Ainsworth, Sir John Francis
Ainsworth, Sir John Francis (1912–81), 3rd baronet, palaeographer, and archivist, was born 4 January 1912 in London, the only son of Thomas Ainsworth, later 2nd baronet, a racehorse breeder and master of various packs of foxhounds in Ireland, and his first wife, Edina Dorothy Hope (…...
Aldworth, Elizabeth
Aldworth, Elizabeth (1692/5?–1772?), freemason, was born probably in Doneraile, Co. Cork, daughter of Arthur St Leger , 1st Viscount Doneraile (1703), and his wife Elizabeth, heir of John Hayes. Around 1710 she accidentally overheard a masonic lodge meeting in Doneraile Castle, and…...
Anderson, John
Anderson, John (1815–1905), woollen merchant, geologist, bibliographer, and local politician, was born 8 July 1815 near Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. After moving to Belfast he entered (1840) the woollen business in Donegall St. founded by James Young in 1795. Anderson's eminence…...
Archer, William
Archer, William (1827–97), naturalist and librarian, was born 6 May 1827 (some sources have 1830), the eldest son of Richard Archer (1796?–1849), perpetual curate of Maghera hamlet, Co. Down, and his wife, Jane Matilda (née Campbell). Nothing is known of his education, though his…...
Balfe, John Donnellan
Balfe, John Donnellan (1816–80), politician, journalist, and British government spy, was born in Co. Meath, son of James Balfe, gentleman, and Sara Balfe (née Sutherland). He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, and had a brief career in the British army, joining…...
Barry, Katty
Barry, Katty (1909–82), restaurateur and famous Cork character, was born on Dalton's Avenue, off the Coal Quay, Cork, daughter of John Barry. Her mother ran a provisions shop on Dalton's Avenue, which Katty took over and turned into an eating house. Beautiful, witty, earthy, and…...
Barry, Richard
Barry, Richard (1769–93), 7th earl of Barrymore , spendthrift, was born in London on 14 August 1769 and succeeded his father, Richard, to the Irish earldom of Barrymore just before his fourth birthday. In his youth he became excessively interested in racehorses, gambling,…...
Behan, Brian Finbar Oliver Plunkett
Behan, Brian Finbar Oliver Plunkett (1926–2002), writer, radical, and bohemian, was born Brian Desmond Behan (the name appearing on the birth certificate) on 10 November 1926 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, while the family were residing at 14 Russell St., the third of five children of…...
Bell, John
Bell, John (c.1793–1861), antiquary, collector, and landscape painter, was the second son of John Bell, gentleman landowner, of Camelon, near Falkirk, Scotland. It is unclear when he settled in Ireland, but he was contributing articles to local newspapers in Newry, Co. Down…...
Bell, Laura Eliza Jane Seymour
Bell, Laura Eliza Jane Seymour (1829?–1894), celebrated beauty, was daughter of Robert Bell of Bellbrook, near Glenavy, Co. Antrim, bailiff for the Hertford estate, and locally prominent. In later life she claimed that her mother was Laura Jane Seymour, an illegitimate daughter of…...
Best, Richard Irvine
Best, Richard Irvine (1872–1959), Celticist and librarian, was born 17 January 1872 at 3 Bishop Street, Derry, son of Henry Best, excise officer, and his wife Margaret Jane (née Irvine), and educated locally at Foyle College. He did not attend university but worked briefly in banking…...
Betham, Sir William
Betham, Sir William (1779–1853), archivist and scholar, was born 22 May 1779 at Stradbrooke, Suffolk, eldest surviving son among fourteen children of William Betham (d. 1839), clergyman and antiquary, and Mary Betham (née Damant). He was apprenticed to a printer, was employed to revise…...
Bewley, Victor Ernest Henry
Bewley, Victor Ernest Henry (1912–2000), quaker businessman and philanthropist, was born on 24 May 1912, at Danum, the family estate in Rathgar, one of five children to Ernest Bewley (qv) and Susan Emily Bewley (née Clarke) from Doncaster.…...
