Haughton, James
Haughton, James (1795–1873), social reformer and philanthropist, was born 5 May 1795 in Carlow town, eldest son of Samuel Pearson Haughton (1748–1828), corn merchant, and his wife Mary (née Pim) of Ruskin, Queen's Co. (Laois). Although both parents left the Society of Friends…...
Hinde, John Wilfrid
Hinde, John Wilfrid (1916–97), photographer and postcard manufacturer, was born 17 May 1916 in Street, Somerset, England, into a close-knit Quaker family, who later became Christian Scientist. His great-grandfather was James Clark, co-founder of the Clark's footwear company. During…...
Hobson, (John) Bulmer
Hobson, (John) Bulmer (1883–1969), nationalist, was born 14 January 1883 at 5 Magdala Street, Belfast, the son of Benjamin Hobson, a grocer who was from a quaker family established in Ireland since the time of Cromwell, and his wife, Mary Ann Bulmer, a Yorkshire radical. Family…...
Hughes, Brendan
Hughes, Brendan (1948–2008), IRA activist, was born at Blackwater Street off the Grosvenor Road in west Belfast in June 1948, the second of six children (five boys and one girl) of Kevin Barry Hughes, a builders' labourer. A great-grandfather was an IRA member in Co. Louth wounded in…...
Hyde, Harford Montgomery
Hyde, Harford Montgomery (1907–89), barrister, politician, and author, was born 14 August 1907 in Belfast, son of James Johnstone Hyde JP, linen merchant, and his wife, Isobel (née Montgomery). Hyde claimed distant kinship with Henry James. His…...
Ireton, Henry
Ireton, Henry (1611–51), soldier and lord deputy of Ireland, was the eldest son in the resolutely puritan gentry family of German and Jane Ireton of Attenborough, near Nottingham. Baptised on 3 November 1611, he was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, graduating in 1629, and…...
Irvine, Alexander Fitzgerald
Irvine, Alexander Fitzgerald (1863–1941), minister, social activist, orator, and author, was born 19 January 1863 in Scott's Entry, Antrim town, ninth among twelve children (five of whom died young) of Jamie Irvine, an illiterate protestant shoemaker, and Anna Irvine (née Gilmore), an…...
Jacob, Rosamond
Jacob, Rosamond (1888–1960), suffragist, republican, and writer, was born 13 October 1888 in Waterford city, third child of Louis Jacob (1841–1907) and Henrietta Jacob (née Harvey; 1849–1919). Louis Jacob worked in his father-in-law's house-agent and stockbroking firm in Waterford. Both…...
Keating, Justin Pascal
Keating, Justin Pascal (1930–2009), politician, veterinarian and television presenter, was born 7 January 1930 in a nursing home at 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin, younger of two sons of Seán Keating (qv), artist, and…...
Keating, May
Keating, May (1895–1965), socialist, feminist and human rights campaigner, was born Mary Josephine Walsh on 6 October 1895, in Eadestown, Rathmore, Co. Kildare, to John Walsh, who farmed 70 acres there (28.3 hectares), and his wife Martha (née Cullen), a national school teacher. Her…...
Kemmy, James Joseph Oliver Mary (‘Jim’)
Kemmy, James Joseph Oliver Mary (‘Jim’) (1936–97), trade unionist, Labour politician, and local historian, was born 14 September 1936 in O'Curry St., Limerick, eldest of three sons and two daughters of Michael Kemmy and Elizabeth Kemmy (née Pilkington). His mother came from farming…...
Lowther, Sir Gerrard (Gerard)
Lowther, Sir Gerrard (Gerard) (1590–1660), lawyer and judge, was probably the natural son of Christopher Lowther of Penrith, Cumberland. He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 7 June 1605. He entered Gray's Inn in 1608 and was called to the bar in 1614. He was in Dublin as…...
