Whelan, Michael
Whelan, Michael (1932–2007), businessman, was born on 1 May 1932 in Beaumont nursing home, Co. Galway, the eldest son of Michael Whelan of Bridge Street, Athenry, Co. Galway, and his wife Mary (née Hynes). His father was a wealthy footwear merchant, and Whelan boarded in Castleknock…...
Whelan, William Augustine (‘Billy’; ‘Liam’)
Whelan, William Augustine (‘Billy’; ‘Liam’) (1935–58), soccer player, was born 1 April 1935 in 28 St Attracta's Road, Cabra, Dublin, fourth among seven children of John Whelan, labourer, and Elizabeth Whelan (née McGuirk). He was educated at St Peter's national school in nearby…...
White, Harry
White, Harry (1916–89), IRA activist, was born in Blackwater Street off the Grosvenor Road in west Belfast, one of ten children (five sons and five daughters) of Billy White, water technician with Belfast Corporation, and his wife Kathleen (née McKane). White's paternal grandfather and…...
White, (Herbert) Terence de Vere
White, (Herbert) Terence de Vere (1912–94), solicitor and writer, was born 29 April 1912 in Dublin, where his family lived at 61 Marlborough Road, Donnybrook. His father, Frederick Sutton Darley de Vere White, LLD, was then a junior solicitor…...
White, James
White, James (1928–99), science fiction author, was born 7 April 1928 at Belfast. His parents moved to Canada in 1930 but returned to Belfast in 1935. White was educated at St John's primary school (1935–41) and in 1941 won a scholarship to St Joseph's Technical High School, which…...
White, (Patrick) James
White, (Patrick) James (1913–2003), arts administrator, art critic and art historian, was born 16 September 1913 in Holles St. maternity hospital, Dublin, son of Thomas John White, a bank clerk, of Grove Cottage, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, and (Mary) Florence White (née Coffey). His…...
White, Rowland
White, Rowland (d. 1572), Anglo-Irish reformer, was the son of Baron White of the Dufferin in north-east Ulster, which the family was forced to abandon when it came under attack from the Scots and the local Gaelic chieftains early in the sixteenth century. Nothing is known of…...
White, Stephen
White, Stephen (1574?–1646/7), Jesuit priest, academic, and antiquary, was born in Clonmel, the son of Pierce White. His was a remarkable family, two of his brothers also being priests: James was vicar apostolic of Waterford and Lismore and Thomas…...
White, Thomas
White, Thomas (1556–1622), Jesuit and founder of Irish colleges in Europe, was the son of Pierce White of Clonmel and was born into one of the most staunchly catholic families in Ireland. A younger brother Stephen (qv) was a celebrated…...
Whitmore, William James Brennan-
Whitmore, William James Brennan- (1886–1977), revolutionary and journalist, was born 21 October 1886 at the family home in Mary St., Wexford, son of Thomas Whitmore, People journalist and printer, and Mary Whitmore (née Brennan) from Ferns, Co. Wexford. Both parents died…...
Whitney, Patrick Joseph
Whitney, Patrick Joseph (1894–1942), missionary priest, was born 7 July 1894 at Breenletter townland, Ballyfermoyle, between Keadue and Lough Key in Co. Roscommon, on the borders with Co. Sligo and Co. Leitrim, eldest child of Bernard Whitney, smallholding farmer, and Mary Anne Whitney…...
Whitty, Ellen (Sister Mary Vincent)
Whitty, Ellen (Sister Mary Vincent) (1819–92), Sister of Mercy, foundress, and educator, was born 1 March 1819 in Poldharrigge, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, daughter of Robert Whitty and Mary Whitty. She had two sisters and three brothers. Educated in Enniscorthy and the Academy of…...
Whyte, John Henry
Whyte, John Henry (1928–90), academic, was born 30 April 1928 in Penang, Malaya (Malaysia), son of William Henry Whyte, military officer, and Dorothy Gordon Whyte (née Hibbard), daughter of an American industrial metallurgist; he had one sibling, a younger sister. He was educated…...
