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…...
Barrett, Rosa (Mary)
Barrett, Rosa (Mary) (1854–1936) philanthropist, child-care worker, and suffragist, was born 15 January 1854 in Royston, Hertfordshire, England, daughter of the Rev. W. G. Barrett and Martha Barrett (née Fletcher). From the 1860s she was resident with her family in Dublin. Her…...
Bewley, Charles Henry
Bewley, Charles Henry (1888–1969), barrister and diplomat, was born 12 July 1888 in Dublin, eldest son among four children of Henry Theodore Bewley (qv), MD and quaker, and Elizabeth…...
Black, William Bullick
Black, William Bullick (1879–1967), lawyer and judge, was born 22 September 1879, the only son of the Rev. James Black, a methodist clergyman, of Kinnegar, Holywood, Co. Down, and his wife Sarah Edith (née Bullick). Educated at the Methodist College, Belfast, and…...
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…...
Cole, John Sydney Richard
Cole, John Sydney Richard (1907–89), lawyer, was born 24 January 1907 in Belfast, the only son of R. L. Cole (qv), methodist minister, and Selina McKell Cole (née Kelly), who died at the time of his birth. He was educated at Cork…...
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’)
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’) (1829–99), nun and author, was born 6 May 1829 at Coolock, Co. Dublin, the elder of two children of Dr Samuel Cusack and his wife, Sarah (née Stoney). Early life and conversion to catholicism She was educated privately, learning informally…...
Dowden, Richard
Dowden, Richard (1794–1861), politician, philanthropist, and naturalist, was born 12 April 1794 at Bandon, Co. Cork, second among seven children of Richard Dowden and Anne Dowden (née Keys). He originally studied medicine but was asked by the Jennings family to manage their magnesia and…...
Ferguson, Richard ('Dick')
Ferguson, Richard ('Dick') (1935–2009), barrister and politician, was born in Derrygonnelly, Co. Fermanagh, on 22 August 1935, only child of Wesley Ferguson, RUC sergeant, and his wife Edith. The Fergusons, who were methodists, had farmed…...
Foster, (Frederic) Gordon
Foster, (Frederic) Gordon (1921–2010) statistician and informatics pioneer, was born on 24 February 1921 in Belfast, one of three children of Robert Foster, motor garage manager, and his wife Florence Evelynn (née Magee). The family were then living on Eglantine Avenue, Lisburn Road.…...
Glass, (John) Basil Caldwell
Glass, (John) Basil Caldwell (1926–2005), politician, lawyer, and judge, was born 21 May 1926 in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim, eldest of two sons and one daughter of John Glass (1894–1956), methodist minister, and his wife Muriel Florence (née Caldwell), whose father was also a methodist…...
Harvey, Joshua Reuben
Harvey, Joshua Reuben (1804–87), physician and naturalist, was born in Cork, into a quaker family, son of Reuben Harvey (1770–1830), American consul in Cork, and Mary Harvey (née Fennell). He entered TCD, graduating…...
Heitler, Walter
Heitler, Walter (1904–81), theoretical physicist and philosopher, was born 2 January 1904 in Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany, son of Adolf Heitler, a Jewish engineering professor, and Ottilie Heitler (née Rudolf ). His largely classical early education left him with a lifelong interest…...
Hinde, John Wilfrid
Hinde, John Wilfrid (1916–97), photographer and postcard manufacturer, was born 17 May 1916 in Street, Somerset, England, into a close-knit Quaker family, who later became Christian Scientist. His great-grandfather was James Clark, co-founder of the Clark's footwear company. During…...
Kelly, (John William) Basil
Kelly, (John William) Basil (1920–2008), barrister, politician and judge, was born 10 May 1920 in Co. Monaghan, one of two children and the only son of Thomas William Kelly and Emily Frances Kelly (née Donaldson). After the family had been burnt out of their farm they moved to Belfast,…...
Logan, James
Logan, James (1674–1751), scientist and public servant in America, was born 20 October 1674 at Lurgan, Co. Armagh, son of Patrick Logan, a schoolmaster and former Church of Scotland clergyman who became a quaker, and his wife, Isabel Logan (née Hume) – both had moved to Ireland from…...
Lonsdale, Kathleen
Lonsdale, Kathleen (1903–71), X-ray crystallographer and pacifist, was born 28 January 1903 in Charlotte House, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, youngest among ten children of Henry Frederick Yardley (d. 1923), an English-born former soldier and postmaster of Newbridge, and his wife Jessie…...
Lowther, Sir Gerrard (Gerard)
Lowther, Sir Gerrard (Gerard) (1590–1660), lawyer and judge, was probably the natural son of Christopher Lowther of Penrith, Cumberland. He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 7 June 1605. He entered Gray's Inn in 1608 and was called to the bar in 1614. He was in Dublin as…...
McIvor, (William) Basil
McIvor, (William) Basil (1928–2004), politician, barrister and judge, was born 17 June 1928 in Tullyhommon, Co. Fermanagh (the southern side of Pettigo – 'I am a British citizen with about 120 feet to spare' (McIvor, 8)), second of three sons of Frederick McIvor, methodist minister, and…...
Meredith, James Creed
Meredith, James Creed (1875–1942), judge of the supreme court and writer, was born in Dublin, son of Sir James Creed Meredith, secretary of the Royal University of Ireland from 1880 to 1909, and his third wife, Nellie (née Graves). He had three brothers and two sisters. He began…...
Pike, Mary
Pike, Mary (1776–1832), quaker heiress, was the only surviving daughter of Samuel Pike and his wife Catherine Hutchinson (d. 1813), a son and daughter both having died in infancy. Samuel (d. 1796) was a partner with his older brother Ebenezer in the family bank in Cork city,…...
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.…...
Sampson, Ralph Allen
Sampson, Ralph Allen (1866–1939), astronomer and mathematician, was born 25 June 1866 in Skull (Schull), Co. Cork, fourth among five children of James Sampson (d. 1871), metallurgical chemist and mining engineer from Cornwall, and his wife Sarah Anne (née McDermott).…...
Shackleton, Lydia
Shackleton, Lydia (1828–1914), botanical artist, teacher, and poet, was born 22 November 1828, at Griesemount, Ballitore, Co. Kildare, the third eldest of thirteen children of George Shackleton, a miller, and Hannah Shackleton (née Fisher). Her forebear…...
Steele, William
Steele, William (1610–80), barrister, privy counsellor, and lord chancellor of Ireland, was born in Sandbach, Cheshire, England, eldest among three sons of Richard Steele of Finchley, Middlesex, and his wife Laetitia (née Shaw). Steele matriculated at Caius College, Cambridge, in…...