Brosnahan, Seán
Brosnahan, Seán (1911–87), teacher and trade unionist, was born 26 August 1911 in Killaloe, Co. Clare, one of nine children of John Brosnahan, RIC sergeant, and Norah Brosnahan (née Ryan) (d. 1946). One of his brothers was Thomas J.…...
Browne, Arthur
Browne, Arthur (1756?–1805), lawyer, legal and classical scholar, and MP, was born probably in Newport, Rhode Island, North America, the only son of Marmaduke Browne (1731–71), rector of Trinity church, Newport, and later a founding fellow of Rhode Island College (from 1804 Brown…...
Browne, Daniel J. (‘Dan’)
Browne, Daniel J. (‘Dan’) (1895–1959), lawyer and civil servant, was born 21 May 1895, the youngest of the fourteen children of Daniel Browne, shopkeeper and butcher, and Ellen (née Walsh), of the Corner House, Church Street, Listowel, Co. Kerry. After a distinguished career as a…...
Browne, Geoffrey
Browne, Geoffrey (d. 1668), lawyer and politician, was the eldest son, of the four sons and five daughters, of Sir Dominick Browne, merchant, and mayor of Galway in 1634, and his wife, Anastasia, daughter of James Darcy, mayor of Galway in 1603, and sister of…...
Browne, John
Browne, John (1638–1712?), lawyer and entrepeneur, of Kinturk and Westport, Co. Mayo, was the second son of Major John Browne (d. 1670) of the Neale, near Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, and his wife Mary. His mother was a daughter of Sir …...
Brown, George
Brown, George (1906–37), communist and trade unionist, was born 5 November 1906 in Ballyhale, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, son of Francis Brown, a farrier with the Manchester Railway Company and an active trade unionist, originally from Inistiogue, Co. Kilkenny, and Mary Brown (née…...
Brown, Samuel Lombard (‘Sam’)
Brown, Samuel Lombard (‘Sam’) (1856–1939), barrister and politician, was born 10 January 1856, the eldest son of Samuel Brown LLD, of Trim, Co. Meath, and his wife Isabella (née Coote). The family later moved to 2 Sydenham Terrace, Dundrum, Co.…...
Bryan, Patrick
Bryan, Patrick (d. 1663), lawyer and politician, was third son of James FitzJohn Bryan of Whiteswall and Eleanor, daughter of Piers Butler of Callan, Co. Kilkenny. Patrick qualified as a barrister, having studied in Gray's Inns in the late 1630s, and married a daughter of James…...
Bryce, James
Bryce, James (1838–1922), 1st Viscount Bryce , politician, historian, jurist, and chief secretary for Ireland (1905–7), was born 10 May 1838 in a small terraced house in Arthur St., Belfast, eldest of two sons and two daughters of James Bryce…...
Buckley (Goulding), Margaret (‘Maggie’; ‘Margaret Lee’)
Buckley (Goulding), Margaret (‘Maggie’; ‘Margaret Lee’) (1879–1962), republican, trade unionist, and writer, was born in July 1879, at Winter's Hill, Cork, the eldest daughter of James Goulding and his wife Ellen (née Joyce), both of Cork. Her father, who was employed as a labourer…...
Budd, Frederic Gardner Orford
Budd, Frederic Gardner Orford (1904–76), barrister and judge, was born 11 April 1904 in Ennis, Co. Clare, second son of Samuel Duguid Budd, later chief officer of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, and Fanny Beatrice, the daughter of Dr Orford of Leicestershire. Samuel Budd had five…...
Burgh, Walter Hussey
Burgh, Walter Hussey (1742–83), politician and lawyer, was born 23 August 1742, the only son of Ignatius Hussey (d. 1743), barrister, of Donore, Co. Kildare, and his second wife, Elizabeth (1705–57), daughter of Thomas Burgh (1670–1730) of Oldtown, Co. Kildare, surveyor general of…...
