Asmal, (Abdul) Kader
Asmal, (Abdul) Kader (1934–2011), human rights jurist, anti-apartheid campaigner and South African government minister, was born on 8 October 1934 in Stanger (KwaDukuza), Natal, South Africa, the youngest of eight children (six sons and two daughters) of Ahmed Asmal, grocer, and his…...
Barr, Andrew (Andy)
Barr, Andrew (Andy) (1913–2003), trade unionist and communist, was born 23 September 1913 at 29 Cluan Place, off Mountpottinger Road, Ballymacarrett, Belfast, second child among two sons and five daughters (two other children died in infancy) of Andrew Barr (d. 1986, aged 98), a…...
Black, William Bullick
Black, William Bullick (1879–1967), lawyer and judge, was born 22 September 1879, the only son of the Rev. James Black, a methodist clergyman, of Kinnegar, Holywood, Co. Down, and his wife Sarah Edith (née Bullick). Educated at the Methodist College, Belfast, and…...
Chevron, Philip
Chevron, Philip (1957–2013), musician, songwriter and composer, was born Philip Ryan on 17 June 1957 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, the elder of two children of (Philip) Brendan Ryan (1927–97) and Christine Ryan (née LaGrue), both born in inner city Dublin. He grew up in Lorcan Drive…...
Cole, John Sydney Richard
Cole, John Sydney Richard (1907–89), lawyer, was born 24 January 1907 in Belfast, the only son of R. L. Cole (qv), methodist minister, and Selina McKell Cole (née Kelly), who died at the time of his birth. He was educated at Cork…...
Crofton, Sir John Wenman
Crofton, Sir John Wenman (1912–2009), physician, scientist and public health campaigner, was born on 27 March 1912 at the family home, 55 Merrion Square South, Dublin, the only son (between two sisters) of William Mervyn Crofton, physician and bacteriologist, and his wife Mary…...
Deale, Kenneth Edwin Lee
Deale, Kenneth Edwin Lee (1907–74), barrister, judge, and author, was born 17 January 1907, third son of four children of Edwin Lee Deale (d. 1948), stationer and merchant, of 11 Effra Road, Rathmines, Dublin, and Mary (‘Minnie Hill’) Deale (née Martin; d. 1939) of Co. Kerry. The…...
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt)
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt) (1874–1949), engineer and Irish-language enthusiast, was born Ernest Edwin Joynt, 11 November 1874, at the family residence in Knox St., Ballina, Co. Mayo, only son among four children of Richard Watson Joynt, editor of the Ballina Herald…...
Ferguson, Richard ('Dick')
Ferguson, Richard ('Dick') (1935–2009), barrister and politician, was born in Derrygonnelly, Co. Fermanagh, on 22 August 1935, only child of Wesley Ferguson, RUC sergeant, and his wife Edith. The Fergusons, who were methodists, had farmed…...
Fox, Charlotte Olivia (née Milligan)
Fox, Charlotte Olivia (née Milligan) (1864–1916), ethnomusicologist, was born 17 March 1864 in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, the eldest child among five daughters and six sons (two of whom did not reach adulthood) of Seaton Forrest Milligan (1836–1916) of Glencar, Omagh, businessman,…...
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ')
Fox, Richard Michael ('R. M. ') (1891–1969), writer and trade unionist, was born on 13 November 1891 in Leeds, Yorkshire, the second of four sons of Richard Fox and his wife Elizabeth (née Rathmell). Richard senior worked as a gymnasium instructor in Leeds, and later as a skilled…...
Glass, (John) Basil Caldwell
Glass, (John) Basil Caldwell (1926–2005), politician, lawyer, and judge, was born 21 May 1926 in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim, eldest of two sons and one daughter of John Glass (1894–1956), methodist minister, and his wife Muriel Florence (née Caldwell), whose father was also a methodist…...
