ABERCORN, MARQUIS OF see HAMILTON, JAMES

ABERNETHY, JOHN 1680-1740

John Abernethy was born in Brigh, near Stewartstown, County Tyrone, and lived for some time in Ballymena, County Antrim, and Coleraine, County Londonderry. He studied at the University of Glasgow and at Edinburgh. Before he was twenty-one he preached in Dublin and was appointed minister of a congregation in Antrim, where he was ordained in 1703. When he was recalled to Dublin in 1717, he defied the synod and opted to stay in Antrim. When the division among Presbyterians occurred, Abernethy led the Unitarians or Non-subscribers. He was prominent in The Belfast Society and the 'New Light' Movement. In 1730 he went to minister in Dublin. He was frequently at variance with the Presbyterian Church especially on the issue of exclusion from army service. He was opposed to the Test Act. Despite being a strict believer in temperance, he died from what was described as 'gout in the head'. He published tracts and books, including Sermons on the Being and Perfections of God which was reprinted many times and was favourably criticised by Samuel Johnson.


ABERNETHY, WILLIAM d. c.1930

William Abernethy probably came from near Comber, County Down. He learned his trade with a Belfast photographer and set up a business in High Street, Belfast, in 1886. For many years he was successful as a portrait photographer and opened branches in Bangor and Newry, County Down. He visited the Holy Land. With the advent of polyfoto in Belfast his business declined.


ABRAHAM, JAMES JOHNSTON 1876-1963

James Abraham was born in Coleraine, County Londonderry, and was educated there and at Trinity College Dublin where he studied medicine. He practised in County Clare and was appointed Resident Medical Officer to London Dock Hospital and Rescue Home in 1908. In 1914 he travelled to Serbia, where he administered to the Serbian army and played a major part in bolstering morale. He coped with inadequate supplies, outbreaks of typhoid, scarlet fever, recurrent fever, smallpox and a typhus epidemic. He was the first doctor on location to diagnose typhus, and he and the Serbian Army Medical Corps managed to contain it. He was then called to the Middle East and latterly became a Harley Street specialist. He was created a Knight of St John Consulting Surgeon at the Princess Beatrice Hospital in London. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, President of the Irish Medical Graduates' Association and in 1949 won the Arnott Medal. He was author of The Night Nurse (1913); Surgeon's Journal, Balkan Log and The Surgeon's Log, which ran to thirty-one editions. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate in 1946.


ACHESON, ANNE CRAWFORD 1882-1962

Anne Acheson was born in Portadown, County Armagh, and was educated at Victoria College, Belfast, Belfast School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London. She studied sculpture under Lanteri and exhibited at the Royal Academy and internationally. She was awarded the CBE in 1919. She lived in London and Glenavy, County Antrim.


ACHESON, ARCHIBALD 1776-1849

Archibald Acheson was born in County Armagh and was educated at Oxford University. He was elected member of parliament for County Armagh, and served from 1798 to 1807. He was 2nd Earl of Gosford and became Governor General of Canada. He advocated the unpopular policy of conciliation both in Ireland and in Canada, and because of opposition he resigned.

ADAIR, ROBERT ALEXANDER SHAFTO c.1811-1886

Robert Adair was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, and was member of par-liament for Cambridge from 1847 to 1852, and from 1854 to 1857. In 1869 he unsuc-cessfully contested East Suffolk and County Antrim. In 1872 he was created a peer. He was Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Among his works are Antrim in 1847 and Ireland and her Servile War.

ADAMNÁN (EUNAN), ST c.624-704

Adamnán was born in County Donegal and was Abbot of Raphoe, which he may have founded. He became ninth abbot of the monastic community of Iona, in 679. He visited Aldfrith, King of Northumbria, who had studied on Iona and who persuaded Adamnan to agree to the Roman view in the controversy over the date of Easter, though Adamnán's monks were not won over. He was prominent at the Synod of Tara in 697 and won acceptance for his 'law of the innocents' which protected non-combatants in war. Cain Adamnán contains a draft of this law. He also ensured that a law exempting women from military service was passed. His greatest work was Vita Sancti Columbae, the life of St Columba, and he also wrote De Locis Sanctis, an account of Bishop Arculf's pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Fis Adamnán, which appears in a twelfth-century manuscript, is now regarded as a much later work and wrongly attributed to him. His feast day is on the 23rd of September.

