Abraham, James Johnston
Abraham, James Johnston (1876–1963), surgeon and writer, was born 16 August 1876 in Kingsgate St., Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, son of William Abraham (1849–1933) of Co. Fermanagh, tea merchant, general supplier, JP, and methodist circuit…...
Bennis, Elizabeth (Eliza)
Bennis, Elizabeth (Eliza) (1725–1802), methodist activist and diarist, was probably born in Limerick, one of two surviving daughters of Isaac and Alice (née Mitchell) Patten . The Pattens were presbyterian, and Elizabeth had a conventionally pious upbringing and evidently received…...
Buchanan, George Henry Perrott
Buchanan, George Henry Perrott (1904–89), journalist and writer, was born 9 January 1904 in Kilwaughter, Co. Antrim, second child and younger of two sons and one daughter of the Rev. Charles Henry Leslie Buchanan (1863–1939) and Florence Buchanan (née Moore). He was educated at…...
Capper, Wilfrid Meredyth
Capper, Wilfrid Meredyth (1905–89), conservationist and creator of the Ulster Way, was born in Belfast on 12 July 1905, the second son of four children (two boys and two girls) of John Malcolmson Capper, a cotton yarn merchant, and Elizabeth Jane Capper (née Stewart); the family was…...
Coade, Thorold Francis
Coade, Thorold Francis (1896–1963), educational innovator and headmaster of Bryanston school, Dorset, was born 3 July 1896 at Glebe House, Syndenham Terrace, Brighton Rd, Rathgar, Dublin, only son of two children of the Rev. Charles Edward Coade, methodist minister, and Jessie…...
Crawford, William
Crawford, William (1843–1926), methodist minister and principal of Wesley College, was born 17 April 1843, son of William Crawford, a civil servant in Dublin Castle; no details of his mother are known. Educated at Wesleyan Connexional School (1850–59), he entered…...
Hewitt, John Harold
Hewitt, John Harold (1907–87), poet, was born 28 October 1907 at 96 Clifton Park Avenue, Belfast, the younger of two children (his sister, Eileen, was born 20 February 1902) of Robert Telford Hewitt, schoolmaster, and Elinor Hewitt (née Robinson). Both of his paternal grandparents had…...
Keohler (Keller), Thomas Goodwin
Keohler (Keller), Thomas Goodwin (1873–1942), writer, company secretary and long-time friend of James Joyce (qv), was born in Belfast on 19 June 1873 to Joshua William Keohler, a methodist who was in the flour business, and…...
Knowles, James Sheridan
Knowles, James Sheridan (1784–1862), playwright, actor, and teacher, was born 12 May 1784 in Anne Street, Cork, the son of schoolteacher and lexicographer James Knowles (qv), a first cousin of…...
McDougall, Margaret Moran
McDougall, Margaret Moran (1826–99), author and journalist, was born 25 December 1826, according to family records (though her obituary said 25 December 1828), probably in Co. Antrim. Her father, J. Moran (or William Henry) Dixon , tailor, died in Galgorm, Co. Antrim, when…...
McGregor, John James
McGregor, John James (c.1773–1834), historian and topographer, was born 24 February c.1773 in Limerick city, the seventh son and youngest of seventeen children (many of whom did not survive to adulthood) of John McGregor (d. 1796), native of Scotland, probably by…...
Norcott, William
Norcott, William (1773?–1820), barrister, satirist, and bon vivant, was eldest son of William Norcott of Charleville, Co. Cork, and Mary Norcott (née Knight). He entered TCD in July 1790, graduating BA…...
Ó Glaisne, Risteárd
Ó Glaisne, Risteárd (1927–2003), teacher, ecumenist and journalist, was born 2 September 1927 in Bandon, Co. Cork, the third of four children of George William Giles and his wife Sara Jane (née Vickery). He attended Bandon Grammar School and Trinity College Dublin (TCD), graduating…...
Roddie, Ian Campbell
Roddie, Ian Campbell (1928–2011), physiologist and academic, was born on 1 December 1928 in Belfast, third of four sons of J. R. Wesley Roddie (d. 1953), a methodist minister, and his wife Mary Hill (née Wilson; d. 1973); the four brothers all entered the medical profession. Rev.…...
Sandford, Irene
Sandford, Irene (1937–2005), singer, was born in east Belfast on 11 January 1937, eldest child of Francis Sandford, who owned a hairdressing salon, and his wife Meta (née Nesbitt). She had two younger sisters and a younger brother. She attended Belmont and Strandtown primary schools…...
Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton
Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton (1903–95), scientist, educator, and Nobel prize laureate, was born 6 October 1903 in Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, elder of two children of the Rev. John Arthur Walton and Anna Elizabeth Walton (née Sinton). His father, a methodist minister, was born…...
Wilson, Thomas
Wilson, Thomas (1916–2001), economist, was born on 23 June 1916 on the family farm at Ballylagan, Ballynure, Co. Antrim, the only child of John Bright Wilson (d. 1948), and his wife Margaret (née Ellison). His father, while keeping the farm, established a grocery and animal feed…...