Halliday, Fred (Simon Frederick Peter)
Halliday, Fred (Simon Frederick Peter) (1946–2009), academic, writer and public intellectual, was born on 22 February 1946 in Dublin, the youngest of three sons of Arthur Halliday, a quaker shoe manufacturer, and Margaret Mary 'Rita' Halliday (née Finigan), of Dundalk. He was educated…...
Hyde, Harford Montgomery
Hyde, Harford Montgomery (1907–89), barrister, politician, and author, was born 14 August 1907 in Belfast, son of James Johnstone Hyde JP, linen merchant, and his wife, Isobel (née Montgomery). Hyde claimed distant kinship with Henry James. His…...
Jenkinson, David Stewart
Jenkinson, David Stewart (1928–2011), soil scientist, was born on 25 February 1928 in Hollywood Hospital, Los Angeles, California, USA, the eldest of three sons of Hugh McLoughlin Jenkinson, investor and businessman, and his wife Isabel Frances (née Glass). His father, an Irish…...
Johnston, James
Johnston, James (1903–91), tenor, was born 13 August 1903 at 74 York Road, Belfast, where his father owned a butcher's shop. He was the third child and the first son among seven children of Thomas Johnston and his wife Margaret (née Chapman). The children all attended Duncairn…...
Keating, Justin Pascal
Keating, Justin Pascal (1930–2009), politician, veterinarian and television presenter, was born 7 January 1930 in a nursing home at 37 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin, younger of two sons of Seán Keating (qv), artist, and…...
Keating, May
Keating, May (1895–1965), socialist, feminist and human rights campaigner, was born Mary Josephine Walsh on 6 October 1895, in Eadestown, Rathmore, Co. Kildare, to John Walsh, who farmed 70 acres there (28.3 hectares), and his wife Martha (née Cullen), a national school teacher. Her…...
Kelly, (John William) Basil
Kelly, (John William) Basil (1920–2008), barrister, politician and judge, was born 10 May 1920 in Co. Monaghan, one of two children and the only son of Thomas William Kelly and Emily Frances Kelly (née Donaldson). After the family had been burnt out of their farm they moved to Belfast,…...
Kemmy, James Joseph Oliver Mary (‘Jim’)
Kemmy, James Joseph Oliver Mary (‘Jim’) (1936–97), trade unionist, Labour politician, and local historian, was born 14 September 1936 in O'Curry St., Limerick, eldest of three sons and two daughters of Michael Kemmy and Elizabeth Kemmy (née Pilkington). His mother came from farming…...
Lennon, Peter Gerard
Lennon, Peter Gerard (1930–2011), journalist, documentary film-maker and social critic, was born on 28 February 1930 at 30 North Frederick Street, Dublin, the eldest of three sons of Peter Joseph Lennon and his wife Delia (née Fenton). His mother was a former post office worker…...
McCann, James (‘Jim’)
McCann, James (‘Jim’) (1944–2015), singer, was born on 26 October 1944 in Dublin, one of seven children (five sons and two daughters) of Thomas McCann, a schools inspector with the Department of Education, and his wife Winifred (née Murphy). Growing up in the Dublin suburb of Rathgar,…...
McIvor, (William) Basil
McIvor, (William) Basil (1928–2004), politician, barrister and judge, was born 17 June 1928 in Tullyhommon, Co. Fermanagh (the southern side of Pettigo – 'I am a British citizen with about 120 feet to spare' (McIvor, 8)), second of three sons of Frederick McIvor, methodist minister, and…...
Norcott, William
Norcott, William (1773?–1820), barrister, satirist, and bon vivant, was eldest son of William Norcott of Charleville, Co. Cork, and Mary Norcott (née Knight). He entered TCD in July 1790, graduating BA…...
O'Brien, Donal Cruise
O'Brien, Donal Cruise (1941–2012), political scientist, was born in Dublin on 4 July 1941, eldest of two daughters and a son of Conor Cruise O'Brien (qv), diplomat, politician and writer, and his first wife Christine (née Foster). He…...