ADAMS, FRANCES M. J. 1882-1987

Frances Adams was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, and was educated at Queen's College, Belfast, where she studied zoology, physiology and botany. At London University she studied plant pathology and carried out research on wild white clover for the Department of Agriculture at Aberystwyth University. When she returned to Belfast, she was appointed lecturer in botany at the College of Technology. She was a member of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club and served as its president. After she retired she took up motoring and water-colour painting and exhibited for the Ulster Society of Women Artists. She, with her sister, Dr Elizabeth Hunt and her brother, Dr John Adams, appears in the Guinness Book of Records for the extraordinary fact that they all lived to over the age of a hundred. She died in Rostrevor, County Down.

ADRAIN, ROBERT 1775-1843

Robert Adrain was born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, and fought in the rebellion of 1798. He escaped to America and became Professor of Mathematics in Columbia College, New York, and Vice-Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. He was the author and editor of many mathematical works, including Exponential Law of Error, and published in many journals such as The Analyst and The Mathematical Diary. In 1818 Vol. I of the Transactions of The American Philosophical Society published those of his papers which dealt with his calculations on the measurements of the earth. He died in New Brunswick.

AE see RUSSELL, GEORGE WILLIAM

ÁEDÁN, ST (or MOGUE or MAEDOC, ST) 560-632

St Áedán was born in Brackley Lough, County Cavan, and was educated in Wales. When he returned to Ireland, he established monasteries in Wexford. He was the first Bishop of Ferns, where he died, and was patron saint of Uí Cheinnsealaigh or Wexford. His feast-day is on the 31st of January.

ÁEDH MAC AINMERECH 566-593

Áedh was king of the Northern Ui Neill. He called a convention at Dromkett, near Limavady which had a three-fold aim: to attempt to curtail the activity of the bards, to impose a heavier tribute on Scottish Dalriada, and to depose the King of Ossory. St Columcille came from Iona to the convention. King Áedh fell at the Battle of Dunbolg.

AGNEW, JAMES WILLSON 1815-1901

James Willson Agnew was born in Ballyclare, County Antrim, and studied medicine at Glasgow. After practising medicine in Sydney, he went to Hobart and helped found the Royal Society of Tasmania. He became Premier of Tasmania in 1886 and was knighted. He died in Hobart.

AIKEN, FRANK 1898-1983

Frank Aiken was born in Camlough, County Armagh, and attended the Christian Brothers' School at Newry. He became commandant of the 4th Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army in 1921, and Chief of Staff in 1923. Subsequent to 1932 he was appointed by de Valera as Minister for Defence and from 1945 to 1948 he was Minister for Finance. In 1951 he became Minister for External Affairs and served as Tanaiste from 1959 to 1969. He retired from ministerial office in 1969 and from the Dail in 1973. He was awarded honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland and Trinity College, Dublin.

ALEXANDER, CECIL FRANCES (nee HUMPHREYS) 1818-1895

Cecil Frances Alexander was born in Dublin but her girlhood was spent at Redcross, County Wicklow. Throughout her life she was a keen supporter of the Oxford Movement. Her Hymns for Little Children (1848) included such universal favourites as 'Once in Royal David's City', 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' and 'There is a Green Hill Far Away', and it was reprinted sixty-nine times. She spent her adult life mainly in Derry and Strabane as the wife of Bishop Alexander. There she wrote tracts, poetry and hymns, a collection of which was published a year after her death. She was an active philanthropist and protector of animals. Gounod is said to have remarked that some of her lyrics 'seemed to set themselves to music'.

ALEXANDER, ELEANOR

Eleanor Alexander was born in Strabane, County Tyrone, the daughter of Cecil Frances. She was educated at home and has written poetry which was published in the Spectator and other periodicals. Her novels include Lady Anne's Walk; The Rambling Rector (1904) and The Lady of the Well.