Blackwood, Lady Caroline Maureen
Blackwood, Lady Caroline Maureen (1931–96), writer and muse, was born in Hans Crescent, London, on 16 July 1931, eldest of the three children of Basil Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (1909–45), 8th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye, 4th Marquess Dufferin and Ava, and his wife, Maureen…...
Booth, Eva Selina Gore-
Booth, Eva Selina Gore- (1870–1926), poet, mystic, trade unionist and suffragist, was born on 22 May 1870 at Lissadell, Co. Sligo, the second of three daughters (and two sons) of Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th baronet and Arctic explorer, and his wife, Georgina (née Hill) of Tickhill castle…...
Bouhéreau, Élie (Elias)
Bouhéreau, Élie (Elias) (1643–1719), huguenot bibliophile, librarian, cleric, diarist, and administrator, was born 5 May 1643 at La Rochelle, France, son of Élie Bouhéreau, pastor of Fontenay, and Blandine Bouhéreau (née Richard). The family was of the upper middle class. He was…...
Bradshaw, Henry
Bradshaw, Henry (1831–86), bibliophile, librarian, and scholar, was born 2 February 1831 at 2 Artillery Place, Finsbury Square, London, third son of Joseph Hoare Bradshaw (d. 1845), a native of Mile Cross, near Newtownards, Co. Down, and a partner in the city banking firm of Barnett…...
Bradstreet, Dudley
Bradstreet, Dudley (1711–63), spy and fortune-hunter, was born in Co. Tipperary, youngest son of John Bradstreet, a landowner whose family had received considerable Cromwellian land grants. Raised by a foster-family because of his father's high-living, Dudley later attributed his…...
Brown, Stephen James Meredith
Brown, Stephen James Meredith (1881–1962), Jesuit priest, bibliographer, and librarian, was born 24 September 1881 in Holywood, Co. Down, eldest of four children of Stephen James Brown (1853–1931), solicitor and JP, and Catharine Brown (…...
Burgoyne, Francis James Powell (‘Frank’)
Burgoyne, Francis James Powell (‘Frank’) (1881–1956), librarian, was born 21 February 1881 at 22 Rosedale Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the son of Francis Thomas Burgoyne, librarian, and Mary Ann Burgoyne (née Powell). Educated at the City of London School and King's College,…...
Burke, Honora
Burke, Honora (1674–1698), was the youngest daughter of William Burke (qv), 7th earl of Clanricarde, and his second wife, Helen, daughter of Donough MacCarthy (qv), 1st earl of Clancarty…...
Bury, Lady Mairi (Elizabeth)
Bury, Lady Mairi (Elizabeth) (1921–2009), gardener and philatelist, was born 25 March 1921 at Mount Stewart, Co. Down, youngest of four daughters and one son of Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest Stewart (qv…...
Butler, Lady (Charlotte) Eleanor
Butler, Lady (Charlotte) Eleanor (c.1739–1829), recluse of Llangollen, was born in Cambrai, France, the youngest daughter of Walter Butler of Garryricken, Co. Tipperary, and his wife, Ellen (née Morres), of Latargh, Co. Tipperary. Her family were members of the old catholic…...
Byrne, Charles
Byrne, Charles (1761–83), giant, was born in Littlebridge, Co. Londonderry, of an Irish father and a Scottish mother. All his relatives were of normal height and his growth was caused by a tumour on his pituitary gland. By August 1780 he was said to be 8 ft (2.4 m) tall, with his…...
Canning, Hubert George de Burgh
Canning, Hubert George de Burgh (1832–1916), 2nd marquess of Clanricarde , landowner and miser, was born on 30 November 1832, the younger son of Harriet, daughter of George Canning the prime minister, and presumably of her husband, Ulick John de Burgh, 1st marquess of Clanricarde.…...