Dingley, Thomas
Dingley, Thomas (d. 1695?), antiquary and traveller, a native of Southampton, England, is known in Ireland for his account of a tour he made in Leinster and Munster in 1681. It contains much on Irish ways of life, particularly diet, dress, pastimes, customs, language, money,…...
Dixon, Frederick E.
Dixon, Frederick E. (1913–88) meteorologist, historian, and philatelist, was born 27 March 1913 in Oundle, near Peterborough, England, a son of Nathan Dixon and his wife, Edith, née Howitt, who also had another son and a daughter. He attended Deacon's School, Peterborough, and…...
Dod (Dodd), Charles Roger Phipps
Dod (Dodd), Charles Roger Phipps (1793–1855), journalist and author, was born 8 May 1793 in Drumlease, Co. Leitrim, the only son of Rev. Roger Dod, vicar of Drumlease, and his wife Margaret (née Phipps). He entered the King's Inns 30 July 1816, but abandoned his legal studies for…...
Doheny, Michael
Doheny, Michael (1805–62), Young Ireland nationalist and author, was born 22 May 1805 at Brookhill, parish of Fethard, Co. Tipperary, the second son of Michael Doheny of Brookhill, a small farmer, and Ellen Doheny (née Keley). He received a rudimentary education from an itinerant…...
Dolan, Joseph
Dolan, Joseph (1872–1930), businessman and local activist, was born in January 1872 in Ardee, Co. Louth, son of Thomas Dolan, publican, merchant and farmer who was a native Irish speaker, and his wife Anne Segrave. The Dolans had built up an extensive business in Ardee since the early…...
Dolley, (Reginald Hugh) Michael
Dolley, (Reginald Hugh) Michael (1925–83), numismatist and historian, was born 6 July 1925 in Oxford, England, the son of A. H. F. Dolley, a civil servant, and Margaret Dolley (née Horgan). His father had Co. Galway antecedents while his mother's were from west Co. Limerick. Michael…...
Donnelly, Nicholas
Donnelly, Nicholas (1837–1920), catholic bishop, church musician, and local historian, was born 23 November 1837, in St Paul's parish, Dublin, eldest son of John Donnelly, a merchant. He was educated at Castleknock College and the Irish College, Rome, where he was ordained priest…...
Doolin, William
Doolin, William (1887–1962), surgeon, editor, and medical historian, was born 19 July 1887 at 20 Ely Place, Dublin, eldest child of Walter G. Doolin, architect, and Marion Doolin (née Creedon). His siblings were Daniel and Walter. He was educated at the Catholic University School…...
Dowling, Thady (Thaddeus)
Dowling, Thady (Thaddeus) (c.1544–1628), ecclesiastic and annalist, was a member of the Dowling family of Laois (Co. Laois). According to his own testimony, he was fostered in Leighlin, and received some basic education locally. He then went to Dublin, where he stayed for four…...
Drew, Sir Thomas
Drew, Sir Thomas (1838–1910), architect and antiquary, was born 18 September 1838 at Victoria Place, Belfast, into the large family of the Rev. Dr Thomas Drew (qv), son of a Limerick grocer, and Isabella Drew (née Dalton; 1802–69), daughter…...
Dreyer, John Louis Emil
Dreyer, John Louis Emil (1852–1926), astronomer and historian, was born 13 February 1852 in Copenhagen, Denmark, into a distinguished Danish military family, third son of Lt.-gen. J. C. F. Dreyer, minister of war and the marine, and Ida Nicolene Margarethe Dreyer (née Rangrup). He…...
Dub-dá-leithe
Dub-dá-leithe (d. 1064), abbot of Armagh, belonged to the Clann Sínaig (who had controlled the abbacy for many generations), and was son of Máel-Muire (qv) (d. 1020) and a grandson of Eochaid grandson of Flann/Flannacán; he also had some…...
Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan
Duffy, Sir Charles Gavan (1816–1903), politician and journalist, was born in Monaghan town on 12 April 1816, the sixth and youngest child of John Duffy (d. 1827), a shopkeeper and former United Irishman, and his wife, Anne (née Gavan). Formative years After the premature deaths of his…...
Duhigg, Bartholomew
Duhigg, Bartholomew (c.1751–1813), political activist, antiquarian, and barrister, was the fourth son of Bartholomew Duhigg, ‘gent.’, of Ballyhigh, Co. Limerick, who seems to have been a Roman catholic who conformed in 1725. Bartholomew the younger entered the Middle…...
Du Noyer, George Victor
Du Noyer, George Victor (1817–69), antiquarian, geologist, and artist, was probably born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, the eldest son of Louis Victor du Noyer, a teacher of French and music, and his wife, Margaret du Bédat, who ran a school for young ladies. Both parents were of Huguenot…...
Edwards, Robert (‘Robin’) Walter Dudley
Edwards, Robert (‘Robin’) Walter Dudley (1909–88), historian, was born 4 June 1909 in Dublin, elder son of Walter Edwards (1862–1946), a minor civil servant from Worcestershire, England, and Bridget Teresa McInerney (1871–1956), a nurse from Co. Clare. When his parents, a quaker and a…...
Ellmann, Richard
Ellmann, Richard (1918–87), literary historian and critic, was born 15 March 1918 in Highland Park, Michigan, USA, son of James Isaac Ellmann and Jeanette Ellmann (née Barsook). Ellmann was educated at Highland Park school and Yale University, where he was awarded a…...
Ervine, St John Greer
Ervine, St John Greer (1883–1971), Ulster dramatist, critic, and biographer, was born John Greer Ervine on 28 December 1883 in Belfast, son of William Ervine, printer, and Sarah Jane Ervine (née Greer), who may have been a deaf-mute. Ervine's father died soon after his birth. He…...
Esposito, Mario
Esposito, Mario (1887–1975), medievalist and Hiberno-Latinist, was born 7 September 1887 in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, third child and only son of Michele Esposito (qv), professor of music in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and Natalia…...
Falkiner, Caesar Litton
Falkiner, Caesar Litton (1863–1908), lawyer and historian, was born in Dublin on 26 September 1863, the second son in the family of three sons and four daughters of Sir Frederick Richard Falkiner (qv) and his first wife,…...
Falls, Cyril Bentham
Falls, Cyril Bentham (1888–1971), military historian and journalist, was born 2 March 1888 in Dublin, elder of two sons of Charles Fausset Falls (1860–1936) and his wife Clare (née Bentham), who also had a daughter. His father was a prominent Enniskillen solicitor and a leading…...
Ferguson, James Frederic
Ferguson, James Frederic (1807–55), record agent and antiquary, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. His father, Jacques Frédéric Jaquemain from Cambrai, had fled from France to London in 1793, assuming the name of Ferguson. In 1799 he took his wife to America, and worked as…...
Ferrar, John
Ferrar, John (1742–1804), printer and historian, was born in 1742 in Limerick city, the only son of William Ferrar (sometimes spelt Farrier), bookbinder and printer, and Rose Ferrar (née Paine or Payne). The first member of this family to settle in Limerick was William Ferrar, a cavalry…...
FitzGerald, Desmond John Villiers
FitzGerald, Desmond John Villiers (1937–2011), Knight of Glin , scholar, conservationist, and fine arts dealer and collector, was born 13 July 1937 in Cambridge Square, London, the only son and youngest of three children of Desmond Wyndham Otho FitzGerald, Knight of Glin, of Glin Castle…...
Fitzgerald, John
Fitzgerald, John (1825–1910), poet, painter, antiquary, and wood-carver, was born 18 June 1825 at Hanover Street, Cork, son of John Fitzgerald and Martha Mary Deacy. He was educated at Fr Mathew's (qv) school, Blackamoor Lane, and…...