NAPIER, JOSEPH 1804-1882

Joseph Napier was born in Belfast and was educated there and at Trinity College, Dublin. He was called to the Bar in 1831 and very soon engaged in cases similar to those of O'Connell. He became Queen's Counsel in 1844 and was member of parliament for Dublin University from 1848 to 1858. In 1852 he was appointed Attorney-General and received a Doctorate of Civil Law in 1853, becoming Lord Chancellor in 1858. In 1867 he was created a baronet. His publications include educational and legal works. [Biography by A. C. Ewald, 1887]

NASH, JOHN 1752-1835

John Nash came to work in Ireland as an architect after 1793. He designed Caledon House, County Tyrone; Killymoon Castle, near Cookstown, County Tyrone, and Kilwater Castle, Larne, County Antrim.

NEILL, HAROLD ECHLIN b.1888

Harry Neill was born in Belfast and was educated at Willowfield National School, Woodstock Road. He studied at the Belfast School of Art and became a lithographic artist. In 1912 he became a member of the Belfast Art Society. He has exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin and in Belfast.

NEILL, HAROLD JAMES 1861-1949

Harry Neill played rugby for the North of Ireland Football Club. He was capped eight times for Ireland between 1885 and 1888. He captained the team in its first shared win in the International Championship, when Ireland defeated Wales.

NEILSON, SAMUEL 1761-1803

Samuel Neilson was born at Ballyroney, County Down, and was educated locally. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a woolen draper and at twenty-four established his own business. He abandoned business for politics, joined the Volunteers and in 1791 suggested to Henry McCracken the idea of a political society of Irishmen of every religious persuasion. He and Wolfe Tone established the United Irishmen in Belfast. The Northern Star was founded by Neilson in 1792, and he became its editor. In 1796 he was arrested and imprisoned in Dublin, being released in 1798. He was captured trying to devise a release plan for Lord Edward FitzGerald at Newgate Jail. He was detained in Scotland until 1802, when he was deported to the Netherlands. He made his way to America and died there.

NEILSON, WILLIAM 1774-1821

William Neilson was born in Rademon, County Down, and was educated in his father's school, Patrick Lynch's Irish school at Loughinisland, and Glasgow University. He became a schoolmaster and later a Presbyterian minister in Dundalk, where he opened his school, the Classical and Mercantile Academy, which admitted children of every religion and class. He often preached in Irish and in 1805 was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity by the University of Glasgow. While a student he had written an English grammar, Elements of English Grammar Expressed in Easy Language, which became a textbook in English schools and his Greek Exercises in Syntax, Ellipsis, Dialects, Prosody and Metaphrasis passed through eight editions in forty-two years. Among his other works are an abridgment of Begley's and McCurtin's English - Irish Dictionary; An Introduction to the Irish Language (specifically County Down Irish); Greek Idioms; and Elementa Linguae Graecae. In 1810 he published, Cead Leabhar na Gaoidheilge. He was Moderator of the General Synod of Ulster at the age of thirty-one and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. In 1818 he moved to the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, where he was appointed headmaster of the Classical School and Professor of Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Irish and Oriental Languages. He was a member of Belfast Literary Society and served as its President from 1809 to 1820, and as a dedicated musician he revived the Harp Society. He was a leading member of the Belfast Society for Promoting Knowledge. In 1821 he learned that he had been appointed Professor of Greek at Glasgow University, but died before he could take up the post.

NELSON, GARIBALDI 1840-1910

Garibaldi Nelson was born in Crossgar, County Down and was educated in Downpatrick, at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and at Queen's University, Belfast. He was given a commission in Regimento Inglese, in Italy, and fought for Garibaldi, who presented him with a sword of honour. He received two medals. Three years after his return he qualified as a medical doctor, and became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He then went to India for fourteen years, where he worked on a tea plantation. In 1877 he returned to Ireland and worked in Dublin with Oscar Wilde's father. He learned German and proceeded to Vienna, where he took classes in eye, ear and throat diseases. He returned to Belfast in 1880, and three years later was appointed the first Ophthalmic Surgeon in the Royal Hospital, and subsequently in the hospital for sick children. In 1898 he was President of the Ulster Medical Society. He died in Downpatrick, County Down.