Burke, James Michael
Burke, James Michael (1873–1936), barrister, newspaper editor, and politician, was born 4 November 1873 at 31 Bridge St., Skibbereen, Co. Cork, seventh among twelve children (seven sons and three daughters survived to adulthood) of Patrick Burke, grocer and farmer, and Mary Burke (née…...
Burke, Ulick Ralph
Burke, Ulick Ralph (1845–95), lawyer and Hispanicist, was born in Dublin on 21 October 1845, the elder son of Charles Granby Burke (1814–98) of Milltown, Co. Dublin, master of the court of common pleas, and his wife, Emma Jane, daughter of Ralph Creyke of Marton, Yorkshire. His…...
Burnell, Henry
Burnell, Henry (d. 1614), lawyer, was the son of John Burnell of Castleknock, Co. Dublin; the family also owned land at Balgriffin, Co. Dublin, and had strong connections with the city of Dublin, principally through Sir Robert Burnell, who was mayor on several occasions in the…...
Burn, Thomas Henry
Burn, Thomas Henry (1875–1949), trade unionist and politician, was born in Belfast, son of Thomas Henry Burn. Little is known of his family life but he was educated at Belfast National School and subsequently trained as a lithographic printer. The Ulster Unionist Labour…...
Burrowes, Peter
Burrowes, Peter (1753?–1841), barrister and politician, was born at Portarlington, Queen's Co., the first son of Thomas Burrowes, whose family was long established there. He entered TCD (1772), graduated …...
Bushe, Charles Kendal
Bushe, Charles Kendal (1767–1843), lawyer, judge, MP, and political writer, was born 13 January 1767 at Kilmurry, near Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, the only son of the Rev. Thomas Bushe of Kilmurry, rector of Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, and Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, and Catherine Bushe (née…...
Butler, Edward
Butler, Edward (1824?–1879), editor, barrister, and politician, was born in Co. Kilkenny, son of Michael Butler, farmer, and Mary Butler (née Joyce). First educated at Kilkenny College, he received third-level instruction at the lay college, Maynooth, in the late 1830s. By 1847 he…...
Butler, John (‘Jack’)
Butler, John (‘Jack’) (1891–1968), trade unionist and politician, was born in Lackendarra, Ballinamult, Co. Waterford, and grew up in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. Leaving school aged fifteen, he became a labourer and on the formation of the…...
Butler, Simon
Butler, Simon (1757–97), United Irishman and lawyer, was born in July 1757, third son among five children of Edmund Butler (d. 1779), barrister and 10th Viscount Mountgarret, and his wife Charlotte (d. 1778), daughter of the barrister Sir Simon Bradstreet (1693–1762). He entered the…...
Butler, Sir Theobald (Toby)
Butler, Sir Theobald (Toby) (c.1650–1721), lawyer, was the second of the five sons of James Butler (d. 1682) of Boytonrath, Co. Tipperary, and later of Shanagollen, Co. Clare, and his wife, Mary (d. a.1684), a daughter of James and Ellen Butler of Kilmoyler, Co.…...
Butt, Isaac
Butt, Isaac (1813–79), barrister and politician, was born 6 September 1813 in the Rectory at Glenfin, Co. Donegal, the only son of Robert Butt (d. 1829), a Church of Ireland parson, and his second wife, Berkeley (née Cox), daughter of the Rev. R. Cox, of Dovish, Co. Donegal and a…...
Byrne, James
Byrne, James (c.1875–1913), trade unionist, was born at 5 Clarence St., Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin, and lived at the address all his life. A large, strapping giant of a man, he worked locally on the docks, and eventually in Heiton's coal depot. About 1910 he…...
Byrne, Robert (‘Bobby’)
Byrne, Robert (‘Bobby’) (1889–1919), trade unionist and republican, was born 28 November 1889 at 5 Upper Oriel St., Dublin, one of three sons of Robert Byrne, fitter, of North Strand, Dublin, and Annie Byrne (née Hurley) of Limerick. He was a cousin of…...