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…...
Wolfe, George
Wolfe, George (1859–1941), soldier, landowner, antiquarian, and politician, was born 16 December 1859 at Bishopland, Ballymore Eustace, Co. Kildare, younger son among two sons and one daughter of Theobald George Samuel Wolfe (1815–72), landowner, of Bishopland and Forenaghts, Naas…...
Wood, Herbert
Wood, Herbert (1860–1955), archivist, historian, deputy keeper of the Public Record Office of Ireland, was born on 6 September 1860 at Trinity Square, Lambeth, London, a prosperous residential development for merchants and professionals. He was the sixth of eight children of William…...
Wood, Robert
Wood, Robert (1717?–1771), traveller, author, and politician, was born at Riverstown Castle near Trim, Co. Meath, eldest son of the Rev. James Wood of Summerhill, Co. Meath. He matriculated at Glasgow University in 1732 and entered the Middle Temple on 15 November 1736. In 1742–3 he…...
Workman, Thomas
Workman, Thomas (1843–1900), naturalist, traveller, and businessman, was born 14 August 1843, third son among fifteen children of Robert Workman and Jane Workman (née Service) of Ceara, Malone Road, Belfast. His father's family was originally from Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Scotland,…...
Woulfe, Peter
Woulfe, Peter (1727?–1803), chemist, mineralogist, and inventor of ‘Woulfe's bottle’, was born in Co. Limerick. After being schooled in Limerick by the Rev. Robert Cashin, he went to Paris to study under Guillaume-Francois Rouelle, on the advice of…...
Wright, Edward Perceval
Wright, Edward Perceval (1834–1910), naturalist, was born 27 December 1834 in Dublin, eldest of five sons in a family of ten children of Edward Thomas Wright (1810–81), barrister, and Charlotte (née Wright), his wife and cousin. He was educated at home, and at 16 became a clerk in…...
Wright, George Newenham
Wright, George Newenham (1794?–1877), clergyman, schoolmaster, topographical writer and biographer, was born in London probably in 1793 or 1794. He was the youngest of the four sons of Thomas Wright (qv), a surgeon of Great Ship St.,…...
Wright, Sir Almroth Edward
Wright, Sir Almroth Edward (1861–1947), bacteriologist, was born at Middleton Tyas, near Richmond, Yorkshire, England, second of five sons of the Rev. Charles Wright (qv), an Irish clergyman, and his Swedish wife Eva…...
Yeats, Gráinne
Yeats, Gráinne (1925–2013), harpist, singer, teacher and historian, was born on 14 April 1925 in Dublin, the youngest child of Patrick Sarsfield ('P. S.') O'Hegarty (qv) and Wilhelmina (Mina) Rebecca (née Smyth). Both…...
Yonge, James
Yonge, James (d. p.1425), a Dublin notary of Anglo-Irish extraction, possibly related to the William Yonge who was archdeacon of Meath 1417–37, was commissioned by James Butler (qv), 4th earl of Ormond, to compose a new…...
Young, Mary Ursula
Young, Mary Ursula (1783–1830), Ursuline nun and writer, was born 9 October 1783 at Dublin, the eldest child of Charles Young (qv), merchant, and his wife Margaret Young (née Hervey). They were a devout family: four of Mary's brothers became…...
Young, Matthew
Young, Matthew (1750–1800), clergyman, Irish scholar, and natural philosopher, was born 3 October 1750 at Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, fourth son of Owen Young, a minor landowner who impoverished his family through dissolute habits, and Olivia Maria Young (née Bell). He was educated at the…...
Young, Sydney
Young, Sydney (1857–1937), chemist, was born 29 December 1857 at Farnworth, Lancs., third son of Edward Young, JP and prosperous Liverpool merchant, and his wife Grace Martha, daughter of James Kimmins of Stonehouse, Glos. He was educated at…...
Zimmer, Heinrich
Zimmer, Heinrich (1851–1910), philologist, historian, and Celtic scholar, was born 11 December 1851 in Castellaun in the Rhineland, Germany, son of a peasant farmer. After pursuing his early education at Kreuznach, he spent some time at the universities of Strasburg, Tübingen, and…...