wife Jane, daughter of Henry Beattie, master mariner of Carrickfergus. He was educated at Carrickfergus model…...
Cammock (Camocke, Camock), George
Cammock (Camocke, Camock), George (c.1666–1722), sailor and Jacobite, was born in Co. Down, son of a Mr Camocke and Mary Arney. Little is known of his early life but he joined the Royal Navy in the mid 1680s, serving as a midshipman 1687–90. He served as first lieutenant of…...