Sullivan, (Thomas) Barry
Sullivan, (Thomas) Barry (1821–91), actor, was born 5 July 1821 in Birmingham, England, second among three children of Peter Sullivan, formerly a soldier in the 101st (‘Duke of York's’) Regiment, and his wife, Mary Barry. Both parents were from Cork and the family lived there for…...
Swift, Carolyn
Swift, Carolyn (1923–2002), writer, broadcaster, journalist, critic, actress, and theatre owner, was born Carol Samuel on 21 September 1923 in London, elder of two children of Capt. Cecil Samuel, businessman, and Enid Samuel (née Van den Bergh), both of Grosvenor Square, London W1.…...
Swiney (Swiny, Swinny, MacSwinny), Owen Mac
Swiney (Swiny, Swinny, MacSwinny), Owen Mac (1680–1754), playwright and theatre manager, was born near Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. He appears to have joined the army as a young man but by spring 1703 was in London as associate of Christopher Rich at the Drury Lane theatre, where he…...
Taylor, William Desmond
Taylor, William Desmond (1872–1922), silent film director and celebrity murder victim, was born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner at Straw Hill House, Carlow town, Co. Carlow, on 26 April 1872, second child and oldest son among two daughters and three sons (one of whom died in infancy) of…...
Tennent, Sir James Emerson
Tennent, Sir James Emerson (1804–69), politician, author, and traveller, was born in North St., Belfast, on 7 April 1804, third and only surviving son of William Emerson (d. 1821), of Ardmore, Co. Armagh, a successful Belfast tobacco merchant, and Sarah Emerson, youngest daughter of…...
Thomas, George
Thomas, George (1756–1802), military adventurer in India, was born in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. There are few details of his early life, but he appears to have come from a poor background and worked for some time in a corn warehouse in Youghal, Co. Cork. Around 1776 he left Ireland…...
Toal, Maureen
Toal, Maureen (1930–2012), actress, was born Mary Toal on 7 September 1930 in a nursing home on the North Circular Road, Dublin, one of five children (two boys and three girls) of Thomas Toal, a clerk in Irish Shell, and his wife Mary (née Bates). The family lived in Kincora Park,…...
Tomelty, Joseph
Tomelty, Joseph (1911–95), actor and playwright, was born 12 March 1911 in Portaferry, Co. Down, son of James Tomelty, house painter and keen traditional musician, and Mary Tomelty (née Drumgoole). Apprenticed to his father's trade from the local school Ballyphilip at the age of 12…...
Touhey, Patrick J. (‘Patsy’)
Touhey, Patrick J. (‘Patsy’) (1865–1923), traditional musician and vaudeville entertainer, was born 27 February 1865 in Cahertinny, Bullaun, Loughrea, Co. Galway, son of James Twohill, or O'Toole (1839–75) (all variations of the surname being anglicisations of the Irish ‘Ó Tuathail…...
Towb, Harry
Towb, Harry (1925–2009), actor, was born Harris Towb in Larne, Co. Antrim, on 27 July 1925, the second child of Jack (or Jacob) Towb and his wife Bessie (Amelia) Towb (née Sergai). Bessie Towb had been born to a Jewish family in Belfast, while Jack was born in a shtetl (town),…...
Treacy, Raymond Christopher Patrick (‘Ray’)
Treacy, Raymond Christopher Patrick (‘Ray’) (1946–2015), footballer and travel agent, was born on 18 June 1946 in Dublin. He was reared in Sandymount and educated at Westland Row Christian Brothers School and Ringsend College. At thirteen he was expelled from Westland Row for kicking a…...
Trotter, John Bernard
Trotter, John Bernard (1774–1818), publicist, secretary to Charles James Fox, and pedestrian traveller, was the second of the three sons of Edward Trotter (1729?–77), prebendary of St Andrew's, Downpatrick, and rector of Inch, Co. Down, as well as agent to the Southwell estate, and…...
Tuckey, James Hingston
Tuckey, James Hingston (1771–1816), naval officer and explorer, was born at Greenhill, near Mallow, Co. Cork, son of the Reverend Thomas Tuckey (1708–72), rector of Litter and Marshallstown, and his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of the Reverend James Hingston, prebendary of…...