ALEXANDER, HAROLD RUPERT LEOFRIC GEORGE 1891-1969

Harold Alexander was born in Caledon, County Tyrone. He was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst and served with the Irish Guards in the First World War in France, and later in India. He was awarded the Military Cross, the Legion of Honour and the Russian Order of St Anne. During the Second World War he served in Burma, the Middle East, North Africa and Italy, eventually becoming Allied commander in the Mediterranean with the rank of field-marshal. After the was he was appointed first Governor-General of Canada, and from 1952 to 1954, served as Minister of Defence in the government of Winston Churchill. He received the Order of Merit in 1959 and was raised to the peerage as the Earl Alexander of Tunis and Errigal.

ALEXANDER, ROBERT 1910-1943

Bob Alexander was born in Belfast. He won eleven international rugby caps for Ireland between 1936 and 1939. He played fourteen times, including all three Test matches, for the 1938 British and Irish Lions in South Africa. He also played cricket for Ireland. He was killed in action in Burma while serving as a captain in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

ALEXANDER, WILLIAM 1824-1911

William Alexander was born in Derry and after an Oxford education became Bishop of Derry in 1867. He was appointed Archbishop of Armagh in 1893 and later became Primate of All Ireland. He was married to Cecil Frances Alexander the famous hymn-writer. He published prolifically both sermons and poetry. His titles include Logics of Life and Light, (1878) and his lectures 'Evidences of Christianity' appear in a book called Primary Convictions. He died in Torquay.

ALISON, FRANCIS 1705-1779

Francis Alison was born in County Donegal, was educated in Glasgow, and became a Presbyterian minister. He emigrated to America in 1735 and for many years was Vice-Provost of the College of Philadelphia and pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. He died in Philadelphia, leaving instructions that all his slaves were to be freed.

ALLAWAY, ALBERT JOHN 1904-1983

Albert John Allaway was born in Yorkshire and worked as an engineer from the age of fourteen to twenty-four. He returned to education through the Workers' Education Association and in 1931 graduated from Sheffield University with first-class honours. For the next seven years he was employed by the Extra-Mural Department of the University of Manchester. During his time as Director of Extra-Mural Studies at Queen's University Belfast, 1938 to 1946, it was his policy to make classes accessible in all areas of Northern Ireland. He was also responsible for the education of the armed forces throughout the war. In 1946 he took over the adult education services in Leicester. He was a justice of the peace, President of the Educational Centres Association, and of the National Federation of Community Associations. The Queen's Jubilee Medal was bestowed on him for his contribution to the work of the National Council of Social Service, and he was elected President of the Transactional Analysis Group.

ALLEY, JEROME 1760-1826

Jerome Alley was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and became Rector of Drumcar in the diocese of Armagh. He was a poet and author, and among his works is a study of world religions.

ALLINGHAM, WILLIAM 1824-1889

William Allingham was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, and was educated there. As a young man he was employed in banking and customs and excise, moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry, as Controller of Customs in 1860. His much-anthologised poem 'The Fairies' was written on a tour of duty in Killybegs. He published one play and many volumes of poetry, his first in 1850. He had a close connection with the Pre-Raphaelites: Millais and Rossetti illustrated his collection Day and Night Songs, and he was a friend of Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle and Leigh Hunt. He edited Fraser's Magazine and published in 1864 Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland.

ALLMAN, GEORGE JAMES 1812-1898

George Allman was born in Cork and was educated at Belfast Academical Institution and Trinity College, Dublin. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and in 1844 became Professor of Botany at Trinity College, Dublin. Ten years later he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and from 1855 to 1870 held the Chair of Natural History at Edinburgh University. While at Edinburgh he gained the degree of Doctor of Laws. The Royal Society bestowed on him the Royal Medal in 1873, and in 1878 the Royal Irish Academy presented to him the Cunningham Medal. From 1874 to 1883 he was President of the Linnean Society, and in 1896 was presented with its Gold Medal. In 1879 he was President of the British Association and became a Royal Commissioner on Fisheries. He published many monographs on natural history.

ALMENT, MARY MARTHA 1834-1908

Mary Martha Alment was born in Derry and studied art in Dublin. Her tutor, Henry McManus, was headmaster of what became the School of Design in 1849, and it was during that period that women were first admitted as students. From 1858 until her death, Mary Martha Alment frequently exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy, at the Dublin Sketching Club, and at the Watercolour Society of Ireland. She was chiefly a landscape painter.

