Abell, Abraham
Abell, Abraham (1783–1851), antiquary and public figure at Cork, was born 11 April 1783 in Pope's Quay, Cork, son of Richard Abell, a quaker merchant. Abraham Abell too was a merchant, but he is to be remembered for his prominence in voluntary bodies, both cultural and…...
Arbuckle, James
Arbuckle, James (d. 1742), poet and essayist, came from Belfast. His parentage is unknown, but he may have been a nephew of the merchant James Arbuckle (d. March 1736), who was a lay elder in the Second Presbyterian congregation. His date of birth cannot be reliably determined,…...
Arthur, William
Arthur, William (1819–1901), methodist minister and author, was born 3 February 1819, probably in Kells, Co. Antrim, son of James Arthur and Margaret Arthur (née Kennedy), and spent his childhood in Westport, Co. Mayo. Though brought up an episcopalian, he attended (1837–9)…...
Beaty, James
Beaty, James (1798–1892), politician and newspaper proprietor in Canada, was born near Killeshandra, Co. Cavan, in 1798, possibly on 2 September. He was the youngest of five sons of Robert Beaty, land surveyor, and Catherine Beaty (née Crawford); his father was of a fairly…...
Belrieu, Jacques de
Belrieu, Jacques de (c.1630–1719), Seigneur de St Laurans, Baron de Virazel , huguenot colonist, was born at Bordeaux, France, and married (1651) Marie de Gaumont, with whom he had at least three children: Daniel, Charles, and Marie Ann. Virazel became a lawyer and…...
Bewley, Henry Theodore
Bewley, Henry Theodore (1860–1945), physician and lecturer, was born 25 June 1860 at Willow Park, Booterstown, Co. Dublin, into a leading quaker family, only surviving son of Henry Bewley (qv), businessman, and Anne Bewley (née Pike). He…...
Binns, John
Binns, John (1772–1860), radical politician and journalist, was born 22 December 1772 in Dublin, second son of John Binns, a wealthy ironmonger, and his wife Mary, daughter of Benjamin Pemberton of Mount Olive, near Raheny, Co. Dublin. The Binnses were Moravians in religion and…...
Bladen, William
Bladen, William (c.1585–1663), printer and bookseller, was born in England, son of Thomas Bladen, yeoman of Derbyshire; nothing is known of his mother. In 1602 he became an apprentice in the London Stationers’ company, being freed on 7 May 1610. Thereafter he worked in…...
Blanshard, Paul
Blanshard, Paul (1892–1980), journalist and author, was born 27 August 1892 at Fredericksburg, Ohio, USA, one of twin sons of Francis George Blanshard, a congregational clergyman, and his wife Emily (née Coulter), both of whom had been born in Canada. His maternal grandfather came…...
Boyce, James
Boyce, James (1909–66), actor and broadcaster, was born on 17 March 1909 in Belfast, the oldest of three sons of Hugh Boyce, a coachbuilder, and his wife Ellen (née Hayes), a dressmaker before marriage. The family, who were Christian Brethren in religion, lived in Rosebury Road, Ormeau…...
Boyd, John
Boyd, John (1912–2002), radio producer and playwright, was born 19 July 1912 at 9 Baskin Street, in a working-class area of east Belfast, the first of three children (two boys and a girl) of Robert Boyd, a fireman on steam engines and later an engine driver, and Jane Boyd (née Leeman).…...
Brooke, Stopford Augustus
Brooke, Stopford Augustus (1832–1916), clergyman and author, was born 14 November 1832 at ‘Glendoen’, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, eldest of eight children of the Rev. Richard Sinclair Brooke, the local curate, and Anna Brooke (née Stopford). When his maternal grandfather and…...
Carnduff, Thomas
Carnduff, Thomas (1886–1956), writer, was born 30 January 1886 in Sandy Row, Belfast, youngest among six children of James Graham Carnduff (1842?–1900), an invalided army schoolteacher, and his second wife Jane (née Bollard; d. 1891). The family were poor, and living on their father…...
