Ferrar, John
Ferrar, John (1742–1804), printer and historian, was born in 1742 in Limerick city, the only son of William Ferrar (sometimes spelt Farrier), bookbinder and printer, and Rose Ferrar (née Paine or Payne). The first member of this family to settle in Limerick was William Ferrar, a cavalry…...
Finlay, Francis Dalzell
Finlay, Francis Dalzell (1793–1857), journalist and printer, was born 12 July 1793 at Newtownards, Co. Down, son of John Finlay, tenant farmer. He joined the Belfast Monthly Magazine (1812–14) as a printer, and when it closed he set up his own printing press at Joy's Entry…...
Finn, Catherine
This is a co-subject for the entry on Finn, Edmund. View the original entry....
Finn, Edmund
Finn, Edmund (d. 1777), printer, publisher, and bookseller, is known to have been at work in Cork in 1766, but from 1767 he worked at Kilkenny, at St Mary's Churchyard (1767) and then at High Street (1767–77), where he founded, edited, printed, and published an influential twice…...
Finnerty, Peter
Finnerty, Peter (1766?–1822), printer, journalist and parliamentary and war reporter, was born probably at Loughrea, Co. Galway, where his father was a small tradesman. In the 1790s he served as an apprentice to William Corbet (qv),…...
Fitzgerald, Barry
Fitzgerald, Barry (1888–1961), actor, was born 10 March 1888 in Dublin and christened William Joseph Shields, eldest son of Adolphus William Shields, compositor and well-known Dublin union organiser, and Fanny Shields (née Ungerland). Educated at Merchant Taylors’ School and Skerry's…...
Fitzgerald, Geraldine Mary Wilma
Fitzgerald, Geraldine Mary Wilma (1913–2005), actress and stage director, was born 24 November 1913 at 85 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin, one of two daughters and two sons of Edward Martin Fitzgerald (1886–1965), a lawyer, who was Roman catholic, and his wife Edith Marie (née Richards) (…...
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, Edward Joseph
Flanagan, Edward Joseph (1886–1948), catholic priest and founder of Boys Town, was born 13 July 1886 at Ballymoe, Co. Roscommon, son of John Flanagan, herdsman, and Nora Flanagan (née Larkin). One of eleven children, he was first educated at a local school, Drimatample, and…...
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)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Fossett, Edward. View the original entry....
Fossett, Robert (Bobby)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Fossett, Edward. View the original entry....
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,…...