Ainsworth, Thomas Joseph ('Joe')
Ainsworth, Thomas Joseph (Joe; ‘Two Gun Joe’) (1927–2015), garda, was born 17 May 1927 at his parents’ home at Davitt’s Terrace, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, the elder of two sons of Harry (Henry) Ainsworth, a victualler, and his wife Margaret (née Feeney). Ainsworth was…...
Aldworth, Elizabeth
Aldworth, Elizabeth (1692/5?–1772?), freemason, was born probably in Doneraile, Co. Cork, daughter of Arthur St Leger , 1st Viscount Doneraile (1703), and his wife Elizabeth, heir of John Hayes. Around 1710 she accidentally overheard a masonic lodge meeting in Doneraile Castle, and…...
Anderson, Sir James Caleb
Anderson, Sir James Caleb (1792–1861), baronet and steam-coach promoter, was born 21 July 1792 in Cork, eldest of two sons and one daughter of John Anderson (1747–1820), banker of Cork, and his second wife, Elizabeth (d. 1830), daughter of James Semple, merchant of Waterford.…...
Andrews, Thomas
Andrews, Thomas (1873–1912), shipbuilder, was born 7 February 1873 at Ardara, Comber, Co. Down, where his family, members of the non-subscribing presbyterian church, had been prominent in business for several generations. He was the second son of Thomas Andrews (1843–1916), for…...
Bagwell, John Philip (‘Jack’)
Bagwell, John Philip (‘Jack’) (1874–1946), railway executive and politician, was born 11 August 1874, only son of the historian Richard Bagwell (qv), of Marlfield, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, and …...
Balfe, John Donnellan
Balfe, John Donnellan (1816–80), politician, journalist, and British government spy, was born in Co. Meath, son of James Balfe, gentleman, and Sara Balfe (née Sutherland). He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, and had a brief career in the British army, joining…...
Barry, Katty
Barry, Katty (1909–82), restaurateur and famous Cork character, was born on Dalton's Avenue, off the Coal Quay, Cork, daughter of John Barry. Her mother ran a provisions shop on Dalton's Avenue, which Katty took over and turned into an eating house. Beautiful, witty, earthy, and…...
Barry, Richard
Barry, Richard (1769–93), 7th earl of Barrymore , spendthrift, was born in London on 14 August 1769 and succeeded his father, Richard, to the Irish earldom of Barrymore just before his fourth birthday. In his youth he became excessively interested in racehorses, gambling,…...
Behan, Brian Finbar Oliver Plunkett
Behan, Brian Finbar Oliver Plunkett (1926–2002), writer, radical, and bohemian, was born Brian Desmond Behan (the name appearing on the birth certificate) on 10 November 1926 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, while the family were residing at 14 Russell St., the third of five children of…...
Bell, Alan
Bell, Alan (1857–1920), policeman and resident magistrate, was born in Banagher, King's Co. (Offaly), one of at least two sons of the Rev. James Adamson Bell, Church of Ireland clergyman; his mother's name is unknown. Educated locally, he joined the…...
Bell, Laura Eliza Jane Seymour
Bell, Laura Eliza Jane Seymour (1829?–1894), celebrated beauty, was daughter of Robert Bell of Bellbrook, near Glenavy, Co. Antrim, bailiff for the Hertford estate, and locally prominent. In later life she claimed that her mother was Laura Jane Seymour, an illegitimate daughter of…...
Bianconi, Charles
Bianconi, Charles (1786–1875), transport entrepreneur, was born Joachim Carlo Guiseppe Bianconi on 24 September 1786 at Tregolo, near Como in Lombardy, Italy, the second of five children of Pietro and Maria Bianconi. His father owned a farm and a silk mill, and was agent for the…...
Binns, John
Binns, John (1730?–1804), silk merchant, canal developer, and radical politician, was the son of Joshua Binns, who in 1719 was admitted to the Dublin weavers' guild by special grace. John Binns was admitted to the guild by birth in 1756, so he was probably born in the mid 1730s.…...