NELSON, ISAAC 1812-1888

Isaac Nelson was born in Belfast, was educated there, and ordained in Comber, County Down. He moved to Belfast where he wrote The Year of Delusion, an account of the Revival movement in Ulster in 1859. He served as Home Rule member of parliament for Mayo from 1880 to 1885, and died in Belfast.

NESBITT, JAMES 1913-1992

James Nesbitt was an international discus thrower. He won twelve Northern Ireland titles between 1935 and 1950. He represented Great Britain six times from 1937 to 1949 and at the Olympic Games in London in 1948.

NETTERVILLE, LUKE d.1227

Luke Netterville was appointed Archdeacon of Armagh in 1207 and in 1217 became Archbishop of Armagh. In 1224 he erected the Dominican monastery in Drogheda.

NEVILL, FRANCIS c.1648-1727

Francis Nevill is noted in 1688 as one of the committee members who were to regulate the concerns of the City of Derry. He acted as an engineer to the Corporation of Derry. When he returned to Derry after the siege he published a map and tract entitled A Description of Londonderry as it was closely besieged by ye army in 1689. A description of the Towne and Workes about it. A description of the Enemy's Camp. In 1689 he was sworn a burgess of the City of Derry, and he built a town house and repaired Charlemont Fort. In 1703 he surveyed the Glan Bog between County Down and County Armagh, with the intention of creating a canal between Lough Neagh and Newry. He published Some Observation of Lough Neagh, in 1713. By 1726 he was residing at Belturbet, County Cavan.

NEWELL, EDWARD JOHN 1771-1798

Edward Newell was born in Downpatrick, County Down. He was a sailor and later a painter and glazier, and eventually worked as a miniature portrait painter. In 1796 he joined the United Irishmen and became an informer. He published The Life and Confessions of Newell, the Informer, which proved to be very popular. He was about to leave Ireland for America when he was assassinated at Roughfort, Antrim.

NEWMAN, ALEC 1905-1972

Alec Newman was born in Waterford but his family moved to Belfast when he was seven, and he was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Trinity College, Dublin. He worked for a time as a teacher in Dublin High School, but joined the Irish Times in 1930. He became assistant editor in 1934 and editor from 1954 to 1961, at which point he joined the Irish Press as leader-writer and journalist on current affairs.

NIALL CAILLE MAC AEDO 791-846

Niall Caille was King of Ireland and defeated the Danes at Derry in 833 and at Lough Swilly in 843. He drowned in the River Callan, near Armagh.

NIALL GLUNDUB 870-919

Niall Glundub, King of Ireland, won a military victory at Glaryford, County Antrim, and at Ballymena, County Antrim, when he led his army into Dalriada. He was killed by the Danes at Kilmashoge.

NIALL MAC AEDA d.1139

Niall, the grandson of Mael Isu, Archbishop of Armagh, claimed the primacy and is known as the 'False Primate'. He seized and held the pastoral staff and book for seven years before he was driven out, and it is said that he performed severe penance before his death.

NIALL MAC EOCHADA d.1063

Niall, King of Ulidia, defeated a Danish fleet in 1022 and gained a great victory when he invaded Armagh. It is said that during his reign in 1047 there was a great famine followed by a great snow.

NIALL MAC MAEL SECHNAILL d.1061

Niall became King of Ailech when he killed his brother Lochlain in battle near Dungiven, County Londonderry. He ravaged Down and Monaghan and extended his territory into County Louth.

