RADCLIFFE, THOMAS c.1526-1583

Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, was an English nobleman who came to Ireland in 1556 as Lord Deputy and after 1560 as Lord Lieutenant. In an attempt to subdue Shane O'Neill he burnt Armagh, and three years later he again made the attempt as part of a venture undertaken jointly with the O'Donnells and the Maguires, but failed. He reneged on his promise not to implement the Act of Supremacy, and three years later used the act to dissolve parliament.

RAMSEY, JOHN late 19th century

John Ramsy was born at Carnkirk near Bushmills, County Antrim. He became Minister of the Ballymoney Reformed Presbyterian Church. At Niagara Falls he saved the life of a woman by climbing down the girders of the suspension bridge 160 feet above the water and bringing her to safety. `

REA, JOHN c.1822-1881

John Rea was born in West Street, Belfast, and in 1847 became a solicitor. He played an active role in the Young Ireland movement and was imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail for nine months after conducting the defence of John Mitchel. He acted for the Catholics in the Dolly's Brae inquiry and defended Michael Davitt in 1879. He won an appeal in the House of Lords for an action he had taken against Belfast City Council in regard to misappropriation of funds. In the 1874 general election he contested Belfast unsuccessfully. He committed suicide.

READ, CHARLES ANDERSON 1841-1878

Charles Read was born in Sligo. He had a business in Rathfriland, County Down, but went to London as a journalist when it failed. He wrote two much-acclaimed novels Savourneen Dheelish and Aileen Aroon. Only three of the four projected volumes of The Cabinet of Irish Literature were completed before his death. The final volume was edited by T. P. O'Connor. He died in Surrey.

REDFERN, PETER 1820-1912

Peter Redfern was born in Derbyshire and educated at the Universities of Edinburgh and London, where he studied medicine. He was Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in Queen's College, Belfast, from 1860 to 1893. He was responsible for the building of dissecting and lecture rooms and a medical museum.

REDMOND, WILLIAM HOEY KEARNEY 1861-1917

William Redmond was born in Wexford and was educated at Clongowes. He was a Member of Parliament for Wexford, Fermanagh and Clare. He joined the army during the First World War and became a major. He contributed articles to the London Chronicle and published two travel journals about Australia. He was killed in action in France. A collection of his articles from the front was published posthumously.

REEVES, WILLIAM 1815-1892

William Reeves was born in Charleville, County Cork, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was ordained in 1838 and two years later became master of the Diocesan School in Ballymena, County Antrim. In 1847 he published Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down and Connor and Dromore, and ten years later The Life of St Columba, which is regarded as the best collection of materials on the early Irish Church. He was the Rector of Tynan and the librarian at Armagh from 1861 to 1886, during which period he purchased the Book of Armagh for the library. From 1886 he was Bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore and lived in Conway House, Dunmurry, County Antrim. In 1891 he became President of the Royal Irish Academy, to whose journal he contributed many papers. He died in Dublin. [Biography by Lady Ferguson].

REICHEL, HAROLD RUDOLF 1856-1931

Harold Reichel was born in Belfast and was educated at Christ's Hospital and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1884 he took charge of the new University College at Bangor, Wales, which became the University of Wales and of which he became Vice-Chancellor. He learned the Welsh language and promoted Welsh culture. He was knighted in 1907. He died in France.

REID, FORREST 1875-1947

Forrest Reid was born in Belfast and was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he read medieval and modern languages. He returned to Belfast and lived there for the rest of his life. He was a friend of E. M. Forster. His novels include The Kingdom of Twilight; Following Darkness; Uncle Stephen; The Retreat; Peter Waring and Young Tom which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He also published criticism of W. B. Yeats and Walter de la Mare, as well as Illustrators of the Sixties, a study of Victorian woodcut artists. He published articles in many magazines, including the Westminster Review and the Ulster Review, and he reviewed books for the Manchester Guardian. Apostate, an autobiography, was published in 1926, and its sequel, Private Road, was published in 1940. He was a founder member of the Irish Academy of Letters.

