Vereker, Charles
Vereker, Charles (1768–1842), 2nd Viscount Gort , naval and militia officer, and MP, was the second son of Thomas Vereker of Roxborough, Limerick, and his wife Juliana, sister of John Prendergast Smyth, 1st Viscount Gort. His Vereker ancestry was Flemish but the family was long…...
Verschoyle, Barbara
Verschoyle, Barbara (1750/53–1837), land agent and philanthropist, was born in Dublin, the sixth of eight daughters of Bryan Fagan (d. 1761), land agent for the Fitzwilliam estate in Dublin and brewer, and Elizabeth Fagan (d. 1788), both of Dublin. Bryan Fagan's brewery was on…...
Wafer, Lionel
Wafer, Lionel (d. 1705), surgeon, buccaneer, topographer, and ethnographer, was probably born in Ireland or to an Irish catholic family abroad. In A new voyage & description of the isthmus of America (1699), the work on which his reputation rests, he states: in my…...
Walsh, Sr Patricia
Walsh, Sr Patricia (1942–2015), missionary nurse, was born Anna Maria Catherine Walsh on 23 September 1942 in Portlick, Glasson, Co. Westmeath, the eldest of three girls and a boy, to Michael Walsh, a fisherman, and his wife Bridget (née Nolan). Having attended Glasson primary school (…...
Warren, Sir Peter
Warren, Sir Peter (1703–52), admiral in the British navy, was born 10 March 1703 at Warrenstown, Co. Meath, third son among three sons and two daughters of Michael Warren, Roman catholic landowner, and Catherine Warren (née Aylmer). Educated locally, he entered the Royal Navy in…...
Webb, Alfred John
Webb, Alfred John (1834–1908), radical reformer and nationalist, was born 10 June 1834 at 160 Great Brunswick St. (later Pearse St.), Dublin, eldest son of quaker parents, Richard Davis Webb, printer, and Hannah Webb (née Waring). His parents were deeply involved in campaigns for…...
Webb, David Allardice
Webb, David Allardice (1912–94), botanist and marine biologist, was born 12 August 1912 in Dublin, only son of George Randolph Webb (d. 1929), mathematician, philosopher, and fellow of TCD, and his wife Ella (née Ovenden) (…...
Webb, Maria
Webb, Maria (1804–73), philanthropist and author, was born at Peartree Hill, near Lisburn, Co. Antrim, youngest child among two sons and one daughter of Thomas Lamb and his wife Dorothy, both members of the Religious Society of Friends. She was largely self-educated. In 1828 she…...
Webb, Richard Davis
Webb, Richard Davis (1805–72), printer and philanthropist, was born in the Cornmarket, Dublin, where his parents had a linen business; he was eldest among seven sons of James Webb and Deborah Webb (née Forrest). The Webbs and Forrests were members of the Society of Friends;…...
Whaley, Thomas (‘Buck’)
Whaley, Thomas (‘Buck’) (1766–1800), politician and rake, was born 15 December 1766, son of Richard Chapel Whaley (1700–69) a wealthy landowner, of Whaley Abbey, Co. Wicklow, and the only son of Richard Whaley (a. 1663–1725) and his wife Susanna, daughter of John Whaley…...
Whalley, John
Whalley, John (1653–1724), quack, astrologer, and compiler of almanacs, was born 20 April 1653, son of a Cromwellian adventurer; no further details of his parents are known. Working as a cobbler in England before arriving in Dublin (March 1682), he compiled his first almanac the…...
Whinnery, Thomas
Whinnery, Thomas (1759/60–1830), postmaster and spy, was in business at Newry, Co. Down, as a wine and spirit merchant until 1794 or 1795, when he was appointed postmaster of Belfast. As a state official he had a duty to open and read letters passing through his premises at 6…...
White, Henrietta Margaret
White, Henrietta Margaret (1856–1936), principal of Alexandra College, Dublin, horticulturist, and social activist, was eldest child among three daughters and one son of Henry Charles White (1818–1903), of Charleville, Queen's Co. (Laois), JP…...
Whitelaw, James
Whitelaw, James (1749–1813), clergyman, statistician, and philanthropist, was born in Co. Leitrim; nothing is known of his family. He was educated in Cavan by Rev. Lewis Kerr before entering TCD (8 July 1766), becoming a scholar (1769…...
Whitton, Eleanor Constance
Whitton, Eleanor Constance (1879–1956), campaigner for animal welfare, was born in Co. Longford, the daughter of the Rev. Alexander Beatty, Church of Ireland minister. She appears to have been educated locally. In 1902 she married Henry M. Whitton, registrar of the court of appeal…...
Whitty, Sophia St John
Whitty, Sophia St John (1877–1924), woodcarver, teacher, and cooperativist, was born 4 November 1877 at 69 Upper Leeson St., Dublin, daughter of Richard Lawrence Whitty, gentleman, of that address, and his wife Jane Alicia, second daughter of Hugh Palliser Hickman (1805–83),…...
Wickham, William
Wickham, William (1761–1840), chief secretary for Ireland and British spymaster, was born November 1761 in England, first son of Henry Wickham, lieutenant-colonel in the British army, and Elizabeth Wickham (née Lamplugh). Educated at Winchester and Harrow, he entered Christ Church…...
Wilde, Dorothy Ierne
This is a co-subject for the entry on Wilde, William Charles Kingsbury. View the original entry....
Williams, Daniel
Williams, Daniel (1643/4–1717), nonconformist minister and benefactor, was born in or near Wrexham, Denbighshire, north Wales. His father's name is not recorded, but his mother may have been a daughter of Hugh Davies of Wrexham, and there was at least one sister who married a…...
Wilson, (William) Gordon
Wilson, (William) Gordon (1927–95), peace campaigner, was born 25 September 1927 at Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, the eldest of four children of George Edward Wilson, draper, of Manorhamilton, and his wife Etta (Henrietta, née Conn), a nurse, of Ballykelly, Co. Londonderry. The family…...
Wogan, William
Wogan, William (1678–1758), London agent of the Irish government, philanthropist, and religious writer, was born in Gumfreston in Pembrokeshire, a younger son of Ethelred Wogan (d. c.1685), rector of Gumfreston and vicar of Penally. His mother's first name is unknown, but…...
Woodlock, Ellen
Woodlock, Ellen (1811–84), philanthropist and social worker, was born 27 January 1811, second daughter among seven sons and four daughters of Martin Mahony (1764–1834) of Cork, woollen manufacturer, and his second wife, Maria (née Reynolds), of Roscreg. The Rev.…...
Wylie, William Evelyn
Wylie, William Evelyn (1881–1964), judge and doyen of the RDS, was born 26 June 1881 at Kenilworth House, Kenilworth Square, Dublin (the residence of his maternal uncle John Girdwood Drury), son of the Rev. Robert Beatty Wylie, LLD, minister (…...
Wyse, (Jeremiah) Pearse
Wyse, (Jeremiah) Pearse (1923–2009), politician and community activist, was born 2 March 1923 at 69 Barrack Street, Cork city, son of John Wyse (or Wise), pawnbroker's clerk, and his wife Julia (née Cronin), a native of Macroom. His father's death, when Wyse was 'confirmation age' (…...
Yeats, Bertha Georgie (‘George’)
Yeats, Bertha Georgie (‘George’) (1892–1968), scholar, occultist, publisher, and wife of William Butler Yeats (qv), was born 16/17 October 1892 at The Grove, Fleet, Hampshire, daughter of William Gilbert Hyde Lees , captain in the 4th…...