Eustace, Sir Maurice
Eustace, Sir Maurice (1595?–1665), lord chancellor of Ireland, was eldest son of John Fitzwilliam Eustace of Harristown, Co. Kildare, and his wife Catherine. The Eustaces were a powerful Old English family, and while Maurice's branch had converted to protestantism, many of his…...
Falkiner, Sir Frederick Richard
Falkiner, Sir Frederick Richard (1831–1908), recorder of Dublin, was born 19 January 1831 at Mount Falcon, Co. Tipperary, third son of Richard Falkiner (1778–1833), a soldier in the 4th Dragoon Guards, and Tempe Falkiner (née Litton; 1796–1888). His older brother Travers Hartley…...
Farquhar, George
Farquhar, George (1677?–1707), playwright, was born in Derry, son of an anglican clergyman (his parents’ names are unknown), and educated in Derry at the Free Grammar School under Ellis Walker. The details of Farquhar's life remain scanty, in spite of his fame, and modern scholars have…...
Farran, George Philip
Farran, George Philip (1876–1949), marine taxonomist and fisheries scientist, was born 21 November 1876 at Knocklyon House, Templeogue, Co. Dublin, eldest among two sons and two daughters of Edmond Chomley Farran, a man of private income, of Belcamp Park, Raheny, Co. Dublin, and…...
Farrell, James Gordon
Farrell, James Gordon (1935–79), novelist, was born 23 January 1935 in Liverpool, England, second of three sons of William Farrell, broker's clerk and accountant, and Josephine Farrell (née Russell), born in Ireland of an English timber dealer. He moved with his family to…...
Fitton, Sir Alexander
Fitton, Sir Alexander (1635/6–1699), Baron Fytton , lord chancellor, was the eldest surviving son of William Fitton of Gawsworth in Cheshire. His great-grandfather Sir Edward Fitton (qv) was a high-ranking Tudor official in…...
Fitzgerald, (Fanny Louisa) Geraldine Penrose-
Fitzgerald, (Fanny Louisa) Geraldine Penrose- (1846–1939), novelist and catholic convert, was born 27 January 1846, youngest daughter of Robert Uniacke Penrose-Fitzgerald and his wife Frances Matilda (née Austen); she had at least three brothers and one sister. The Penrose-…...
Fitzgerald, George Francis
Fitzgerald, George Francis (1851–1901), physicist, was born 3 August 1851 at Kill o’ the Grange rectory, Monkstown, Co. Dublin, the son of William Fitzgerald (1814–83), who went on to become bishop of Cork and later of Killaloe, and his wife Anne Frances, a niece of…...
Fitzgerald, James
Fitzgerald, James (1742–1835), lawyer and politician, was born at Inchicronan, Co. Clare, eldest son of William Fitzgerald, attorney, from Ennis, Co. Clare, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Pierce Lynch, of Co. Clare. Educated at the Rev. Thomas Benson's school in…...
Fitzgibbon, Gerald
Fitzgibbon, Gerald (1793–1882), lawyer and political writer, was born at Glin, Co. Limerick, on either 1 January or 31 December 1793 (the sources differ), fourth son of Garret or Gerald FitzGibbon, a farmer and weaver who left the catholic for the established church, and his wife…...
Fitzgibbon, Gerald
Fitzgibbon, Gerald (1837–1909), judge, was born 28 August 1837 in Dublin, the eldest child of the two sons and a daughter of Gerald Fitzgibbon (qv), judge, and his wife, Ellen (née Patterson), who came from Belfast. He was educated…...
Fitzgibbon, John
Fitzgibbon, John (1708?–1780), barrister and politician, was born probably in 1708, the first of the four sons of Thomas Fitzgibbon of Ballyseeda, Co. Limerick, and his wife, Honor, a daughter of William Hayes of Cahirguillamore, Co. Limerick. Thomas Fitzgibbon, whose father,…...
