Adair, Sir Robert Alexander Shafto
Adair, Sir Robert Alexander Shafto (1811–86), 2nd baronet, Baron Waveney, MP and author, was born 25 August 1811, elder son of Sir Robert Shafto Adair (1st baronet, of Flixton Hall, Suffolk, and Ballymena, Co. Antrim) and Elizabeth Adair (née Strode), and educated at Harrow (1823–8).…...
Adam (Adams), William Augustus
Adam (Adams), William Augustus (1865–1940), soldier, was born 27 May 1865 in Dublin, elder son among three children of the Rev. B. W. Adams, MRIA, author and rector of Santry, Co. Dublin, and his second wife Louisa Jane,…...
Addison, Joseph
Addison, Joseph (1672–1719), writer and politician, was born 1 May 1672 at Milston, near Amesbury, Wiltshire, England, eldest son of Lancelot Addison (1632–1703), vicar of Milston and chaplain to Charles II and James II (qv), and his…...
Alexander, Cecil Frances
Alexander, Cecil Frances (1818–95), hymn-writer, known in her family as Fanny, was born in Eccles Street, Dublin, second daughter (and third among seven children) of John Humphreys and Elizabeth Frances Humphreys (née Reed). Her mother's brother was Thomas Reed (1796–1883), a general…...
Alexander, Eleanor Jane (Nell)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Alexander, Cecil Frances. View the original entry....
Ancketill (Anketell), Henry
Ancketill (Anketell), Henry (1855–1930), writer, journalist and politician, was born 4 May 1855 in Ancketill's Grove, Co. Monaghan, the fourth son of Major Matthew John Anketell, deputy lieutenant and JP, and his wife, Catherine Frances…...
Anderson, Sir John D'Arcy
Anderson, Sir John D'Arcy (1908–1988), army officer, was born 23 September 1908 in Ballyhosset, Downpatrick, Co. Down, the only child of Major Reginald D'Arcy Anderson of Ballyhosset, Downpatrick, and his wife, Norah, daughter of Colonel Thomas Gracey of Blackheath, London. He won…...
Andrews, William (‘Billy’,‘Bill’) Nathaniel
Andrews, William (‘Billy’,‘Bill’) Nathaniel (Mac Andrieu, Liam) (1873–1939), musician, was born 9 January 1873 in Dublin, son of Arthur Andrews, printer, and Elizabeth Andrews (née Dunne), both protestants. He studied classical music and was instructed on the piano by his aunt (…...
Anster, John Martin
Anster, John Martin (1793–1867), poet, translator of Goethe's Faust, and regius professor of civil law in Dublin University, was born 21 October 1793 in Charleville, Cork, son of John Anster, distiller, and Mary Ann Anster (née Hiffernan). The family was catholic, and…...
Armstrong, Edmund John
Armstrong, Edmund John (1841–65), poet, was born 23 July 1841 in Mornington House, Upper Merrion St., Dublin, the second of three sons of Edmund John Armstrong, a clerk in the ecclesiastical commission, and his wife Jane, daughter of the Rev. Henry Savage (d. 1815) of Glastry, Co…...
Armstrong, George Francis Savage
This is a co-subject for the entry on Armstrong, Edmund John. View the original entry....
Arnold, Thomas
Arnold, Thomas (1823–1900), literary scholar and teacher, was born at Laleham, Middlesex, on 30 November 1823, the third child and second son of Dr Thomas Arnold (1795–1842), later famous as the headmaster of Rugby School, and his wife, Mary, née Penrose (1791–1873). Throughout his life…...
Ash, Thomas
Ash, Thomas (1660?–p. 1735), diarist and defender of Derry, was born in Killylane, near Muff, Co. Donegal, before his family moved to Corrinerin, later known as Ashbrook, Co. Londonderry. One of twenty-four children of John Ash, he was the third son of John's second wife…...
Atkinson, Joseph
Atkinson, Joseph (c.1743–1818), army officer, poet, and dramatist, was born in Dublin and served in the English army, reaching the rank of captain. He wrote a comedy and two comic operas, all of which were produced in Dublin. His first play, ‘The mutual deception’,…...
Aylmer, Matthew
Aylmer, Matthew (c.1650–1720), 1st Baron Aylmer of Balrath , admiral, and commander-in-chief of the fleet, was second child and second son among three sons and one daughter of Christopher Aylmer (d. 1671), 1st baronet, of Balrath, Co. Meath, and his wife Margaret, third…...
Babington, Anthony Patrick
Babington, Anthony Patrick (1920–2004), judge, writer, and disability advocate, was born at 4 Mount Verdon Terrace, Cork city, on 4 April 1920, the youngest of two sons and two daughters of Oscar John Gilmore Babington (1879–1930), engineer and army officer, and his wife Annie Honor…...
Bagenal (Bagnal(l)), Sir Henry
Bagenal (Bagnal(l)), Sir Henry (c.1556–1598), soldier, was born in England, eldest son of Sir Nicholas Bagenal (qv) and his wife Eleanor (née Griffith; d. 1573) of Penrhyn, north Wales. Henry apparently left…...
Balfour, Mary E.
Balfour, Mary E. (fl. 1789–1810), poet, was born on 24 January; one source gives the year as 1755. However, if – as seems likely – she was the eldest daughter of John Balfour (who seems to have been a doctor in Derry city before becoming a clergyman in 1789, and who…...
Barnes, William
Barnes, William (1801-86), poet and philologist, was born at Bagber Common in the Blackmore Vale, Dorset, England, and baptised on 20 March 1801, son of John Barnes, tenant farmer, and Grace Barnes (née Scott). After a variety of occupations, including the making of woodcuts, he…...
Barrett, Eaton Stannard
Barrett, Eaton Stannard (1785/6–1820), satirical writer, was born in Cork city, eldest son of Richard Barrett, gentleman; nothing is known of his mother. He was educated at a private school in Surrey (where he wrote a play, which was performed at the school), and at…...
Barry, James
Barry, James (1667–1748), 4th earl of Barrymore , soldier, and Jacobite, was second but first surviving son of Richard Barry, 2nd earl, and his third wife, Dorothy, daughter of John Ferrar of Dropmore, Co. Down. His father sat in James…...
Barry, John Maxwell-
Barry, John Maxwell- (1767–1838), MP, soldier, and 5th Baron Farnham , was born 18 January 1767 in Dublin, eldest of two sons of Henry Maxwell (d. 1798) – bishop of Dromore (1765–6) and Meath (1766–98), and third son of John Maxwell (d. 1759), 1st Baron Farnham, of Farnham, Co.…...
Barton, Arthur Henry ('Harry')
Barton, Arthur Henry ('Harry') (1916–2006), naval officer, writer, broadcaster, and public figure in Northern Ireland, was born 13 January 1916 in Belfast, only son of Arthur Willis Barton (qv), then Church of Ireland curate in…...
Bastable, Charles Francis
Bastable, Charles Francis (1855–1945), economist and academic, was born in Charleville, Co. Cork, the only son of the Rev. Robert Bastable, rector of Knock Temple and Kilbolane, and his wife Louisa, daughter of a Dr Little of Sligo. Educated at Fermoy College and…...
Battier, Henrietta
Battier, Henrietta (Fleming ) (1751?–1813), poet and satirist. Little is known of Battier's background, other than she was the daughter of John Fleming of Staholmock, Co. Meath. In November 1768 she married in Carnarvon, north Wales, Capt. John Gaspard (Gasper, Gaspar) Battier, 5th…...