Famous people from Limerick, artists, actors, writers.
The funeral of the 1st Earl of Limerick in 1844 was not attended with the civility and courtesy expected after the loss of such a notable figure in Limerick’s history. Instead, the streets were filled with rioters who harassed the mourners as they made their way through the city. The question remains: who was the…
At the end of the nineteenth century in West Limerick, Timothy O’Neill Lane, listened to those around him speaking in Irish and spent twenty years collecting their words in order to publish his first English Irish dictionary in 1904. Timothy O’Neill Lane was born in 1852 in Ahane, Co. Kerry to a prosperous farmer but…
Samuel Crumpe was born in Rathkeale on 15 September 1766. He was the eldest of seven children of Kerry born Daniel Crumpe and Grace Orpen. Not only was Grace Orpen the wife of Daniel Crumpe, she was also his second cousin. Samuel was named after his paternal grandfather and his maternal grandfather Richard Orpen of Ardtully,…
St. Munchin is the peculiar patron saint for Limerick city as he is renowned for cursing the natives of the city. He is thought to have said: the stranger would flourish and the native would perish. This due to the natives of the city not assisting him as he was erecting his church in the…
Catalina Sarsfield (c.1694-) was the eldest daughter of David Sarsfield (c.1661-1710) and the niece of Dominick Sarsfield, 4th Viscount Sarsfield (c.1660-1701) of Kilmallock, Co. Limerick. Both David and Dominick supported James II during the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland. Dominick married the sister of the famous Patrick Sarsfield (1658-1693). Following the Treaty of…
Noted Limerick historian John Ferrar wrote in his History of Limerick 1787 that Peter Woulfe was born about 1727 at ‘Tirecullane’, near Limerick City. ‘Tirecullane’ has not been located on a map of Limerick, nor has a birth record for Peter Woulfe in Limerick. However, it is possible that this was in the Corbally area,…
Joseph Patrick Carroll Naish, who was better known as J Carrol Naish, was born in New York in 1896. The son of a Limerick couple, he grew to become an American character actor who was nominated twice for an Academy Award. Naish was married from 1929 until his death to actress Gladys Heaney and had…
In January 1796, Jane Austen wrote a letter to her sister Cassandra: “At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, & when you receive this, it will be over—My tears flow as I write this, at this melancholy idea.” These lines to her sister may have…
Limerick was the birth place to world renowned author, Kathleen Mary Louise O’Brien, or as she was more commonly known, Kate O’Brien. Her novels were some of the earliest examples of Irish literature to feature homosexual themes, which ultimately lead to them being banned on release by the Catholic patriarchy in Ireland. Kate was born…
It is repeatedly noted in secondary sources that Matthew Thornton was born in Limerick in 1714 to James Thornton and Elizabeth Malone, primary sources during this period in Ireland are extremely rare. The Thornton family in Limerick were descended from George Thornton, who was granted land at Dunnaman, Limerick near Adare by the court of…
A Limerick woman Margaretta Eagar was the governess to the daughters of the last Tsar of Russia from 1898 until 1904 when she retired with a pension. Francis McGillycuddy Eagar (1823-1902) and Frances Margaret Holden (1831-1913) were married on April 18, 1855, in King County (Offaly). From 1862 to at least 1880 Francis was the…
Mrs. Anne Banks, was born about 1718, she was married to Louth man Samuel Banks. The Banks family were in Ardee, County Louth from approximately 1660. Anne Banks would make Limerick her home and would pass away a widow at the grand age of 90 in September 1807 in Charlotte’s Quay. In her will she donated…
The Blind Piper, Patrick O’Brien was born in Labasheeda, Co. Clare in the 1773 to a prosperous farming family. He was well educated at a local hedge school. He was fluent in Greek and Latin and was destined for a continental education. But tragedy struck as he began to lose his eyesight. By the age…
Mary O’Connell was born Mary Ellen O’Connell the daughter of William O’Connell (1769-1841) and Catherine Murphy -1826), married in 1805. Little did they know, when she was born on 15 August 1814 in Limerick, what greatness their daughter would go on to achieve. There is scant information available on Mary Ellen’s childhood in Limerick, Ireland…
The early life of John Francis O’Donnell is cloaked in mystery. John was born on 29 July 1837, the only child of John O’Donnell and Mary Fitzgerald. His place of birth is a matter of debate, as it is cited as Gerald Griffin Street (Cornwallis Street), Nicholas Street, and also Upper William Street in different…