Rowan, Anne Margaret
Rowan, Anne Margaret (1832–1913), novelist, historian, and political activist, was born 21 November 1832 in Tralee, Co. Kerry, to Arthur Blennerhasset Rowan (qv), Church of Ireland clergyman and antiquarian, and his wife…...
Savage, Marmion Wilme
Savage, Marmion Wilme (1803–72), novelist and journalist, was born 22 February 1803 in Dublin, the only child of Revd Henry Savage and Sarah Savage (née Bewley). He grew up in his father's parish in Ardkeen, Co. Down. Awarded a BA in classics…...
Share, Bernard Vivian
Share, Bernard Vivian (1930–2013), writer and editor, was born on 31 May 1930 in London to Irish parents Frederick Share, a civil servant, and May Share, who had emigrated there from Dublin. He lived in England until he was seventeen, attending school in Pinner, Middlesex, before moving…...
Sheares, Henry
Sheares, Henry (1728–75), banker, parliamentarian, and essayist, was born probably in October 1728, one of three sons of Henry Sheares (d. 1750?) of Goldenbush, near Inishannon, Co. Cork, and his wife Mary, daughter of John Bayley of Castlemore, Co. Cork. At sixteen he entered…...
Shepherd, Samuel
Shepherd, Samuel (1701/2–1785), Church of Ireland minister and poet, was born in Limerick, son of John Shepherd, archdeacon of the diocese. Having obtained his early education from Mr Cashin of Limerick, Samuel entered TCD (April 1720…...
Sheridan, Frances (née Chamberlaine)
Sheridan, Frances (née Chamberlaine) (1724–66), writer, was born in Dublin, the youngest child among three sons and two daughters of Philip Chamberlaine , a Church of Ireland clergyman who was rector of St Nicholas Without, and Anastasia Chamberlaine (née Whyte), his English-born…...
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751–1816), playwright and politician, was born in September or October 1751 at 12 Dorset Street, Dublin, the third child of Thomas Sheridan (qv), actor and orthoepist, and his wife,…...
Sheridan, Thomas
Sheridan, Thomas (1687–1738), schoolmaster, poet, essayist, and wit, was born in Co. Cavan. His father, Patrick, may have been a farmer. Nothing certain is known of Sheridan's life before he entered TCD in 1707, aged 20, except that he…...
Shirley, James
Shirley, James (1596–1666), playwright, was baptised 7 September 1596 at St Mary Woolchurch, London, eldest child of James Shirley, draper, and his wife Catherine. From October 1608 he attended Merchant Taylors’ School before leaving in about the summer of 1612 to work for the…...
Smedley, Jonathan
Smedley, Jonathan (c.1671–1729), Church of Ireland clergyman and author, was born in Dublin. His father's name was John Smedley, and the adult Jonathan, in the preface to his anniversary sermon published in 1715, addressed himself to ‘Mrs Elizabeth Hales, of Putney’,…...
Smithson, Annie M(ary) P(atricia)
Smithson, Annie M(ary) P(atricia) (1873–1948), author, nurse, republican, and trade unionist, was born Margaret Anne Jane Smithson 26 September 1873 at 22 Claremont Rd, Sandymount, Dublin, daughter of Samuel Raynor Smithson, a protestant, unionist barrister, and Margaret Louisa…...
Smythe, Percy Clinton Sydney
Smythe, Percy Clinton Sydney (1780–1855), 6th Viscount Strangford and 1st Baron Penshurst , diplomat and writer, was born 31 August 1780, in Queen St., Mayfair, London, eldest son of Lionel, 5th Viscount Strangford, formerly a captain in the 23rd Foot during the war of American…...
Somerville, Edith Anna Œnone
Somerville, Edith Anna Œnone (1858–1949), and Martin, Violet Florence (‘Martin Ross’) (1862–1915), writers, were, through their mothers, descended from Charles Kendal Bushe (qv), lord chief justice of Ireland. Owing to their…...
Southerne, Thomas
Southerne, Thomas (1660–1746), dramatist and soldier, was born 12 February 1660 at Oxmantown, Dublin, youngest child among four sons and two daughters of Francis Southerne, founder-member of the brewers' corporation of Dublin, and his wife Margaret. Educated at the free school in…...
Spenser, Edmund
Spenser, Edmund (1552?–1599), poet, political writer, government official, and settler in Ireland, was born in London, probably of artisan backgrounde, though little is known of his family. He attended Merchant Taylors’ grammar school, then Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, as a sizar.…...
Spring, Sir Francis Joseph
Spring, Sir Francis Joseph (1849–1933), civil engineer, was born 20 January 1849, most likely in Magourney, Co. Cork, son of the Rev. Edward Spring, rector of Magourney; his mother's name is not known. After receiving his early education at Midleton School, Co. Cork, Spring went…...
Stacpoole, Henry de Vere
Stacpoole, Henry de Vere (1863–1951), doctor and novelist, was born 9 April 1863 at Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin, the youngest child and only son of Rev. William Church Stacpoole, clergyman and director of Kingstown school, and his wife, Charlotte Augusta (née Mountjoy),…...
Starkie, Walter
Starkie, Walter (1894–1976), writer and academic, was born 9 August 1894 in Ballybrack, Co. Dublin, the only son and eldest among six children of the Rt Hon. William Joseph Myles Starkie (qv),…...
Steele, Sir Richard
Steele, Sir Richard (1672–1729), essayist, whig polemicist, and politician, was born in the parish of St Bride's in Dublin, and baptised 12 March 1672. The boy, who had an elder sister, was the only son of Richard Steele and his wife, Eleanor Steele (née Sheyles), widow of Thomas Symes…...
Steele, Thomas (Tom)
Steele, Thomas (Tom) (1788–1848), engineer and political activist, was born 3 November 1788 at Derrymore, Co. Clare, son of William Steele, gentleman, and Catherine Steele (née Bridgeman). In July 1805 he entered TCD, graduating…...
Sterling, James
Sterling, James (1701–63), writer and clergyman, was the son of James Sterling, gentleman landowner, of Dowrass, King's Co.; nothing is known of his mother. He was taught by a Mr Lloyd in Dublin before entering TCD (1716), where he was…...
Sterne, Laurence
Sterne, Laurence (1713–68), novelist and clergyman, was born 24 November 1713 in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, where his father, Roger (1683–1731), an ensign in the 34th Regiment of Foot, had been posted following the treaty of Utrecht, and where he had recently arrived from Flanders, along…...
Stoker, Florence
Stoker, Florence (1858–1937), literary executor and wife of Bram Stoker (qv), was born Florence Anne Lemon Balcombe on 17 July 1858 in Falmouth, Cornwall. She was one of seven children (five girls, two boys) of James Balcombe of…...
Stott, Thomas
Stott, Thomas (1755–1829), linen-bleacher and poet, was born 21 April 1755 at Hillsborough, Co. Down, son of William Stott, a prosperous quaker linen merchant, and Sarah Stott (née Thompson). In 1777 Thomas Stott ceased to have a connection with the Society of Friends as a…...
Sullivan, Lucinda
Sullivan, Lucinda (1831–1881), philanthropist, writer and promoter of children's welfare, was born in 1831, probably in Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, to Captain William Edward Brady , formerly a lieutenant in the 2nd West India Regiment, and subsequently chief constable of police in…...