Diver, Bridget
Diver (Divers, Deaver, Deavers, Devens, Devins, Devan), Bridget (‘Irish Biddy’, ‘Michigan Bridget’) (fl. 1861–4), vivandière and ‘daughter’ of the First Michigan Cavalry regiment, was born in Ireland sometime before 1840. It has been suggested that the ‘Michigan Bridget’ legend…...
Dolan, Joseph
Dolan, Joseph (1872–1930), businessman and local activist, was born in January 1872 in Ardee, Co. Louth, son of Thomas Dolan, publican, merchant and farmer who was a native Irish speaker, and his wife Anne Segrave. The Dolans had built up an extensive business in Ardee since the early…...
Donnelly, Nicholas
Donnelly, Nicholas (1837–1920), catholic bishop, church musician, and local historian, was born 23 November 1837, in St Paul's parish, Dublin, eldest son of John Donnelly, a merchant. He was educated at Castleknock College and the Irish College, Rome, where he was ordained priest…...
Doolin, William
Doolin, William (1887–1962), surgeon, editor, and medical historian, was born 19 July 1887 at 20 Ely Place, Dublin, eldest child of Walter G. Doolin, architect, and Marion Doolin (née Creedon). His siblings were Daniel and Walter. He was educated at the Catholic University School…...
Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan
Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan (1816–1903), politician and journalist, was born in Monaghan town on 12 April 1816, the sixth and youngest child of John Duffy (d. 1827), a shopkeeper and former United Irishman, and his wife, Anne (née Gavan). Formative years After the premature deaths of his…...
Edwards, Robert (‘Robin’) Walter Dudley
Edwards, Robert (‘Robin’) Walter Dudley (1909–88), historian, was born 4 June 1909 in Dublin, elder son of Walter Edwards (1862–1946), a minor civil servant from Worcestershire, England, and Bridget Teresa McInerney (1871–1956), a nurse from Co. Clare. When his parents, a quaker and a…...
Eustace, John Chetwode
Eustace, John Chetwode (1762/3–1815), catholic priest and writer, was born in Co. Kildare. Both his parents were reputed to belong to gentry families, his father's in that county. It seems likely that through his father, whose name is not known, he was descended from Benjamin…...
Ferris, Richard
Ferris, Richard (1754–1828), priest and adventurer, was born 10 February 1754 at Ballymalis, near Killarney, Co. Kerry, youngest among four sons of Daniel Ferris, tenant farmer; his mother was a Hassett, apparently a protestant. His brothers emigrated to France, where one, Edward…...
Finaghty, James
Finaghty, James (1614–p.1671), catholic priest and faith healer, was attached to the diocese of Elphin. During the confederate period in the 1640s, he was a supporter of the papal nuncio, Rinuccini (qv). Utilising the…...
Fitzgerald, John
Fitzgerald, John (1825–1910), poet, painter, antiquary, and wood-carver, was born 18 June 1825 at Hanover Street, Cork, son of John Fitzgerald and Martha Mary Deacy. He was educated at Fr Mathew's (qv) school, Blackamoor Lane, and…...
Fitzgibbon, Theodora
Fitzgibbon, Theodora (1916–91), cookery expert and writer, was born Joan Eileen Rosling on 21 October 1916 in London, the only child of Adam Rosling, motor engineer with the Royal Naval Air Service, and Alice Winifred Rosling (née Hodgkins). Her parents were divorced soon after…...
Fitzmaurice, James Christopher
Fitzmaurice, James Christopher (1898–1965), aviator, was born 6 January 1898 at 35 Mountjoy Prison Cottages, North Circular Road, Dublin, second of three sons and one daughter of Michael Fitzmaurice, prison warder, and Mary Agnes Fitzmaurice (née Riordan), both of whose families…...