ALMERIA see HAMILTON, ELIZABETH

ANDERSON, JAMES 1881-1915

James Anderson was born in Derry and graduated from the Royal University of Ireland in 1905. In 1907 he was called to the bar and in 1910 became Professor of Political Economy and Jurisprudence at University College, Cork. In 1914 he was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal and Constitutional Law at Trinity College, Dublin.

ANDERSON, JOHN 1815-1905

John Anderson was born in County Londonderry and was a prominent geologist and bibliographer. He was Treasurer of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, President of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club and a Fellow of the Geological Society. His works include a History of the Linen Hall Library, and a five-part Catalogue of Early Belfast Printed Books, 1694-1830. He died in Holywood, County Down.

ANDERSON, LILY 1922-1982

Lily Anderson became a member of the Communist Party from 1942, and served on its sub-committees for education, social services and women. She was an active supporter of the Nursery Mother's Action Campaign, established in Belfast in 1964-66 to demand the provision of nursery schools, many of which had functioned during the war, but in times of peace, were felt to be 'for lazy mothers'. She was successful in obtaining two new nursery schools in Belfast. She died in an accident in Bulgaria.

ANDERSON, MARGARET 1881-1956

Margaret Anderson was born in Ballinran, Kilkeel, County Down. She left school when she was eleven years old and at the age of thirteen went to Waringstown, County Down, to work as a medical receptionist. She subsequently went to England to train as a nurse in Leeds Union Infirmary. She qualified as a State Registered Nurse and obtained her state certificate of midwifery. In 1916 she joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Reserve and was awarded the Royal Red Cross, the highest award that could be conferred on a woman for war service. This was awarded to her by King George V in 1919. In 1921 she went to Iraq as a nurse and on her return to England in 1924, was appointed assistant matron at the Royal Infirmary, Truro, Cornwall. In 1926 she returned to Ireland as matron of the temporary hospital in the Silent Valley. In 1932 she returned to England, as matron of a hospital near Oxford, and remained there until 1939. During the Second World War, despite being fifty-eight years old, she rejoined the nursing reserve and took part in several sorties across the Channel during the evacuation of Dunkirk.

ANDREWS, JOHN MILLER 1871-1956

John Andrews was born in Comber, County Down and was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He became director of the family linen bleaching firm, and of the Belfast Ropeworks. He was one of the honorary secretaries of the Ulster Unionist Council, and a founder-member of the Ulster Unionist Labour Association. He became Unionist member of parliament for County Down and was unopposed in every election from 1921. He served from 1921 to 1937 as Minister of Labour, from 1937 to 1940 as Minister of Finance and was the second Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1940 to 1943, when he resigned. He was County Grand Master of the Orange Institution in County Down and served on the Institution's All Ireland Council and Imperial Grand Council of the World.

ANDREWS, MARY 1852-1914

Mary Andrews was born in Belfast. She was Honorary Secretary of the geological section of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club and she contributed geological photographs to the British Association. Among her published works are The Early History of Magnetism; Dykes in Antrim and Down; Notes on Moel Tryfaen and Notes on Some Igneous Rocks in Antrim and Down.

ANDREWS, MICHAEL 1874-1934

Michael Andrews was educated in England and Brussels and became fluent in several European languages. He was directly descended from Thomas Andrews of Ardoyne who in 1819 had established a damask-weaving factory. Michael rose from the position of manager to director of the Royal Damask-Weaving Factory at Ardoyne and chairman of the Power Loom Manufacturers' Association. Alongside this he became an expert on cartography, especially the development of maps and nautical charts from the fourteenth century to the seventeenth century. His library, including his unique collection of photographs and maps, was bequeathed to the Royal Geographical Society.

ANDREWS, THOMAS 1813-1885

Thomas Andrews was born in Belfast and was educated in Belfast, Dublin, Glasgow and Edinburgh, where he qualified as a doctor of medicine. He worked in Paris under Dumas, the distinguished chemist, became a Fellow of the Royal Society, a member of the Royal Irish Academy and a member of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society. He established a medical practice in Belfast, and during the cholera epidemic he published valuable research on the blood of sufferers. Having taught in the Belfast Academical Institution for eleven years, he was subsequently appointed Vice-President and Professor of Chemistry of Queen's College, Belfast, where he established the School of Medicine. He published The Church in Ireland, advocating its disestablishment, and was involved in social issues, writing a paper Suggestions for Checking the Hurtful Use of Alcoholic Beverages by the Working Classes. It was, however, as a chemist that he achieved international recognition, his research on ozone and gases being of particular significance. He became Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1876. When he died, his students at Queen's presented his portrait to the university and funded the Andrews Studentship in Chemistry.

