Bryans, Robert Harbinson ('Robin Harbinson'; 'Robert Harbinson')
Bryans, Robert Harbinson ('Robin Harbinson'; 'Robert Harbinson') (1928–2005), memoirist and travel writer, was born on the Newtownards Road, Belfast, on 24 April 1928, third child and only son of Robert Bryans, musician and window cleaner, and his wife Georgina (née Campbell), known as…...
Burrows (Dobbin), Rachel
Burrows (Dobbin), Rachel (1912–87), actress, broadcaster, and teacher, was born 29 April 1912 in Limerick, the daughter of Peter Dobbin, county surveyor for Co. Clare, and Kathleen (née Vance), his second wife. Reared in Kilkishen House, Co. Clare, she was educated at St Brandon's…...
Cavan, Harry (Henry Hartrick)
Cavan, Harry (Henry Hartrick) (1916–2000), football administrator and trade union official, was born on 19 May 1916 in Mary Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, the eldest child of Walter Cavan, a motor body maker, and his wife Clara (née Quinn). Educated locally, he left school at 14 to…...
Challoner, Luke
Challoner, Luke (1550–1613), Church of Ireland clergyman and vice-provost of Trinity College, Dublin, was born into a prosperous family, which had emigrated from London to Dublin late in Henry VIII's reign. All that is known of his father is that he owned property in Dublin, but…...
Cochrane, Jean Crawford
Cochrane, Jean Crawford (1914–2013), educator and activist for women's education, was born on 27 June 1914 in Lifford, Co. Donegal, the eldest daughter of Hugh Crawford Cochrane, a solicitor and under-sheriff for the county, and Lucy Cameron Cochrane (née Boyd). Jean attended school…...
Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox-
Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox- (1941–2011), traveller and writer, was born on 22 February 1941 in Ceylon (latterly, Sri Lanka). Her father, Gerald Hamilton Lenox-Conyngham, a tea planter in Wattegoda, in the south of the island, was descended from an Ulster ascendancy family and…...
Cotton, Henry
Cotton, Henry (1789–1879), theologian and bibliographer, was born in Bucks., England, son of the Rev. William C. Cotton of Chichley, Berks., educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford (BA 1811; MA…...
Croker, Richard Welsted (‘Boss’)
Croker, Richard Welsted (‘Boss’) (1841–1922), politician, was born 23 November 1841 at Clonakilty, Co. Cork, third son among three sons and two daughters of Eyre Coote Croker (d. 1883), army officer and veterinary surgeon, and Florence Croker, daughter of John Welsted of Ballywalter, Co…...
Crookshank, Anne Olivia
Crookshank, Anne Olivia (1927–2016), art historian, was born in Whiteabbey, Co. Antrim, on 3 January 1927, the second of three daughters to Henry Crookshank, a geographical surveyor, and his wife Eileen ‘Kitty’ Crookshank (née Somerville-Large). For the first five years of her life Anne…...
Dabzac, Henry Joseph
Dabzac, Henry Joseph (1737–90), academic, was born in Minorca, son of Henry d'Abzac (1677–1750) and his wife (m. 1711 in Dublin) Magdalen, daughter of Capt. D'Artoux. Henry d'Abzac, naturalised as a subject of the crown in Ireland, was the son of Marc Dabzac by Jane (b. 1703 at…...
Darling, Sisson Putland
Darling, Sisson Putland (1737–1817), schoolmaster, was the son of Richard Darling (1685–1766) of North Strand, Dublin, and his wife, Anne (née Davis). Richard's great-grandfather was John Darling (d. 1620), protestant dean of Emly (1608–20). The family pedigree gives no clue to…...
Darlington, Joseph
Darlington, Joseph (1850–1939), Jesuit and academic, was born 5 November 1850 in Wigan, Lancashire, second son of Ralph Darlington (occupation unknown). He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford (2 December 1869) and graduated BA (1874)…...
Dawson, George William Percy
Dawson, George William Percy (1927–2004), geneticist, art lover and philanthropist, was born 7 August 1927 in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England, the only child of Percy John Fritz Stanley Dawson, fishmonger, and his wife Edith Helen (née Fildes). Education He was…...
Day, Beauchamp Rochfort
Day, Beauchamp (Bert) Rochford (1881–1972), professional runner, was born 25 December 1881 at 14 Clarinda Park North, Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin, son of Beauchamp John Day, gentleman, and Geraldine Isabella Day (née Rochfort). He was educated locally at Corrig School, where…...
de Lacy, Hugh
This is a co-subject for the entry on De Lacy, Stanley. View the original entry....
De Lacy, Stanley
De Lacy, Stanley (1914–2005), hockey international and athlete, was born in the family home at 2 Cameron Street, Dublin, on 26 December 1914, the sixth of eight children of John Lacy and his wife Anne (née White). The family soon moved to Limerick where they lived on Barrington Street.…...
Devlin, Edith Florence Newman
Devlin, Edith Florence Newman (1926–2012), lecturer in English, was born on 21 September 1926, in Swords, Co. Dublin, the youngest among three sons and two daughters of Hugh Gaw and Eva Gaw (née Newman). Her mother was a teacher in a Church of Ireland primary school, and her father, who…...
Dickson, Thomas Arnell ('Tommy')
Dickson, Thomas Arnell ('Tommy') (1929–2007), footballer, was born 16 July 1929 in the Sandy Row area of Belfast. As a teenager he played with the local Roosevelt Street Boys' Club and, while working as an apprentice fitter at the Brookfield Linen Company, was signed by Brantwood as an…...
Dix, Ernest Reginald McClintock
Dix, Ernest Reginald McClintock (1857–1936), solicitor, book collector, and Irish language enthusiast, was born 8 April 1857 in Dublin, elder son of Henry Thomas Dix (1825–1902), a prominent solicitor, and his wife Emma Patience, daughter of an army officer, Henry McClintock of…...
Dixon, Frederick E.
Dixon, Frederick E. (1913–88) meteorologist, historian, and philatelist, was born 27 March 1913 in Oundle, near Peterborough, England, a son of Nathan Dixon and his wife, Edith, née Howitt, who also had another son and a daughter. He attended Deacon's School, Peterborough, and…...
Dougan, (Alexander) Derek
Dougan, (Alexander) Derek (1938–2007), footballer and author, was born 20 January 1938 at 41 Susan Street in the Newtownards Road district of east Belfast, the eldest of six children (three boys and three girls) of John 'Jackie' Dougan, a boilermaker at the Harland and Wolff…...
Dowden, Edward
Dowden, Edward (1843–1913), literary critic, academic, and unionist, was born 3 May 1843, second son of John Wheeler Dowden and Alicia Dowden (née Bennett); his elder brother was John Dowden (qv). He was educated privately at first,…...
Drelincourt, Mary
This is a co-subject for the entry on Drelincourt, Peter. View the original entry....
Dunkin, William
Dunkin, William (1707?–65), poet and schoolmaster, was born in Dublin, son of Patrick Dunkin (d. 1719?), gentleman, who may have been briefly curate of Dromiskin, Co. Louth, before his early death. William's mother apparently also died young, but nothing else is known of her. In 1720…...
Dunlop, Henry Wallace Doveton
Dunlop, Henry Wallace Doveton (1844–1930), sports promoter, civil servant and engineer, was born in February 1844 in Bombay (Mumbai), India, the only son of (William) Henry Glasgow Dunlop (d. 1869), deputy superintendent of the Bombay Water Police, and his wife Mary Anne (née Pilkington…...