NICHOLL, ANDREW 1804-1886

Andrew Nicholl was born in Church Lane, Belfast, and was apprenticed as a compositor with The Northern Whig when it started in 1824. He was a watercolourist and painted a series of views of the Antrim coast, and in 1830 he moved to London. Two years later he had moved to Dublin, and was exhibiting in the Royal Hibernian Academy, of which he became a member in 1860. He also exhibited in the Royal Academy, London. His drawings appeared in the Dublin Penny Journal from its first issue in 1832, and he was one of the artists selected to illustrate Hall's Ireland, its scenery, character (1841-43). He published Fourteen Views of the County of Wicklow with F. W. Wakeman. He was associated in 1835, with Picturesque Sketches of Some of the Finest Landscape and Coast Scenery of Ireland. In 1840 he published twelve lithographs, The Northern Coast of Ireland. He moved to London in 1840 and in 1846 traveled to Ceylon, where Sir James Emerson Tennent, a friend of his from Belfast, was the Colonial Secretary. In 1848 he accompanied Tennent on an official tour of the island, and sketched for five weeks. His account appeared in the Dublin University Magazine, 1852. He returned to London, then moved to Dublin, then to Belfast, where he taught landscape drawing. He died in London. His work is represented at the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as major galleries and museums in Ireland.

NICHOLL, WILLIAM 1794-1840

William Nicholl was born in Church Lane, Belfast. He was in business as a ship's chandler and flax merchant in Belfast. He exhibited with his brother Andrew, at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, in 1832. He painted many watercolours around the Knock area in Belfast, where he lived and died, and is buried in Knock graveyard. The Ulster Museum has some of his paintings.

NICHOLSON, JOHN 1821-1857

John Nicholson was born in Dublin. His father died when he was nine years old, and his mother moved to Lisburn, County Antrim. He was educated at Dungannon School and in 1837 became an ensign in the Indian army. When serving in the Afghan war in 1842 he met his brother Alexander, and three days later discovered his murdered body. In 1847 he became assistant to Sir Henry Lawrence, Resident at Lahore, and he distinguished himself in the Sikh war of 1848. When he was only twenty-eight years old he was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Lahore Board. He was Governor of the Punjab for several years, and by 1857, the year of the mutiny, he had been promoted to the rank of colonel and was stationed at Peshawar. He fought ferociously and was said to have been in the saddle for twenty hours during one battle. A Hindu guru deified Nicholson as an incarnation of Brahma. As a result, a sect of 'Nikalsainis' grew up, and though Nichloson in his embarrassment had them whipped and imprisoned, they persisted in worshiping him. Having won various victories against the mutineers, he was soon appointed brigadier-general. He was killed in action at the age of thirty-five. There is a memorial tablet dedicated to him in Lisburn parish church, and though it portrays the storming of Delhi, it was deemed politic by Nicholson's family to omit any depiction of Nicholson himself because of the 'Nikalsaini' episode. [Biography by Trotter]

NI DHOMHNAILL, NEILI 1907-1984

Neili Ni Dhomhnaill was born in Ranafast, County Donegal, and she traced her ancestry to the O'Donnell poets of Donegal. As a child she had poor eyesight, and spent much time with the adults and this is how she acquired her vast wealth of traditional song and story. She was a singer and story teller, and for her the story which preceded the song was important. Eventually, she became completely blind. She remained active and took up knitting, working as a home knitter and producing two aran sweaters each week. She composed songs and for two consecutive years she won first prize in the Radio na Gaeltachta competition for new words to old airs.

NIETSCHE, PAUL 1855-1950

Paul Nietsche was born in Kiev and educated in Odessa. He studied art in Berlin, Munich, London and Paris, and it was not until the 1920s that he arrived in England. In 1926 he traveled to Ulster and lived there for the next four years, after which point he traveled to France, Switzerland, Cornwall, the United States and Canada. He was interned in the Isle of Man during the war because of his German parentage. During this period he made crayon studies of other internees. He died in Belfast. Among his works at the Ulster Museum, is a self portrait.

NIXON, JOHN 1750-1818

John Nixon's place of birth remains uncertain. He lived in London and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1784 to 1815. Between 1780 and 1790 he visited Ireland on several occasions, and he drew locations such as Dunluce Castle, Carrickfergus Castle, Shane's Castle and the Cave Hill. His work is held at the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Library of Ireland and the National Museum of Wales.

