Armstrong, James
Armstrong, James (1781?–1839), unitarian minister and educationist, was born at Ballynahinch, Co. Down, where his father John Armstrong (1754?–1837) was a merchant; his mother, Margaret (1751?–1836), was a daughter of John Strong (d. 1780), presbyterian minister at Ballynahinch (…...
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)…...
Barrett, Rosa (Mary)
Barrett, Rosa (Mary) (1854–1936) philanthropist, child-care worker, and suffragist, was born 15 January 1854 in Royston, Hertfordshire, England, daughter of the Rev. W. G. Barrett and Martha Barrett (née Fletcher). From the 1860s she was resident with her family in Dublin. Her…...
Bellett, John Gifford
Bellett, John Gifford (1794?×1797?–1864), a founder of the Plymouth Brethren, was born 19 July (the year is uncertain), probably in Frederick St., Dublin, eldest son among three sons and a daughter of John Bellett, a wealthy merchant, and his second wife Anne (née Dyer). The boy…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Bruce, Michael
Bruce, Michael (1686–1735), presbyterian minister, was born 27 July 1686, eldest son among ten children of James Bruce (qv), minister of Killyleagh, Co. Down, and Margaret Bruce (née Traill). His brother was William Bruce (d. 1755);…...
Carr, George Whitmore
Carr, George Whitmore (1780–1849), clergyman and temperance pioneer, was born in New Ross, Co. Wexford, eldest son of the Rev. Edward Carr, rector (1802–15) of Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny, and Sarah Carr (née Foster) of Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny. Educated at the John Ivory endowed…...
Carson, Alexander
Carson, Alexander (1776–1844), nonconformist minister, was born c.September 1776 at Annahone, near Stewartstown, Co. Tyrone, eldest son of William Carson. His mother's name and his father's occupation are unknown. Intended for the ministry at an early age, he was…...
Cooney, Edward
Cooney, Edward (1867–1960), evangelist, was born 11 February 1867 in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, one of twelve children of William Rutherford Cooney, a prosperous anglican draper, and his methodist wife Emily (née Carson). He was educated at Enniskillen Model School and Portora…...
Cronin, Edward
Cronin, Edward (1801–82), missionary, was born in Cork city, son of a Roman Catholic father and protestant mother whose names are unknown; he had cousins whose names were Drury. He came to Dublin c.1826 to train as a doctor at the Meath Hospital and was at first welcomed…...
Crossley, Francis (‘Frank’) William
Crossley, Francis (‘Frank’) William (1839–97), engineer and evangelist, and his brothers Sir William John (1844–1911), engineer, and (Thomas) Hastings (Henry) (1846–1926), classical scholar, were sons of Maj. Francis Crossley of the East India Company, governor of the Andaman Islands…...
Darby, John Nelson
Darby, John Nelson (1800–82), religious leader and writer, was born 18 November 1800 in Great George's St., London, sixth and youngest son of John Darby and Anne Darby (née Vaughan); there were also three daughters, one of whom married (1806)…...
Delaune, Thomas
Delaune, Thomas (d. 1685), nonconformist writer, was born in Brinny, Co. Cork, son of a poor catholic tenant farmer. Maj. Riggs (fl. 1650–95), landowner and one of the earliest supporters of the baptists in Cork, was impressed by his ability and sent him to a friary at…...
Denny, Sir Edward
Denny, Sir Edward (1796–1889), MP and hymn-writer, was born 2 October 1796 in Dublin, eldest son of Sir Edward Denny, 3rd baronet, of Tralee Castle, Co. Kerry, and Elizabeth Denny, daughter and heir of Robert Day, MP. Educated at Eton, and later Exeter College, Oxford, he…...
Drummond, James
Drummond, James (1835–1918), unitarian minister and theologian, was born 14 May 1835 in Dublin, the youngest of three sons of William Hamilton Drummond (qv) (1778–1865), unitarian minister of the Strand Street chapel, Dublin…...
Drummond, William Hamilton
Drummond, William Hamilton (1778–1865), unitarian minister, theologian, poet, scholar, and controversialist, was born in August or September 1778 at Larne, Co. Antrim. He was the second of three children of William Drummond, a Royal Navy surgeon, and his wife Rose (née Hare), a native…...
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…...
Guinness, Henry Grattan
Guinness, Henry Grattan (1835–1910), evangelist and religious writer, was born 11 August 1835 at Montpelier House, Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin, the eldest of the family of three sons and one daughter of Captain John Grattan Guinness (1783–1850), and Jane Lucretia (d.…...
Harrison, Thomas
Harrison, Thomas (1619–82), nonconformist minister, was born in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, son of Robert Harrison, merchant. He attended the local grammar school, matriculated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1636 and received his BA…...
Hazlitt, William
Hazlitt, William (1737–1820), unitarian minister, was born in Shronell, Co. Tipperary, one of three sons and four daughters of John and Margaret Hazlitt (or Haslett). The father, a presbyterian merchant who had left the north of Ireland some years before, was almost certainly related…...
Heitler, Walter
Heitler, Walter (1904–81), theoretical physicist and philosopher, was born 2 January 1904 in Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany, son of Adolf Heitler, a Jewish engineering professor, and Ottilie Heitler (née Rudolf ). His largely classical early education left him with a lifelong interest…...
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…...