Carlisle, Alexander Montgomery
Carlisle, Alexander Montgomery (1854–1926), ship designer and businessman, and his two brothers John Carlisle (1856–1945), engineer and shipowner, and Henry Montgomery Carlisle (1863?–1945), shipowner, were sons of John Carlisle (d. 1884), teacher, and Catherine Carlisle (née…...
Conyngham, Sir Gerald Ponsonby Lenox
Conyngham, Sir Gerald Ponsonby Lenox - (1866–1956), geodesist, was born 21 August 1866 at Springhill, Moneymore, Co. Londonderry, the seventh of ten children of Sir William Fitzwilliam Lenox-Conyngham, KCB,…...
Cordner, Joseph (James)
Cordner, Joseph (James) (1875–1963), pioneer aviator, was born 11 February 1875 in Derryinver, Co. Armagh, twin brother of Edward Cordner and son of Ussiagh Cordner, farm labourer, and Anne Cordner. Educated locally, Joseph (who may also have been known as ‘James’) and Edward opened…...
Crosbie, Richard
Crosbie, Richard (1756?–1800?), balloonist, was born in Co. Wicklow, second son among five children of Sir Paul Crosbie, 4th baronet and barrack master at Bray, Co. Wicklow, and Mary Crosbie (née Daniel), an Englishwoman. His elder brother was (Sir)…...
Dargan, William
Dargan, William (1799–1867), engineer, was born 28 February 1799 in Co. Carlow. His parents were Patrick and Elizabeth Dargan, his father being a well-to-do farmer who was a tenant of Lord Portarlington. Much of William's early life is obscure. Likewise the exact place of birth is…...
Deasy, Henry Hugh Peter
Deasy, Henry Hugh Peter (1866–1947), soldier, explorer, and pioneer motorist, was born 29 June 1866 in Dublin, second son of Rickard Deasy (qv), privy councillor for Ireland and previously lord justice of appeal, of Carysfort,…...
Dicuil (Dícuil(l))
Dicuil (Dícuil(l)) (c.760–p.825), Irish scholar-exile at the courts of Charles the Great and Louis the Pious, was an important author of several works on geography, computus, grammar, and astronomy. The only details of his life that are known are what can be…...
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…...
Downes, George
Downes, George (1790–1846), travel writer and topographer, was born in South King St., Dublin, son of John Downes; no details of his mother are known. He worked as a draper's assistant in his youth before being befriended by one of the Shackletons of Ballitore, Co. Kildare, who…...
Doyne, William Thomas
Doyne, William Thomas (1823–77), railway engineer, was born in April 1823 at Old Leighlin, Co. Carlow, second son of the Rev. Thomas Doyne and Sophia Doyne (née Armstrong). At the age of 16 he entered the University of Durham and studied engineering for a year. In 1840 he was…...
Evans, Emyr Estyn
Evans, Emyr Estyn (1905–89), Ireland's first professor of geography, was born 29 May 1905, youngest of four sons and one daughter of the Rev. George Owen Evans, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Wales, and Elizabeth Evans (née Jones). Born in Shrewsbury, he spent his early…...
Fitzgerald, Robert David
Fitzgerald, Robert David (1830–92), surveyor, botanical artist, and naturalist, was born 30 November 1830 at Tralee, Co. Kerry, the son of Robert David Fitzgerald, a banker, and his wife, Mary Ann, née Bell. After studying civil engineering at QCC…...
FitzGibbon, Abraham Coates
FitzGibbon, Abraham Coates (1823–87), railway engineer and antiquary, was born 23 January 1823 at Mount Eagle, Kilworth, Co. Cork, second son of Lt Philip FitzGibbon, RN, and Elizabeth FitzGibbon (née Coates) of Killinure, Co. Wicklow. Educated at the…...
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…...
Gibney, Frank
Gibney, Frank (1905–78), architect and town planner, was born 20 April 1905, son of Joseph Francis Gibney, architect, and his wife Eleanor (née Bassett). Aged 18 he went to work for his father (who had been apprenticed to the office of William Kaye Parry), and five years later moved…...
Gookin, Vincent
Gookin, Vincent (1616?–1659), surveyor general, MP for Bandon and Kinsale 1654–9, and friend and colleague of William Petty (qv), was the eldest son of Cork settler Sir Vincent Gookin…...
Griffith, Sir Richard John
Griffith, Sir Richard John (1784–1878), public servant, surveyor, and geologist, was born 20 September 1784 at 8 Hume St., Dublin (the house is marked by a plaque), son of Richard Griffith (qv), MP for Askeaton, deputy governor of Co.…...
Heath, (Sophie) Mary (‘Lady Heath’) (née Peirce-Evans; other married name Eliott-Lynn)
Heath, (Sophie) Mary (‘Lady Heath’) (née Peirce-Evans; other married name Eliott-Lynn) (1896–1939), athlete and aviator, was born Sophie Catherine Theresa Mary Peirce-Evans on 17 November 1896 in Knockaderry, Co. Limerick, the only child of Jackie Peirce-Evans and his wife and former…...
Hemans, George Willoughby
Hemans, George Willoughby (1814–85), railway engineer, was born 27 August 1814 at Ryllon near St Asaph, north Wales, son of Capt. Alfred Hemans of the 4th (King's Own) Regiment and the poet Felicia Hemans (née Browne; 1794–1835) who were married in 1812. In 1818, after a short and…...
Hood, John
Hood, John (1720/21?–1783), land surveyor, was apparently born in Co. Donegal. There may have been two John Hoods, father and son, who were both surveyors; if so, it is impossible to disentangle their careers and dates of vital events. John Hood, surveyor, died in 1783, and there is…...
Horan, James
Horan, James (1911–86), priest, community activist, and airport developer, was born 5 May 1911 at Tooreen, Partry, Co. Mayo, eldest of three sons and four daughters of Bartley Horan, farmer and builder, of Partry, and Catherine Horan (née Casey) of Kilkieran, Co. Mayo. After education…...
Hughes, Pat
Hughes, Pat (1924–99), prospector and businessman, was born Patrick Joseph Hughes on 14 March 1924 near Keady, Co. Armagh, the only son of three children of Charles Hughes, a building contractor of Keady, and his wife Mary. When he was around 10, his catholic family moved to Newry,…...
Hutton, John
Hutton, John (1757–1830), founder of the firm of John Hutton & Sons (1779–1923), Ireland's premier coachbuilders, was born 8 June 1757 in Dublin, son of Robert Hutton (d. 1779), tannery owner, and Sarah Hutton (née Lewis; d. 1781). In the year of his father's death John Hutton…...
Hutton, Thomas
This is a co-subject for the entry on Hutton, John. View the original entry....
Irwin, Herbert Carmichael (‘Bird’, ‘Bertie’)
Irwin, Herbert Carmichael (‘Bird’, ‘Bertie’) (1894–1930), athlete and aeronaut, was born 26 June 1894, apparently in Co. Dublin, one of four children of Thomas Frederick Nesbitt Irwin and his wife Elinor Emily Lindsay (née Carroll). The family subsequently lived in Dublin at an address…...