Armour, James Brown
Armour, James Brown (1841–1928), presbyterian minister and political campaigner, was born 20/31 January 1841, youngest of six children of William Armour and Jane Armour (née Brown), who both came of presbyterian tenant-farmer families in Kilraughts, north Co. Antrim; the Armours…...
Armstrong, Edward Allworthy
Armstrong, Edward Allworthy (1900–78), clergyman, ornithologist, and scholar, was born 8 October 1900 in Belfast, son of Hamilton Armstrong and Mary Armstrong (née Allworthy), and grandson of Samuel Allworthy, a prominent Belfast physician. Armstrong was educated at…...
Armstrong, James
Armstrong, James (1781?–1839), unitarian minister and educationist, was born at Ballynahinch, Co. Down, where his father John Armstrong (1754?–1837) was a merchant; his mother, Margaret (1751?–1836), was a daughter of John Strong (d. 1780), presbyterian minister at Ballynahinch (…...
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, Sir Alexander
Armstrong, Sir Alexander (1818–99), naval surgeon and explorer, was born in Co. Donegal, son of Alexander Armstrong of Croghan Lodge, Co. Fermanagh. His family was originally from Cumberland and one of his ancestors was Maj.-gen. John Armstrong (d. 1742), a military engineer 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, 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…...
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,…...
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…...
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, 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’,…...
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…...
Augustinus (Pseudo-)
Augustinus (Pseudo-) (fl. mid 7th cent.) was author of the tract ‘De mirabilibus sacrae [or ‘sanctae’] scripturae’, internally datable to 655. It deals in an unusually rationalistic fashion – for the medieval period – with the ‘wonders’ or miracles related in Scripture.…...
Austin, John
Austin, John (1717–84), Jesuit priest, was born off Kevin Street, Dublin, on 12 April 1717. He showed promise as a youth, and was said to have come to the attention of Jonathan Swift (qv). He went to France and joined the Society of…...
Auxilius (Auxilinus, Ausaille, Usaille)
Auxilius (Auxilinus, Ausaille, Usaille) (d. c.459), saint, missionary bishop and confrère of St Patrick (qv), was, according to one tradition, sent by Amatorex, bishop of Auxerre, to assist Patrick in his…...
Averell, Adam
Averell, Adam (1754–1847), Primitive Wesleyan clergyman, was born 7 May 1754 at Mullan, Co. Tyrone, son of Adam Averell and Mary Averell (née Johnston). He spent some time in his childhood with his grandmother Johnston. His relation John Averell, bishop of Limerick, for whom his…...
Axtell, Daniel
Axtell, Daniel (d. 1660), military governor of Kilkenny, was almost certainly born in southern England, and was apprenticed to a grocer in Watling St. (London). In the English civil war he joined the parliamentary army from religious conviction, rose to be lieutenant-colonel,…...
Aylmer, Charles
Aylmer, Charles (1786–1847), Jesuit priest, was born 29 August 1786 at Painstown, near Kilcock, Co. Kildare, the seat of his father, Charles Aylmer (1720?–1801), one of the county's representatives at the Catholic Convention held in 1792, and said in 1798 to be worth £1,600 p.a.…...
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…...