Wickham, Joseph Ignatius ('Joe')
Wickham, Joseph Ignatius ('Joe') (1890–1968), football administrator, was born Ignatius Joseph Wickham on 5 February 1890 in Phibsborough, Dublin, one of eleven children (seven girls and four boys) of John Wickham, a railway engine driver, and his wife Mary Anne (née Kelly). He was…...
Wigham, John Richardson
Wigham, John Richardson (1829–1906), lighthouse engineer and businessman, was born 15 January 1829 at 5 South Gray St., Edinburgh, youngest son among four sons and three daughters of John Wigham, shawl manufacturer and quaker, and Jane Wigham (née Richardson). Their mother's death…...
Williams, (Daniel) Edmund
Williams, (Daniel) Edmund (1928–2007), businessman, was born in Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, on 3 April 1928, the youngest son among three sons and two daughters of John ('Jack') Williams of Tullamore, Co. Offaly, and his wife Sheila ('Julia') (née Moorhead). The Williamses…...
Williams, Richard D'Alton
Williams, Richard D'Alton (1822–62), poet, medical doctor, and nationalist, was born 8 October 1822 in Dublin, the illegitimate son of Alexandre Count D'Alton (1766–1859), an officer in the French army and land proprietor in Co. Tipperary, and Mary Williams, the daughter of a…...
Williams, (Thomas) Desmond
Williams, (Thomas) Desmond (1921–87), historian, was born 26 May 1921 in Dublin, the only child of William John Williams, later professor of education in UCD, and his wife Angela (née Murnaghan), member of a prominent legal and political…...
Williams, Thomas (‘Tom’)
Williams, Thomas (‘Tom’) (1923–42), republican, was born 12 May 1923 in the Beechmount area of the Falls Road, Belfast, third of four children of Thomas Williams, labourer, and his wife Mary (née Fay). The family had lived in a catholic enclave on the Shore Road in north Belfast, but…...
Wilmot (De Bhilmot), Séamus
Wilmot (De Bhilmot), Séamus (1902–77), educator, theatre administrator, and writer in Irish, was born 4 May 1902 in Listowel, Co. Kerry, fourth child and only son of Edward Wilmot, blacksmith, and Mary Wilmot (née Dillon). He was educated locally at St Michael's College, Listowel, and…...
Wilmot, Katherine
Wilmot, Katherine (c.1773–1824), traveller and diarist, was eldest daughter among three sons and six daughters of Edward Wilmot (1747–1815), army captain in the 40th Regiment of Foot, stationed in Cork, and his wife Martha, daughter of the Rev. Charles Moore, rector of…...
Wilson, John Patrick
Wilson, John Patrick (1923–2007), government minister and Gaelic footballer, was born on 8 July 1923 at Callanagh, Kilcogy, Co. Cavan, the son of John Wilson, farmer, and his wife Brigid (née Comaskey). His grandfather James Wilson was a Fenian, his father a Fianna Fáil and GAA activist…...
Wilson, Katherine Anna Gifford (Katie)
This is a co-subject for the entry on DONNELLY, Helen Ruth (‘Nellie’) Gifford. View the original entry....
Winder, Frank (Francis Gerard Augustine)
Winder, Frank (Francis Gerard Augustine) (1928–2007), biochemist, naturalist and mountaineer, was born 14 April 1928 in Dublin, one of four sons of Percy Winder (d. 1950), secretary of the Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Society and a freeman of the city of Dublin, and his second…...
Windle, Sir Bertram Alan Coghill
Windle, Sir Bertram Alan Coghill (1858–1929), scholar, anatomist, archaeologist, and university president, was born 8 May 1858 at Mayfield, Staffordshire, England, eldest son of the Rev. Samuel Allan Windle and Sydney Katherine Windle (née Coghill). When he was four, the family…...