ANDREWS, THOMAS 1873-1912

Thomas Andrews was born in Comber, County Down, and began work in Harland & Wolff's shipyard in Belfast at the age of sixteen. He studied design at night and eventually became managing director in 1907. He was chief designer of the Titanic, and when it sank on its maiden voyage he drowned with the ship. Comber remembers him in the naming of its Memorial Hall.

ANNESLEY, HUGH 1831-1908

Hugh Annesley was born in Dublin and was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Dublin. In 1851 he entered the army where he attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1860, having been severely wounded in the Kaflir War. He returned to Ireland in 1871 and in 1875 became 5th Earl of Castlewellan. From 1857 to 1874 he was Conservative Member of Parliament for Cavan. He was a horticulturalist, and estab-lished the arboretum at Castlewellan. From the late 1850s to the early 1900s he was also a keen amateur photographer, and pub-lished a botanical book that he illustrated with his own photographs. His collection is in the Public Record Office, Belfast. He died in Castlewellan.

ANNESLEY, MABEL 1881-1959

Lady Mabel Annesley was born in Castlewellan, County Down. In 1895 she attended the Frank Calderon School of Animal Painting. From 1920 to 1921, she studied wood engraving at the Central School of Art and Design, and illustrated a limited edition of Songs from Robert Burns. She was a member of the Belfast Art Society and of the Society of Wood Engravers. She exhibited in her studio in Lombard Street, Belfast and in London, Dublin and Manchester. Her work can be seen in the Ulster Museum, Belfast and in the British Museum.

ANTRIM, (COUNTESS OF), ANGELA (nee SYKES) 1911-1984

Lady Angela Antrim was educated privately and eventually went to Belgium to train under the sculptor D'Havlosse. She also attended the British School in Rome. She sculpted in a studio in London, often in stone nad on a very large scale. She married the 8th Earl of Antrim and at the outbreak of the Second World War, moved to Glenarm Castle in County Antrim, where she lived until her death. She carried out a number of public commissions in stone, such as those at St Joseph's Church, Ballygally, County Antrim, and at the parliament buildings, Newfoundland. She exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art. Her later work consists largely of models cast in bronze, because since 1962, she had had an injury to her hand which prevented her from sculpting.

ARBUCKLE, JAMES 1700-1734

James Arbuckle is thought to have been born in County Down. Having qualified as a doctor of medicine in Glasgow, he became a teacher, poet and essayist, and ran the Dublin Weekly Journal. He published two collections of poetry, Snuff (1717) and Glotta (1721), and an essay on Swift, Momus Mistaken.

ARCHDALL, MERVYN 1723-1791

Mervyn Archdall, whose ancestors had settled in County Fermanagh, was a minister, antiquarian and genealogist. He collected coins, medals and seals and published a major reference work, Monasticon Hibernicum, in 1786. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy. In 1789 Archdall brought out an edition of Lodge's Peerage of Ireland.

ARCHER, FRANCIS 1803-1875

Francis Archer was born in Belfast and practised medicine in Liverpool. He was a founder member of the Belfast Natural Historical and Philosophical Society and President of the Liverpool Natural History Society. He had a collection of conch shells which was donated to Birmingham University after his death.

ARCHER, WILLIAM 1830-1897

William Archer was born in Magherahamlet, County Down. He was a naturalist and in 1875 was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and Librarian of the Royal Dublin Society. In 1877 he was appointed director of the National Library of Ireland, where he established a dictionary catalogue. In 1879 he was awarded the Cunningham Gold Medal of the Royal Irish Academy for his scientific achievements.

