Boon, John
Boon, John (1859–1928), journalist, was born at Clontarf, Dublin, on 8 June 1859, the eldest son of Andrew Boon and Sophie (née Léon), and was educated at a lycée in Bordeaux, at the Sorbonne in Paris, and in Rome and Madrid. In 1880 he began contributing to the English and French…...
Booth, Arthur James Conry
Booth, Arthur James Conry (1891–1926), satirist and cartoonist, was born 24 September 1891 in Dublin, youngest among four children of James Booth, of the Dublin port and docks board, and Helen Booth (née Duggan) of 34 Belgrave Square, Rathmines, Co. Dublin. The Booth family, who had…...
Borlase, Sir John
Borlase, Sir John (1575/1576–1648), lord justice and army officer, was probably the son of Edmund Borlase, mercer of London, and his wife Suzan, or Suzannah, née Isham. He may have matriculated from King's College, Cambridge in 1591 and he was admitted to the Middle Temple 19…...
Bossence, Louis Ralph (‘Bud’)
Bossence, Louis Ralph (‘Bud’) (1915–71), journalist, was born 6 February 1915 in Belfast, only son of Stephen Bossence, shipyard worker and motor manufacturer employee, and Annie Bossence (née Frost). He emigrated to America in the early 1920s when his father went to work for the…...
Boucher, Edgar William John ('Billy')
Boucher, Edgar William John ('Billy') (1918–2003), musician and broadcaster, was born 5 December 1918 in Dublin, the son of George Alexander Boucher, a plumber, and his wife Sarah Maria (née Jones), a dressmaker; he had two older brothers and two or three older sisters. The family…...
Bourchier, James David
Bourchier, James David (1850–1920), journalist and Balkan intermediary, was born 18 December 1850 at Baggotstown, Bruff, Co. Limerick, fourth son among six children of John Bourchier, landowner and JP of Baggotstown, and Sarah Bourchier (…...
Bourke, Theobald
Bourke, Theobald (c.1615?–1653), 3rd Viscount Mayo , soldier and politician, was son and heir of Miles Bourke (qv), 2nd Viscount Mayo, and Honora, daughter of Sir John Bourke of Derrymaclaghtny, Co. Galway.…...
Bourke, Walter
Bourke, Walter (d. 1715), soldier, was first of seven sons of Richard Bourke of Turlough, Co. Mayo (son of Theobald Bourke and Margaret, 3rd daughter of Theobald, 1st Viscount Mayo), and his wife Celia, daughter of Dermot O'Shaughnessy, of the ancient family of Gort, Co. Galway. His…...
Bourke, William
Bourke, William (1623–67), 5th Baron Castleconnell , soldier, was son and heir of Edmund Bourke and his first wife, Thomasine, daughter of Sir Thomas Browne of Hospital, Co. Limerick. Edmund held over 3,000 acres in Co. Limerick, primarily in the barony of Clanwilliam, alongside the…...
Boyce, James
Boyce, James (1909–66), actor and broadcaster, was born on 17 March 1909 in Belfast, the oldest of three sons of Hugh Boyce, a coachbuilder, and his wife Ellen (née Hayes), a dressmaker before marriage. The family, who were Christian Brethren in religion, lived in Rosebury Road, Ormeau…...
Boyd, Ernest Augustus
Boyd, Ernest Augustus (1887–1946), writer, journalist, and literary critic, was born 28 June 1887 at Westbury Terrace, Dublin, the son of James Robert Boyd, a civil servant, and Rose Boyd (née Kempston). Educated privately by a French tutor and later at schools in Germany and…...
Boyd, Hugh Macauley
Boyd, Hugh Macauley (1746–94), political essayist and journalist, was born 6 or 16 April (or October) 1746 in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, or Ship St., Dublin, second son among two sons and two daughters of Alexander Macauley (McAuley) (d. 1766) of Dublin and Glenville, Co. Antrim, MP…...
Boyd, John
Boyd, John (1912–2002), radio producer and playwright, was born 19 July 1912 at 9 Baskin Street, in a working-class area of east Belfast, the first of three children (two boys and a girl) of Robert Boyd, a fireman on steam engines and later an engine driver, and Jane Boyd (née Leeman).…...
Boyd, Robert
Boyd, Robert (1805–31), soldier and revolutionary, was born 7 December 1805 in Templemore, Co. Londonderry, the son of Archibald Boyd (d. c.1827), city treasurer, and his wife Annie (née MacNeil); he had three (possibly four) brothers and a sister. Educated at the Free…...
Boylan, Clare Catherine
Boylan, Clare Catherine (1948–2006), journalist and writer, was born 21 April 1948 in Dublin, the youngest of three daughters of Patrick Boylan, a clerk, and his wife Evelyn (née Selby). Clare's mother felt trapped by the limitations that domesticity imposed on women in 1950s Ireland…...
Boylan, Patricia
This is a co-subject for the entry on Boylan, Henry Joseph. View the original entry....
Boyle, Hilary Joyce
Boyle, Hilary Joyce (1899–1988), journalist, broadcaster, and activist, was born 25 October 1899 in south London, second child of Gerald Alexander Thompson, vicar of St Gregory's church, Canterbury, and canon of Canterbury cathedral, and Winifred Helen Thompson (née Hopkins), and…...
Boyle, Roger
Boyle, Roger (1621–79), 1st Baron Broghill and 1st earl of Orrery , soldier, politician, and writer, was born 25 April 1621 in Co. Waterford, twelfth child and third son to survive of Richard Boyle (qv), 1st earl of Cork, and his second wife…...
Bradford, Roy Hamilton
Bradford, Roy Hamilton (1920–98), journalist and politician, was born 7 July 1920 in the schoolmaster's house attached to the Church of Ireland church on the Ligoniel Road, Belfast, eldest of three sons of Joseph Hamilton Bradford, schoolmaster, from Rockcorry, Co. Monaghan, and…...
Bradstreet, Dudley
Bradstreet, Dudley (1711–63), spy and fortune-hunter, was born in Co. Tipperary, youngest son of John Bradstreet, a landowner whose family had received considerable Cromwellian land grants. Raised by a foster-family because of his father's high-living, Dudley later attributed his…...
Brady, Thomas
Brady, Thomas (1752–1827), Baron von Brady , Feldzeugmeister (general of artillery) in the Austrian army, was born in Cootehill, Co. Cavan. Destined for the church, he was sent to Vienna to study theology. Here he attracted the attention of the empress Maria Theresa, who…...
Braose, Philip de
Braose, Philip de (fl. 1172–77), Anglo-Norman adventurer, was the son of Philip de Braose, lord of Bramber in Sussex. As a younger son of his father, and so not in line to inherit the extensive family estates in Sussex and the Welsh marches, Philip chose to come to Ireland…...
Brayden, William John Henry
Brayden, William John Henry (1865–1933), journalist, was born 13 September 1865 in Armagh city, son of William Henry Brayden, pawnbroker and later manager of the Ulster Gazette, and Eliza Brayden (née Windrum). He had at least three siblings. The family was Church of…...
Breatnach, Deasún
Breatnach, Deasún (1921–2007), journalist, author and activist, was born 2 December 1921, probably in Belgrave Square, Dublin, the eldest child of three sons and a daughter of Kevin Walsh, a solicitor, and his wife Gertrude (née Andrews). His grandfather, James J. Walsh, also a…...
Brenan, John
Brenan, John (1768–1830), physician and satirist, was born March 1768, eldest of six children of a minor landed catholic family from Ballaghide, Co. Carlow. The details of his early life are unknown. In 1793 he wrote epigrams and short verse for Dublin magazines. Claiming to have…...