Abell, Abraham
Abell, Abraham (1783–1851), antiquary and public figure at Cork, was born 11 April 1783 in Pope's Quay, Cork, son of Richard Abell, a quaker merchant. Abraham Abell too was a merchant, but he is to be remembered for his prominence in voluntary bodies, both cultural and…...
Bewley, Henry
Bewley, Henry (1804–76), businessman and evangelist, was born 4 July 1804, fifth of ten sons of Samuel Bewley, Dublin businessman, and Elizabeth Bewley (née Fayle); they also had three daughters. An older brother, who had been named Henry, died aged two in January 1804, and the name…...
Burneyeat (Burnyeat), John
Burneyeat (Burnyeat), John (1631–90), quaker missionary, was born in Crabtreebeck, Cumberland. A pious, industrious farmer, he attended a meeting held by George Fox in 1653 and afterwards joined the Society of Friends. Following his conversion, he continued to farm and did not begin to…...
Edmundson, William
Edmundson, William (1627–1712), quaker leader, was born c. 4 October 1627 in Little Musgrave, Westmorland (Cumbria), England, youngest of six children of John Edmundson (d. 1635), a well-to-do yeoman, and Grace Edmundson (d. 1632). Orphaned at an early age, he was reared…...
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ')
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ') (1891–1969), writer and trade unionist, was born on 13 November 1891 in Leeds, Yorkshire, the second of four sons of Richard Fox and his wife Elizabeth (née Rathmell). Richard senior worked as a gymnasium instructor in Leeds, and later as a skilled…...
Grierson, Philip
Grierson, Philip (1910–2006), historian and numismatist, was born in Dublin on 15 November 1910, only son and second of three surviving children (another child had died in infancy) of Philip Henry Grierson (1859–1952) and his wife Roberta Ellen Jane (née Pope), a doctor's…...
Halliday, Fred (Simon Frederick Peter)
Halliday, Fred (Simon Frederick Peter) (1946–2009), academic, writer and public intellectual, was born on 22 February 1946 in Dublin, the youngest of three sons of Arthur Halliday, a quaker shoe manufacturer, and Margaret Mary 'Rita' Halliday (née Finigan), of Dundalk. He was educated…...
Hancock, John
Hancock, John (‘John Hancock II’) (1762–1823), quaker linen manufacturer, merchant, and philanthropist, was born in Lisburn, Co. Antrim, son of John Hancock, one of the Society of Friends, who had inherited a family business near Lisburn, and his second wife, Betty (née Hunter). John…...
Hyde, Harford Montgomery
Hyde, Harford Montgomery (1907–89), barrister, politician, and author, was born 14 August 1907 in Belfast, son of James Johnstone Hyde JP, linen merchant, and his wife, Isobel (née Montgomery). Hyde claimed distant kinship with Henry James. His…...
Jacob, Joshua
Jacob, Joshua (1801–77), quaker reformer and grocer, was born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, second son of Samuel Watson Jacob, merchant, and Mary Jacob (née Jackson). He was educated at Newtown school, Waterford; in Leeds, Yorkshire; and finally at Ballitore, Co. Kildare. After an…...
Jacob, William Beale
Jacob, William Beale (1825–1902), businessman, was born 17 August 1825 in Waterford, the eldest of the three children of quakers Isaac Thomas Jacob (d. 23 March 1839), baker, and his wife, Ann, eldest daughter of William Beale, woollen manufacturer, of Mountmellick, Co. Laois. After…...
Kemmy, James Joseph Oliver Mary (‘Jim’)
Kemmy, James Joseph Oliver Mary (‘Jim’) (1936–97), trade unionist, Labour politician, and local historian, was born 14 September 1936 in O'Curry St., Limerick, eldest of three sons and two daughters of Michael Kemmy and Elizabeth Kemmy (née Pilkington). His mother came from farming…...
Lennon, Peter Gerard
Lennon, Peter Gerard (1930–2011), journalist, documentary film-maker and social critic, was born on 28 February 1930 at 30 North Frederick Street, Dublin, the eldest of three sons of Peter Joseph Lennon and his wife Delia (née Fenton). His mother was a former post office worker…...
Meredith, James Creed
Meredith, James Creed (1875–1942), judge of the supreme court and writer, was born in Dublin, son of Sir James Creed Meredith, secretary of the Royal University of Ireland from 1880 to 1909, and his third wife, Nellie (née Graves). He had three brothers and two sisters. He began…...
Moody, Theodore William Dippie (‘Theo’)
Moody, Theodore William Dippie (‘Theo’) (1907–84), historian, was born 26 November 1907 in Belfast, only son (there was one older daughter) of William John Moody of Co. Londonderry, iron turner at Harland & Wolff's shipyard and trade unionist, and Ann Isabella Moody (née…...
Moriarty, John Stephen
Moriarty, John Stephen (1938–2007), philosopher and shaman, was born 2 February 1938 at Moyvane, near Listowel, Co. Kerry, fourth of six children (two sons and four daughters) of James Moriarty, smallholder and native speaker of Irish (with eleven cows and 'thirty-two acres of bad,…...
Newenham, Richard
Newenham, Richard (1705–59), merchant and manufacturer, was born into a quaker family on 31 December 1705 in Cork, the eldest of seven children of John Newenham, a clothier of Cork city, and his wife Elizabeth (née Wight). His maternal grandfather, Thomas Wight, wrote the first history…...
O'Brien, Donal Cruise
O'Brien, Donal Cruise (1941–2012), political scientist, was born in Dublin on 4 July 1941, eldest of two daughters and a son of Conor Cruise O'Brien (qv), diplomat, politician and writer, and his first wife Christine (née Foster). He…...
Orpen, Goddard Henry
Orpen, Goddard Henry (1852–1932), lawyer and historian, was born on 8 May 1852 in Dublin, the fourth son of the five sons and three daughters of John Herbert Orpen, barrister, of Dublin, and Ellen Susan Gertrude, youngest daughter of Revd John Richards of Grange (latterly Monksgrange),…...
Penn, William
Penn, William (1644–1718), quaker leader and founder of Pennsylvania, was born 14 October 1644 in London, the elder of two sons (there was also a daughter) of William Penn (1621–70), a naval commander, and his wife, Margaret Penn (née Jasper) (1610?–1682). Penn's mother was the…...
Penrose, Cooper
Penrose, Cooper (1736–1815), quaker and merchant, was born 12 April 1736 in Co. Cork, eldest son among four children of John Penrose, timber merchant, and Anne Penrose (née Cooper). His father died when he was 4 and Cooper moved to Carlow and then Dublin, where the family lived at…...
Penrose, George
Penrose, George (1722–96), merchant and co-founder of the Waterford glass works, was born 5 September 1722, ninth son among twelve children of William Penrose I, merchant, and Margaret Penrose (née Godfrey), of Co. Waterford. The Penroses were one of a close knit group of quaker…...
Penrose, William
This is a co-subject for the entry on Penrose, George. View the original entry....
Perrot, John
Perrot, John (d. 1665), quaker, is of unknown origins. He may have been born in Ireland. He claimed to be the illegitimate son of Sir John Perrot (qv), former lord deputy of Ireland, but there is no evidence to support his claim. In 1655 he…...
Poole, Jacob
Poole, Jacob (1774–1827), philologist and antiquarian, who was descended from an old-established quaker family, was born 11 February 1774 in Growtown, Co. Wexford, son of Josiah Poole and his wife Sarah, daughter of Jacob Martin of Aghfad, Co. Wexford. The Pooles, originally from…...