List of Trinity College Dublin people

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

This is a list of notable alumni of the University of Dublin, located in Dublin, Ireland, all of whom attended Trinity College, its only constituent college.

Armed forces

• Eyre Coote (1762–1823), Irish British Army soldier and politician; Governor-General of Jamaica (1806–1808)
• Henry George Gore-Browne (1830–1912), Irish British Army colonial of the 100th Regiment of Foot; awarded the Victoria Cross (circa 1857, while a captain of the 32nd Regiment of Foot)
• James Murray Irwin (1858–1938), Irish British Army major-general doctor
• Col. Ernest Achey Loftus, CBE, soldier, teacher and diarist
• Robert Nairac (1948–1977), English British Army captain; abducted and killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1977; posthumously awarded the George Cross (1979)
• Robert Ross (1766–1814), Anglo-Irish British Army officer; participated in the Napoleonic Wars (various ranks); commander of the British force which sacked Washington, D.C. and burned down the White House, during the War of 1812 (as major-general)
• Sir Hovenden Walker (1656 or 1666 – 1725 or 1728), Royal Navy officer

Arts

• Thomas Bateson, 17th-century writer of madrigals
• Michael Bogdanov, theatre director
• Brian Boydell, composer
• Michael Colgan, director of the Gate Theatre, film and television producer
• Chris de Burgh, singer and musician
• Thomas Manly Deane, architect
• Pádraic Delaney, actor
• Donnacha Dennehy, composer
• Ciaran Farrell, composer
• Margaret Fiedler, musician and singer
• Susan Fitzgerald, actress
• Percy French, songwriter and entertainer
• Jack Gleeson, actor
• Constantine Gregory, actor
• Lisa Hannigan, singer
• Andrew Hozier-Byrne, singer-songwriter
• Fergus Johnston, composer
• Dillie Keane, singer-songwriter and actress
• Nathaniel Lande, author, filmmaker and former creative director of Time
• Jacknife Lee, record producer
• Damien Leith, singer
• Eleanor McEvoy, singer-songwriter
• Katie McGrath, actress
• Sean Pol McGreevy, actor/musician
• Paul McGuinness, manager of U2
• Pauline McLynn, actress, comedian and novelist
• Katie McMahon, singer and musician
• Sylvia O'Brien, opera singer
• David O'Doherty, comedian
• Laura Pyper, actress
• Chris Singleton, singer-songwriter and producer
• Max Stafford-Clark, theatre director
• Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, composer, father of the Duke of Wellington
• Dominic West, British actor
• Ian Whitcomb, singer and entertainer
• John Butler Yeats, artist

Broadcasting and journalism

• Bruce Arnold, journalist and author
• Sharon Ní Bheoláin, news presenter
• John Bowman, journalist and broadcaster
• Rory Carroll, US West Coast correspondent, The Guardian
• Marc Coleman, radio presenter and columnist
• Tony Connelly, Europe Editor, RTE
• Crosaire (J.D. Crozier), B.A. Dubl 1940, complied the cryptic crossword for The Irish Times for fifty-nine years
• Ray D'Arcy, television and radio presenter
• Joe Duffy, radio presenter
• Ken Early, soccer journalist
• Robert Fisk, journalist
• Douglas Gageby, editor of the Irish Times
• Veronica Guerin, crime reporter
• Charles Graham Halpine, journalist
• Vincent Hanna, Northern Irish television journalist
• Brian Inglis, journalist, historian and television presenter
• Mary Jordan, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
• Aine Lawlor, radio and television presenter
• Quentin Letts, British columnist and theatre critic
• Martyn Lewis, British newsreader and journalist
• Mark Little, journalist
• Alex Massie, freelance journalist
• David McWilliams, writer and broadcaster on economic and social issues
• Edmund O'Donovan, war correspondent
• Rupert Pennant-Rea, former editor of The Economist
• Gerry Ryan, radio presenter
• Cliff Taylor, editor, Sunday Business Post
• Nick Webb, Business Editor, Sunday Independent

