Burke, Robert O'Hara
Burke, Robert O'Hara (1820/21?–1861), police officer and explorer, was born at Issercleran House, near Loughrea, Co. Galway, second son of James Hardiman Burke (1788–1854), high sheriff (1826), and his wife Anne (d. 1844), daughter of Robert O'Hara of Raheen, Co. Galway. The family…...
Burns, Thomas (Tommy; ‘The Scotchman’)
Burns, Thomas (Tommy; ‘The Scotchman’) (1898–1991), jockey, was born 13 February 1898 in Ayrshire, Scotland, eldest son and third child of James Burns (d.1954), racehorse trainer, and Jane Burns (née Tait; d. 1931). Educated at Ayr Academy, he quickly eschewed school for the…...
Bury, Charles Kenneth Howard-
Bury, Charles Kenneth Howard- (1883–1963), soldier, explorer, plant collector, and politician, was born 15 August 1883 in London, though his parents generally lived in Charleville castle, Tullamore, King's Co. (Co. Offaly). He was the only son of Captain Kenneth Howard, army officer…...
Butler, Mary Ellen Lambert
Butler, Mary Ellen Lambert (1873–1920), novelist, was born 28 June 1873 in England, the youngest of the two daughters and a son of Peter Butler (1840–80) of Bunnahow House, Co. Clare, and Mary Ryan of Tipperary. The Butlers were landowners who remained catholic. Through intermarriage,…...
Butler, William Francis
Butler, William Francis (1838–1910), soldier and author, was born 31 October 1838 in a farmhouse at Ballyslateen, Golden, Co. Tipperary, youngest child among four sons and three daughters of Richard Butler (1792–1870), a modest landowner and large tenant farmer of Suirville, Co.…...
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…...
Byrne, James Loughlin (‘Locky’)
Byrne, James Loughlin (‘Locky’) (1913–41), hurler, was born 28 April 1913 at 41 Morgan St., Waterford city, the only child of James Byrne, engine driver, and Johanna Byrne (née McGrath). He was educated locally at Mount Sion CBS. A…...
Byrne, Seán
Byrne, Seán (1955–2003), soccer player, was born 5 February 1955 in Dublin, son of Thomas 'Dessie' Byrne, a labourer and League of Ireland footballer, of St Teresa's Gardens, Dolphin's Barn, Dublin, and his wife Annie (née Fields). Playing initially with the hugely successful…...
Cahill, Harry (Harold Alexander)
Cahill, Harry (Harold Alexander) (1930–2009), international hockey player, was born on 9 June 1930 at 94 Fitzroy Avenue, Drumcondra, Dublin, one of two boys and one girl born to Henry Joshua Cahill, superintendent of stamping in Dublin Castle, and his wife Mary Maeve Cahill (née…...
Cahill, Hugh
Cahill, Hugh (1883–1966), commercial aviation pioneer, was born in Dublin on 23 June 1883, the first of three sons of Matthew Cahill, a publican of Lower Rutland Street, Dublin, and his wife Martha (née Shaw), who had previously been widowed and had a daughter from her first…...
Cahill, Mabel Esmonde
Cahill, Mabel (1863–1905), tennis player, was born 2 April 1863 in Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny, twelfth of thirteen children of Michael Cahill, gentleman landowner and barrister-at-law, of Ballyconra House, Ballyragget, and his first wife, Margaret (née Magan), Ballymore, Co. Westmeath (…...
Cahill, Pearse
Cahill, Pearse (1917–2011), aviator, businessman and race driver, was born Matthew Pearse Cahill (in honour of the executed leader of the 1916 rising) in Dublin on 26 January 1917, son of Hugh Cahill (1883–1966), of Glasnevin, Dublin, and his wife Caroline (née O'Connor). The owner-…...
Caitilín Dubh
Caitilín Dubh (fl. 1624–9), poet, lived in Thomond (present-day Co. Clare). She is the earliest woman poet for whom texts in the Irish language survive in quantity. Five of her elegies, in accentual (or stressed) caoineadh metre, are copied into Duanaire Uí Bhriain…...
Caldwell, John ('Johnny')
Caldwell, John ('Johnny') (1938–2009), boxer, was born on 7 May 1938 at 63 Cyprus Street, Belfast, the son of John Caldwell, a joiner, and Bridget Caldwell (née Maguire). During his education at St Comghall's School, Divis Street, his diminutive stature attracted bullying, and at…...
Callanan, Jeremiah J.
Callanan, Jeremiah J. (1795–1829), poet and verse translator, was born in Ballinhassig, Co. Cork, of a respectable medical family. Educated locally and in Cobh, he studied for the priesthood in Maynooth at the encouragement of his parents, but left (1818) to begin medical studies in…...
Campbell, Gertrude Elizabeth
Campbell, Gertrude Elizabeth (née Blood ) (1857–1911), writer, journalist, and critic, was the second daughter of Edmond Maghlin Blood (d. 1891), of Thurloe Square, London, and Brickhill, Co. Clare, and Mary Amy Fergusson (d. 1899), of Leixlip, Co. Kildare. Owing to her father's…...
Campbell, Joseph Graham
Campbell, Joseph Graham (1830–91), chess player, also known as ‘J. G. C.’, and called ‘James G. Campbell’ by G. A. Macdonnell, who knew him, was born in May 1830 either in Belfast or in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, and moved to London during childhood. Honing his skills in the Chess and…...
Campbell, Sir Cecil James Henry
Campbell, Sir Cecil James Henry (1891–1952), company director, sportsman, and soldier, was born 4 May 1891, the second son of James Henry Mussen Campbell (qv), 1st Baron Glenavy, and his wife Emily (née McCullough).…...
Cantwell, Noel (Eucharia)
Cantwell, Noel (Eucharia) (1932–2005), footballer and cricketer, was born 28 December 1932 at 2 Illen Villas, Mardyke Walk, Cork, one of five sons and a daughter of Michael Cantwell, a master tailor, and his wife Hannah (née Daly) (d. 1941). He was educated at St Joseph's national…...
Canty, Joseph (‘Kidder’)
Canty, Joseph (‘Kidder’) (1894–1971), jockey, was born 20 June 1894 in Kilfrush, Knocklong, Co. Limerick, youngest of eleven children of John Canty, farmer, and Mary Canty (née MacNamara). In 1911 he became an apprentice jockey to …...
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…...
Carden, John Rutter
Carden, John Rutter (1811–66), landlord, was born 5 February 1811, eldest among six sons and a daughter of John Carden (1772–1822) of Barnane, near Templemore, Co. Tipperary, landowner, DL, and high sheriff (1796) of the county, and Ann Carden…...
Carey, John Joseph ('Johnny', 'Jackie')
Carey, John Joseph ('Johnny', 'Jackie') (1919–95), footballer, was born 23 February 1919 at 4 Adelaide Place, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, the son of John Carey, a van driver, and Sarah Carey (née Byrne). Educated at Westland Row CBS, he…...
Carney, James Patrick
Carney, James Patrick (1914–89), Celticist, was born 17 May 1914 in Maryborough (Port Laoise), son of Patrick Francis Carney, a customs officer originally from Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo and his wife, Constance Grace, from Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny. His father died while Carney was still a…...
Carr, Joseph (Joe) Benedict
Carr, Joseph (Joe) Benedict (1922–2004), amateur golfer and businessman, was born 18 February 1922 in his grandmother's house in Inchicore, Dublin, the fifth of seven children of George Waters and his wife Mary ('Missie') (née McDonough). His parents were in financial difficulties…...