Armstrong, John Ward
Armstrong, John Ward (1915–87), Church of Ireland archbishop of Armagh, was born 30 September 1915 in Belfast, eldest of four sons of John Armstrong, an official of Belfast corporation, and Elizabeth Armstrong (née Ward). He was educated at Belfast Royal Academy and…...
Armstrong, John Warneford
Armstrong, John Warneford (1770–1858), soldier and informant, was born 28 August 1770 at Ballycumber, near Clara, King's Co. (Offaly), eldest among two sons and three daughters of George Armstrong (1734–80), landed gentleman, of Ballycumber, and his wife Constantia Maria (d. 1826),…...
Armstrong, Richard
Armstrong, Richard (1815–80), MP and lawyer, was born 10 May 1815 in Co. Armagh, fifth but eldest surviving son of William Armstrong, engineer, of Roxborough, Co. Armagh, and Eliza Armstrong (née Steacy or Stracy). He was educated by a Mr Hawkesworth, entered…...
Arnott, Sir John
Arnott, Sir John , (1814–98), first baronet, businessman, philanthropist, and politician, was born in Auchtermuchty, Fife, Scotland, on 26 July 1814, the third son of John Arnott (d. 1878), JP, manufacturer, of Greenfield, Auchtermuchty, and…...
Arnott, Sir Lauriston John
Arnott, Sir Lauriston John (1890–1958), soldier, newspaper proprietor, and philanthropist, was born 27 November 1890, second (and eldest surviving) son of Sir John Alexander Arnott (d. 1940), 2nd baronet, and his wife Caroline Sydney, eldest daughter of Sir Frederick Martin Williams…...
Arthur, Francis
Arthur, Francis (d. 1824), Limerick merchant and developer, belonged to a long-established catholic patrician family in that city. His father, Patrick (1716–99), mainly an importer of wine and timber, was one of the developers of a new suburb, Newtown Pery; he built a quay on the…...
Arthur, James
Arthur, James (1587/8–1654), Dominican priest, was a son of William Arthur, member of a leading merchant family in Limerick, and his wife, Beatrice (née Creagh). He entered the Irish college, Salamanca, on 5 November 1606 (NS), aged eighteen, and, after entering the Dominican…...
Arthur, Margaret (Xavieria)
Arthur, Margaret (Xavieria) (1674?–1743), abbess of the Benedictine convent at Ypres, was a daughter of Francis Arthur (d. 1712) and his wife Margaret (née Macnamara) (d. 1710). The Arthurs and Macnamaras were catholic patrician families from Limerick and Clare whose politics were…...
Arthur, William
Arthur, William (1819–1901), methodist minister and author, was born 3 February 1819, probably in Kells, Co. Antrim, son of James Arthur and Margaret Arthur (née Kennedy), and spent his childhood in Westport, Co. Mayo. Though brought up an episcopalian, he attended (1837–9)…...
Artrí
Artrí (d. 833), bishop and abbot of Armagh, was son of Conchobar – perhaps Conchobar (qv) son of Donnchad Midi (qv) and king of Tara 819–33. This parentage would attach him to the Clann…...
Asgill, John
Asgill, John (1659–1738), eccentric writer and politician, was born at Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, England, and baptised on 25 March 1659, son of Edward and Hester Asgill. Little is known of his early life, but in 1686 he became a student of the Middle Temple and was called to…...
Ashe (Ash), Richard
Ashe (Ash), Richard (d. 1659), ecclesiastical official, was probably the son of Nicholas Ash of Newtown, Co. Meath, though he may have been the son of Henry Ashe. He is recorded as having married Alice Jones, daughter of Lewis Jones…...
Ashenhurst, John Talbot
Ashenhurst, John Talbot (d. 1818), public notary and Volunteer, practised at 2 Exchange Alley, Dublin, from the mid-1770s until the mid-1780s, when he moved to 33 Dame Street. In 1780 he was a lieutenant in the union light dragoons, a Dublin city Volunteer corps; eventually he…...
Ashe, Nora (Honora)
Ashe, Nora (Honora) (1882–1970), teacher, nationalist, and Irish language enthusiast, was born 15 July 1882 in Kinard, Lispole, Co. Kerry, the third daughter in the family of ten of Gregory Ashe, a farmer, and Ellen (née Hanafin), of Tobar, Co. Kerry. Both her parents were native…...
Ashe, St George
Ashe, St George (1658–1718), scholar and Church of Ireland bishop, was born in Co. Roscommon, in 1658, the second of three sons of Thomas Ashe, a landowner of English extraction, and Jane White of Richerstown. He entered TCD in 1671,…...
Ashe, Thomas (Tomás Ághas)
Ashe, Thomas (Tomás Ághas) (1885–1917), republican, was born 12 January 1885 at Kinard, Lispole, near Dingle, Co. Kerry, the fourth son in a family of seven boys and three girls born to Gregory Ashe, farmer, and his wife Ellen (née Hanafin). He attended Ardamore national school (1889–…...
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…...
Asmal, (Abdul) Kader
Asmal, (Abdul) Kader (1934–2011), human rights jurist, anti-apartheid campaigner and South African government minister, was born on 8 October 1934 in Stanger (KwaDukuza), Natal, South Africa, the youngest of eight children (six sons and two daughters) of Ahmed Asmal, grocer, and his…...
Aston, Sir Arthur
Aston, Sir Arthur (c.1590–1649) royalist army officer, governor of Drogheda, was the younger of the two sons of Sir Arthur Aston, knight, of Fulham, Middlesex, and his first wife, Christiana, daughter of John Ashton of Penrith in Cumberland. There is nothing on record…...
Atherton, John
Atherton, John (1598–1640), churchman, was born in Somerset, England, son of John Atherton, rector of Bawdrip (nothing is known of his mother), and was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he took his MA degree (1621). Although he showed promise…...
Atkinson, John
Atkinson, John (1841–1932), lawyer, politician, and judge, was born 13 December 1841 at Ballynoe, Drogheda, Co. Louth, the elder son of Dr Edward Atkinson (1801–76), of Glenwilliam Castle, Co. Limerick, and Skea House, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, and his first wife, Rosetta McCulloch (d…...
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’,…...
Atkins, Sir Humphrey Edward Gregory
Atkins, Sir Humphrey Edward Gregory (1922–96), Baron Colnbrook , secretary of state for Northern Ireland, was born 12 August 1922 in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, the only son of Capt. Edward Davis Atkins, a former army officer who settled in Kenya to run a coffee plantation, and…...
Atthill, William
Atthill, William (1774–1847), clergyman, was baptised 17 April 1774, only son and heir of Anthony Atthill and Sara Atthill (née Howlett) of Brandiston Hall, Norfolk, England; he had one sister. His father died when he was four, and he was brought up by an uncle, who sent him to…...
Attracht (Adrochta, Attracta)
Attracht (Adrochta, Attracta) (7th century?), saint in the Irish tradition and founder and first abbess of Cell Sáile, was according to the genealogies of the saints a daughter of Tigernach (probably to be identifed with Tigernach son of Muiredach, an early representative of the…...