REID, JAMES SEATON 1798-1851

James Reid was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, and was educated at Glasgow University, where he gained a Doctorate of Divinity in 1833. He was ordained at Donegore, County Antrim, and at Carrickfergus, County Antrim. In 1827 he was elected Moderator of the Synod of Ulster and co-founded a journal Orthodox Presbyterian to which he contributed. From 1837 he was Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Belfast Institute, and from 1841 Professor of Ecclesiastical and Civil History in the University of Glasgow. As well as other works he wrote a History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in three volumes (1867), which was unfinished at the time of his death and was completed by W. D. Killen.

REID, META MAYNE see MAYNE REID, META

REID, THOMAS 1791-1825

Thomas Reid was born in Eglish, County Tyrone. In 1815 he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. On two occasions he sailed to Australia in charge of convicts and denounced their treatment in a work that he dedicated to Elizabeth Fry. He published Travels in Ireland after having travelled on horseback observing social conditions. He died in Pentonville, England.

REID, THOMAS MAYNE 1818-1883

Thomas Reid was born in Ballyroney, County Down, and was educated for the Presbyterian ministry. He ran away to sea and settled in America in 1840. He worked as a storekeeper, actor, schoolteacher, slave overseer, hunter, and as a soldier in the Indian wars. In 1842 he began work with the Pittsburgh Morning Chronicle. He then moved to Philadelphia where he met Edgar Alan Poe, began publishing poems and had a play produced in the Walnut Street Theatre. He volunteered for the Mexican war (1846-8), where he distinguished himself, having been left for dead on the battlefield. He produced his first novel while recovering from this ordeal and when he returned to England he wrote adventure novels for the next thirty years, among which are Scalp Hunters; Rifle Rangers (1850); Boy Hunter; Headless Horseman and The Castaways. Altogether he published seventy novels, and was translated into ten languages. He returned to America and founded and edited the Onward Magazine. He died in London. [Memoir by Mrs Thomas Mayne Reid]

REILY, HUGH c.1630-1695

Hugh Reily was born in County Cavan and in the reign of James II became a Master in Chancery and Clerk of the Council in Ireland. After the Battle of the Boyne he went into exile with James II. Among his publications are Ireland's Case Briefly Stated, which has been reprinted as Impartial History and Genuine History. One of the few peices of contemporary writing which attempted to articulate the cause of Irish Catholics. James disliked the tone that Reily had adopted and dismissed him from service.

REILLY, THOMAS DEVIN 1824-1854

Thomas Reilly was born in Monaghan and was educated there and at Trinity College, Dublin. He joined the Young Ireland movement and was a journalist with The Nation in 1845 but in 1847 he followed John Mitchel's example in leaving that paper and began contributing to the United Irishman, Mitchel's new paper. In this he published 'The French Fashion', a revolutionary article which provided ammunition for Mitchel's prosecutors. In 1848, after the arrest of Mitchel, he fled to New York, where he edited the Democratic Review and later the Washington Union. He died in Washington.

REILLY, WILLIAM EDWARD MOYSES 1827-1886

William Reilly was born in Scarva, County Down, and was educated at Woolwich. He entered the Royal Artillery and served in the Crimean War. In 1868 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and was made Companion of the Bath. He saw action in the Franco-Prussian War and was taken prisoner by the Prussians, later serving in the Zulu War. In 1885 he became major general. He died at sea.

REYNOLDS, DORIS 1899-1985

Doris Reynolds was an international authority on granites and specialised on the local igneous rocks of Counties Down and Armagh. She has published on the igneous complexes of Newry and Slieve Gullion and revised Principles of Physical Geology, which is a textbook written by her husband, Arthur Holmes. She is renowned for the thoroughness of her scientific data and her excellent field mapping.

REYNOLDS, OSBORNE 1842-1912

Osborne Reynolds was born in Belfast and was educated at Cambridge University. In 1867 he was made a Fellow of Queen's University, Belfast, and from 1868 to 1905 he was Professor of Engineering at Owen's College, Manchester. He published much original research under the title Papers on Mechanical and Physical Subjects in three volumes and died in Somerset.

RHIND, ETHEL early 20th century

Ethel Rhind was born in Bengal, India and educated at Londonderry High School and the School of Art, Belfast. In 1902 she attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art where she was awarded a scholarship in mosaic. Her window in the Old Court Chapel, Strangford, County Down won first prize at the Royal Dublin Society in 1908. She worked at An Tur Gloine and specialised in 'opus sectile', a technique involving a mosaic of glass set into the plaster of a wall. She designed the Stations of the Cross for St. Enda's Church at Spiddal, County Galway, using this process. Further examples of her work can be seen in Grangegorman Church in Dublin, and in Magheralin Church, County Down. Her work was shown at the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland in 1910, 1917 and 1921 and she was a member of the Guild of Irish Art-Workers.

