Barry, Sir Redmond
Barry, Sir Redmond (1813–80), barrister and judge, was the fifth of thirteen children of Major-general Henry Green Barry (1770–1838) and Phoebe Barry (née Drought) of Ballyclough, Co. Cork. His early education was at Curtain's Academy, Cork. At the age of twelve he entered Bexley Hall…...
Barry, Thomas Bernadine (‘Tom’)
Barry, Thomas Bernadine (‘Tom’) (1897–1980), IRA activist, was born 1 July 1897 in Rosscarberry, west Co. Cork, second child and son among eleven children of Thomas Barry (small farmer, then RIC member, and (following resignation from…...
Barry, William Maol
Barry, William Maol (c.1293–1373), landholder and dynast, son of David Barry (d. 1347), sheriff of Cork, was the founder of the line of Barry Roe; his sobriquet means ‘the bald’. With his father, he attempted to withstand the MacCarthy pressure upon the Barry lands in west…...
Bartley, Gerald (Gerry)
Bartley, Gerald (Gerry) (1898–1975), politician, was born 12 June 1898 in Cloghan Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks, Co. Mayo, son of John Bartley, RIC sergeant, and Ann Bartley (née Costello). He was educated at Clifden, Co. Galway, and O'Connell's School, Dublin, before becoming…...
Barton, Frederick (Derick)
Barton, Frederick (Derick) (1900–93), athlete, farmer, and political activist, was born in London on 19 June 1900, the eldest son of Bertram Hugh Barton and his wife, Lilian (née Carden). The Barton family had lived in Ireland since Elizabethan times and built Straffan House, Co.…...
Barton, Robert Childers
Barton, Robert Childers (1881–1975), agriculturist and revolutionary, was born 14 March 1881, eldest son of Charles William Barton, DL, landowner, of Glendalough House, Annamoe, Co. Wicklow, and Agnes Alexandra Frances, fourth daughter of the…...
Barton, Sir Dunbar Plunket
Barton, Sir Dunbar Plunket (1853–1937), lawyer, politician, judge, and author, was born 29 October 1853 in Merrion Square, Dublin, eldest child of Thomas Henry Barton (d. 1878), BL, DMP magistrate (a…...
Bates, Sir David Robert
Bates, Sir David Robert (1916–94), theoretical physicist and founder member of the Alliance party, was born 18 November 1916 at Omagh, Co. Tyrone, second surviving child among four children of Walter Vivian Bates, pharmacist, from Mountrath, Queen's Co. (Laois), and Mary Olive Bates (…...
Bates, Sir (Richard) Dawson
Bates, Sir (Richard) Dawson (1876–1949), solicitor and NI cabinet minister, was born 23 November 1876 at Strandtown, east Belfast, son of Richard Dawson Bates, solicitor and clerk of the crown and peace for Belfast, and his wife Mary, daughter of Professor R. F. Dill of…...
Bathe (Bath), Sir John
Bathe (Bath), Sir John (d. 1630), politician, was the youngest son, of the three sons and one daughter, of John Bathe of Drumcondra, chancellor of the Irish exchequer, and his first wife, Eleanor, daughter of Jenico Preston, 3rd Viscount Gormanston; he had three half-brothers…...
Bathe, James
Bathe, James (d. 1570), chief baron of the exchequer, was a relation of Sir Thomas Bathe, Lord Louth. He entered the Middle Temple in 1522, becoming master of the revels two years later. Appointed chief baron of the exchequer on 24 March 1535, he continued to hold this post until his…...
Battersby, Thomas Stephenson Francis (‘Frank’)
Battersby, Thomas Stephenson Francis (‘Frank’) (1855–1933), lawyer, was born 17 April 1855, son of Francis Battersby and his wife Elizabeth (who died shortly after the birth), daughter of the Rev. Robert Stephenson Crooke. His father, though a qualified doctor, never practised,…...