Lyttle, Richard
Lyttle, Richard (1866–1905), land campaigner, nationalist, and non-subscribing presbyterian minister, was born 6 March 1866 at Barnhill, a farm near Dromore, Co. Down, owned by his father, Richard Lyttle, a merchant in Dromore whose family had been gentlemen farmers near…...
Malcolm, Andrew George
Malcolm, Andrew George (1818–56), physician and social reformer, was born 17 December 1818 in Newry, Co. Down, sixth child and fourth son among five sons and two daughters of the Rev. Andrew George Malcom (1782–1823), presbyterian minister, and Eleanor Malcom (née Hunter). Andrew…...
McDowell, John William ('Jack')
McDowell, John William ('Jack') (1923?–2006), community activist and politician, was born in the Shankill Road area of Belfast. His father was a first world war veteran and member of the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP); although some of his relatives were active in the Orange…...
McGrath, William
McGrath, William (1916–91), loyalist and paedophile, was born 11 December 1916 in Belfast, son of Abraham McGrath and Jane McGrath (née Warrington). McGrath came from a methodist background; in later years he worked with presbyterian and Free Presbyterian churches while operating as a…...
Mitchel, John
Mitchel, John (1815–75), nationalist and journalist, was born on 3 November 1815 at Camnish, near Dungiven, Co. Londonderry, eldest surviving child among two sons and four daughters of John Mitchel (1781–1840), presbyterian minister of the Dungiven congregation, and his wife Mary…...
Mowlam, Marjorie ('Mo')
Mowlam, Marjorie ('Mo') (1949–2005), secretary of state for Northern Ireland, was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England on 18 September 1949, second of three children (two daughters and a son) of Frank William Mowlam, postal official, and his wife Bettina (Tina) Mary (née Rogers),…...
O'Brien, Thomas
O'Brien, Thomas (1914–74), poet, publisher, and Spanish civil war veteran, was born 24 April 1914 in Dublin, eldest child among two sons and two daughters of Hugh O'Brien and Mary (‘Polly’) O'Brien (née Berkeley). Having attended local Christian Brothers' schools, he left formal…...
O'Faolain, Nuala
O'Faolain, Nuala (1940–2008), journalist, writer and feminist, was born 1 March 1940 in Clontarf, Dublin, the second of nine children (six daughters and three sons) of Terry O'Sullivan (qv) (Terry Phelan), journalist and broadcaster, and…...
O'Malley, Pamela (Kathleen Mary)
O'Malley, Pamela (Kathleen Mary) (1929–2006), bohemian, radical and educationalist, was born in Dublin on 12 July 1929, daughter of Patrick O'Malley, Limerick tea, wine and spirit importer, and his wife Kathleen (née Bonass). Donough O'Malley…...
O'Riordan, Michael (Micheál; Mick)
O'Riordan, Michael (Micheál; Mick) (1917–2006), communist, was born 12 November 1917 at 37 Pope's Quay, Cork city, youngest among three sons and two daughters of Michael O'Riordan, a carter, and his wife Julia (née Creed), a small farmer's daughter and former domestic servant. Despite…...
Parker, Henry
Parker, Henry (1604–52), parliamentarian pamphleteer, was born in 1604, the fifth son of Sir Nicholas Parker (d. 1619) and his third wife, Katherine Temple. His family, important Sussex gentry, was based at Ratton. Little is known of his early life until he attended Oxford, where…...
Perry (Shaw), Alice Jacqueline
Perry (Shaw), Alice Jacqueline (1885–1969), engineer and Christian Scientist, was born in Wellpark, Co. Galway, one of five daughters and one son of James Perry, engineer and county surveyor for Galway, originally from Garvagh, Co. Londonderry, and Martha Perry (née Park), from…...
Pinkerton, John
Pinkerton, John (1845–1908), tenant farmer, magistrate, and MP, was the son of John Pinkerton of Seacon, near Ballymoney, north Antrim, and his wife Nancy (née Pinkerton). John Pinkerton senior was a unitarian tenant farmer and linen merchant who died young after falling from his…...