ARMOUR, JAMES BROWN 1841-1928

James Armour was born in Lisboy, Ballymoney, County Antrim, and was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Queen's Colleges, Belfast and Cork, where he studied classics. He became a Presbyterian minister at Ballymoney in 1869 and founded the Intermediate School there. He lectured at Magee College, Derry. He was politically outspoken in support of Home Rule, the Tenant Right movement and the controversial proposal for a Catholic university. He felt that politics ought not to divide the Presbyterian Church, but he firmly believed that partition would be disastrous for Ulster. He served on the Senate of Queen's University, Belfast, where he favoured the teaching of the Irish language and scholastic philosophy. He was made honorary chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant during the First World War and retired from the ministry in 1925. [Biography by his son, 1934]

ARMSTRONG, ALEXANDER 1818-1899

Alexander Armstrong was born in Crahan, County Fermanagh, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and in Edinburgh. As a doctor he joined the navy and spent four years in this capacity, searching the polar regions for Sir John Franklin's expedition. He served in the Crimean War, in North America and in Malta and became Director-General of the medical department of the navy. He was knighted and elected Fellow of the Royal Society. His journal Personal Narrative of the Discovery of the North-West Passage, for which he won the Gilbert Blane Gold Medal, was published in 1857, and Observations on Naval Hygiene in 1858.

ARMSTRONG, GEORGE 1792-1857

George Armstrong was born in Drogheda and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was ordained in the Established Church in 1815, became a clergyman in Bangor, County Down, and firmly supported Catholic Emancipation. He contributed prolifically to periodicals. He moved to Bristol where he joined the Unitarian church as a minister and died there.

ARMSTRONG, GEORGE FRANCIS SAVAGE c. 1845-1906

George Savage Armstrong was born in County Down, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He produced two volumes on the history of his mother's family, the Savages of the Ards peninsula. He was Professor of History and Literature in Queen's College, Cork. He wrote a satire, Mephistopheles in Broadcloth (1888), much poetry, a biography of his brother Edmund, and Stories of Wicklow (1886).

ARMSTRONG, JAMES 1780-1839

James Armstrong was born in Ballynahinch, County Down, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and at Edinburgh. He was ordained a Unitarian minister in 1806, was one of the founders of the Irish Unitarian Society in 1830, and was involved in the establishment of the Association of Irish Non-Subscribing Presbyterians in 1835. He received a Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Geneva and among his published works are The Sin Against the Holy Ghost (1836); A Sermon Vindicating the Principles of Unitarian Christianity (1838) and An Ordination Sermon, an important history of Irish Presbyterianism. He was a member of the Belfast Literary Society, and of the Royal Irish Academy.

ARMSTRONG, RICHARD 1815-1880

Richard Armstrong was born in County Armagh, and graduated in law at Trinity College, Dublin. He was called to the Bar in 1839 and in 1854 became Queen's Counsel. He served as member of parliament for Sligo from 1865 to 1868. Regarded as a brilliant advocate, he was involved in many celebrated cases.

ASH, THOMAS b.1660

Thomas Ash was born in Eglinton, County Londonderry, and went to school in Derry in 1671. In 1684 he was manager of his father's estates in County Antrim and at the age of twenty-five was appointed coroner for County Londonderry. In 1689 he moved from Ashbrook into Derry city to live. At the beginning of the siege in this year, he was lieutenant and then a captain in one of the city regiments. During this period, he kept a journal which recorded the incidents and events which happened during the hundred-and-five-day blockade. It was not published until 1792.

ASHE, ANDREW 1758-1838

Andrew Ashe was born in Lisburn, County Antrim, and because of his musical ability on the flute was sent to England for special tuition at the expense of his benefactor, Count Bentinck. He became the most renowned player in Brussels, Dublin and London, 'being one of the first to use the additional keys'. He played for the Italian opera and later returned to Dublin.

ASHE, ST GEORGE c.1658-1718

St George Ashe was born in Roscommon and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was later appointed Provost. He became Bishop of Cloyne, Clogher and Derry, and as a friend of Jonathan Swift, is reputed to have officiated at the alleged marriage of Swift and Stella in 1716.

ASTON, WILLIAM GEORGE 1841-1911

William George Aston was born in County Londonderry and attended Queen's College, Belfast. He became a Doctor of Literature of the Royal University of Ireland. He was Consul-General of Korea from 1884 to 1886. He was fluent in Japanese, translating widely into English and compiling, in 1869 and 1872, two Japanese grammars, for both the spoken and written language. He is said to have sent the first Japanese child for education to Belfast. His was the first European translation of Nihongi: The Ancient Chronicles of Japan and this was followed by Japanese Literature and Shinto. He was a prolific contributor to the Royal Asiatic Society of London and to the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.

