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).…...
Adams, William George Stewart
Adams, William George Stewart (1874–1966), economist, academic, and public servant, was born 8 November 1874 at Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland, youngest child of John Adams, headmaster of St John's Grammar School, Hamilton, and Margaret, daughter of John Stewart, Glasgow cotton…...
Arensberg, Conrad Maynadier
Arensberg, Conrad Maynadier (1910–97), anthropologist and sociologist, was born 12 September 1910 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the eldest of the four sons of Charles F. C. Arensberg, attorney, from a steel and banking dynasty, and his wife, Emily Wright Maynadier Arensberg (née…...
Barlow, James William
Barlow, James William (1826–1913), historian and writer, was born 21 October 1826 in Co. Dublin, eldest son of the Rev. William Barlow and Catherine Barlow (née Disney). He was marked by his mother’s unhappiness: as a young woman she had been in love with…...
Barrett, (Denis) Cyril
Barrett, (Denis) Cyril (1925–2003), Jesuit priest, art critic and historian, and philosopher, was born Denis Barrett in Dublin on 9 May 1925 (Cyril was his name in religion). He was the son of Denis Barrett, the last assistant commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. His…...
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…...
Bates, Daisy May
Bates, Daisy May (1859–1951), welfare worker for Aborigines, anthropologist, and eccentric, was born 21 October 1859 in Roscrea, Co. Tipperay, third among six children of James Dwyer , catholic tradesman and blacksmith, and Bridget Dwyer (née Hunt). Her twin brother, Francis, died…...
Beddy, James Patrick
Beddy, James Patrick (1900–76), public servant and economist, was born 28 September 1900 in Cobh, Co. Cork, the eldest son and second of the three children of Thomas Robert Beddy, RIC constable, and Mary Beddy (née Barry), of Macroom, Co…...
Berkeley, George
Berkeley, George (1685–1753), philosopher and Church of Ireland bishop of Cloyne, was born 12 March 1685 in or near Kilkenny city, and spent his childhood at Dysart Castle, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny. Little is known of his parents other than that his father, William Berkeley, came to…...
Boyle, Francis
Boyle, Francis (fl. 1811), blacksmith and poet, lived in Gransha, near Comber, Co. Down; the surname appears locally in the form ‘Boal’. In his volume of Miscellaneous poems (Belfast, 1811), he stated that he was 80 years old and had written verse for ‘lang forty…...
Bracken, Joseph K.
Bracken, Joseph K. (1852–1904), monumental sculptor and builder, local politician, and a founder in 1884 of the ‘Gaelic Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of National Pastimes’ which evolved to become the Gaelic Athletic Association (…...
Burke, Edmund
Burke, Edmund (1730–97), politician and philosopher, was born 12 January 1730 (per the Gregorian calendar) in Dublin, second son among four surviving children of Richard Burke (d. 1761), an attorney of the court of exchequer, and his wife Mary (c. 1702–1770), fourth child and…...
Burn, James Dawson
Burn, James Dawson (1801?–c.1889), tradesman and author, was born probably in Co. Down, son of a farmer surnamed McBurney. Shortly afterwards his mother took him to Scotland, begging along with an alcoholic ex-soldier, an Irishman with whom she had other children. Burn's early…...
Busteed, John
Busteed, John (1895–1964), economist, was born 30 June 1895 at Mayfield, a suburb of Cork city, son of John Busteed, ship's steward, and Mary Busteed (née Hickey). Educated at the North Monastery School, Cork, he was the first recipient of the Honan scholarship to…...
Butler, William Archer
Butler, William Archer (1812?–1848), clergyman and professor of moral philosophy, was second son of Pierce Archer Butler and Anna Maria Butler (née Gallwey); their seven children were brought up as Roman Catholics by their mother, though the father, who had several times been…...
Cairnes, John Elliot
Cairnes, John Elliot (1823–75), economist, was born 26 September 1823 in Castlebellingham, Co. Louth, sixth child and eldest surviving son of William Cairnes, a prosperous brewer, and Marianne Cairnes, daughter of the Rev. William Woolsey. After six years in a boarding school in…...
Campbell, James
Campbell, James (1758–1818), weaver poet, was born in Cairncastle, near Larne, Co. Antrim; nothing is known of his parents. He received some schooling locally, and became a linen weaver. He worked as a journeyman weaver round Ballynure, Co. Antrim, till he married; his wife was…...
Cantillon, Richard
Cantillon, Richard (1687?–1734?), financier and economist, was born between 1680 and 1690 (most likely in 1687) at Ballyronan, in the parish of Ballyheigue, Co. Kerry, second son of Richard Cantillon, a farmer whose ancestors had been dispossessed under Cromwell, and his wife Brigid,…...
Carpenter, Nathanael
Carpenter, Nathanael (1589–1628), scholar and clergyman, was born 7 February 1589 in Northleigh, Devon, England, where his father, John Carpenter (d. 1621), had a living as a clergyman. No details of his mother are known. He matriculated (June 1605) at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and…...
Chubb, (Frederick) Basil
Chubb, (Frederick) Basil (1921–2002), political scientist, was born 8 December 1921 in Branksome, near Bournemouth, Dorset, eldest son of Frederick John Bailey Chubb and Gertrude May Chubb. After early education at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury, he entered Merton College,…...
Cleary, Bridget
Cleary, Bridget (1867–95), dressmaker, was born in Ballyvadlea, near Cloneen, Co. Tipperary, daughter, and apparently the youngest child, of Patrick Boland , a farm labourer, and his wife, Bridget (née Keating). This was probably in February 1867, although most contemporary…...
Clifford, Mary (‘Mai’)
Clifford, Mary (‘Mai’) (née Hollingsworth ) (1913–86), trade union official and laundress, was born 25 September 1913 at Phoenix Park, Glasgow, Scotland, the elder of one daughter and one son of Joseph Hollingsworth, a blacksmith from Co. Kerry, and his wife Elizabeth, a Glasgow…...
Coffey, Peter
Coffey, Peter (1876–1943), priest and professor ofphilosophy, was born 27 April 1876 in Rathrone, Enfield, Co. Meath, son of Andrew Coffey, farmer, and Bridget Coffey (née Cosgrove). Educated at the model school, Trim, the diocesan seminary, Navan, and St Patrick's College,…...
Colbert, John Patrick
Colbert, John Patrick (1898–1975), public servant and economist, was born 12 February 1898, the son of William Colbert JP, a farmer of Templeathea, Co. Limerick, and Norah Colbert (née Danaher). Educated at Rockwell College, near Cashel,…...
Conefrey, Peter
Conefrey, Peter (1880–1939), catholic priest and social critic, was born 9 June 1880 in Mohill, Co. Leitrim, son of James Conefrey, publican, and his wife Mary McGivney. There were many priests on both sides of the family. His uncle, Fr Thomas Conefrey, parish priest of Drumlish,…...