Beach, Sir Michael Edward Hicks
Beach, Sir Michael Edward Hicks (1837–1916), chief secretary for Ireland, was born 23 October 1837 in London, elder son of Sir Michael Hicks Hicks Beach, 8th baronet, and Harriet Vittoria Beach (née Stratton) of Northamptonshire. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (…...
Beacon (Becon), Richard
Beacon (Becon), Richard (fl. 1567–95), administrator and author, was born in Suffolk, England; nothing is known of his parents. He matriculated as a pensioner at St John's College, Cambridge, on 12 November 1567, graduating BA (1571)…...
Beamish, Francis Bernard
Beamish, Francis Bernard (1802–68), politician and brewer, was born 5 April 1802, eighth son among twelve children of William Beamish (qv), founder of the Beamish & Crawford porter brewery, and his wife Anne, daughter of Robert…...
Beamish, Richard Henrik
Beamish, Richard Henrik (1861–1938), brewer and politician, was born 16 June 1861 at Ashbourne, Glounthaune, Co. Cork, eldest child of Richard Pigott Beamish, DL, brewer, and his wife Hulda Elizabeth Constance, only daughter and heiress of…...
Beamish, William
Beamish, William (1760–1828), merchant and landowner, was born 10 May 1760, third son of William Beamish (d. 1772), captain RN, of Willsgrove, Co. Cork, and Alice Beamish (née Bernard; d. 1792) of Castle Bernard, Co. Cork. He entered the navy like…...
Béaslaí, Piaras
Béaslaí, Piaras (1881–1965), writer, revolutionary, politician, language revivalist, and journalist, was born Percy (later Pierce , Piaras) Beazley on 15 February 1881 in Liverpool, England, second of three sons of Patrick Langford Beazley, editor of the Catholic Times from…...
Beattie, John (‘Jack’)
Beattie, John (‘Jack’) (1886–1960), socialist and trade unionist, was born 14 April 1886 into a presbyterian family in Ballymacarrett, Belfast, son of Robert Beattie, dealer, and Eliza Beattie (née Downey). He left school aged 13 and worked at the Belfast Ropeworks before joining…...
Beaty, James
Beaty, James (1798–1892), politician and newspaper proprietor in Canada, was born near Killeshandra, Co. Cavan, in 1798, possibly on 2 September. He was the youngest of five sons of Robert Beaty, land surveyor, and Catherine Beaty (née Crawford); his father was of a fairly…...
Beaumont (McGavock), Máirín (Mary)
Beaumont (McGavock), Máirín (Mary) (1894–1972), teacher and nationalist, was born 7 December 1894 in Glenarm, Co. Antrim, one of the four daughters of William McGavock, a merchant, and Annie McGavock , a sister of Eoin MacNeill (qv).…...
Beckett, James Walter
Beckett, James Walter (1875–1938), building contractor and politician, was born 5 August 1875 in Dublin, son of James Beckett, building contractor, of Riverside, Sandymount, and Fannie Beckett, daughter of Roger Horner of 138 Leinster Rd, Rathmines. Among nine children he was the…...
Behan, Brian Finbar Oliver Plunkett
Behan, Brian Finbar Oliver Plunkett (1926–2002), writer, radical, and bohemian, was born Brian Desmond Behan (the name appearing on the birth certificate) on 10 November 1926 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, while the family were residing at 14 Russell St., the third of five children of…...
Behan, Kathleen
Behan, Kathleen (1889–1984), republican, was born 18/19 September 1889 at 49 Capel St., Dublin, fifth child and youngest daughter among three daughters and four sons of John Kearney (1854–97), pork butcher and grocer, from Rosybrook, Co. Louth, and Kathleen Kearney (née McGuinness…...
Bell, Alan
Bell, Alan (1857–1920), policeman and resident magistrate, was born in Banagher, King's Co. (Offaly), one of at least two sons of the Rev. James Adamson Bell, Church of Ireland clergyman; his mother's name is unknown. Educated locally, he joined the…...