Ware, Hugh
Ware, Hugh (1776?–1846), United Irishman and French army officer, was the only surviving son in the family of six sons and five daughters of Patrick Ware (b. 1730s) of Rathcoffey, Co. Kildare, a surveyor employed by the 2nd duke of…...
Warren, Richard Augustus
Warren, Richard Augustus (1705–75), Jacobite and French army officer, was born at Corduff near Castleknock, Co. Dublin, son of John Warren and Mary Warren (née Jones). Two of his brothers became officers in the Irish brigade in the service of France, while a third became a…...
Warren, Sir Peter
Warren, Sir Peter (1703–52), admiral in the British navy, was born 10 March 1703 at Warrenstown, Co. Meath, third son among three sons and two daughters of Michael Warren, Roman catholic landowner, and Catherine Warren (née Aylmer). Educated locally, he entered the Royal Navy in…...
Watson, Sir Charles Moore
Watson, Sir Charles Moore (1844–1916), imperial soldier and administrator, was born 10 July 1844 in Dublin, second son of William Watson, civil engineer and JP, of Dublin, and Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Moore Morgan (rector of Dunlavin, Co…...
Watts, George
Watts, George (1772–1858), veterinary surgeon and horse breeder, was born in England, possibly in Devon or in Yorkshire; nothing certain is known of his family background, though there is a possibility that he was related to Richard Watt (1751–98) of Bishop Burton, near Beverley…...
Weaver, John
Weaver, John Andrew (1923–2013), soldier and physician, was born on 20 December 1923 at Ballytrim, Killyleagh, Co. Down, the elder of two sons of William Weaver, a farmer, and his wife Emily, a former bank official. The family had farmed flax for generations at Ballytrim, but moved to…...
Webb, Isabella (‘Ella’) Gertrude Amy
Webb, Isabella (‘Ella’) Gertrude Amy (1877–1946), paediatrician, was born 16 October 1877 in Dublin, elder daughter of the Rev. Charles Thomas Ovenden (1846–1924), dean of St Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, and his wife Isabella Mary Robinson. She was educated at Alexandra College,…...
Wellesley (Wesley), Arthur
Wellesley (Wesley), Arthur (1769–1852), 1st duke of Wellington , soldier and politician, was born 1 May 1769 at Mornington House, 6 Merrion Street, Dublin, the third surviving son of Garret Wesley (qv) (1735–81), 1st earl of Mornington, and…...
Wentworth, D'Arcy
Wentworth, D'Arcy (1762–1827), surgeon and colonial administrator, was born 14 February 1762 near Portadown, Co. Armagh, the sixth of eight children of D'Arcy Wentworth, innkeeper, and his wife Martha (née Dickson/Dixon) of Seagoe, Co. Armagh. His family, who were descended from…...
Whalley, John
Whalley, John (1653–1724), quack, astrologer, and compiler of almanacs, was born 20 April 1653, son of a Cromwellian adventurer; no further details of his parents are known. Working as a cobbler in England before arriving in Dublin (March 1682), he compiled his first almanac the…...
Wheeler, William Ireland de Courcy
Wheeler, William Ireland de Courcy (1844–99), surgeon, was born 29 February 1844 at Annesborough House, Co. Kildare, the elder and only surviving son of George Nelson Wheeler, landowner, of Annesborough and Pembroke Road, Dublin, and his wife, Williamza Florence, daughter of William…...
Wheeler, William Ireland de Courcy
Wheeler, William Ireland de Courcy (1879–1943), surgeon, was born 8 May 1879 in Dublin, fourth son among six sons and four daughters of William Ireland de Courcy Wheeler (qv), a distinguished doctor, and Frances…...
Whelan, Robert Ford
Whelan, Robert Ford (1922–84), physiologist, was born 22 December 1922 in Belfast, the eldest of the two sons of Robert Henry Whelan, civil servant, and Dorothy Ivy Whelan (née Whittington). His father was born in Dublin and came from a protestant family where practically all of the…...
White, Francis
White, Francis (1787–1859), medical doctor and first inspector general of asylums for the mentally ill in Ireland, was born in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, son of Francis White of Carrickbeg, Co. Waterford, and Anne White (née Lee). Moving to Dublin, he was indentured (17 March 1807…...
White, Harry
White, Harry (1916–89), IRA activist, was born in Blackwater Street off the Grosvenor Road in west Belfast, one of ten children (five sons and five daughters) of Billy White, water technician with Belfast Corporation, and his wife Kathleen (née McKane). White's paternal grandfather and…...
White, James Robert (‘Jack’)
White, James Robert (‘Jack’) (1879–1946), soldier and anarchist, was born in May 1879 in Broughshane, near Ballymena, Co. Antrim, only son among five children of Field-marshal Sir George Stuart White, an Anglo-Irish landowner and distinguished soldier, and his wife Amy, daughter of…...
Whitla, Sir William
Whitla, Sir William (1851–1933), physician, was born 15 September 1851 at The Diamond, Monaghan town, fourth son of Robert Whitla, a presbyterian pawnbroker and draper, and his wife Anne (née Williams). Whitla's parents had five sons and seven daughters. In 1928 Whitla presented a…...
Wickham, Sir Charles George
Wickham, Sir Charles George (1879–1971), soldier and policeman, was born 1 September 1879 at Chestnut Grove, Tadcaster, Yorkshire, fourth son of William Wickham Wickham and Katherine Henta Wickham. He was educated at Harrow School and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.…...
Widdess, John (‘Jack’) David Henry
Widdess, John (‘Jack’) David Henry (1906–82), medical historian, librarian, and biologist, was born 1 August 1906 in Limerick, son of Matthew Widdess, pharmaceutical chemist, and Emily Widdess (née Irwin). He was educated at Wesley College, Dublin. He won prizes, was admitted…...
Wilde, Sir William Robert Wills
Wilde, Sir William Robert Wills (1815–76), surgeon and polymath, was born in March 1815 at Kilkeevin, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, youngest of three sons of Thomas Wilde, a local physician, and Emily Wilde (née Fynne). He attended the Royal School, Banagher, and the Diocesan School, Elphin…...
Williams, Charles Frederick
Williams, Charles Frederick (1838–1904), journalist and war correspondent, was born 4 May 1838 in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. His parents' names are unknown, but he claimed to be descended paternally from Worcestershire yeomen (of Tenbury and Mamble), and maternally from Ulster Scots…...
Williams, Richard D'Alton
Williams, Richard D'Alton (1822–62), poet, medical doctor, and nationalist, was born 8 October 1822 in Dublin, the illegitimate son of Alexandre Count D'Alton (1766–1859), an officer in the French army and land proprietor in Co. Tipperary, and Mary Williams, the daughter of a…...
Willis, William
Willis, William (1837–94), surgeon, FRCS (1881), was born 1 May 1837 at Maguire's Bridge, Co. Fermanagh, fifth child among four sons and three daughters of George Willis, gentleman, of Moneen, Co. Fermanagh, and…...
Willoughby, Charles
Willoughby, Charles (c.1630–1694), physician, was born in Co. Cork, son of Sir Francis Willoughby, a major-general in the army of Charles I and member of the provincial council of Munster, who was appointed governor of Galway in 1636. Charles Willoughby seems to have studied…...
Wilmot, Sir Charles
Wilmot, Sir Charles (1570/71–1643/4), 1st Viscount Wilmot of Athlone , English soldier and governor of Connacht, was son and heir of Edward Wilmot of Culham, Oxfordshire, England, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Stafford of Bradfield, Berkshire. He matriculated at…...