Blackwood, Lady Caroline Maureen
Blackwood, Lady Caroline Maureen (1931–96), writer and muse, was born in Hans Crescent, London, on 16 July 1931, eldest of the three children of Basil Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood (1909–45), 8th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye, 4th Marquess Dufferin and Ava, and his wife, Maureen…...
Blake, Sir Henry Arthur
Blake, Sir Henry Arthur (1840–1918), police officer, resident magistrate, and colonial governor, was born 18 January 1840 in Corbally, Co. Limerick, son of Peter Blake (1809–50) of Corbally Castle, Co. Galway, county inspector of Irish Constabulary, and Jane Blake (née Lane) of…...
Bland, Lilian Emily
Bland, Lilian Emily (1878–1971), pioneer aviator, was born 28 September 1878 in Kent, youngest child among one son and two daughters of John Humphrey Bland (1828–1919) of Fernagh, Whiteabbey, Co. Antrim, and Emily Charlotte Bland (née Madden) of Norfolk, granddaughter of Robert…...
Bloomfield, John Caldwell
Bloomfield, John Caldwell (1823–97), landlord and entrepreneur, was born 5 February 1823, eldest son of John Colpoys Bloomfield and Frances Arabella Bloomfield (née Caldwell); there were three other sons and a daughter. His mother, a descendant of Sir John Caldwell, was coheiress…...
Booth, Eva Selina Gore-
Booth, Eva Selina Gore- (1870–1926), poet, mystic, trade unionist and suffragist, was born on 22 May 1870 at Lissadell, Co. Sligo, the second of three daughters (and two sons) of Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th baronet and Arctic explorer, and his wife, Georgina (née Hill) of Tickhill castle…...
Bourne, Richard
Bourne, Richard (1770–1851), steamship owner and a founder of the P & O company, was born at Fethard Castle, Co. Tipperary, youngest of several sons. Entering the Royal Navy (1787), he was promoted lieutenant (1797) and commanded the Felix (1804); twice rewarded for…...
Bradstreet, Dudley
Bradstreet, Dudley (1711–63), spy and fortune-hunter, was born in Co. Tipperary, youngest son of John Bradstreet, a landowner whose family had received considerable Cromwellian land grants. Raised by a foster-family because of his father's high-living, Dudley later attributed his…...
Branigan, James Christopher (‘Jim’, ‘Lugs’)
Branigan, James Christopher (‘Jim’, ‘Lugs’) (1910–86), garda, was born 6 January 1910 in the South Dublin Union, James St., eldest among three sons and a daughter of John Alick Branigan (d. 1957), South Dublin Union official, originally of Borrisokane, Co. Tipperary, and Ellen Branigan…...
Brennan, Garrett (Gerald Brennan/O'Brennan; Gearóid Ó Braonáin/ Ó Breanáin)
Brennan, Garrett (Gerald Brennan/O'Brennan; Gearóid Ó Braonáin/ Ó Breanáin) (1894–1974), revolutionary and garda, was born 7 October 1894 in Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, second of ten children of Cornelius Barrett, shopkeeper, and Margaret Brennan (née Boran). One of his brothers was…...
Brereton, Sir William
Brereton, Sir William (1789–1864), British army general and inspector-general of the Irish Constabulary, was son of Maj. William Brereton, of Dublin and Bath, officer in the 6th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and later master of ceremonies at the Assembly Rooms in Bath, and his second…...
Browne, George Baxter
Browne, George Baxter (1787–1879), soldier and police officer, was born 19 December 1787, second son among three sons and two daughters of George Browne, merchant at Liverpool, and Felicity Browne (née Wagner) of North Hall, near Wigan, Lancashire, daughter of the Austrian and…...
Brownrigg, Thomas Marcus
Brownrigg, Thomas Marcus (1823–1901), police officer, and pioneer and experimental photographer, was born 8 June 1823 in Limerick, eldest son of Sir Henry John Brownrigg (1798–1873), inspector-general of constabulary (1858–65), and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Thomas…...