RICE, PETER 1935-1992

Peter Rice was born in Ulster. He studied engineering at Queen's University, Belfast, and at Imperial College, London. His first job, when he went to work for Ove Arup, was to raise the roofs of Sydney Opera House, designed by Jorn Utzon. From that point he was commissioned to work on the Centre Pompidou in Paris; the Menil Art Collection Museum in Houston and the Kansai International Airport in Japan. He worked on the Lloyd's Building in London, the new pavilion at Stanstead Airport and the Pavilion of the Future at the Seville Expo. He worked on these projects with Sir Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. He had his own practice in Paris, and was director of Arup's, London. He was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for architecture. He was fond of poetry, philosophy, mathematics, football, racing, wildflowers, wine and whiskey. He died of a brain tumour.

RICHARDSON, JAMES NICHOLSON 1846-1921

James Richardson was born in Belfast and was educated in Tottenham. He joined the family linen business in Bessbrook, County Armagh, the model village set up by his father, John Grubb Richardson. He was interested in the welfare of his workers and did much to improve the quality of life. He was a member of parliament for County Armagh from 1880 to 1885 and frequently travelled abroad. He published a Quaker biography and several volumes of poetry, and died at Malvern. (Memoir by C. F. Smith).

RICHARDSON, JOHN 1664-1747

John Richardson was born in County Armagh and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1693 he was ordained and became Rector of Armagh, where he preached in Irish. He published a volume of sermons in Irish and a Church Catechism. He became Dean of Kilmore and was involved in a project for the printing and distribution of an Irish translation of the bible. He died in Clogher.

RICHARDSON, WILLIAM 1740-1820

William Richardson was a geologist who lived in Portrush for much of the year, so he knew the Giant's Causeway intimately. It is therefore surprising that, along with Richard Kirwan, he reverted to the erroneous Neptunian theory of the Causeway's formation and disregarded William Hamilton's suggestions. The volcanic theory of Desmarest was suspected of being subversive of the existing order, as was the Reign of Terror in revolutionary France.

RIDDELL, CHARLOTTE ELIZA LAWSON (nee COWAN) 1832-1906

Charlotte Cowan was born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim. She began to write when she was a girl, and during her lifetime produced over thirty novels and collections of short stories among which are The Race for Wealth; Above Suspicion and The Banshee's Warning. She encouraged young writers. Her book Struggle for Fame is interpreted as being autobiographical. She died in Ashford, Middlesex.

RIDDELL, HENRY 1851-1923

Henry Riddell was born in Belfast and was educated at Belfast Model School and Belfast Academy. Before entering Queen's College, Belfast, to study engineering in 1876, he was apprenticed at Milford Mill. He turned down a professorship in Newfoundland to go into business as an engineer and eventually became managing director of his father's business. He was a member of Belfast Corporation and of the Senate at Queen's University, Belfast. He served as Honorary Treasurer of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society and also as its President from 1921 to 1923.

RITCHIE, WILLIAM 1756-1834

William Ritchie was born in Ayreshire, Scotland. He was a shipbuilder and visited Belfast in 1791 with the aim of transferring his shipyard from Scotland to Belfast. In 1791 he founded a shipyard on the site of the Old Lime Kiln Dock. As well as building ships, he was also employed by the Ballast Board to construct their first dock, which was completed in 1800. He was involved in charitable work for the Poor House, and the House of Industry.

ROBINSON, BRYAN 1808-1887

Bryan Robinson was born in County Cavan and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1828 he went to Newfoundland, where in 1831 he was called to the Bar and three years later became Master in Chancery. In 1842 he was elected member of the Newfoundland parliament for Fortune Bay. In 1858 he was appointed a judge, and in 1877 he was knighted. He died in Ealing.

ROBINSON, HUGH 1845-1890

Hugh Robinson was born in Belfast and was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, after which he served his apprenticeship with a firm of wholesale drapers. He was a founder member of Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, acted as an Honorary Secretary for eleven years and was President from 1887 to 1889. His presidental address on the progress of science in Belfast was republished after his death. He was Secretary of the Belfast School of Art and Registrar of the Academical Institution.