NOBLE, MARGARET (or SISTER NIVEDITA) 1867-1911

Margaret Noble was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone, and was educated at Halifax College. She taught in Keswick, north Wales and in Chester. She studied the teaching methods of Froebel and Pestalozzi and was co-founder of a school in Wimbledon which put these principles into action. In 1893, as a member of the London Sesame Club, she spoke in favour of the Home Rule Bill. She met Swami Vivekandanda in London in 1895 and joined his Ramakrishna Mission. In 1897 she went as a missionary nun, Sister Nivedita, to India, where she founded a school in Calcutta, the Sister Nivedita Girls' School. Among her publications are Kali the Mother; The Master as I Saw Him and The Web Of Indian Life which is regarded in India as one of the few fair accounts of Hindu society written in English. She was in favour of Indian nationalism and lobbied British members of parliament to this end. When she died her body was cremated in Darjeeling, and a memorial to her is inscribed: 'Here reposes Sister Nivedita, who gave her all to India'. A commemorative Indian stamp was issued in her honour, and her school has published an official biography, Sister Nivedita of Ramakrishna-Vivikananda. Among those who paid her tribute was Rabindranath Tagore who said: 'She was, in fact, a mother of the people'.

NOBLE, WILLIAM HENRY 1834-1892

William Noble was born in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he entered the Royal Artillery. Having attained the rank of general, he commanded a field train in a march to Gandahar. He became superintendent of Waltham Abbey Powder Factory, and his researches led to the manufacture of cordite. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and died in Waltham.

NOLAN, JOHN J. 1888-1952

John Nolan was born in County Tyrone and was educated at the Christian Brothers' School, Omagh, and University College, Dublin. In 1920 he became Professor of Experimental Physics, and in 1940 was Registrar of the College. He was President of the Royal Irish Academy and Chairman of the School of Cosmic Physics in the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. He published several papers on atmospheric electricity and ionisation.

NORMAN, CONOLLY 1853-1908

Conolly Norman was born in Fahan, County Donegal, and was educated in Dublin. In 1876 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; his specialist subject was the study of insanity. From 1886 to 1908 he was superintendent of Richmond Asylum, where he instigated improved methods of treatment.

NORRIS, JOHN c.1547-1597

Sir John Norris came to Ireland as a soldier in the English army. He captured the castle on Rathlin Island and all the inhabitants were massacred. His brief was to colonize and when this was not achieved Norris was recalled to England. In 1584 he returned to Ireland and was appointed President of Munster. In 1595 he was the general chosen to try to quell the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill. He made his headquarters in Newry, set out to relieve Monaghan and was defeated. He was instructed to negotiate peace, but retired to Munster in 1597 without having achieved this. He died a month later.

NORTON, CAROLINE (nee SHERIDAN) 1807-1877

Caroline Norton was the sister of Lady Dufferin and a granddaughter of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In 1829 she published The Sorrows of Rosalie: a Tale with other poems, and a year later, The Undying One. These were met with popular acclaim. In 1827 she had married the Honorable George Chapel Norton and they established a circle of social and political friends, including Lord Melbourne. The marriage quickly deteriorated, with Norton physically mistreating his wife, at the same time as asking her to use her political influence with her friends. Lord Melbourne, who was then Home Secretary had Norton appointed to a Metropolitan Police Magistracy in 1831. It was alleged that Caroline was Melbourne's mistress. In 1840 she published The Queen and other poems, and in 1845, The Child of the Islands. George Norton claimed the proceeds of her literary works, and the matter came to court, which declared its support for her husband. Caroline privately published a pamphlet, English Laws for Women in the 19th century, together with pamphlets on the Divorce Bill and on the rights of mothers to custody of their children her work culminated in the Married Woman's Property Act (1883).

NORTON, KATHARINE (nee MacLAUGHLIN) 17th century

Katharine Norton was born near Coleraine, County Londonderry and educated in Derry. She was an Irish speaker and at the age of sixteen took a ship for Barbados. She was a Quaker minister. In 1678 she returned to Ireland where she often preached in Irish.

NUGENT, WILLIAM d.1625

William Nugent is said to have abducted the titular Baroness of Skryne in 1573. The O'Neills gave him refuge. He made various forays on the Pale and escaped to Scotland with the help of the O'Neills, and then to Rome in 1582. He later returned to Ulster disguised as a friar and subsequently received a pardon.