Musa, Jennifer ('Mummy'; Jennifer Jehanzeba Qazi Musa)
Musa, Jennifer ('Mummy'; Jennifer Jehanzeba Qazi Musa) (1917–2008), politician, tribal elder and nurse, was born Bridget Wren on 11 November 1917 in Tarmons, Tarbert, Co. Kerry, one of five daughters and two sons of John Wren, a small-holding farmer, and his wife Johanna (née…...
Nowlan, David Shackleton
Nowlan, David Shackleton (1936–2010), journalist, critic and medical doctor, was born on 19 May 1936 at 16 Lower Hatch Street, Dublin, the eldest of four children (two boys and two girls) of Revd George Nowlan (1904–74), rector (1935–9) of St Matthias's church, Dublin, and his wife…...
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),…...
Reid, James Seaton
Reid, James Seaton (1798–1851), presbyterian historian, was born 19 December 1798 at Lurgan, Co. Armagh, eleventh son among seventeen children of Forrest Reid (d. 1801), schoolmaster, and Mary Reid (née Weir) of Derriaghy, Co. Antrim. Only five of the children survived childhood.…...
Reid, Thomas
Reid, Thomas (1791–1825), naval surgeon and author, was one of four sons of Thomas Reid, farmer, from Cadian, near Eglish, Co. Tyrone. He received a classical education from the family pastor, the presbyterian minister Hugh Bell, before attending the Royal College of Surgeons in…...
Shanks, James
Shanks, James (1854–1912), farmer, agrarian activist, and self-taught naturalist and historian, was born 4 November 1854 on Ballyfounder farm, two miles south of Portaferry on the Ards peninsula, Co. Down. A presbyterian, after attending Portaferry no. 2 national school until age…...
Sibbett, Robert Mackie
Sibbett, Robert Mackie (1868–1941), journalist and author, was born 4 September 1868 in the townland of Killycoogan, Portglenone, Co. Antrim, the only son of James Mackie and Agnes Ann Mackie (née Sibbett; b. 1832, d. 4 November 1916), who were married on 20 November 1867. After…...
Sinton, John Alexander
Sinton, John Alexander (1884–1956), Indian Army medical officer and VC, was born 2 December 1884 in British Columbia, Canada, son of Walker Sinton of Lisburn, Co. Antrim, and his wife Isabella, daughter of Allan Pringle of Derrymore House, Newry, Co. Down. In 1890 the family…...
Stephenson, Samuel Martin
Stephenson, Samuel Martin (1742–1833), presbyterian minister and physician, was the youngest son of James Stephenson, farmer, and his wife, Margaret (née Martin), of Straidballymorris, Templepatrick, Co. Antrim. He was educated at the classical school in Antrim before studying…...
Stevenson, John
Stevenson, John (1850–1931), printer, inventor, antiquary, and author, was born in Rostrevor, Co. Down, in 1850, eldest among three to five sons of John Stevenson (d. 1881) and Harriet Stevenson (née Walsh; d. 1891). One brother died in childhood and one as a young man; there may…...
Stevenson, William
Stevenson, William (c.1719–1783), physician and writer, was born in Ireland. His parents' names are not known, but he was a cousin of Andrew Thomas Stewart, 1st earl of Castle Stewart, Co. Tyrone. He received his medical education at Edinburgh University, where he was one…...
Stewart, Anthony Terence Quincey ('A. T. Q.')
Stewart, Anthony Terence Quincey ('A. T. Q.') (1929–2010), historian, was born on 8 July 1929 in the Ballygomartin area of north Belfast, only child of Christopher Greenwood Stewart, a baker, and his second wife (née Quincey), who came from Stockport, Lancashire. The presbyterian…...
Stewart, Kenneth Donald
Stewart, Kenneth Donald (1911–2006), surgeon and evangelist, was born 9 October 1911 at 26 Mountshannon Road, Kilmainham, Dublin, the second of at least two sons of Donald Kenneth Stewart, a commercial traveller, and his wife Jeanie (née Mackay); both his parents were Scottish-born…...
Swan, Harry Percival
Swan, Harry Percival (1879–1970), businessman, antiquarian, and author, was born 4 June 1879 at Ardeelan House, Buncrana, eldest child among five sons and three daughters of Thomas Swan, miller, and his wife Isabella, daughter of James Cooke of Belfast. His father owned a milling…...
Swan, Jeremy (Harold James Charles)
Swan, Jeremy (Harold James Charles) (1922–2005), cardiologist, inventor of the Swan–Ganz catheter, was born 1 June 1922 in Sligo town, one of four sons of Harold Swan and his wife Marcelle (née Kelly); both his parents were physicians who had met while studying medicine at…...
Swift, (Laurence) John
Swift, (Laurence) John (1896–1990), trade unionist and labour historian, was born 26 August 1896 in Dundalk, Co. Louth, the eldest of two sons and two daughters of Patrick Swift, a master baker, and his wife Alice (née Deane), daughter of a Dundalk businessman. Known generally as…...
Táherzadeh-Málmírí, Adib
Táherzadeh-Málmírí, Adib (1921–2000), historian of the Bahá’í Faith, was born 29 April 1921 in Yazd, Iran, youngest of two surviving sons of the four sons and four daughters (three of whom had been killed during a massacre of Bahá’ís) of Hájí Muhammad-Táhir-i-Málmírí (c.…...
Tennent, Robert
Tennent, Robert (1765–1837), medical doctor, merchant, and philanthropist, was born 9 August 1765, fourth child and second son (of five) of the Rev. John Tennent and Anne Tennent (née Patton). One brother died young in the West Indies in 1794. After completing his medical studies…...
Thomson, Samuel Smith
Thomson, Samuel Smith (1778?–1849), doctor and philanthropist, was one of at least four children of James Thomson, surgeon in Coleraine, and his wife Ellen, youngest daughter of Samuel Smith (1691–1760), who was prominent in Belfast, was related to many of Belfast's well known linen and…...
Thomson, Sir William Willis Dalziel
Thomson, Sir William Willis Dalziel (1885–1950), doctor, was born 8 September 1885 at Anahilt House, Hillsborough, Co. Down, first (and possibly only) son and fourth child of Dr William Thomson, JP, and Elizabeth Thomson (née Greer). He…...
Torrens, David Smyth
Torrens, David Smyth (1897–1967), professor of physiology and amateur horologist, was born 10 September 1897 in the Carragh district of Culnaman townland, Moneydig, Garvagh, Co. Londonderry, eldest son among three sons and a daughter of David Torrens, farmer, and Margaret Torrens…...
Warden, David Bailie
Warden, David Bailie (1772–1845), United Irishman, diplomat, and bibliographer, was born at Ballycastle, Co. Down, eldest among three sons of Robert Warden, tenant farmer, and Elizabeth Warden (née Bailie). Educated locally, he studied for the presbyterian ministry, despite being…...
Wisdom, John Oulton (J. O.)
Wisdom, John Oulton (J. O.) (1908–93), philosopher and psychoanalyst, was born in Dublin on 29 December 1908, only child of Thomas Hume Wisdom, brewery clerk, and his English-born wife Jane, daughter of Dr Henry Oulton of St Stephen's Green. The Cambridge language philosopher Arthur…...
Witherow, Thomas
Witherow, Thomas (1824–90), presbyterian minister and historian, was born 29 May 1824 in his maternal grandfather's house at Ballycastle, near Limavady, Co. Londonderry, eldest in a family of four children of Hugh Witherow, a prosperous farmer and grazier from Aughlish, near…...