Fitzpatrick, Thomas (‘Broken Hand’)
Fitzpatrick, Thomas (‘Broken Hand’) (1799–1854), American frontier fur trapper, guide, and agent to the tribes of the central plains, was born in Co. Cavan, one of three sons and four daughters of Mary Fitzpatrick (née Kiernan) and her husband, whose forename is not known. A catholic,…...
Fitzpatrick, William John
Fitzpatrick, William John (1830–95), historian, was born 31 August 1830 in Thomas St., Dublin, son of John Fitzpatrick, tallow chandler and merchant. He began his education at a local Church of Ireland school before attending Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare. His father left…...
Fleming, Patrick
Fleming, Patrick (1599–1631), Franciscan friar and scholar, was born on 17 April 1599 at Bel atha Lagan, Clonkeen, Co. Louth, the son of Gerald Fleming and Elizabeth Cusack of Cushintown. He was baptised Christopher and was a pious and hard-working child. At the age of thirteen he…...
Flood, William Henry Grattan
Flood, William Henry Grattan (1859–1928), musician and historian, was born 1 November 1859 at Lismore, Co. Waterford, eldest son of William Flood and his wife Catherine (née Fitzsimon). His mother gave him his first musical training, and he continued his musical studies during his…...
Furlong, George Joseph
Furlong, George Joseph (1898–1987), art historian and gallery director, was born 1 February 1898 in Dundrum, seven miles north-west of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, son of Michael Furlong, hotel proprietor, and Kate Mary Furlong (née Bourke). Although he was orphaned at 9, the family…...
Gardiner, Marguerite (Margaret)
Gardiner, Marguerite (Margaret) (1789–1849), countess of Blessington , writer, journalist, and society hostess, was born 1 September 1789 at Knockbrit, Co. Tipperary, the second daughter and fourth child of Edmund Power and his wife Ellen (née Sheehy), both from well-established…...
Garzia (Garcia), John
Garzia (Garcia), John (d. p.1723), priest-catcher, was almost certainly born in Spain. He was the most notorious of a profession – which included Edward Tyrell (qv) – active in the early eighteenth century, who, in return…...
Gilbert, Sir John Thomas
Gilbert, Sir John Thomas (1829–98), merchant, historian, archivist, and librarian, was born 23 January 1829 at 23 Jervis St., Dublin, second son and fifth child of John Gilbert (1791–1833), wine and cider importer and Portuguese consul, and Mary Anne Gilbert (née Costello), both…...
Gorham, Maurice Anthony Coneys
Gorham, Maurice Anthony Coneys (1902–75), author, journalist, and broadcasting administrator, was born in London on 19 August 1902, the younger child of James John Gorham, doctor, formerly of Clifden, Co. Galway, and his wife Mary Smith of Lancaster. His sister Mary Honora was…...
Grimshaw, Beatrice Ethel
Grimshaw, Beatrice Ethel (1870–1953), author and traveller, was born 3 February 1870 at Cloona House, Dunmurry, Co. Antrim, fourth child among two sons and four daughters of Nicholas William Grimshaw of Belfast, former director of the Ulster Spinning Company turned wine-and-oil merchant…...
Gywnn, Denis Rolleston
Gywnn, Denis Rolleston (1893–1971), journalist and historian, was born 6 March 1893, third son among four sons and two daughters of Stephen Lucius Gwynn (qv), writer and MP, and his wife and first cousin Mary Louise, daughter of…...
Hackett, Francis
Hackett, Francis (1883–1962), novelist, historian, and journalist, was born 21 January 1883 at 34 Patrick St., Kilkenny city, one of six sons and three daughters of John Byrne Hackett, a Kilkenny-born doctor, and Bridget Hackett (née Doheny), daughter of a prosperous farmer of…...
Hadden, George
Hadden, George (1882–1973), medical doctor and historian, was born 9 October 1882 at Richmond Terrace, Wexford town, son of George Hadden, draper and alderman, and Hannah Mary Hadden (née Perrot). The Haddens, a methodist family, were established in Wexford town during the nineteenth…...