ROBINSON, MARJORIE 1858-1924

Marjorie Robinson was born in Belfast. She became a skilled illuminator and attended the Government School of Design. In 1907 she went to London to take up portraiture, where she worked under Alyn Williams of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters. While she was in London she also studied modelling, and remained there until the outbreak of the Second World War when she returned to Belfast. She exhibited in London and Belfast, and a collection of twenty-two miniatures was presented by her brother to the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery, where she is also represented by sculpture, watercolours and a self-portrait in oil.

ROBINSON, MINA late 19th century

Mina Robinson held art classes in Belfast in the early 1890s that evolved into the Irish Decorative Art Association. The group, established along with Eta Lowry, was first known as the Belfast School of Poker-work. In 1894 at the Irish Decorative Art Association Exhibition in Portrush, County Antrim, she exhibited poker-work and at the Belfast Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1895, she showed an oak settle decorated in poker-work and 'hot air paints' which was a method innovated by her. She also exhibited art needlework. By 1896 the Belfast School of Poker-Work was involved in large scale decorations for house interiors, railway carriages and steamers. Often Celtic ornamentation was used in the designs. In 1904 the water-colour paintings of Percy French were framed in poker-work frames at the Portrush Exhibition and the decoration of harps and harp chairs were added to the School's output, as well as hand-painted china and leather book-binding, such as that used on the books of Moira O'Neill and AE. The work was widely exhibited, from Cork to St Louis.

ROBINSON, RICHARD c.1709-1794

Richard Robinson was born in Yorkshire and came to Ireland as chaplain to the Duke of Dorset. In 1765 he was made Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, and in 1777, Baron Rokeby. He built himself a palace in Armagh, was responsible for the construction of the public library, and in 1789, built the observatory at his own expense.

ROBINSON, ROBERT SPENCER 1809-1889

Robert Spencer Robinson was born in County Armagh. In 1821 he joined the navy and took part in operations on the coast of Syria, and in 1854 he commanded a ship in the Baltic fleet. He became Vice-Admiral in 1860 and was Lord of the Admiralty from 1868 to 1871. He was created a Knight Commander of the Bath.

ROBINSON, SANDY 1909-1989

Sandy Robinson lived near Ballyclare, County Antrim, and was known as the bard of Ballyalbanagh. He recited poems, told stories and played the fiddle, and in his will he left all his writing to his great neice, Joanne Robinson, who has published them with her own illustrations.

ROBINSON, THOMAS fl. 1790-1810

Thomas Robinson was born in Westmoreland. He studied under the famous portraitist, George Romney, and then went to Dublin. He moved to Laurencetown, near Dromore, County Down in order to be close to the Bishop of Dromore, Dr Thomas Percy. He then moved to Lisburn, where he painted 'The Battle of Ballynahinch', which is now in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. In 1801 he moved to Belfast, and painted 'A Military Procession in Honour of Lord Nelson', which portrays many of the prominent citizens of Belfast. He left Belfast in 1808 and settled in Dublin, where he died. His work is held by collectors in America, Belfast and Dublin.

ROBINSON, THOMAS ROMNEY 1792-1882

Thomas Romney Robinson was born in Dublin and was taken to Dromore, County Down, when he was two years old. His family settled for a period in Lisburn, County Antrim, before moving to Belfast. He was educated at Belfast Academy and published Juvenile Poems in 1806, the same year as he entered Trinity College, Dublin. He became a fellow of the college in 1814 and served as Deputy Professor of Natural Philosophy. During this period he became a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He was curate in Enniskillen before being appointed Rector of Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, and he also worked as an astronomer in Armagh from 1823. There he gained international fame for his observations, some of which he published in 1854 in Places of 5,345 Stars Observed at Armagh from 1818 to 1854. In 1851 he became President of the Royal Irish Academy, a position which he filled for five years, contributing many papers to its Transactions. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, which presented him with a gold medal in 1862 for his valuable work in astronomy, and a member of the British Association. He invented the cup anemometer and researched in physics. He died at Armagh Observatory.

