Cuffe, James
Cuffe, James (1747?–1821), 1st Baron Tyrawley of Ballinrobe and MP, was eldest among two sons and five daughters of James Cuffe (d. 1762) of Elm Hall, Co. Mayo, landowner and MP for Co. Mayo 1742–60, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Arthur Gore (1682–1742), 2nd baronet, of…...
Curran, Henry Grattan
Curran, Henry Grattan (1800–76), barrister, resident magistrate, and author, was born 5 February 1800 in Tipperary, illegitimate son of John Philpott Curran (qv), master of the rolls; his mother's surname was Fitzgerald. Having one stepbrother and one stepsister,…...
Daborne, Robert
Daborne, Robert (c.1580–1628), playwright and cleric, was the son of Robert Daborne (1551–1612), a tradesman of Guildford, Surrey, and his wife, Susan (née Travis; d. 1626). He states in the preface to A Christian turn'd Turke (1612) that his descent was ‘not…...
Darcy, Hyacinth Talbot
Darcy, Hyacinth Talbot (1806–74), evangelical clergyman and landlord, was born at Glen Ierne, Clifden, son of John Darcy (see below) of a Connemara gentry family, one of the fourteen ‘Tribes of Galway’. A private tutor, Mr Hawkesworth, prepared Hyacinth for the undergraduate…...
Darcy, John
This is a co-subject for the entry on Darcy, Hyacinth Talbot. View the original entry....
Davies, Sir John
Davies, Sir John (1569–1626), lawyer and poet, was baptised at Tisbury, Wiltshire, 16 April 1569. His father, whose name is usually given as John, but sometimes as Edward, Davies (d. 1580), was of Welsh descent, and his mother, Mary (née Bennett; d. 1590), came from a Wiltshire…...
Davis, Thomas Osborne
Davis, Thomas Osborne (1814–45), Young Irelander, poet, and journalist, was born 14 October 1814 at Mallow, Co. Cork, youngest of three sons and one daughter of James Thomas Davis, military surgeon, and his wife Mary (née Atkins). Family and education James…...
Dawson, Arthur
Dawson, Arthur (1698–1775), lawyer, poet, and politician, was born 9 October 1698, the eldest son of Joshua Dawson (c.1660–1725), landowner and later MP for Wicklow borough (1705–14), and his wife, Anne Dawson (née Carr). He was educated by Dr Jones in Dublin, and then…...
Day, Robert
Day, Robert (1746–1841), politician, judge, and diarist, was born 1 July 1746 at Lohercannon, near Tralee, Co. Kerry, the third son in a family of five sons and two daughters of the Rev. John Day (1711–81), chancellor of Ardfert, and his wife Lucy, a daughter of Maurice FitzGerald…...
Delacour, James
Delacour, James (1709–81), clergyman and poet, was eldest son of John Delacour, landowner, of Killowen, near Blarney, Co. Cork; nothing is known of his mother. The Delacours (or de la Courts) settled in Co. Cork during the 1650s and became affluent landowners by the beginning of the…...
Delany, Patrick
Delany, Patrick (1685?–1768), clergyman and writer, was born in Rathcrea, Queen's Co. (Laois), probably on 15 March 1685. His father, Dennis Delany, is reputed to have been a servant to the Irish judge Sir John Russell. Delany was educated in Athy, Co. Kildare, at the school of Mr…...
Denham, Sir John
Denham, Sir John (1615–69), poet and architect, was born in Dublin, the only son of Sir John Denham (qv), lord chief justice of Ireland 1612–17, and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Sir Garret…...
Denny, Sir Barry
Denny, Sir Barry (c.1741–1794), 1st baronet, politician, was the second son of four sons and two daughters of the Rev. Barry Denny, of Ballyvelly, provost of Tralee, Co. Kerry, and his wife, Jane Denny (née O'Connor), the daughter, and eventual heir, of the Rev. Maurice O…...
Derrick, Samuel
Derrick, Samuel (1724–69), writer, was born in Ireland, of a Co. Carlow family which had become impoverished; nothing is known of his parents. Apprenticed to a linen-draper, he found business uncongenial, and escaped to London in his twenties, briefly and very unsuccessfully…...
De Vere, Aubrey Thomas
De Vere, Aubrey Thomas (1814–1902), poet and author, was born 10 January 1814 at Curragh Chase, Co. Limerick, the third son in a family of five sons and three daughters of Aubrey Thomas Hunt, afterwards Sir Aubrey de Vere (qv), 2nd…...
De Vere (Hunt), Sir Aubrey
De Vere (Hunt), Sir Aubrey (1788–1846), 2nd baronet, dramatist, poet, and country gentleman, was born 28 August 1788 at Curragh Chase, parish of Adare, Co. Limerick, eldest son of Sir Vere Hunt, and his wife Eleanor, daughter of William Cecil Pery (1721–94), bishop of Limerick. Sir…...
De Vere, Sir Stephen Edward
De Vere, Sir Stephen Edward (1812–1904), polemicist, poet, and country gentleman, was born 26 July 1812 at Curragh Chase, parish of Adare, Co. Limerick, second son of Sir Aubrey de Vere (qv) and Mary de Vere (née Spring-Rice…...
Devereux, Walter
Devereux, Walter (1539–76), 1st earl of Essex , colonist in Ireland, was born 16 September 1539 at Carmarthen castle, Wales, elder son and heir of Sir Richard Devereux and Dorothy, daughter of George Hastings, earl of Huntingdon. On the death of his grandfather, Walter, on 27…...
Devlin, Edith Florence Newman
Devlin, Edith Florence Newman (1926–2012), lecturer in English, was born on 21 September 1926, in Swords, Co. Dublin, the youngest among three sons and two daughters of Hugh Gaw and Eva Gaw (née Newman). Her mother was a teacher in a Church of Ireland primary school, and her father, who…...
Digby, Lettice
Digby, Lettice (c.1580–1658), Baroness Offaly , was the only child and heir of Gerald Fitzgerald , Lord Offaly, eldest son of Gerald (qv), 11th earl of Kildare. Her mother was Catherine, daughter of Sir Francis Knollys.…...
Dillon, Sir John Talbot
Dillon, Sir John Talbot (c.1740–1805), 1st baronet, politician, was born at Lismullen, Co. Meath, son of Arthur Dillon and his wife, Elizabeth Dillon (née Tilson); he was the grandson of Sir John Dillon, MP for Kells (1692–3) and Co. Meath (1695–9 and 1703–8). Little is…...
Dillon, Thomas
Dillon, Thomas (1615–1673/4), 4th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallen, army officer, was born in March 1615, second son of Sir Christopher Dillon of Ballylagham, Co. Mayo, lord president of Connacht, and Lady Jane, eldest daughter of James Dillon, 1st earl of Roscommon. He was a…...
Dillon, Wentworth
Dillon, Wentworth (1637–85), 4th earl of Roscommon , poet, was born (probably in Ireland) in October 1637, only son of James Dillon, 3rd earl of Roscommon, who had been converted to protestantism by James Ussher (qv). His mother…...
Dobbs, Francis
Dobbs, Francis (1750–1811), Volunteer, author, and MP, was born 27 April 1750, second son among four sons and a daughter of the Rev. Richard Dobbs (c.1694–1775), rector (1743–75) of Lisburn cathedral, Co. Antrim, and his wife Mary (d. 1796), widow of Cornet McMannus, and…...
Donnellan, Anne
Donnellan, Anne (c.1700–62), literary critic, and promoter of literature, learning, and the arts, was the daughter of Nehemiah Donnellan (qv), MP and chief baron of the Irish exchequer (c.1702–05), by his…...