Anderson, Robert
This is a co-subject for the entry on Anderson, Sir Samuel Lee. View the original entry....
Arbuckle, James
Arbuckle, James (d. 1742), poet and essayist, came from Belfast. His parentage is unknown, but he may have been a nephew of the merchant James Arbuckle (d. March 1736), who was a lay elder in the Second Presbyterian congregation. His date of birth cannot be reliably determined,…...
Babington, Sir Anthony Brutus
Babington, Sir Anthony Brutus (1877–1972), lawyer and politician, was born 24 November 1877, eldest son of Hume Babington, architect and civil engineer, of Creevagh House, Co. Londonderry, with an estate of 1,540 acres in 1876. The family were direct descendants of…...
Bladen, William
Bladen, William (c.1585–1663), printer and bookseller, was born in England, son of Thomas Bladen, yeoman of Derbyshire; nothing is known of his mother. In 1602 he became an apprentice in the London Stationers’ company, being freed on 7 May 1610. Thereafter he worked in…...
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, 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).…...
Boyse, Samuel
Boyse, Samuel (1708–49), poet, translator, and hack writer, was born in Dublin in 1708, son of the Rev. Joseph Boyse (qv), the English-born presbyterian theologian, pamphleteer, and minister to the Wood St. church, Dublin. Educated…...
Brooke, Stopford Augustus
Brooke, Stopford Augustus (1832–1916), clergyman and author, was born 14 November 1832 at ‘Glendoen’, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, eldest of eight children of the Rev. Richard Sinclair Brooke, the local curate, and Anna Brooke (née Stopford). When his maternal grandfather and…...
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…...
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…...
Caldwell, Andrew
Caldwell, Andrew (1733–1808), barrister, politician, and social figure, was born on 19 December 1733, the first of three sons of Charles Caldwell (1707–76), solicitor to the commissioners of revenue and agent to Lord Bessborough, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin…...
Cameron, John
Cameron, John (1724–99), presbyterian minister and writer, was born in Scotland; some sources say near Edinburgh, though Kinross is also mentioned. Nothing is known of his parents. He was apprenticed to an Edinburgh bookseller, and among the books picked up a love of literature…...
Carnduff, Thomas
Carnduff, Thomas (1886–1956), writer, was born 30 January 1886 in Sandy Row, Belfast, youngest among six children of James Graham Carnduff (1842?–1900), an invalided army schoolteacher, and his second wife Jane (née Bollard; d. 1891). The family were poor, and living on their father…...
Clotworthy, Upton
This is a co-subject for the entry on Upton, Arthur. View the original entry....
Cole, Sir William
Cole, Sir William (1571?–1653), English soldier and planter, was the only son of Emmanuel Cole, third son of Thomas Cole of London, and appears to have been raised in Devonshire. He may have studied at Cambridge, graduating BA and…...
Cromwell, Henry
Cromwell, Henry (1628–74), soldier and administrator, was born 20 January 1628 at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England, fourth son of Oliver Cromwell (qv) and Elizabeth Cromwell (née Bourchier). He fought only in the closing stages of…...
Donaghy, John Lyle
Donaghy, John Lyle (1902–49), poet, was born near Larne, Co. Antrim, on 28 July 1902, the eldest son of Revd John Lyle Donaghy, a minister of First Larne Presbyterian Church, and Jessie Meikle Donaghy (née Gardner-Smith). Educated at Larne grammar school and…...
Drennan, William
Drennan, William (1754–1820), physician, patriot, and minor poet, was born 23 May 1754 at his father's manse in Rosemary St., Belfast, third surviving child and only son of the Rev. Thomas Drennan and his wife Anne (née Lennox). Thomas Drennan (1696–1768) was born 25 December…...
Ellis, James (‘Jimmy’)
Ellis, James (‘Jimmy’) (1931–2014), actor and theatre director, was born on 15 March 1931 in his aunt’s house at 13 Gawn Street, Belfast, the younger of two children and only son of James Ellis senior, a sheet-metal worker at Harland & Wolff shipyard, and his mother Matilda (‘Tilly…...
Findlater, Sir William
Findlater, Sir William (1824–1906), solicitor and MP, was born 1 January 1824, the only son of William Findlater, of Londonderry, and his wife Sophia (née Huffington) of Fahan, Co. Donegal. His father, who had been born in Scotland, died in 1831. With his three sisters, he spent…...
Fleetwood, Charles
Fleetwood, Charles (d. 1692), soldier and lord deputy of Ireland, was third son of Sir Miles Fleetwood of Aldwincle, Northamptonshire, England, and his wife Anne, daughter of Nicholas Luke of Woodend, Bedfordshire. After being admitted to Gray's Inn (30 November 1638), he became a…...
Forbes, Sir Arthur
Forbes, Sir Arthur (1623–c.1696), 1st earl of Granard , soldier and politician, was born in Longford, son of Sir Arthur Forbes, 1st Baron Granard, of Castle Forbes, Co. Longford (originally from Aberdeenshire, Scotland), and his wife Lady Jane Lauder (née Hamilton) of the Isle…...
Fraser (Frazer), John
Fraser (Frazer), John (1803/4–1852), poet and cabinet-maker, was born in Birr, King's Co. (Offaly), into a presbyterian family, originally bearing the name de Jean (possibly of huguenot extraction). There are conflicting accounts of his date of birth. It is asserted in one…...
Gamble, John
Gamble, John (1770?–1831), physician, traveller, and writer, was born at Strabane, Co. Tyrone, into a local presbyterian family and reared by an uncle (perhaps John Sproull of Strabane), an apothecary. It is likely that he came under the influence of…...
Gibson, Sir Maurice
Gibson, Sir Maurice (1913–87), judge, was born 1 May 1913 in Belfast, son of William James Gibson, chemist, and his wife, Edith Mary. He was educated at the RBAI and took a first-class honours degree at…...