ROBINSON, WILLIAM 1838-1935

William Robinson was probably born in Ulster. He was an Irish gardener and writer and began work on the estate of the Marquess of Waterford at Curraghmore. He went to the Irish National Botanic Garden at Glasnevin, where he was a student. From 1860 to 1861 he worked at Ballykilcavan and then moved to London where he joined the staff of the Royal Botanic Garden in Regent's Park and became the foreman in charge of the herbaceous plants. He contributed articles to the Gardeners' Chronicle and in 1866 was elected to the Linnean Society on the sponsorship of, among others, Charles Darwin. He spent 1867 in France, visiting gardens and produced two books: Gleaning from French Gardens (1868) and Parks and Gardens of Paris (1869). In 1870 he published Alpine Flowers for Gardens and The Wild Garden and a year later established a weekly journal Garden which he edited until 1899. It was then edited by Gertrude Jekyll and in 1927 became part of Homes and Gardens. In 1883 he published The English Flower Garden which ran to fifteen editions during his life. Other periodicals were established: Gardening Illustrated; Gardener's Chronicle, Cottage Gardening and Flora and Sylva. He edited W. Miller's translation of the Vilmorin book, The Vegetable Garden (1885 and reprinted in 1976) and published The Virgin's Bower, a book on clematis. He influenced the taste for informality in gardens.

RODEN, 3rd EARL OF see JOCELYN, ROBERT

RODGERS, JAMES GUINNESS 1822-1911

James Rodgers was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was a popular preacher and President of the Union of Churches. From 1865 to 1900 he resided in Clapham and was a good friend of Gladstone. He edited The Congregationalist and the Congregational Review and had a Doctor of Divinity conferred upon him by the University of Edinburgh. He published many works, including his autobiography.

RODGERS, WILLIAM ROBERT 1909-1969

W. R. Rodgers was born in Belfast and was educated at Queen's University, Belfast. He served in Loughgall, County Armagh, as Presbyterian minister from 1934 to 1946. Awake and Other Poems appeared in 1941. He joined the BBC in 1946 as a scriptwriter and producer for the Third Programme. He collaborated with Louis MacNeice in the unpublished The Character of Ireland. In 1951 he was elected to the Irish Academy of Letters, and in 1952 produced his second collection of poetry, Europa and the Bull. From 1967 to 1969 he was Poet - in - Residence at Pitzer College, Clairmont, California, where he died.

ROE, SAMUEL BLACK 1830-1913

Samuel Roe was born in Ballyconnell, County Cavan, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1855 he joined the Gordon Highlanders and served in the Crimea, the Indian Mutiny, the Afghan War and the Boer War and participated in the march to Gandahar. In 1881 he was made a Companion of the Bath. He was appointed Deputy Surgeon General, and served as High Sheriff of Cavan in 1892-1893.

ROGERS, JOHN c.1740-1814

John Rogers was ordained in Cahans, County Monaghan, in 1767. In 1782 he attended the Volunteer Convention in Dungannon. He was appointed clerk of the Burgher Synod and Professor of Divinity. He published many sermons and addresses and died at prayer.

ROS, AMANDA MALVINA FITZALAN ANN MARGARET McLELLAND (nee McKITTRICK) 1860-1939

Amanda McKittrick Ros was born in Drumaness, near Ballynahinch, County Down. She was educated at Drumaness School, where her father was Principal, and Marlborough Teacher Training College in Dublin. She was appointed monitor at Millbrook National School, Larne, before completing her training in Dublin. She married Andy Ros, who was stationmaster in Larne. She wrote many novels in her own inimitable, idiosyncratic fashion, among which are Irene Iddesleigh; Delina Delaney and Helen Huddleson, the latter completed by her biographer, Jack Loudan, after her death. She referred to her critics as the 'maggoty throng', 'claycrabs of corruption' and 'hogwashing hooligans'. She was greatly admired by Mark Twain and Aldous Huxley, and there was an Amanda Ros fan club at St John's College, Cambridge. She also published collections of verse entitled Poems of Puncture and Fumes of Fomentation. At the age of sixty-two, after her first husband had died, she re-married a farmer. She also wrote music, songs, and, during the First World War, she wrote ballads under the pseudonym Monica Moyland, which were printed in broadsheets. She saw her own death as joining 'the boundless battalion of the breathless'. [O Rare Amanda: The Life of Amanda McKittrick Ros, Jack Loudan, 1954]

ROSS, EDWARD CHARLES 1836-1913

Edward Ross was born in Rostrevor, County Down, and educated in Edinburgh. He entered the service of the East India Company in 1855 and was highly proficient in Arabic and Persian. He served as colonel during the Indian Mutiny. In 1863 he joined the political service and served as consul general in South Persia from 1872 to 1891. In 1892 he was knighted and he died in Clifton.

