Anderson, John
Anderson, John (1815–1905), woollen merchant, geologist, bibliographer, and local politician, was born 8 July 1815 near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. After moving to Belfast he entered (1840) the woollen business in Donegall St. founded by James Young in 1795. Anderson's eminence…...
Barr, Andrew (Andy)
Barr, Andrew (Andy) (1913–2003), trade unionist and communist, was born 23 September 1913 at 29 Cluan Place, off Mountpottinger Road, Ballymacarrett, Belfast, second child among two sons and five daughters (two other children died in infancy) of Andrew Barr (d. 1986, aged 98), a…...
Blease, William John ('Billy')
Blease, William John ('Billy') (1914–2008), Baron Blease of Cromac, trade unionist and politician, was born 28 May 1914 in Gosford Street, off the Ormeau Road, Belfast, eldest of three sons and one daughter of William John Blease (1886–1954), restaurant chef and trade-union activist,…...
Bowman, Alexander
Bowman, Alexander (1855–1924), trade unionist, was born 16 March 1855 at Dromara, Co. Down, eldest child among three sons and two daughters of William McKeown, farmer and weaver, and his wife Elizabeth (née Rodgers). McKeown was a catholic; Rodgers, a presbyterian, had been previously…...
Boyd, Thomas William (‘Tom’)
Boyd, Thomas William (‘Tom’) (1903–91), socialist and trade unionist, was born 13 April 1903 in Woodstock Road, east Belfast, one of nine children of James Boyd, shipyard clerk, and Mary Boyd (née McCully), both originally from Co. Down. He left Ravenscroft national school,…...
Burkitt, James Parsons
Burkitt, James Parsons (1870–1959), ornithologist and engineer, was born 20 August 1870 at Killybegs, Co. Donegal, second son among five sons and two daughters of Thomas Henry Burkitt, presbyterian minister, and Emma Eliza Burkitt (née Parsons). He was educated at Galway grammar…...
Burn, Thomas Henry
Burn, Thomas Henry (1875–1949), trade unionist and politician, was born in Belfast, son of Thomas Henry Burn. Little is known of his family life but he was educated at Belfast National School and subsequently trained as a lithographic printer. The Ulster Unionist Labour…...
Byers, Sir John William
Byers, Sir John William (1852/3–1920), obstetrician and folklore scholar, was the only child of the Rev. John Byers and Margaret Byers (qv) (née Morrow), presbyterian missionaries to China, and was born in Shanghai. His father was…...
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…...
Carlisle, Alexander Montgomery
Carlisle, Alexander Montgomery (1854–1926), ship designer and businessman, and his two brothers John Carlisle (1856–1945), engineer and shipowner, and Henry Montgomery Carlisle (1863?–1945), shipowner, were sons of John Carlisle (d. 1884), teacher, and Catherine Carlisle (née…...
Corry, John
This is a co-subject for the entry on Corry, Sir James Porter White. View the original entry....
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt)
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt) (1874–1949), engineer and Irish-language enthusiast, was born Ernest Edwin Joynt, 11 November 1874, at the family residence in Knox St., Ballina, Co. Mayo, only son among four children of Richard Watson Joynt, editor of the Ballina Herald…...
Evans, Emyr Estyn
Evans, Emyr Estyn (1905–89), Ireland's first professor of geography, was born 29 May 1905, youngest of four sons and one daughter of the Rev. George Owen Evans, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Wales, and Elizabeth Evans (née Jones). Born in Shrewsbury, he spent his early…...
Fox, Charlotte Olivia (née Milligan)
Fox, Charlotte Olivia (née Milligan) (1864–1916), ethnomusicologist, was born 17 March 1864 in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, the eldest child among five daughters and six sons (two of whom did not reach adulthood) of Seaton Forrest Milligan (1836–1916) of Glencar, Omagh, businessman,…...
Gailey, Robert Alan
Gailey, Robert Alan (1935–2013), folklife scholar and museum director, was born on 4 October 1935 in Galway. Known by his middle name, Alan was the second child of Andrew J. Gailey (d. 1963), a presbyterian minister in Galway, and Mary Gailey (née Porter). He had two sisters. From…...
Harrison, Letitia Dunbar- (Crawford, Aileen)
Harrison, Letitia Dunbar- (Crawford, Aileen) (1906–94), librarian and methodist activist, was born Letitia Elizabeth Eileen Dunbar in Dundrum, Co. Dublin, on 4 February 1906, the youngest of at least four children of Arthur Dunbar, a commercial traveller, and his wife Margaret (née…...
Henry, Samuel (‘Sam’)
Henry, Samuel (‘Sam’) (1878–1952), folk-song collector, was born in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, youngest among five sons of William Henry and Mary Henry (née Biggart). He had two sisters; one of his brothers became town clerk of Coleraine. Educated locally, he entered the customs…...
Heron, Archibald (‘Archie’)
Heron, Archibald (‘Archie’) (1895–1971), socialist and trade unionist, was born in Portadown, Co. Armagh, into a presbyterian family, probably one of seven children of Samuel Heron, a physician and surgeon, and his wife Bessie (née Beck). He was educated locally before moving to…...
MacArthur, Sir William Porter
MacArthur, Sir William Porter (1884–1964), army medical officer, Irish-language scholar, and historian, was born 11 March 1884 at Belmont, east Belfast, Co. Down, the only son of John Porter MacArthur (d. 1930), tea merchant, and his wife Margaret Rainey (d. 1936), daughter of William…...
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…...
McMullen, William
McMullen, William (1888–1982), trade unionist and politician, was born in Lilliput Street, Belfast, son of Joseph McMullen, shop owner, of County Monaghan; his mother was a native of County Cavan. When he was two years old, his family moved to a bigger shop on Shore Road, Belfast…...
Midgley, Henry Cassidy (‘Harry’)
Midgley, Henry Cassidy (‘Harry’) (1892–1957), trade unionist and politician, was born 8 September 1892 at 59 Seaview St., Belfast, third child and eldest son among two daughters and three sons of Alexander Midgley (1860–99), shipyard labourer, originally of Lurgan, Co. Armagh,…...
Mitchell, Alexander
Mitchell, Alexander (1780–1868), civil engineer, was born 13 April 1780 in South William St., Dublin, eighth son among thirteen children of William Mitchell, inspector general of barracks in Ireland, and Jane Mitchell (née Fergusson or Ferguson), remembered in the family as ‘…...
Neilson, William (Mac Néill, Uilliam)
Neilson, William (Mac Néill, Uilliam) (1774–1821), presbyterian minister, classical and Irish-language scholar and writer, was born 12 September 1774 at Rademon, Kilmore, Co. Down, fourth among seven sons of the Rev. Moses Neilson (1739?–1823), schoolmaster and presbyterian minister of…...
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…...