Co. Mayo

Ainsworth, Thomas Joseph (Joe; ‘Two Gun Joe’) (1927–2015), garda, was born 17 May 1927 at his parents’ home at Davitt’s Terrace, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, the elder of two sons of Harry (Henry) Ainsworth, a victualler, and his wife Margaret (née Feeney). Ainsworth was…

Archdeacon, Matthew (1798–1853), writer and schoolmaster, was born 17 March 1798 in Castlebar, Co. Mayo. He was probably the son of G. Archdeacon, recorded in 1810 as running a 'mathematical and mercantile school' in Castlebar, since from 1825 Matthew Archdeacon himself ran a '…

Baines, Thomas O'Malley (1844–99), Fenian, was born near Louisburgh, Co. Mayo, son of a couple named Baines, of whom no more is known. His father died soon after his birth. In 1848 Mrs Baines with her two children were evicted from their holding as part of the famine clearances on…

Bairéad, Riocard (Barrett, Dick) (d. 1819), poet in Irish, was born between 1735 and 1740 in Barrack, Belmullet, Co. Mayo, on the Erris peninsula. He appears to have remained in the district for his entire life, moving only to Carne, a neighbouring parish, possibly c.1790. This…

Bartley, Gerald (Gerry) (1898–1975), politician, was born 12 June 1898 in Cloghan Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks, Co. Mayo, son of John Bartley, RIC sergeant, and Ann Bartley (née Costello). He was educated at Clifden, Co. Galway, and O'Connell's School, Dublin, before becoming…

Blowick, John (1889–1972), missionary priest and theologian, was born 26 October 1888 in Belcarra, Co. Mayo, eldest son of John Blowick, farmer, and Honoria Blowick (née Madden). He had one sister and two younger brothers. John was educated at Westport…

Blowick, Joseph (1903–70), farmer and politician, was born in Belcarra, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, on 13 March 1903, one of the four sons and two daughters of John Blowick, farmer, and his wife, Honoria (née Madden), originally of Donamona, Belcarra. Educated at the local national…

Boland, William (1895–1960), businessman, was born in Bunnyconnellan, Ballina, Co. Mayo, the sixth of the seven children of Christopher Boland, farmer and partner in Reilly's and Boland, general merchant. Educated at CBS Synge Street…

Bolton, Theophilus (c.1678–1744), archbishop and benefactor, was born in Borisool, Co. Mayo, and graduated BA (1698), MA (1701), BD and…

Bourke, Ulick Joseph (1829–87), catholic priest, Irish-language revivalist, teacher, and antiquarian, was born 29 December 1829 at Laherdane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, son of Ulick Bourke and his wife Cecilia Sheridan. He was educated at Errew Monastery, Castlebar, and studied Irish…

Brennan, Louis (1852–1932), engineer and inventor, was born 28 February 1852 in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, youngest of three sons of Thomas Brennan, grocer, ironmonger, and hardware merchant, and Bridget Brennan (née McDonnell). His eldest brother, Michael George Brennan (d. 1871), was a…

Browne (Altamont), Jeremy Ulick (1939–2014), 11th marquis of Sligo and entrepreneur, was born on 4 June 1939 in London, the only child of…

Browne, Denis (1763–1828), politician, was born in Westport House, Co. Mayo, second son among two sons and four daughters of Peter Browne (1741–80), 2nd earl of Altamont and MP for Co. Mayo (1761–8), and his wife Elizabeth, the only daughter and heiress of Denis Kelly of Lisduffe…

Browne, John (d. 1589), mapmaker, sheriff, and (in his words) ‘the first Englishman that in the memory of man settled himself to dwell in the county of Mayo’, was probably of the Anglo-Norman Brownes of Kilpatrick, Co. Westmeath. In August 1583, as servant to Sir Christopher Hatton…

Browne, John (1709–76), 1st earl of Altamont , landowner, and MP, was born at Mount Browne near Westport, Co. Mayo, the only son of Peter Browne (d. 1722), a catholic landowner, of Mount Browne, and his wife Mary, daughter of Denis Daly (…

Browne, Michael John (1895–1980), catholic bishop of Galway, was born 20 December 1895 in Westport, Co. Mayo, fifth child of Michael Browne, draper, and Elizabeth Browne (née Higgins). Educated at CBS Westport, St Jarlath's College,…

Browne, Patrick (c.1720–1790), botanist and physician, was born at Woodstock, Crossboyne, Co. Mayo, fourth son of Edward Browne, landowner; his mother's name is not known. In 1737 he went to live in Antigua with a relative, but ill health prompted his return to Europe,…

Browne, Robert Dillon (1809–50), repeal MP, was born in 1809, the only son of Arthur Browne, landowner of Turin Castle and Glencorrib, near Shrule, Co. Mayo and his wife Mary Kirwan. He was a member of the Neale branch of the Brownes, and a distant cousin of Lord Kilmaine. He was…

Brown, William (1777–1857), merchant captain and first admiral-in-chief of the Argentine navy, was born 22 June 1777 in Foxford, Co. Mayo. (John De Courcy Ireland has suggested that Brown was the extramarital son of a Roman catholic woman from Foxford and George Browne (c.…

Burgh, Sir Edmund de (a. 1290–1338), magnate, third son of Richard de Burgh (qv), 2nd earl of Ulster, and his wife Margaret, rose to prominence after the death of his father in June 1326. The king entrusted the lordship to Sir…

Carroll, Doc (1939–2005), singer and musician, was born Martin O'Carroll on 19 November 1939 in Tourmakeady, Co. Mayo, the third youngest of eight children of Frank O'Carroll, doctor, and his American wife, Catherine (née Collins). Aged three when his family moved from Tourmakeady to…

Cassidy, Joseph (1933–2013), archbishop and preacher, was born on 29 October 1933 in Charlestown, Co. Mayo, the only son of seven children of John Cassidy, national school headteacher, and Mary Cassidy (née Gallagher). His maternal uncle, Canon Eddie Gallagher, was parish priest of…

Cavanagh, Bartholomew (1821–97), catholic priest, was born in Kilcahill, Annaghdown, Co. Galway, one of thirteen children of John Cavanagh, affluent leaseholder of some 1,000 acres, mainly on the Blake estate, and Kate Cavanagh (née Browne). He studied first at a private school in…

Cellach (d. mid 6th cent.), monastic founder and supposed bishop of Killala (Cell Alaid), appears among the saints of the Uí Fhiachrach of Connacht in ‘Genealogiae Regum et Sanctorum Hiberniae’, where Walsh suggests that this may be ‘Cellán Ua Fiachrach’, who appears in…

Comber, Patrick Forstall (1831–1909), civil engineer, was born 30 April 1831 in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, eldest son of Thomas Comber, architect and builder, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Edward Gannon, all from Kilmena, Co. Mayo. He was educated by private tutors and by the…