ROSS, JOHN 1854-1935

John Ross was born in Derry and was educated at Foyle College, Derry, and Trinity College, Dublin. He gained a Doctorate in Law, was called to the Bar in 1879, and became Queen's Counsel two years later. From 1892 to 1895 he was a Member of Parliament for Londonderry and from 1896 to 1921 was judge in Chancery. In 1919 he became a Privy Councillor and was created a baronet. He served as Lord Chancellor in 1921-1922. Among his publications are The Years of My Pilgrimage; Pilgrim Scrip, and a collection of presidential addresses to college societies.

ROWAN, ARCHIBALD HAMILTON 1751-1834

Archibald Hamilton Rowan was born in London and was educated at Westminster School and Queen's College, Cambridge. He went to live in Rathcoffey, County Kildare, in 1784 and joined the Volunteers. In 1790 he was a founder member of the Northern Whig Club, Belfast, and joined the United Irishmen in 1791. In 1794 he was tried for sedition and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, but fled to France, where he witnessed the atrocities of the Terror. While he was there he met Mary Wollstonecraft. In 1795 he went to America and was joined by Wolfe Tone and Napper Tandy. He was pardoned in 1803 and settled on his estate at Killyleagh Castle, County Down. He was a supporter of Catholic Emancipation.

ROWAN, CHARLES 1780-1852

Charles Rowan was born in Mullans, County Antrim, and joined the 52nd Foot Regiment. He served throughout the Peninsular campaign and was wounded at Waterloo. When the London police were formed he was appointed Chief Commissioner. He was knighted in 1848 and died in London.

ROWAN, WILLIAM 1789-1879

William Rowan was born in Mullans, County Antrim, and in 1803 joined the 52nd Foot Regiment. He, like his brother Charles, served during the Peninsular War and took part in the famous charge against the Imperial Guards at Waterloo. In 1856 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Bath. He became a major general in 1877, and was made a field-marshal. He died in Bath.

RUSHE, DENIS CAROLAN 1852-1928

Denis Rushe was born in Monaghan town, and educated at St Louis Convent, McCarten's Seminary, and Trinity College, Dublin. In 1878 he became a solicitor and in 1880, President of the Monaghan Conference of the St Vincent de Paul Society. He was involved in the Home Industries Association, and the Monaghan Show. He was secretary of the Fermanagh Board of Education from 1891 until his death, and also secretary of Monaghan County Council from 1899 until 1924. He was a keen student of the Irish language and an advocate of the Gaelic League. He wrote three books on the history of Monaghan, Historical Sketches of Monaghan (1894); Monaghan in the Eighteenth Century (1916) and the History of Monghan for Two Hundred Years (1921).

RUSK, WALTER 1910-1940

Walter Rusk was born in Belfast and was a motorcycle road racer. In 1934 he finished second in the European 350cc Champion-ship. He won two third places and won second place in the Isle of Man TT Race. In 1939 he was the first rider to lap the Ulster Grand Prix Circuit. He took part in the German and Swiss Grand Prix in 1935. At the start of the Second World War he became a pilot. He died of pneumonia.

RUSSELL, CHARLES 1832-1900

Charles Russell was born in Ballybot, near Newry, County Down, and was educated at a private school in Newry, the Belfast Diocesan Seminaryand the Vincentian College, Castleknock, Dublin. He practised as a solicitor for two years in Belfast and was called to the English Bar in 1859. In 1872 he became Queen's Counsel and served as a member of parliament for Dundalk from 1880 until 1885, when he was elected for South Hackney. In the following year he was appointed English Attorney General. He published New Views of Ireland or Irish Land; Grievances; Remedies. In 1893 he was advocate for Britain in the Bering Sea arbitration and was awarded the Grand Order of St Michael and St George. In 1894 was made Lord of Appeal and was knighted. He finally became Lord Chief Justice in 1894 and was made a life peer, Baron Russell of Killowen. He died in Kensington. [Biography by Barry O'Brien]

RUSSELL, CHARLES WILLIAM 1812-1880

Charles Russell was born in Killough, County Down, and by 1835 was appointed Professor of Humanity at Maynooth. In 1837 he was made President of the college, and he is said to have been instrumental in the conversion of Cardinal Newman. He was co-editor of the Dublin Review and collaborated with J. P. Prendergast on the eight-volume Report on the Carte Manuscripts and the four-volume Calendar of State Papers of James I. He also wrote the Life of Cardinal Mezzofanti. He died after falling from his horse.

