McCusker, (James) Harold
McCusker, (James) Harold (1940–90), politician, was born 7 February 1940 in William Street, Lurgan, Co. Armagh, son of James Harold McCusker and his wife Lily. His early life was overshadowed by his father's premature death (aged thirty-seven), which left the family in straitened…...
McGregor, John James
McGregor, John James (c.1773–1834), historian and topographer, was born 24 February c.1773 in Limerick city, the seventh son and youngest of seventeen children (many of whom did not survive to adulthood) of John McGregor (d. 1796), native of Scotland, probably by…...
McIvor, (William) Basil
McIvor, (William) Basil (1928–2004), politician, barrister and judge, was born 17 June 1928 in Tullyhommon, Co. Fermanagh (the southern side of Pettigo – 'I am a British citizen with about 120 feet to spare' (McIvor, 8)), second of three sons of Frederick McIvor, methodist minister, and…...
Moore, Henry
Moore, Henry (1751–1844), methodist minister and biographer, was born 21 December 1751 in Drumcondra, Dublin, second child and only son among five children of Richard Moore, a wealthy Church of Ireland farmer, who died young in 1763. A marriage in 1746 between a Richard Moore and…...
Morgan, William
Morgan, William (1712–32), methodist, was born perhaps in Dublin, elder son of Richard Morgan of Kevin St., Dublin, who was later second remembrancer of the court of exchequer and register of the dean and chapter of Christ Church (c.1751). Nothing is known of his mother.…...
Nesbitt, William
Nesbitt, William (1824–81), professor of Latin and of Greek, was born in January 1824 in Co. Armagh, son of John Nesbitt (d. 1858), methodist minister (whose family moved with him to various congregations), and his wife, who may have been Jane Douglass. Nesbitt was educated mostly…...
Nixon, John William
Nixon, John William (1877–1949), policeman and politician, was born 1 June 1877 in Graddum, Co. Cavan, into a methodist family; other family details are unknown. He joined the RIC in 1899, served in Belfast, Donegal, Antrim, Mayo,…...
Norcott, William
Norcott, William (1773?–1820), barrister, satirist, and bon vivant, was eldest son of William Norcott of Charleville, Co. Cork, and Mary Norcott (née Knight). He entered TCD in July 1790, graduating BA…...
Ó Glaisne, Risteárd
Ó Glaisne, Risteárd (1927–2003), teacher, ecumenist and journalist, was born 2 September 1927 in Bandon, Co. Cork, the third of four children of George William Giles and his wife Sara Jane (née Vickery). He attended Bandon Grammar School and Trinity College Dublin (TCD), graduating…...
Ó hUid, Tarlach
Ó hUid, Tarlach (1917–90), Irish-language writer and journalist, was born Augustus Walter Hood on 13 January 1917 in south Deptford, London, one of three sons and two daughters of munitions worker and later carpenter, Augustus Walter Hood, and his wife, Ada Brockwell. He changed his…...
Ouseley, Gideon
Ouseley, Gideon (1762–1839), methodist preacher, was born 24 February 1762 at Kiltecacley, Dunmore, Co. Galway, the eldest son of John Ouseley of Dunmore and his wife, Elizabeth, née Surrage, of Tuam, Co. Galway. The family had settled in Ireland in 1625. His father directed him towards…...
Parsons, Alfred Robert
Parsons, Alfred Robert (1864–1952), physician, was born 23 September 1864 in Victoria Place, Athlone, son of John Parsons, bootmaker, and Mary Parsons (née Leney). He was the second of seven children; he had three brothers (William, b. 1862; George Thomas, b. 1868; and Charles Frederick…...
Roddie, Ian Campbell
Roddie, Ian Campbell (1928–2011), physiologist and academic, was born on 1 December 1928 in Belfast, third of four sons of J. R. Wesley Roddie (d. 1953), a methodist minister, and his wife Mary Hill (née Wilson; d. 1973); the four brothers all entered the medical profession. Rev.…...
Sayers, Robert McMaster
This is a co-subject for the entry on Sayers, John Edward (‘Jack’). View the original entry....
Shillington, David Graham
Shillington, David Graham (1872–1944), politician, was born 10 December 1872 at Tavanagh House, Portadown, Co. Armagh, son of Thomas Shillington, JP, and Mary Jane Shillington (née Graham). Educated at Rydalmount School, Colwyn Bay, he later…...
Smiley, James Anderson
Smiley, James Anderson (1907–88), physician, was born 20 April 1907 at Castlewellan, Co. Down, the eldest of the four sons and one daughter of Samuel John Smiley, apothecary, and Mary Emma Smiley (née Anderson) of Lurgan. There was a strong medical tradition in the family, and of…...
Thompson, Samuel Herbert Hall-
Thompson, Samuel Herbert Hall- (1885–1954), unionist politician, was born in Crawfordsburn, Co. Down, son of Robert Thompson, chairman of Lindsay, Thompson & Co. Ltd, flax spinners, who owned residences in both Crawfordsburn and Belfast. Robert Thompson was later to become the…...
Thompson, Sir William John
Thompson, Sir William John (1861–1929), registrar-general of Ireland, was born at Tattyreagh, Co. Fermanagh, the son of William Thompson, a farmer of Tattyreagh. He was educated at TCD and the…...
Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton
Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton (1903–95), scientist, educator, and Nobel prize laureate, was born 6 October 1903 in Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, elder of two children of the Rev. John Arthur Walton and Anna Elizabeth Walton (née Sinton). His father, a methodist minister, was born…...
Wesley, John
Wesley, John (1703–91), evangelical preacher and church founder, was born 17 June 1703 in Epworth rectory, Lincolnshire, England, thirteenth or fourteenth child and third eldest son of Samuel Wesley, rector, and Susanna Wesley (née Annesley), both of Lincolnshire. He received his…...
Whitla, Sir William
Whitla, Sir William (1851–1933), physician, was born 15 September 1851 at The Diamond, Monaghan town, fourth son of Robert Whitla, a presbyterian pawnbroker and draper, and his wife Anne (née Williams). Whitla's parents had five sons and seven daughters. In 1928 Whitla presented a…...
Wilson, Thomas
Wilson, Thomas (1916–2001), economist, was born on 23 June 1916 on the family farm at Ballylagan, Ballynure, Co. Antrim, the only child of John Bright Wilson (d. 1948), and his wife Margaret (née Ellison). His father, while keeping the farm, established a grocery and animal feed…...
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…...