Watson, Samuel
This is a co-subject for the entry on Watson, John. View the original entry....
Watts (Lynch), Elizabeth
Watts (Lynch), Elizabeth (d. 1794), printer, stationer, and ‘bookseller to the courts of law’, whose origins are unknown, succeeded her first husband Richard Watts (d. November 1762) printer and bookseller, with whom she had four sons and a daughter. She married secondly (14…...
Webb, Richard Davis
Webb, Richard Davis (1805–72), printer and philanthropist, was born in the Cornmarket, Dublin, where his parents had a linen business; he was eldest among seven sons of James Webb and Deborah Webb (née Forrest). The Webbs and Forrests were members of the Society of Friends;…...
Weeks, James Eyre
Weeks, James Eyre (1718/19–1775), cleric, poet, and miscellaneous writer, was born in Cork city, son of James Eyre Weeks, described as a gentleman. He was educated at Dr Mulloy's school in Cork, entered TCD as a sizar (June 1735), and…...
Welch, Robert Anthony ('Bob')
Welch, Robert Anthony ('Bob') (1947–2013), academic, poet, critic and writer, was born on 25 November 1947 in Cork City, to Patrick Welch, a factory worker at the Dunlop Rubber Company, and Kathleen Welch (née Kearney). He was educated by the Presentation Brothers at Coláiste…...
Wheatley, John
Wheatley, John (1869–1930), socialist and publisher, was born 19 May 1869 at Bunmahon, Co. Waterford, eldest among three sons and seven daughters of Thomas Wheately, copper miner of Welsh extraction, and Johanna Wheately (née Ryan); it is not known when he came to use the spelling…...
Wheeler, George Bomford
Wheeler, George Bomford (1805/8–1877), anglican clergyman, classical scholar, and editor of the Irish Times, was son of James Wheeler; his mother's name is unknown. Very little is known of his early life and the records of TCD…...
White, Harold R. (‘Dermot Macmurrough’)
White, Harold R. (‘Dermot Macmurrough’) (1872–1943), music journalist and composer, was born 12 January 1872 in Dublin, son of Edgar White, an engineer and surveyor. Possessed of a fine treble voice, he served as a chorister in Christ Church cathedral from 1881 to 1887 and…...
White, (Herbert) Terence de Vere
White, (Herbert) Terence de Vere (1912–94), solicitor and writer, was born 29 April 1912 in Dublin, where his family lived at 61 Marlborough Road, Donnybrook. His father, Frederick Sutton Darley de Vere White, LLD, was then a junior solicitor…...
White, James
White, James (1928–99), science fiction author, was born 7 April 1928 at Belfast. His parents moved to Canada in 1930 but returned to Belfast in 1935. White was educated at St John's primary school (1935–41) and in 1941 won a scholarship to St Joseph's Technical High School, which…...
White, John Davis
White, John Davis (1820–93), publisher and antiquary, was born 22 May 1820 in Conaghy, Co. Kilkenny, youngest son among three sons and two daughters of Benjamin Newport White (1776–1846), landowner, late of the Slieveardagh yeomanry cavalry stationed in Killenaule, Co. Tipperary,…...
White, William John (‘Jack’)
White, William John (‘Jack’) (1920–80), broadcaster, editor, journalist, and novelist, was born 30 March 1920 in Cork, second child of William Luke White, accountant, and Mary White (née Tyler). In his book Minority report (1975) he described himself as ‘a member of a…...
Whitmore, William James Brennan-
Whitmore, William James Brennan- (1886–1977), revolutionary and journalist, was born 21 October 1886 at the family home in Mary St., Wexford, son of Thomas Whitmore, People journalist and printer, and Mary Whitmore (née Brennan) from Ferns, Co. Wexford. Both parents died…...
Whitty, Michael James
Whitty, Michael James (1795–1873), newspaper editor and proprietor, was born in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, in 1795, the son of a corn merchant and owner of boats operating out of Wexford port. After failing to complete his studies for the priesthood, Whitty moved to London in 1821 to…...
Whyte, Laurence
Whyte, Laurence (1685?–1752/3), poet and teacher of mathematics, was probably son of Christopher White, a substantial catholic tenant farmer from Ballymore, Co. Westmeath, and his wife Anne Dalton. The family had been transplanted to Connacht under the Cromwellian acts of settlement…...
Wilde, Jane Francesca Agnes (‘Speranza’)
Wilde, Jane Francesca Agnes (‘Speranza’) (1821?–1896), poet, nationalist, and feminist, was probably born 27 December 1821 in Dublin, to Charles Elgee (1783–1824), son of Archdeacon John Elgee of Wexford, and his wife Sarah (d. 1851), daughter of Thomas Kingsbury, commissioner of…...
Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie
Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie (to which he, like his father and brother, later added ‘Wills ’) (1854–1900), playwright, poet, and prose writer, was born 16 October 1854 in his parents’ house, 21 Westland Row, Dublin, second son of Dr…...
Wilde, William Charles Kingsbury
Wilde, William Charles Kingsbury (1852–99), journalist, was born 26 September 1852 in Dublin, eldest son of Sir William Wilde (qv), surgeon and antiquary, and his wife, the poet and journalist ‘Speranza’ – Jane…...
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…...
Williams, Richard Valentine (‘Richard Rowley
Williams, Richard Valentine (‘Richard Rowley ’) (1877–1947), poet, was born 2 April 1877 in Belfast, second among six children of John Williams, founder and manager of McBride & Williams Ltd, a cotton-handkerchief manufacturing firm, and Jessie Williams (née Allan). Richard was…...
Wills, William Gorman
Wills, William Gorman (1828–91), playwright and painter, was born 28 January 1828 in Kilmurry, Co. Kilkenny, third child of the writer James Wills (qv) and his wife Katherine, daughter of the Rev. W. Gorman and niece of the chief justice…...
Wilmot, Martha
Wilmot, Martha (1775–1873), diarist and travel writer, was born at Glanmire, Co. Cork, one of six daughters and three sons of Edward Wilmot, of Derbyshire, England, a former captain of the 40th Regiment of Foot, and port surveyor of the revenue board in Drogheda and Cork, and Martha…...
Wilson, Charles Henry
Wilson, Charles Henry (c.1755–1808), writer and linguist, was born in Bailieborough, Co. Cavan, son of an anglican clergyman; no other details are known of his family. He received a classical school education and attended TCD before…...
Wilson, Edward Daniel Joseph
Wilson, Edward Daniel Joseph (1844–1913), journalist, was born in Ballycrana, Co. Cork, eldest son of Edward Henry Wilson, Esq. He entered TCD in October 1860 but did not graduate, proceeding in 1862 to…...