Devlin, Paddy
Devlin, Paddy (1925–99), politician and trade unionist, was born 8 March 1925 at 46 Lady St. in the Falls Road area of Belfast, eldest child among four daughters and three sons of Patrick Devlin, ex-serviceman and later flour-mill worker, and his wife Anna, of Belfast, daughter of…...
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,…...
Doherty, John
Doherty, John (c.1798–1854), trade union pioneer, radical activist, journalist, and factory reformer, was born in Inishowen, Co. Donegal; nothing is known of his parents. His birth place and date are uncertain. A son said it was ‘Buncrana, Inishowel’ (sic) in…...
Downes, George
Downes, George (1790–1846), travel writer and topographer, was born in South King St., Dublin, son of John Downes; no details of his mother are known. He worked as a draper's assistant in his youth before being befriended by one of the Shackletons of Ballitore, Co. Kildare, who…...
Drumm, James Joseph
Drumm, James Joseph (1896–1974), chemist, industrial technologist, and inventor, was born 25 January 1896 in Dundrum, Co. Down, one of three sons of John Drumm (or Drum), RIC constable, and his wife Bridget (née Connolly). The family…...
Duff, Charles St Lawrence
Duff, Charles St Lawrence (1894–1966) author, barrister and linguist, was born on 7 April 1894 in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, the youngest of ten children to grow to adulthood of John Duff, secretary of the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway, and his wife Anne Marie Duff (…...
Duffy, Luke J.
Duffy, Luke J. (1890–1961), trade unionist, was born 26 March 1890 in Gurteen, Co. Sligo, into a farming family. Educated at Cloonanure national school, he began an apprenticeship in the drapery trade in Moon's in Galway. He immediately became involved in the trade union movement…...
Duncan, George Alexander
Duncan, George Alexander (1902–2006), economist, was born 15 May 1902 in the family home in Bridge Street, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the second son of Alexander Duncan, a physician and surgeon, and his wife Elizabeth (née Linn). He was educated at Ballymena Academy and Campbell College…...
Dunne, Seán
Dunne, Seán (1919–69), republican and labour activist, was born in Waterford city, youngest of three children of Michael Dunne, member of the RIC, and Brigid Dunne, and was educated at the CBS…...
Dwyer, William Declan
This is a co-subject for the entry on Dwyer, William James. View the original entry....
Dwyer, William James
Dwyer, William James (1887–1951), industrialist and dáil deputy, was born 9 May 1887 in Cork city, second son among three sons and two daughters of Walter Dwyer of Sundays Well, Cork, merchant and later director and managing director of Dwyer & Co., and Clare Dwyer (née…...
Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro
Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro (1845–1926), economist and statistician, was born 8 February 1845 at Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford, fifth of six sons of Francis Beaufort Edgeworth and his Spanish wife Rosa Florentina Eroles, daughter of a political refugee from Catalonia; he was a grandson…...
Edgeworth, Kenneth Essex
Edgeworth, Kenneth Essex (1880–1972), soldier, engineer, economist, and astronomer, was born 26 February 1880 at Daramona House, Streete, Co. Westmeath, eldest child among two sons and a daughter of Thomas Newcomen Edgeworth (1850–1931) and Elizabeth Dupré (née Wilson; d. 1929),…...
Eustace, John Chetwode
Eustace, John Chetwode (1762/3–1815), catholic priest and writer, was born in Co. Kildare. Both his parents were reputed to belong to gentry families, his father's in that county. It seems likely that through his father, whose name is not known, he was descended from Benjamin…...
Everett, James
Everett, James (1890–1967), Labour politician and trade unionist, was born 14 February 1890 in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, a son of Robert Everett, a small farmer and waiter, and Margaret Everett (née Doyle). He had one brother and a sister and attended the local national school in…...
Farren, Thomas
Farren, Thomas (1879–1955), trade unionist, was born 11 December 1879 in 39 Bride St., Dublin, one of at least two sons of James Farren, stone cutter, and Bridget Farren (née Thorpe). His brother John Farren also became a notable trade unionist and was an alderman in Dublin in 1910…...
Ferguson, John Stephenson
Ferguson, John Stephenson (1761–1833), linen manufacturer, was the eldest son of James Ferguson (d. 29 December 1784), medical doctor, and Jane Ferguson (née Stephenson) of Belfast. His date of birth and details of his education are unknown. His father, who had other children from…...
Ferrar, Hartley Travers
Ferrar, Hartley Travers (1879–1932), geologist and explorer, was born 28 January 1879 at 3 Grosvenor Place, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, son of John Edgar Ferrar, bank clerk, and Mary Holmes Ferrar (née Hartley). While he was still a small child, his family moved to Holywood, Co. Down, where…...
FitzGerald, Alexis James Oliver
FitzGerald, Alexis James Oliver (1916–85), solicitor and economist, was born 4 September 1916, the fourth child of Alexis FitzGerald and his wife, Elizabeth O'Halloran. He was born, as he would later say himself, ‘under the clock’ in the Waterford Mental Hospital, where his father was…...
Fitzgerald, Percy Hetherington
Fitzgerald, Percy Hetherington (1830–1925), writer, sculptor, and barrister, was born 26 April 1830 at Fane Valley, near Dundalk, Co. Louth, the younger son of Thomas Fitzgerald. His father, a pro-repeal MP for Co. Louth (1830–4), had made his fortune from properties in the West…...
Fitzpatrick, John
Fitzpatrick, John (1870–1946), labour leader, was born 21 April 1870 in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, youngest of five sons of John Fitzpatrick, farmer and blacksmith, and Adelaide Fitzpatrick (née Clarke). Within a year of his birth his mother died, and by the age of 10 he had also lost…...
Fitzpatrick, Sir Bernard Edward Barnaby
Fitzpatrick, Sir Bernard Edward Barnaby (1848–1937), 2nd Baron Castletown, landlord, soldier, sportsman, and adventurer, was born 29 July 1848 in London, only son and eldest of six children of John Wilson Fitzpatrick, 1st Baron Castletown, soldier and landlord, of Abbeyleix, Queen's Co…...
Fitzpatrick, Thomas (‘Broken Hand’)
Fitzpatrick, Thomas (‘Broken Hand’) (1799–1854), American frontier fur trapper, guide, and agent to the tribes of the central plains, was born in Co. Cavan, one of three sons and four daughters of Mary Fitzpatrick (née Kiernan) and her husband, whose forename is not known. A catholic,…...
Flood, Finbarr
Flood, Finbarr (1938–2016), soccer player, managing director of Guinness brewery and chairman of the Labour Court, was born on 1 December 1938 in Kilmainham, Dublin, one of three children (and only son) to Jack Flood, a worker in Guinness, and his wife Eva Flood (née…...
Foran, Thomas
Foran, Thomas (1883–1951), trade unionist, was born 26 January 1883 at 24 Golden Lane, Dublin, son of Thomas Foran, labourer, and Johanna Foran (née Prett). Educated locally, he began working at a young age on the quays in Dublin. He took an immediate interest in trade unions, and…...