Aiken, Jim
Aiken, Jim (1932–2007), music promoter and businessman, was one of seven or eight children born to Joseph Aiken and his wife Annie (née Fagan), and was raised on the family farm in Jonesborough, Co. Armagh, close to the border. After completing his secondary education, he studied…...
Anderson, Gerry
Anderson, Gerry (1944–2014), musician, radio broadcaster and television presenter, was born Gerald Michael Anderson on 28 October 1944 in Derry, one of four children (three sons and a daughter) of John Anderson, a boiler and range-fireplace fitter who had joined the anti-treaty side…...
Arkless, Brede (née Boyle)
Arkless, Brede (née Boyle) (1939–2006), rock climber and mountain guide, was born 10 August 1939 in Moston, Manchester, England, the daughter of James Boyle, a fitter, and his wife Mary (née Harrison). Born prematurely while her Dublin-resident parents were visiting family in Manchester…...
Balfe, John Donnellan
Balfe, John Donnellan (1816–80), politician, journalist, and British government spy, was born in Co. Meath, son of James Balfe, gentleman, and Sara Balfe (née Sutherland). He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, and had a brief career in the British army, joining…...
Ball, John
Ball, John (1818–89), scientist, politician, and mountain traveller, was born 20 August 1818 in Dublin, eldest son among four children of Nicholas Ball (qv), politician and judge, and Jane Ball (neé Sherlock) of Butlerstown, Co.…...
Barry, Billie (Lillian)
Barry, Billie (Lillian) (1921–2014), performer and stage school founder, was born on 27 January 1921 in Drumcondra, Dublin, the youngest of fifteen children to John Clarke-Barry, orchestra leader and musician, and his wife Anne (née Hughes), an amateur operatic singer. The family were…...
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, Dominic
Behan, Dominic (1928–89), writer, balladeer, and broadcaster, was born 22 October 1928 in Dublin, fourth child of five children of Stephen Behan, house painter, and Kathleen Behan (qv) (née Kearney). Educated at St Agatha's School, North…...
Bernelle, Agnes
Bernelle, Agnes (1923–99), singer and actress, was born Agnes Elizabeth Bernauer on 7 March 1923 in Berlin, Germany, daughter of Rudolph Bernauer (1880–1953), a Jewish-Hungarian actor, playwright, librettist, and theatrical director and impresario, and his second wife, Emmy (née Erb) (b…...
Bewerunge, Heinrich
Bewerunge, Heinrich (1862–1923), musicologist, educator, and composer, was born 7 December 1862 in Letmathe, Westphalia, Germany, the second of nine children of Heinrich Hermann Bewerunge (1836–1901), a building contractor from Lüchtringen-an-der-Weser, and his wife, Maria…...
Bianconi, Charles
Bianconi, Charles (1786–1875), transport entrepreneur, was born Joachim Carlo Guiseppe Bianconi on 24 September 1786 at Tregolo, near Como in Lombardy, Italy, the second of five children of Pietro and Maria Bianconi. His father owned a farm and a silk mill, and was agent for the…...
Bulfin, William
Bulfin, William (1863–1910), journalist in Argentina and travel writer, was born at Derrinlough House, near Birr, King's County (Offaly), and baptised 14 November 1863, fourth son in the family of ten sons and one daughter of William Bulfin, a strong farmer, and his wife Ellen (née…...
Burke, Honora
Burke, Honora (1674–1698), was the youngest daughter of William Burke (qv), 7th earl of Clanricarde, and his second wife, Helen, daughter of Donough MacCarthy (qv), 1st earl of Clancarty…...
Bushnell, Anne
Bushnell, Anne (1939–2011), singer, was born on 28 March 1939 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, one of four children of John Kavanagh, a motor mechanic, of Arnott Street, Portobello, Dublin, and his wife Evelyn (née Ledwidge). She grew up in Milltown, Dublin, and danced as a child on the…...
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.…...
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-…...
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…...
Carolan, Turlough (Ó Cearbhalláin), Toirdhealbhach
Carolan, Turlough (Ó Cearbhalláin, Toirdhealbhach ) (1670–1738), Irish harper and composer, was born near Nobber, Co. Meath, the son of John Carolan, a small farmer or blacksmith. In 1684 the family moved to Ballyfarnon, Co. Roscommon, where John Carolan was employed by the MacDermott…...
Carroll, Doc
Carroll, Doc (1939–2005), singer and musician, was born Martin O'Carroll on 19 November 1939 in Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo, the third youngest of eight children of Frank O'Carroll, doctor, and his American wife, Catherine (née Collins). Aged three when his family moved from Tourmakeady to…...
Ceannt, Éamonn
Ceannt, Éamonn (1881–1916), revolutionary and Irish-Irelander, was born Edward Thomas Kent on 21 September 1881 in Ballymoe, Glenamaddy, Co. Galway, sixth among seven children (six boys and a girl) of James Kent (1841–1912), Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) constable originally of Co.…...
Clancy, Liam
Clancy, Liam (1935–2009), folk singer, was born William ('Willie') Clancy on 2 September 1935 in William Street, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, youngest child among four sons and seven daughters of Robert Joseph Clancy, insurance agent, and Johanna Clancy (née McGrath). His father…...
Collins, Jerome James
Collins, Jerome James (1841–81) meteorologist, Arctic explorer, and founder of Clan na Gael, was born 17 October 1841 in Cork city, the son of Mark Collins, a lime and saltworks owner of South Main Street, Cork, and his wife Ellen (née Ryan). He attended St Vincent's Seminary,…...
Conolly, Violet
Conolly, Violet (1899–1988), authority on Soviet Russia and traveller, was born 11 May 1899 at Fernville, Glasnevin, Co. Dublin, the eldest of six children, five daughters and one son, of Thomas Conolly, a master builder, and his wife, Teresa (née McQuaid), of Stormanstown, Co.…...
Costigan, Christopher
Costigan, Christopher (1810–35), explorer, was third son of Sylvester Costigan, distiller, of Thomas St., Dublin, and Catherine Costigan (née Fitzsimons or Fitzmont), formerly of Toddstown, Co. Meath. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College (1819–26) and, for a period, at…...
Cotter (alias O'Brien), Patrick
Cotter (alias O'Brien), Patrick (1760/61–1806), giant and showman, was born at Belgooly, near Kinsale, Co. Cork. His parents were farmers; while no details of his father are available, his mother was still alive at the time of his death and is named in his will as Margaret Cotter…...