ATHILL, LOMBE 1827-1910

Lombe Athill was born in Asder, County Fermanagh, and graduated in medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. He was Master of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin and specialised in gynaecology, performing the first successful ovariotomy in Ireland. He wrote Recollections, which was published one year after his death.

ATKINS, JAMES 1799-1833

James Atkins was born in Belfast. He trained with his father, who was a coach, house and sign painter in Belfast, and then at the Drawing School of the Belfast Academical Institution from 1817 to 1819. He was sent to Italy, sponsored by a group of patrons, and remained in Rome and Florence for the next thirteen years, during which time he became an accomplished portrait painter. In 1832 he went from Rome to Constantinople to paint the Sultan. He later moved to Malta, where he died. The contents of his studio was bought by Narcissus Batt, one of his patrons. His work was shown posthumously at the Belfast Association of Artists' exhibitions of 1836, 1837 and 1838.

ATKINSON, JOHN 1844-1932

John Atkinson was born in Drogheda and was educated at Queen's College, Galway. He was called to the Bar in 1865 and served as Solicitor-General from 1889 to 1892. For a brief period in 1892 he served as Attorney-General, a post which he reoccupied from 1895 to 1905. He was also Unionist member of parliament for North Londonderry.

ATKINSON, WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER 1902-1992

William Atkinson was born in Belfast and was educated at Queen's University, Belfast. From 1926 until 1932 he was a lecturer in Spanish at Durham University. In that year he was appointed Stevenson Professor of Spanish at Glasgow University. He introduced the study of Portuguese language and literature and by the late 1950s his department offered an honours course in Latin American history and literature, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. From 1944 unitl 1947 he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He served in the Foreign Office during the Second World War and translated newspapers and documents. From 1966 to 1972 he was Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies of Glasgow. He lectured extensively in Latin America and was nominated Honorary Professor of the National University of Colombia. He received a Rockefeller Award for research in Latin America. He was a member of the Hispanic Society of America and was appointed Carnegie Research Fellow to the United States in 1955. He was made a Commander of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1972 in recognition of his services to Portugal. Among his many publications are The History of Spain and Portugal; The Remarkable Life of Don Diego and The Conquest of New Granada. He also wrote articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and for a time edited the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies.

AUCHINLECK, CLAUDE 1884-1981

Claude Auchinleck was born in County Fermanagh but went to India as a small child, where his father was a Colonel in the Indian Army. In 1903 he joined the Indian Army as a Second Lieutenant. During the First World War he fought the Turkish Army at the Suez Canal and in Mesopotamia. In 1917 he was promoted to brigade-major. In 1936 he became major-general and Deputy Chief of the General Staff and had gained a reputation as a commander on the North-West Frontier. During the Second World War he came back to England to organise and command the new 4th Corps. Later he was appointed commander of the military forces in northern Norway and was eventually given command of the 5th Corps, before becoming general officer commanding-in-chief. In 1940 he was appointed commander-in-chief in India with the title of general, but in 1941 became a commander in the Middle East. He created the 8th Army which fought against Rommel. In 1943 he returned to India and later formed the 14th Army which defeated the Japanese in Burma. In 1946 he was promoted to field-marshal and in 1947 became Supreme Commander of all armed forces in India and Pakistan. He was known by the Indians as Lord of War. When India gained independence in 1947, Claude Auchinleck left. He became a colonel of the Inniskilling Fusiliers.

AVERELL, ADAM 1754-1847

Adam Averell was born in Mullan, County Tyrone, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Having been ordained, he was appointed curate of Aghaboe and became acquainted with John Wesley, under whose influence he became a Methodist. He relinquished his wife, property and parish 'to unreservedly devote himself to preaching in different parts of the country'. He kept a journal and having left the mainstream Methodists, served as President of the Primitive Wesleyan Conference for nearly thirty years. [Biography by Stewart and Revington, 1849]

AYTON, ALEXANDER fl.1865-1901

Alexander Ayton had a photographic studio in Shipquay Place, Derry from 1865 to 1901. He took many photographs in Donegal and one of these, `Open Air Mass 1867' has been much reproduced.