Boyle, Ina (Selina Adelaide Philippa)
Boyle, Ina (Selina Adelaide Philippa) (1889–1967), composer, was born 8 March 1889 in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, daughter of Rev. William Foster Boyle, curate in Powerscourt parish, and his wife Philippa Augusta Jephson. Her father made violins and cellos as a hobby. She grew up at…...
Brady, Sir Francis William
Brady, Sir Francis William (1824–1909), judge, 2nd baronet, and founding member of the RIAM, was born in Dublin 22 July 1824, eldest son among two sons and three daughters of Sir Maziere Brady…...
Brase, Wilhelm Fritz
Brase, Wilhelm Fritz (1875–1940), musician, was born 4 May 1875 at Egestorf, near Hanover, Germany. He graduated at the Leipzig conservatoire and the Berlin academy of music, was the youngest person to become ‘royal musical director’ (1909), attained a leading position among the…...
Breathnach, Breandán
Breathnach, Breandán (1912–85), author, collector, and musician, was born 1 April 1912 in Hamilton St., Dublin, elder of two sons and three daughters of Patrick Walsh (d. 1980), silk weaver, and Julia Walsh (née Parker) (d. 1927). Educated at Francis St. national school, he obtained a…...
Breslin, Mary (‘Maura’)
Breslin, Mary (‘Maura’) (1914–84), trade unionist and feminist, was born 29 December 1914 in Dublin. She began working life as a staff nurse in Grangegorman mental hospital, and began her lifelong activism in trade unionism by joining the Irish Women Workers Union (IWWU), founded (…...
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.…...
Brown, Edward Godfrey
Brown, Edward Godfrey (1874–1955), conductor and musical director, was born 15 January 1874 at 74 Blake St., Barrow-in-Furness, Cumberland (Cumbria), the only son among four children of Edward Brown (1853–1941) and Emma Brown (née Godfrey). His father came from Marlow,…...
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…...
Bruce, William
Bruce, William (1702–55), publisher and writer, was born in Killyleagh, Co. Down, the youngest of the three sons of the Rev. James Bruce (qv) (1660?–1730), and his wife, Margaret (née Trail), of Tullychin (d. 1706). He was educated at the…...
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…...
Bunting, Edward
Bunting, Edward (1773–1843), musician and collector of Irish music, was born in February 1773 in Armagh, the youngest son of a mining engineer from Derby who had settled near Dungannon. His mother, Mary (née O'Quinn), was Irish. There were two other children of the marriage, Anthony and…...
Bunworth, Charles
Bunworth, Charles (c.1704–1772), clergyman, patron, and harper, was born in Newmarket, Co. Cork, second of at least three sons of Richard Bunworth, farmer, and Elizabeth Bunworth (née Philpot). He was educated by a family tutor, Mr Murdock, before entering…...
Burchill, Eveline
Burchill, Eveline (1905–87), dance teacher, was born 20 November 1905 in Cork, one of three daughters and four children of James Orr Burchill, managing director of the Singer sewing-machine company, and Lucy Burchill (née Power). The family subsequently moved to Dublin, settling in…...
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…...
Bushnell, Anne
Bushnell, Anne (1939–2011), singer, was born on 28 March 1939 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, one of four children of John Kavanagh, a motor mechanic, of Arnott Street, Portobello, Dublin, and his wife Evelyn (née Ledwidge). She grew up in Milltown, Dublin, and danced as a child on the…...
Butcher, Edward (‘Eddie’)
Butcher, Edward (‘Eddie’) (1900–80), traditional singer, was born 8 May 1900 at Tamlaght, Magilligan, Co. Londonderry, third son among six sons and four daughters born to John Butcher, casual labourer, and Elizabeth Butcher (née Clyde). His father was a noted singer and all but…...
Butler, Isaac
Butler, Isaac (1689/90?–1755), almanac maker, botanist, and antiquary, was by 1725 in business as a bookseller and publisher in Patrick Street, Dublin; he was a quarter-brother of the printers’ guild (1728–31). His first almanac was Advice from the stars (1725), which 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, Thomas O'Brien
Butler, Thomas O'Brien (1861–1915), composer, was born Thomas Whitwell in November 1861 in Cahirciveen, in the south-west of Co. Kerry. Details of his early life are scarce but he appears to have been a man of independent means who travelled extensively. His musical education was…...
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, John
Byrne, John (1919–2013), property developer and ballroom impresario, was born on 5 March 1919 in Upper Tullig, Kilflynn, near Tralee, Co. Kerry, the third child of seven sons and seven daughters of Michael Byrne, a farmer, and his wife Bridget (née Flaherty). After attending CBS…...
Byrne, Patrick
Byrne, Patrick (1740/41–1814), printer, bookseller, and United Irishman, had a flourishing business in Dublin, at 35 College Green (1779–85) and 108 Grafton Street (1785–99). Byrne's business was probably the largest of its kind in Ireland in the eighteenth century. One indication…...
Byrne, Patrick
Byrne, Patrick (c.1784–1863), harper, was born in Farney, Co. Monaghan, and was possibly the nephew or younger brother of harper Christopher Byrne (c.1775–1808). Blind from infancy, he was taught the harp by itinerant harpers from 1794 and by…...
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…...
Cahalan, Cissie
Cahalan, Cissie (1876–1948), trade unionist and suffragist, was born in Cork in 1876. Little is known of her early life, other than that she was apprenticed to the drapery trade, and by 1906 was based in Dublin where she worked as a draper's assistant in Arnott's of Henry St. Her…...