RUSSELL, GEORGE WILLIAM (pseud. AE) 1867-1935

George Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, and after his family moved to Dublin he was educated at Rathmines School and the Metropolitan School of Art, where he and W. B. Yeats became friends. He worked as a clerk and then became editor of the Irish Homestead, the journal of the Irish Argicultural Organisation Society. He published Homeward: Songs by the Way, which was his first book of poems, and his play Deirdre was one of the first to be staged by the Irish Literary Society. He was a painter and writer and was interested in mysticism, economics and politics: he was also a founder of the Irish Theosophical Society. Among his publications are New Visions; The Divine Vision; The Mask of Apollo; Enchantment; The Renewal of Youth and The Interpreters. In 1913 he published his Collected Poems and he was editor for seven years of the Irish Statesman. He was also an artist and kept open house in Dublin for the intellectuals of his day. He painted in Donegal, often near Dunfanaghy. His work is represented in the Ulster Museum and the Armagh County Museum. His portrait of W. B. Yeats is in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. He died in Bournemouth.

RUSSELL, JAMES 1842-1893

James Russell was born in Broughshane, County Antrim, and was educated at Queen's College, Belfast. He was a cadet in Hong Kong in 1865 and was called to the Bar in 1874. In 1879 he became Attorney-General and a member of the Legislative Council. He was appointed a puisne judge in 1883.

RUSSELL, KATHERINE (name in religion, MARY BAPTIST) 1829-1898

Katherine Russell was born in Ballybot, near Newry, County Down, and was educated in Belfast and Kinsale. She was a pioneer Sister of Mercy in California, and in 1854 became Mother Superior in San Francisco, where she was instrumental in founding hospitals and convents. She died there. [Biography by Reverend Matthew Russell]

RUSSELL, MATTHEW 1834-1912

Matthew Russell was born at Ballybot, near Newry, County Down, and was educated at Castleknock and Maynooth. He became a Jesuit priest and established the Irish Monthly in 1873 and edited it for nearly forty years. He also wrote many volumes of poetry, and a biography of his sister Katherine.

RUSSELL, NELSON 1897-1971

Nelson Russell was born in Lisburn, County Antrim and was educated at Campbell College, Belfast. In 1915 he joined the Royal Irish Fusiliers and won the Military Cross in 1916 for having led the first day-light raid of the First World War. In 1923 he played hockey for Ireland and the following year represented the Gentlemen of Ireland at cricket. He was given command of the 38th Irish Brigade who fought in Sicily in 1942 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order the following year. He commanded a Territorial Army brigade after the Second World War and from 1951 to 1968 was Sergeant-at-Arms in the Northern Ireland Parliament. He died in Newcastle, County Down.

RUSSELL, THOMAS 1767-1803

Thomas Russell was born in Betsborough, Kilshanick, County Cork. He served in the Army and was posted to Belfast. From 1794 to 1796 he was Librarian of the Linen Hall Library and contributed to the Northern Star. He took an active part in the organisation of the United Irish Society, and in 1796 he was arrested and deported, but was liberated in 1802. He met Robert Emmet in Paris and went to Ulster hoping to provoke a rising, but failed. He was arrested in Dublin and hanged in Downpatrick. He was known as 'the man from God knows where', the title of a ballad written about him by Florence Wilson of Bangor, County Down in 1918.

RUTHVEN, EDWARD SOUTHWELL 1772-1836

Edward Ruthven was born in County Down and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and Oxford University. He assumed the surname Ruthven rather than his family name, Trotter. He was Member of Parliament for Downpatrick in 1806 and again from 1830 to 1832 and for Dublin City (together with O'Connell) and was returned again in 1835 but was unseated. He was an advanced radical reformer. He fought a duel with Louis Perrin. He died in Westminster.