Parnell, Thomas
Parnell, Thomas (1679–1718), anglican clergyman and poet, was born in Dublin. His grandfather was a Cheshire man who had supported Cromwell and thought it as well, following the restoration, to go to ground in Ireland where he bought a large estate. His father, also named Thomas,…...
Percy, Thomas
Percy, Thomas (1729–1811), bishop of Dromore, poet, and scholar, was born 13 April 1729 in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, England, son of Arthur Piercy or Pearcy, grocer, and his wife Jane (née Nott); there was at least one other son. Thomas was educated at the local grammar school, and…...
Philips, Ambrose
Philips, Ambrose (1674–1749), official and writer, was born in Shropshire, England, son of Ambrose Philips, cloth manufacturer, and his wife Margaret, née Brookes. He attended Shrewsbury school and St John's College, Cambridge. He was a fellow of St John's (1699–1708), and seems…...
Philips, William
Philips, William (d. 1734?), playwright and member of the Irish parliament, the son of George Philips (qv) of Limavady, Co. Londonderry, was the last representative of a prominent plantation family. The immense volume of debt incurred…...
Phillips, Charles
Phillips, Charles (1786–1859), barrister and author, was born in Stephen St., Sligo, son of William Phillips, member of Sligo corporation and tax collector, and Elizabeth Phillips (née Johnson) of Co. Fermanagh. Educated locally at the school of the Rev. James Armstrong, rector of…...
Pilkington, Laetitia
Pilkington, Laetitia (c.1709–1750), author, was born in Dublin or Co. Cork, eldest child of John van Lewen (1684–1737), physician and obstetrician, and his wife Elizabeth Corry (d. c.1742), niece of Sir John Meade (qv…...
Pilkington, Matthew
Pilkington, Matthew (1700/01–1774), anglican clergyman and poet, was born in Ballyboy, between Tullamore and Birr, King's Co. (Offaly), son of William Pilkington, watchmaker. The family subsequently transferred to the Lazar's Hill (Hawkins St.) area of Dublin. Matthew was tutored…...
Ponsonby, Sarah (‘Sally’)
Ponsonby, Sarah (‘Sally’) (1755–1831), diarist, was born in Dublin in 1755, the only and orphaned daughter of Chambré Brabazon Ponsonby (d. 1762), a landowner, of Ashgrove, Co. Kilkenny, and the second of his three wives, Louisa Ponsonby (née Lyons), the daughter of a clerk of the Irish…...
Preston, William
Preston, William (1750–1807), lawyer, poet, and dramatist, was born in St Michan's parish, Dublin, the only son of William Preston, a gentleman, who disappeared about 1755, after setting out for India. William jnr attended Dr Campbell's school, Dublin, before entering as a…...
Pulter, Lady Hester
Pulter, Lady Hester (1605–78), author, was born on 8 June 1605 in Thomas Court, a neighbourhood adjacent to Dublin. She was the eighth of ten children of…...
Quin, Walter
Quin, Walter (c.1575–1640), writer and royal tutor, was born into a Dublin merchant family. In 1590 he joined the law faculty of the Jesuit University of Ingolstadt where he moved in recusant circles and where his literary aspirations were noted. That year he contributed…...
Radcliffe, John
Radcliffe, John (1765?–1843), lawyer, judge, PC, and author, was born in Co. Fermanagh, only son of Richard Radcliffe, clergyman, and his wife Christian, daughter of Robert Mason of Co. Galway and widow of Joseph Ormsby. After his father's…...
Read, Charles Anderson
Read, Charles Anderson (1841–78), writer, journalist, and editor, was born 10 November 1841 at Killsellagh (Kilsella) House, in the parish of Drumcliffe, near Sligo. His father, George Read, was a gentleman who, having lost an inheritance, was forced to take a position as…...
Riddell, Charlotte Eliza Lawson
Riddell, Charlotte Eliza Lawson (1832–1906), novelist, was born on 30 September 1832 at the Barn, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, the youngest daughter of James Cowan, flax and cotton spinner and high sheriff of Antrim, and his English wife Ellen (née Kilshaw). Her father died in 1851…...
Robertson, Olivia Melian
Robertson, Olivia Melian (1917–2013), writer, artist and co-founder of the Fellowship of Isis, was born on 13 April 1917 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, to Manning Durdin Robertson (qv), urban planner and architect, and…...
Robinson, Lennox
Robinson, Lennox (1886–1958), playwright and director, was born Esmé Stuart Lennox Robinson on 4 October 1886 near Douglas, Co. Cork, youngest of seven children (of whom twins died in infancy) of Andrew Craig Robinson, stockbroker, and Emily Anna Robinson (née Jones). When Lennox was…...
Roe, Henry
Roe, Henry (1826–94), distiller and philanthropist, was born in Dublin, where his family had been involved in the distilling and brewing business since the 1750s and had acquired a seventeen-acre site off James's St. In 1863 Henry Roe, and his brother, George, inherited George Roe…...
Rolleston, Thomas William Hazen (T. W.)
Rolleston, Thomas William Hazen (T. W.) (1857–1920), poet, critic and journalist, was born 1 May 1857 at Glasshouse, near Shinrone, King's County (Offaly), youngest child among three sons and a daughter of Charles Rolleston-Spunner (d. 1887), barrister and county court judge for…...
Rowan, Anne Margaret
Rowan, Anne Margaret (1832–1913), novelist, historian, and political activist, was born 21 November 1832 in Tralee, Co. Kerry, to Arthur Blennerhasset Rowan (qv), Church of Ireland clergyman and antiquarian, and his wife…...
Russell, John Norris
Russell, John Norris (1774?–1859), merchant and industrialist, was born in Limerick, second among five sons of Francis Russell, malt manufacturer and merchant, and his second wife Elizabeth Maunsell Norris, whose father was John Norris, merchant in Limerick. There were also two…...
Savage, Marmion Wilme
Savage, Marmion Wilme (1803–72), novelist and journalist, was born 22 February 1803 in Dublin, the only child of Revd Henry Savage and Sarah Savage (née Bewley). He grew up in his father's parish in Ardkeen, Co. Down. Awarded a BA in classics…...
Share, Bernard Vivian
Share, Bernard Vivian (1930–2013), writer and editor, was born on 31 May 1930 in London to Irish parents Frederick Share, a civil servant, and May Share, who had emigrated there from Dublin. He lived in England until he was seventeen, attending school in Pinner, Middlesex, before moving…...
Sheares, Henry
Sheares, Henry (1728–75), banker, parliamentarian, and essayist, was born probably in October 1728, one of three sons of Henry Sheares (d. 1750?) of Goldenbush, near Inishannon, Co. Cork, and his wife Mary, daughter of John Bayley of Castlemore, Co. Cork. At sixteen he entered…...
Shepherd, Samuel
Shepherd, Samuel (1701/2–1785), Church of Ireland minister and poet, was born in Limerick, son of John Shepherd, archdeacon of the diocese. Having obtained his early education from Mr Cashin of Limerick, Samuel entered TCD (April 1720…...
Sheridan, Frances (née Chamberlaine)
Sheridan, Frances (née Chamberlaine) (1724–66), writer, was born in Dublin, the youngest child among three sons and two daughters of Philip Chamberlaine , a Church of Ireland clergyman who was rector of St Nicholas Without, and Anastasia Chamberlaine (née Whyte), his English-born…...