Robinson, Thomas Romney
Robinson, Thomas Romney (1793–1882), astronomer and mathematical physicist, was born 23 April 1793 in St Anne's parish, Dublin, eldest son of Thomas Robinson, an English portrait painter, and Ruth Robinson (née Buck). He was named after his father's painting master, George Romney.…...
Roddie, Ian Campbell
Roddie, Ian Campbell (1928–2011), physiologist and academic, was born on 1 December 1928 in Belfast, third of four sons of J. R. Wesley Roddie (d. 1953), a methodist minister, and his wife Mary Hill (née Wilson; d. 1973); the four brothers all entered the medical profession. Rev.…...
Salmon, George
Salmon, George (1819–1904), mathematician and theologian, was born 25 September 1819 and baptised at St George's church, Temple Street, Dublin on 28 September 1819. He was the only son of Michael Salmon, linen merchant at the Linen Hall, Dublin, and subsequently at 80 Grand Parade, Cork…...
Sampson, George Vaughan
Sampson, George Vaughan (1763–1827), clergyman, linguist, survey writer, and agricultural and social reformer, was born in Co. Antrim, though his father, Arthur Sampson, was at the time rector of Templemore, Co. Londonderry. His mother was Mary Mercer, daughter of George Spaight…...
Scott, Robert Henry
Scott, Robert Henry (1833–1916), meteorologist and mineralogist, was born 28 January 1833 in Dublin, youngest son among five sons and one daughter of James Smyth Scott, lawyer, and his wife Louisa, daughter of Charles Brodrick (qv),…...
Sinclair, Elizabeth (Betty)
Sinclair, Elizabeth (Betty) (1910–81), trade unionist, was born 3 December 1910, into a protestant working class family in Hooker Street, Belfast. She was the third child of two sons and two daughters born to Joseph and Margaret Sinclair. Her father worked as a sawyer in Harland…...
Smithson, Annie M(ary) P(atricia)
Smithson, Annie M(ary) P(atricia) (1873–1948), author, nurse, republican, and trade unionist, was born Margaret Anne Jane Smithson 26 September 1873 at 22 Claremont Rd, Sandymount, Dublin, daughter of Samuel Raynor Smithson, a protestant, unionist barrister, and Margaret Louisa…...
Stokes, George Gabriel
Stokes, George Gabriel (1819–1903), 1st baronet, mathematician, physicist, and scientific administrator, was born 13 August 1819 in Skreen, Co. Sligo, youngest child among five sons and three daughters of Gabriel Stokes (1761–1834), rector of Skreen, and his wife Elizabeth,…...
Symner, Miles
Symner, Miles (d. 1686), clergyman, mathematician, astronomer, and military engineer, is of unclear parentage, but considering his education at TCD, he was probably of Anglo-Irish or English descent. He entered TCD as a scholar in…...
Synge, Edward Hutchinson
Synge, Edward Hutchinson (1890–1957), physicist, was born on 1 June 1890 in south Dublin, eldest child of Edward Synge and his wife Ellen (née Price). He had two brothers, Victor Millington Synge (qv) and…...
Synge, John Lighton
Synge, John Lighton (1897–1995), mathematician and theoretical physicist, was born 23 March 1897 in Dublin, youngest among one daughter and three sons of Edward Synge (1859–1939), then land agent in Kingscourt, Co. Cavan, and his wife Ellen Frances (1861–1935), daughter of the…...
Taylor, William Cooke
Taylor, William Cooke (1800–49), historian and economist, was born 16 April 1800 at Youghal, Co. Cork, son of Richard Taylor, manufacturer, and his wife, Mary (née Cooke). Both his parents’ families had lived at Youghal since Cromwellian times; Mary was descended from the regicide…...
Threlkeld, Caleb
Threlkeld, Caleb (1676–1728), doctor, minister of religion, and botanist, was born 31 May 1676 in Keybergh or Keibergh in the parish of Kirkoswald, Cumberland, England, third among three sons of Thomas Threlkeld and Bridget Threlkeld (née Brown), who both died in 1712. He also had three…...
Tollet, George
Tollet, George (d. c.1721/2), mathematician and early scientist, had (although details of his parents and date of birth are unknown) three brothers, Charles, John, and Thomas, and a sister, Mary. All of his siblings were married, and had children: Charles had a son named…...
Torrens, Robert
Torrens, Robert (c.1780–1864), political economist, was born in Ulster, probably at Hervey Hill rectory, Kilrea, Co. Londonderry (though Hazelwood House, Rasharkin, Co. Antrim, has also been suggested). He was eldest among three children of Robert Torrens and his wife…...
Townsend, Richard
Townsend, Richard (1821–84), mathematician, was born 3 April 1821 at Baltimore, Co. Cork, eldest son among six sons and two daughters of Thomas Townsend of Smithville, near Castletownsend, and his wife Helena, daughter of John Freke of Baltimore, deputy governor of Co. Cork during…...
Townshend, Horatio
Townshend, Horatio (1750–1837), clergyman and author, was born 5 November 1750, third son of Capt. Philip Townshend (1700–86), soldier and landowner, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Hungerford. The Townshends had come to Ireland in the seventeenth century; Horatio's…...
Traill, Anthony
Traill, Anthony (1838–1914), provost of TCD, was born 1 November 1838 at Ballylough, Co. Antrim, eldest son among three sons and three daughters of William Traill, who had a medical degree and owned an estate at Ballylough, and his wife Louisa, daughter of Robert Ffrench of…...
Ussher, Henry
Ussher, Henry (1741–90), astronomer, was fourth son of the Rev. Samuel Ussher (1695–1771), rector of Dunganstown, Co. Wicklow, and Frances Ussher (née Walsh). His grandfather, John Ussher of Mount Ussher, Co. Wicklow, was a master in chancery and third son of William Ussher of…...
Ussher, Richard John
Ussher, Richard John (1841–1913), ornithologist and speleologist, was born 6 April 1841, the only child that survived infancy of Richard Kiely Ussher (1778–1854) of Cappagh, Co. Waterford, and his second wife, Isabella Ussher, daughter of Col. Jasper Grant, of Kilmurray, Co. Cork…...
Wade, Walter
Wade, Walter (c.1740–1825), botanist, was born in Dublin, son of John Wade (d. 1799), chemist and apothecary, and Katherine Wade. In 1767 John Wade's proposal, sanctioned by (Royal) King and Queen's College of Physicians Ireland ((R)K&QCPI; forerunner of RCPI), to establish…...
Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton
Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton (1903–95), scientist, educator, and Nobel prize laureate, was born 6 October 1903 in Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, elder of two children of the Rev. John Arthur Walton and Anna Elizabeth Walton (née Sinton). His father, a methodist minister, was born…...
West, Trevor
West, Trevor (1938–2012), mathematician, politician and sportsman, was born on 8 May 1938 in Cork, the eldest of four sons of Timothy Roberts West, headmaster of Midleton College, Co. Cork, and Dorothy Trevor West (née McNeill), of Charleston, Ballinacurra, Co. Cork, who was CEO of…...
Whitelaw, James
Whitelaw, James (1749–1813), clergyman, statistician, and philanthropist, was born in Co. Leitrim; nothing is known of his family. He was educated in Cavan by Rev. Lewis Kerr before entering TCD (8 July 1766), becoming a scholar (1769…...
Whittaker, Sir Edmund Taylor
Whittaker, Sir Edmund Taylor (1873–1956), mathematician, theoretical physicist, and director of Dunsink observatory, was born 24 October 1873 in Birkdale, near Southport, Lancs., eldest child of John Whittaker, railway engineer and contractor, and his wife Selina, daughter of…...