FitzGibbon, John
FitzGibbon, John (1748–1802), 1st earl of Clare , lawyer and politician, was born in Donnybrook, Co. Dublin, one of seven children of John Fitzgibbon (qv), a barrister and MP who had converted from catholicism, and his wife Elinor,…...
Fleming, Marie
Fleming, Marie (1953–2013), campaigner for assisted suicide, was born Eileen Mary Brolly on 26 December 1953 in Lifford, Co. Donegal, the first of five children (two girls and three boys) to Annette (née Maxwell) and Daniel Brolly, a painter and decorator. In 1969, when she was fourteen…...
Flood, Warden
Flood, Warden (1694–1764), lawyer and politician, was born at Burnchurch, Co. Kilkenny, eldest son among eight sons and one daughter of Francis Flood, MP for Callan, Co. Kilkenny (1703–5, 1713–14, 1715–27), and his wife Anne, daughter and heiress of John Warden. Educated at…...
Forster, John
Forster, John (1667–1720), judge and MP, was the eldest son among at least two sons and two daughters of Richard Forster, of Clonshagh, Co. Dublin, militia colonel and later MP for Swords (1692–3), and his wife Anne (née Webber). He entered …...
Fox, Luke
Fox, Luke (1757–1819), politician and chief justice of the common pleas, was the fifth son of Michael Fox of Tully, Co. Leitrim, and Margaret Fox (née Coane). Educated privately by Dr Armstrong, and at a grammar school in Cavan, he entered TCD…...
Frankau, Julia (‘Frank Danby’)
Frankau, Julia (‘Frank Danby’) (1859–1916), art historian and novelist, was born 30 July 1859 in Dublin, into an English Jewish family, seventh among nine children of Hyman Davis (d. 1871), dentist and later artist/photographer, and his wife Isabella. Her parents arrived in Dublin in…...
French, (William) Percy
French, (William) Percy (1854–1920), songwriter, humourist, entertainer, and painter, was born 1 May 1854 in Cloonyquin House, parish of Tulsk, Co. Roscommon, second son and third child among four sons and five daughters of Christopher French (1821–97), landowner, and Susan Emma French…...
Galbraith, Joseph Allen
Galbraith, Joseph Allen (1818–90), professor of experimental philosophy and proponent of home rule, was born November 1818 in Dublin, the son of Richard Galbraith, a merchant and Scottish presbyterian, and his wife Rebecca. His father died in the 1820s, after which he largely…...
Gerrard, Sir William
Gerrard, Sir William (d. 1581), lord chancellor of Ireland, was son of Gilbert Gerrard of Ince, Lancashire, and his wife Eleanor, daughter of William Davison, alderman of Chester. He was a cousin of Sir Gilbert Gerrard, master of the rolls in England. William Gerrard entered…...
Gibbon, (William) Monk
Gibbon, (William) Monk (1896–1987), poet and writer, was born 15 December 1896 in Dundrum, Co. Dublin, son of Canon William Gibbon, a rural dean in Taney parish, Dundrum, and Agnes Gibbon (née Pollock), who had four children from a previous marriage. Gibbon was educated at St Columba's…...
Godley, John Raymond
Godley, John Raymond (1920–2005), 3rd Baron Kilbracken of Killegar , pilot, journalist, traveller, landowner and environmentalist, was born 17 October 1920 in Chester Street, Belgravia, London, England, the eldest of two sons (Wynne being the younger) and a daughter (Kathleen) of…...
Goldberg, Gerald Yael
Goldberg, Gerald Yael (1912–2003), solicitor, politician and writer, was born 12 April 1912 in Cork city, eleventh of twelve surviving children of Louis J. Goldberg, peddler and shopkeeper, and his wife Rachel (née Sandler). His birth name was Yael or Yoel; the anglicised ‘Gerald’ was…...
Goldblatt, Harold
Goldblatt, Harold (1901–82), theatre producer and actor, was born in Belfast. Little is known of his early life before he came to prominence in the 1920s with the Jewish Institute Dramatic Society. He was its founder, producer, and main actor; his first success was to win the…...