Clotworthy, Pauline (Cecily Elizabeth)
Clotworthy, Pauline (Cecily Elizabeth) (née Keohler , later Keller ) (1912–2004), teacher of fashion design, was born 17 May 1912 in Dublin. She was the daughter of Robert Nesbitt Keohler, a solicitor, and his second wife, Ethel M. Keohler (née Thompson), the daughter of William…...
Coghill, Rhoda Sinclair
Coghill, Rhoda Sinclair (1903–2000), pianist, composer, and poet, was born 14 October 1903 in Dublin, the youngest of eight children of Alexander Sinclair Coghill, printing manager, from Thurso, Scotland, and his wife, Rhoda Ann Sinclair (née Baily). Coghill attended Alexandra…...
Cole, John Morrison
Cole, John Morrison (1927–2013), journalist and broadcaster, was born into a working-class presbyterian family on 23 November 1927 in Whitewell Road, Belfast, the son of George Cole, a small electrical contractor of Whitewell Road, and his wife Alice (née Morrison). Growing up in…...
Cole, Sir William
Cole, Sir William (1571?–1653), English soldier and planter, was the only son of Emmanuel Cole, third son of Thomas Cole of London, and appears to have been raised in Devonshire. He may have studied at Cambridge, graduating BA and…...
Conway, Anne
Conway, Anne (1631–79), Viscountess Conway , woman of learning, was born in London, youngest child of Heneage Finch (1580–1631) and his second wife, Elizabeth Cradock (d. 1655). Elizabeth, from Staffordshire, brought both sturdy independence and wealth into her second marriage,…...
De Blacam, Aodh (Hugh Saunders Blackham, Aodh Sandrach de Blacam)
De Blacam, Aodh (Hugh Saunders Blackham, Aodh Sandrach de Blacam) (1891–1951), journalist and politician, was born Hugh Saunders Blackham in London on 11 December 1891, son of William George Blackham, a Newry-born apothecary, and his English wife Elizabeth (née Saunders). He was…...
Firth, Virginia Arabella ('Gay')
Firth, Virginia Arabella ('Gay') (1937–2005), author, journalist and political campaigner, was born in Belfast on 9 January 1937, the eldest of three daughters of Lancelot Turtle, a Belfast businessman and stockbroker, and Helen Ramsey Turtle (1911–46), born in Denver, Colorado,…...
Foster, (Frederic) Gordon
Foster, (Frederic) Gordon (1921–2010) statistician and informatics pioneer, was born on 24 February 1921 in Belfast, one of three children of Robert Foster, motor garage manager, and his wife Florence Evelynn (née Magee). The family were then living on Eglantine Avenue, Lisburn Road.…...
Gageby, (Robert John) Douglas
Gageby, (Robert John) Douglas (1918–2004), newspaper editor, was born 29 September 1918 in Ranelagh, Dublin, only son of Thomas Robert Gageby, civil servant, and his wife Ethel (née Smith), a former national school teacher; an elder sister died of meningitis aged five in 1921. Gageby's…...
Godkin, James
Godkin, James (1806–79), Congregational minister, writer, and journalist, was born at Gorey, Co. Wexford, possibly to William and Hester Godkin, whose sons Edward and William were baptised in Christ Church (Church of Ireland), Gorey, in 1809 and 1812. His family was comfortably…...
Hennig, Paul Gottfried Johannes (John)
Hennig, Paul Gottfried Johannes (John) (1911–86), scholar and businessman, was born 3 March 1911 in Leipzig, Germany, fourth of five children of Fürchtegott Max Hennig, protestant theologian and teacher, and his wife Berta Johanna (neé Clemen) who was from a family of distinguished…...
Henry, Robert Mitchell
Henry, Robert Mitchell (1873–1950), classicist and university administrator, was born 11 February 1873 in Belfast, son of Robert Mitchell Henry (1824–91), who was himself son of a Reformed Presbyterian minister, William Henry (1789–1852). Robert M. Henry sen., having started his…...