Tullio, Paolo Luigi Mario
Tullio, Paolo Luigi Mario (1949–2015), restaurant owner, writer and food critic, was born on 20 August 1949 in Falkirk, Scotland, the only child of Dionisio Tullio, a restaurant owner and his wife Irene (née Fusco). Although Tullio’s parents were Italian, his mother was raised between…...
Uniacke, John James FitzGerald
Uniacke, John James FitzGerald (1797–1825), explorer, writer, and early official in New South Wales, was born 4 July 1797 on Charlotte's Quay, Cork, second son and sixth of nine children of Robert Uniacke (1756–1802) of Woodhouse, Stradbally, Co. Waterford, MP for Youghal 1777–…...
van Gelderen, Gerrit
van Gelderen, Gerrit (1926–94), naturalist, wildlife film-maker, broadcaster, and author, was born 26 August 1926 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, eldest child of Johannes Gerardus van Gelderen, a local-authority employee who lived within the municipal park where he worked. Familiar from…...
Waddell, Samuel John (‘Rutherford Mayne’)
Waddell, Samuel John (‘Rutherford Mayne’) (1878–1967), playwright, actor, and civil servant, was born 15 July 1878 in Tokyo, Japan, the fourth child (and fourth son) among eight sons and two daughters of the Revd Hugh Waddell (1840–1901), a presbyterian missionary born in Glenarm, Co.…...
Walker, Alexander Alfred
Walker, Alexander Alfred (1930–2003), film critic and cinema historian, was born 22 March 1930 in Portadown, Co. Armagh, only child of Alfred Walker, commercial traveller, and his wife Ethel Linda Harris (née Andrews). The family were presbyterian, though not especially observant…...
Walsh, Robert
Walsh, Robert (1772–1852), clergyman and writer, was born in Waterford, son of John Walsh (1720–85), merchant, of Ballymountain House, Waterford. He was a younger brother of the physician Edward Walsh (qv). He entered…...
WARBURTON, Bartholomew Elliott George (‘Eliot Warburton’)
Warburton, Bartholomew Elliott George (‘Eliot Warburton’) (1810–52), author, landowner, and traveller, was born near Tullamore, King's Co. (Offaly), eldest son of George Warburton, of Aughrim, Co. Galway, a former inspector-general of the constabulary in Ireland, and Anna Warburton (née…...
Warden, Joseph Frederick
Warden, Joseph Frederick (1836–98), actor and theatre manager, was born 12 December 1836 in Hull, Yorkshire. His first stage appearance was in the role of Lemuel in John Baldwin Buckstone's ‘The flowers of the forest’ at Scarborough Theatre. Eighteen months later he joined Charles…...
Wasson, Moore Dunlop
Wasson, Moore Dunlop (1918–2009), presbyterian minister and television producer, was born 2 December 1918, the first-born child of Robert Wasson and Emmeline Wasson (née Bell). His father was at that time a soldier, his mother was a milliner before her marriage, and the family lived…...
Weld, Isaac
Weld, Isaac (1774–1856), writer and vice-president of the RDS, was born 15 March 1774 in Dublin, eldest son of Isaac Weld (d. 1824), official in the Irish customs, and his first wife, Elizabeth (née Kerr). Isaac Weld senior was a noted bon viveur who was given his lucrative position…...
Whitehead, O. Z. (Oothout Zabriskie; 'Zebby')
Whitehead, O. Z. (Oothout Zabriskie; 'Zebby') (1911–98), actor and Bahá'í pioneer, was born 18 March 1911 in New York city, USA, the son of O. Z. Whitehead, a wealthy banker living in Manhattan's Upper East Side, and his wife Maria. Enjoying a comfortable childhood, he attended the…...
Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie
Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie (to which he, like his father and brother, later added ‘Wills ’) (1854–1900), playwright, poet, and prose writer, was born 16 October 1854 in his parents’ house, 21 Westland Row, Dublin, second son of Dr…...