Fitzgerald, James (Jim)
Fitzgerald, James (Jim) (1929–2003), theatre and television director, was born 13 August 1929 in Clontarf, Dublin, son of Gerald Fitzgerald and Kathleen Fitzgerald (née Keogh); his father worked in theatre as a stage carpenter, stage manager, and actor. Reared on Dublin’s northside, Jim…...
FitzGerald, Susan
FitzGerald, Susan (1949–2013), actor, was born on 28 May 1949 in Leicester, to Irish parents Emily FitzGerald (née Irwin) and William FitzGerald, a general practitioner. She was the eldest of six children, with three brothers and two sisters. The FitzGeralds were a well-connected family…...
Fitzhenry, Elizabeth
Fitzhenry, Elizabeth (c.1722–1790), leading actress, was born Elizabeth Flanagan in Abbey St., Dublin, daughter of the proprietor of the Old Ferry Boat tavern. She was sometimes mistakenly referred to as Mary Flannigan; her real name appears on her first marriage…...
Fitzpatrick, Hugh
Fitzpatrick, Hugh (d. 1818), printer and bookseller, was said by an obituarist to be ‘descended from a noble Irish family’ and seems to have been a nephew of Sir Jeremiah Fitzpatrick (qv), of whose will he and his son…...
Flaherty, Bernard (Williams, Barney)
Flaherty, Bernard (Williams, Barney) (1823–76), actor, was born 20 July 1823 in the barracks, Cork, the son of Michael Flaherty. The family emigrated to America, where Michael became a grocer and later a boarding-house keeper near the Bowery, in Manhattan, New York. Bernard grew up…...
Flaherty, Robert
Flaherty, Robert (1884–1951), filmmaker, was born 16 February 1884 in Iron Mountain, Michigan, eldest among seven children of Robert Flaherty, a protestant miner who had emigrated from Ireland by way of Quebec, and his catholic, German-born wife, Susan (née Kloeckner). Robert was…...
Flanagan, Pauline
Flanagan, Pauline (1925–2003), actress, was born 29 June 1925 in Sligo town, youngest child of Patrick J. Flanagan and his wife Elizabeth (née McLynn). Her paternal family, originally from Co. Fermanagh, were driven out by anti‐catholic pogroms and resettled in Sligo, where her parents…...
Flannery, Austin
Flannery, Austin (1925–2008), priest, scholar, editor, journalist and social justice campaigner, was born William ('Liam') Flannery on 10 January 1925 at Rear Cross, Co. Tipperary, the eldest of seven children of William K. Flannery and his wife Margaret Flannery (née Butler),…...
Folens, Albert Joseph Marcel
Folens, Albert Joseph Marcel (1916–2003) Flemish nationalist and educational publisher, was born 15 October 1916 in Bissegem, west Flanders (latterly part of the municipality of Kortrijk, formerly Courtrai) to a devoutly catholic Flemish‐speaking family. (Folens recalled saying many…...
Ford, John
Ford, John (1894–1973), film director, was born 1 February 1894 at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA, as John Martin Feeney, fourth son among five sons and six daughters of Seán Feeney, Roman Catholic farmer and saloon-keeper, and Barbara ‘Abby’ Feeney (née Curran); his father had emigrated to…...
Fossett, Edward
Fossett, Edward (c.1895–1951), horseman and circus owner, was born near London, son of Sir Robert Fossett, originally of Islington, and Mary Fossett (née Francis), a bareback rider from Co. Wexford who performed as ‘Miss Mini’ in the family business, Sir Robert Fossett's…...
Fossett, Edward (Teddy)
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Fossett, Robert (Bobby)
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Fox, Richard Kyle
Fox, Richard Kyle (1846–1922), publisher and patron of sports, was born on Albertbridge Road, Belfast, on 12 August 1846. Fox's father James was a carpenter and mason, and his mother Mary (née Kyle) was the daughter of Henry Kyle, a Belfast presbyterian minister. As a teenager Fox…...
Franckton (Francke), John
Franckton (Francke), John (d. 1620), printer and bookseller, was probably born into a Dublin family and became apprentice to the queen's printer in Ireland, William Kearney. Upon Kearney's death in 1598 or 1599, Franckton succeeded him informally as royal printer, and he appears…...
French, (William) Percy
French, (William) Percy (1854–1920), songwriter, humourist, entertainer, and painter, was born 1 May 1854 in Cloonyquin House, parish of Tulsk, Co. Roscommon, second son and third child among four sons and five daughters of Christopher French (1821–97), landowner, and Susan Emma French…...
Friel, Brian
Friel, Brian (1929–2015), playwright and writer, was born near Omagh, Co. Tyrone, on either 9 or 10 January 1929 (he possessed separate birth certificates for both dates), the third child of Patrick ‘Paddy’ Friel and Mary Christina McLoone. He had two older sisters, Nanette and Mary,…...
Gaine, Hugh
Gaine, Hugh (1726–1807), printer and newspaper editor in New York, was born in Portglenone, Co. Antrim, the son of Hugh Gaine, possibly a merchant. There was at least one other son, who also emigrated. The family was Church of Ireland, although in a 1766 religious census family…...
Gallagher, Michael Paul
Gallagher, Michael Paul (1939–2015), Jesuit theologian, writer and lecturer, was born 26 August 1939 at 15 Hatch Street, Dublin, the only child of Andrew Gallagher and his wife Christine (née O’Brien), both doctors. He grew up in Collooney, Co. Sligo, and attended Camphill National…...
Gately, Stephen Patrick
Gately, Stephen Patrick (1976–2009), pop singer and entertainer, was born 17 March 1976 at the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, third son and fourth child among four sons and one daughter of Martin Francis Gately, house painter and decorator, and Margaret Gately (née Martin), homemaker and…...
Gentleman, Francis
Gentleman, Francis (1728–84), actor and dramatist, was born 23 October 1728 at York St., Dublin, son of a captain in the British army. A sickly child, he was nursed gradually to health, and at the age of ten was educated at the school of the Rev. Mr Butler at Digges St., Dublin,…...
Gibb (Gibson), Rosemary Elizabeth Jane (‘Rosy’)
Gibb (Gibson), Rosemary Elizabeth Jane (‘Rosy’) (1942–97), social worker, clown, and magician, was born 8 November 1942 in Dublin, the only child of Jack Gibson, a well-known surgeon and hypnotist, and Elizabeth Maude Gibson (née James). She passed her early childhood in Guernsey, where…...
Gibson, Chloe
Gibson, Chloe (1899–1995), theatre and television director, was born 18 May 1899 in Torquay, Devon, England, daughter of Walter Ernest Cawdle and Lotte Cawdle (née Saunders). She was educated at Lauriston Hall, Torquay. After studying painting briefly, she trained in speech and drama…...
Gill, Henry Joseph
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Gill, Michael Henry
Gill, Michael Henry (1794?–1879), printer, was born c.1794, son of Henry Gill (d. 1797?) and his wife Catherine (née O'Neill). Henry, whose family probably originated in King's Co., was a woollen draper in Skinners’ Row, Dublin, and in the early 1790s was a member of the…...