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…...
Adams, John Bodkin
Adams, John Bodkin (1899–1983), doctor, was born 20 January 1899 in Randalstown, Co. Antrim, elder son of Samuel Adams, watchmaker, and Ellen Adams (née Bodkin) from Desertmartin, Co. Londonderry, and grew up in Ballinderry, Co. Antrim. His brother died in 1916. His father retired…...
Asmal, (Abdul) Kader
Asmal, (Abdul) Kader (1934–2011), human rights jurist, anti-apartheid campaigner and South African government minister, was born on 8 October 1934 in Stanger (KwaDukuza), Natal, South Africa, the youngest of eight children (six sons and two daughters) of Ahmed Asmal, grocer, and his…...
Ballance, John
Ballance, John (1839–93), New Zealand politician, was born 27 March 1839, eldest among ten children surviving to adulthood of Samuel Ballance and Mary Ballance (née McNeice) of Ballypitmave near Glenavy, Co. Antrim; she was from a quaker background, while the Ballances were a…...
Barbour, William Pirrie ('Bill')
Barbour, William Pirrie ('Bill') (1920–2009), teacher, and community and political activist, was born in Newtownards, Co. Down, son of Walter Terence Barbour, a director of the Combe Barbour engineering firm, and his wife Blanche (née Redman), whose father owned wine shops in London…...
Barcroft, Sir Joseph
Barcroft, Sir Joseph (1872–1947), physiologist, was born at The Glen, Newry, Co. Down, second of five children of the quakers Henry Barcroft (qv), DL, and Anna (Richardson) Barcroft, daughter of…...
Barr, Andrew (Andy)
Barr, Andrew (Andy) (1913–2003), trade unionist and communist, was born 23 September 1913 at 29 Cluan Place, off Mountpottinger Road, Ballymacarrett, Belfast, second child among two sons and five daughters (two other children died in infancy) of Andrew Barr (d. 1986, aged 98), a…...
Bentham, Ethel
Bentham, Ethel (1861–1931), doctor and MP, was born 5 January 1861 in London, second daughter of William Bentham (an inspector, secretary, and later general manager with the Standard Life Assurance Company in London) and Mary Ann Bentham (née Hammond). Her father, a quaker, was…...
Bewley, Arthur Geoffrey
This is a co-subject for the entry on Bewley, Henry Theodore. View the original entry....
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…...
Bewley, Henry Theodore
Bewley, Henry Theodore (1860–1945), physician and lecturer, was born 25 June 1860 at Willow Park, Booterstown, Co. Dublin, into a leading quaker family, only surviving son of Henry Bewley (qv), businessman, and Anne Bewley (née Pike). He…...
Blomfield, Sara Louisa
Blomfield, Sara Louisa , Lady (1859–1939), Bahá'í pioneer and humanitarian, was born in Knockanevin, Borrisoleigh, near Thurles, Co. Tipperary, the daughter of Matthew (Matthias) John Ryan and his wife Emily (née Crowe). Religious tension between her catholic father and anglo-…...
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…...
Clare, Anthony Ward
Clare, Anthony Ward (1942–2007), psychiatrist and media personality, was born 24 December 1942 in Dublin, the youngest of three children (two girls and a boy) of Bernard Clare, state solicitor with the land registry, and his wife Agnes (née Dunne). Clare recalled his father as a gentle…...
Crofton, Sir John Wenman
Crofton, Sir John Wenman (1912–2009), physician, scientist and public health campaigner, was born on 27 March 1912 at the family home, 55 Merrion Square South, Dublin, the only son (between two sisters) of William Mervyn Crofton, physician and bacteriologist, and his wife Mary…...
Davies, Moya Llewelyn
Davies, Moya Llewelyn (1881–1943), political activist, was born Mary O'Connor in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, on 25 March 1881, third of five daughters of James O'Connor (qv) (1836–1910), journalist and nationalist MP, and his first wife, Mary.…...
Douglas, James Green
Douglas, James Green (1887–1954), senator and businessman, was born 11 July 1887 in 19 Brighton Square, Dublin, eldest among five sons and three daughters of John Douglas (proprietor of John Douglas & Sons Ltd, drapers and outfitters, of Wexford St.) and Emily Douglas (née Mitton)…...
Driscol, Denis
Driscol, Denis (1762–1811), newspaper proprietor and radical, was born in Co. Cork. Little is known about his parentage and details of his early career are sparse, but he was born into a catholic family wealthy enough to provide him with an education on the continent. Having…...
Dunlop, Daniel Nicol
Dunlop, Daniel Nicol (1868–1935), businessman and esotericist, was born 28 December 1868 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, only child of Alexander Dunlop, described variously as an architect or builder, and Catherine Dunlop (née Nicol) (1847–73). His father, a stern authoritarian, was…...
Dwyer, Bernie
Dwyer, Bernie (1943–2013), journalist, filmmaker and political activist, was born in Dublin on 14 December 1943 to Mary (née Fagan) and Arthur Hannon , a clerk at Dublin Corporation. She spent her early childhood in Drimnagh, before the family moved to Sutton, Co. Dublin. She left…...
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…...
Elam (Dacre Fox), Norah
Elam (Dacre Fox), Norah (1878–1961), suffragist and fascist, was born Norah Doherty in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, on 5 May 1878, third of nine children (three daughters and six sons) of John Doherty, businessman, and his wife Charlotte Isabel (née Clarke). The family moved in 1888 to London…...
Ervine, David (Walter)
Ervine, David (Walter) (1954–2007), loyalist paramilitary and politician, was born in Chamberlain St., east Belfast, on 21 July 1954, youngest of five children (two girls and three boys) of Walter Ervine, iron turner and shipyard worker, and his wife Elizabeth ('Dolly'). Walter Ervine…...
Firth, Virginia Arabella ('Gay')
Firth, Virginia Arabella ('Gay') (1937–2005), author, journalist and political campaigner, was born in Belfast on 9 January 1937, the eldest of three daughters of Lancelot Turtle, a Belfast businessman and stockbroker, and Helen Ramsey Turtle (1911–46), born in Denver, Colorado,…...
Fleury, Eleonora Lilian
Fleury, Eleonora Lilian (1867–1960), medical doctor, was born in Manchester, England, the eldest daughter of Charles Fleury, a Waterford surgeon of Huguenot stock. Losing her mother at an early age, she appears to have been home-educated before registering as a medical student at…...