Germany

Bender, Philipp Philip Phineas (c.1831–1901), Jewish minister and teacher, was born in Germany, and moved (c.1851) to Hull, England, where he was appointed minister to the Jewish community. He settled (1862) in Dublin and was appointed (1863–81) a preacher at…

Benmohel, Nathan Lazarus (1802/3–69), linguist, was born in Hamburg, Germany, son of Lazarus Benmohel (d. 1841), a rabbi, and his wife, a rabbi's daughter. He settled in Ireland c.1827–9 as a teacher of languages in Dublin. Aged twenty-nine, he entered…

Bernelle, Agnes (1923–99), singer and actress, was born Agnes Elizabeth Bernauer on 7 March 1923 in Berlin, Germany, daughter of Rudolph Bernauer (1880–1953), a Jewish-Hungarian actor, playwright, librettist, and theatrical director and impresario, and his second wife, Emmy (née Erb) (b…

Bewerunge, Heinrich (1862–1923), musicologist, educator, and composer, was born 7 December 1862 in Letmathe, Westphalia, Germany, the second of nine children of Heinrich Hermann Bewerunge (1836–1901), a building contractor from Lüchtringen-an-der-Weser, and his wife, Maria…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Bielenberg, Christabel Mary Harmsworth. View the original entry.

Böll, Heinrich Theodor (1917–85), writer, was born 21 December 1917 in Cologne, Germany, the youngest of eight children (two died in infancy) of Viktor Böll, a master joiner specialising in woodcarvings for churches, and Maria Böll (née Hermanns). The family was catholic, interested…

Bran (Bróen) (d. 1052), son of Máel-mórda and overking of Leinster 1016–18, belonged to the Uí Fháeláin lineage of the Uí Dúnlainge dynasty. His father Máel-mórda (qv), who had held the overkingship of Leinster, was slain in the battle of…

Brase, Wilhelm Fritz (1875–1940), musician, was born 4 May 1875 at Egestorf, near Hanover, Germany. He graduated at the Leipzig conservatoire and the Berlin academy of music, was the youngest person to become ‘royal musical director’ (1909), attained a leading position among the…

Brück, Hermann Alexander (1905–2000), astronomer and science administrator, was born 15 August 1905 in Berlin, only child of Hermann Heinrich Brück, army officer, and his wife Margarete Weylandt. He attended school at the Kaiserin Augusta Gymnasium, Berlin, and the universities of…

Burke, John (1786–1848), genealogist, was born 12 November 1786 (Landed gentry (6th ed., 1882), 227), probably at Elm Hall, Parsonstown (Birr), King's Co. (Offaly), elder son of Peter Burke (1756–1836), landowner and JP, and Anne…

Butler, Count Walter (d. 1634), imperial governor and soldier, was born in Ballinakill, near Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, second son of Peter Butler and Catharine Butler (née de Burgo). The family originated in Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny, and were a cadet branch of the house of Ormond.…

Byrne, Patrick (d. 1812), United Irishman or Defender, was the first of three sons of Henry Byrne (d. 1785), a wealthy merchant of Seatown, Dundalk, Co. Louth, and his wife, Mary, daughter of John Begg, a merchant in Bridge St., Dublin. The Byrnes were for several generations a…

Clissmann, Helmut E. (1911–97), German intelligence officer, was born at Aachen in northern Germany. His association with Ireland dates from 1930, when he made his first visit to Dublin as a member of the left-wing nationalist Young Prussian League. Through its link with romantic…

de Burgo, Augustine Gibbon (1613–76), one of the most eminent of Irish counter–reformation theologians and an erudite writer on the Lutheran–Calvinist controversies of his day, was born in Connacht and entered the Order of the Hermits Augustinian at Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, at age 20…

De Renzy, Sir Matthew (1577–1634), Irish planter, customs official, and Gaelic scholar, was born in Cullen (probably Cologne), Germany. His career reflects the possibilities open to continental immigrants in early seventeenth-century Ireland. Having spent some time as a cloth dealer…

de Wichfeld, Monica Emily (1894–1945), Danish resistance heroine, was born 12 July 1894 in London, only daughter and eldest of four children of John George Massy-Beresford (1856–1923), landowner, and Alice Elizabeth Massy-Beresford (née Mulholland; 1869–1948), daughter of the 1st…

Ewald, Paul Peter (1888–1985), mathematical physicist, was born 23 January 1888 in Berlin, Germany, the only child of Paul Ewald, historian, from a wealthy academic family, and Clara Ewald (née Philippson), artist. His father died of appendicitis three months before he was born, and…

Fitzgerald, Edward (c.1770–1807), landed gentleman and insurgent leader, was born in Co. Wexford at his wealthy catholic family's country estate, Newpark, in the parish of Killisk, situated between Enniscorthy and Wexford town. Details of his early life are sketchy and…

Fitzjames, James (1670–1734), duke of Berwick , soldier and Jacobite, was born 21 August 1670 at Moulins, France, eldest son of James, duke of York (later James II (qv)) and his mistress Arabella Churchill, sister of…

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…

Fleischmann, Aloys Georg (1910–92), composer, conductor, and musicologist, was born 13 April 1910 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, only child of Aloys Georg Fleischmann (b. Dachau, Bavaria, 24 April 1880; d. Cork, 3 January 1964), who came to Cork city in 1906 as organist and choir master…

Fleischmann, Aloys Georg (1880–1964), composer, conductor, choir master and organist, was born on 24 April 1880 in Dachau, Bavaria, Germany. His father (also Aloys), a highly respected guild craftsman (a master shoemaker), was born in the nearby hamlet of Eisolzried in 1844 and…

Goertz, Herman (1890–1947), German spy, was born 15 November 1890 in Lübeck, Germany, son of Dr Heinrich Goertz, lawyer and Reichstag deputy. He initially attended the Abiturium Johanneum in Lübeck before studying law at Heidelberg, Kiel, and Paris; he entered Edinburgh University (…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Grierson, George. View the original entry.

Handel, George Frederick (1685–1759), composer, was born 23 February 1685 in Halle, the son of Georg Händel (1622–97), a barber-surgeon to the court of the duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. From c.1692–3 the young Georg Friederich received a thorough musical education (keyboard…