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…...
Ruddock, Alan (Stephen Denis)
Ruddock, Alan (Stephen Denis) (1960–2010), journalist and editor, was born on 21 July 1960 in Dublin, the only son (he had one sister) of John Ruddock, a schoolteacher (eventually headmaster of Villiers School, Limerick city), and his wife Doreen. He came from a middle-class Church of…...
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…...
Sayers, Michael
Sayers, Michael (1911–2010), writer and journalist, was born on 19 December 1911 in Dublin, the youngest of four children (three sons and a daughter) of Philip Sayers (1876–1964), a businessman, and his wife Molly (née Harmel). Philip Sayers was born in Lithuania, came to Ireland as a…...
Stuart, James
Stuart, James (1764–1840), newspaper editor and historian, was born in Armagh city, son of Benjamin Stuart of Co. Antrim. He was educated at Armagh Royal School under Dr Arthur Grueber and in 1784 took sixth place on entrance to TCD. He…...
Supple, Gerald Henry
Supple, Gerald Henry (1823–98), journalist, lawyer, poet, and nationalist, was born in Cork city, eldest son among two sons and four daughters of Thomas Supple, of Bowling Green St., Cork city, and Letitia Anne Supple (née Sherlock), of Ballintemple, Co. Cork, a lineal descendant…...
Swift, Deane Theophilus
Swift, Deane Theophilus (1774–1858), United Irishman and author, was born in Co. Meath, eldest son of the writer and eccentric Theophilus Swift (qv) and his wife Charlotte (née Pead). He was a collateral descendant of…...
Talbot, James
Talbot, James (c.1768–1850),3rd Baron Talbot of Malahide , diplomat and spy, was born at Malahide Castle, Co. Dublin, second son among seven sons and five daughters of Richard Talbot, soldier, and Margaret Talbot (née O'Reilly). Educated at…...
Taylor, John Sydney
Taylor, John Sydney (1795–1841), barrister and journalist, was born in Donnybrook, Dublin, son of John Taylor, artist. His father had been born John McKinley but had assumed the surname of Taylor, and was descended from Capt. David McKinley who had commanded a company of the…...
Thornberry, Cedric Henry Reid
Thornberry, Cedric Henry Reid (1936–2014), human rights lawyer, journalist and UN official, was born on 22 June 1936 at 14 Ardmore Park South, Belfast, the elder son of (William Henry) Laylee Thornbury, headmaster of Lurgan Model School, and his wife Lila (née Watson). Cedric was raised…...
Tickell, George
Tickell, George (1828/9–1892), unionist, businessman and newspaper proprietor, was the eldest of at least two sons of Thomas Tickell (d. 1873), a timber merchant of North King Street, Dublin. The Tickells were an old-established Dublin protestant merchant family who had been resident…...
Tonna, Charlotte Elizabeth
Tonna, Charlotte Elizabeth (1790-1846), evangelical journalist and novelist, was born Charlotte Elizabeth Browne on 1 October 1790 in Norwich, England, daughter of Michael Browne, a minor canon of the cathedral, and his wife (probably a Murray). Her maternal grandmother, of Scots…...
Van Homrigh (Vanhomrigh), Esther (Hester)
Van Homrigh (Vanhomrigh), Esther (Hester) (1688–1723), Jonathan Swift's (qv) ‘Vanessa’, was born 14 February 1688 in Dublin, eldest of the four children of Bartholomew Van Homrigh (qv),…...
Whaley, Thomas (‘Buck’)
Whaley, Thomas (‘Buck’) (1766–1800), politician and rake, was born 15 December 1766, son of Richard Chapel Whaley (1700–69) a wealthy landowner, of Whaley Abbey, Co. Wicklow, and the only son of Richard Whaley (a. 1663–1725) and his wife Susanna, daughter of John Whaley…...
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, 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…...
Whitton, Eleanor Constance
Whitton, Eleanor Constance (1879–1956), campaigner for animal welfare, was born in Co. Longford, the daughter of the Rev. Alexander Beatty, Church of Ireland minister. She appears to have been educated locally. In 1902 she married Henry M. Whitton, registrar of the court of appeal…...
Wickham, William
Wickham, William (1761–1840), chief secretary for Ireland and British spymaster, was born November 1761 in England, first son of Henry Wickham, lieutenant-colonel in the British army, and Elizabeth Wickham (née Lamplugh). Educated at Winchester and Harrow, he entered Christ Church…...
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…...