Business

• John George Adair, builder of Glenveagh Castle in County Donegal; financier of the JA Ranch in the Texas Panhandle
• Lord Haskins of Skidby, chairman of Northern Foods
• Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas
• Dermot Mannion, former chief executive of Aer Lingus
• Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair
• Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways
• Anthony Watson, president and chief operations officer of Bitreserve; former chief information officer for Barclays and Nike

Economics

• Sean Barrett, economist and member of Seanad Eireann
• Phelim Boyle (born 1941), academic and economist; pioneer of the use of Monte Carlo methods in derivatives pricing
• Francis Ysidro Edgeworth (1845–1926), philosopher and political economist
• Morgan Kelly, professor of economics, University College Dublin
• Philip R. Lane (born 1969), academic and economist
• Kevin O'Rourke, Professor of Economic History, Oxford

Education

• Robert Blackburn, International Secretary of the United World Colleges; Deputy Director General of the International Baccalaureate
• Increase Mather, seventh president of Harvard University
• McFadden Alexander Newell, first principal of Maryland State Normal School (Towson University)
• Ferdinand von Prondzynski, president of Dublin City University
• Louise Richardson, former executive dean of Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; political scientist at Harvard University; Principal of the University of St Andrews; first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford as of 1 Jan 2016

Science, mathematics, engineering and medicine

• Denis Parsons Burkitt, surgeon and researcher into childhood cancer (cf. Burkitt's lymphoma)
• William C. Campbell (scientist), The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015
• Georgia Chenevix-Trench, cancer researcher
• Aeneas Coffey, engineer, inventor of the Coffey still
• Steven Collins, co-founder of Havok
• George Francis FitzGerald, professor of physics
• Gordon Foster (1920–2010), fellow emeritus at the college; Professor of Statistics and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and statistics; author of the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) system (a global standard), and the book Information Technology in Developing Countries
• Oliver St John Gogarty, physician and ear surgeon
• Alexander Henry Haliday, entomologist
• William Rowan Hamilton, mathematician
• William Henry Harvey, botanist
• Werner Israel, physicist
• John Joly, physicist and geologist
• Sir John MacNeill, civil engineer
• Robert Mallet, engineer and scientist
• Richard Maunsell, Chief Mechanical Engineer, South Eastern and Chatham Railway, and Southern Railway
• Henry Benedict Medlicott, geologist
• William Molyneux, natural philosopher
• Charles Algernon Parsons, engineer, inventor of the modern steam turbine
• Thomas Preston, scientist
• William Johnson Sollas, geologist and anthropologist
• William Stokes, physician and professor
• George Johnstone Stoney, physicist who proposed the term 'electron' for the fundamental unit of electricity
• John Lighton Synge, mathematician and scientist
• Ernest Walton, Nobel Prize winner
• Benjamin Worsley, 17th century physician, surveyor and alchemist

Humanities

• Jonathan Bardon, historian
• George Berkeley, philosopher (cf. subjective idealism)
• J. B. Bury, Irish historian and classicist
• Edward Dowden, Shakespearean scholar
• Roy Foster, Carroll Professor of Irish History, Hertford College, Oxford University
• Ian Graham (BSc 1951), Mayanist archaeologist
• Edward Hincks, Orientalist
• Declan Kiberd, Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature, University College, Dublin
• R.J.B. Knight, naval historian
• William Edward Hartpole Lecky, historian
• John Pentland Mahaffy, classicist
• R.B. McDowell, historian
• Brendan Simms, historian and fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge
• Alastair Sweeny, Canadian historian, publisher
• Rory Sweetman, New Zealand historian
• Nikolai Tolstoy, historian

Law

• Sir James Andrews, 1st Baronet, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
• Deirdre Curtin, lawyer
• Susan Denham, current Justice of the Irish Supreme Court
• Sir Valentine Fleming, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania
• Henry Flavelle Forbes, C.I.E., President of the Court of Appeal, Iraq, 1920/21
• Hari Singh Gaur, barrister, jurist and educationist in India
• John George, Solicitor-General for Ireland
• Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne, Attorney-General and Lord Chancellor of Ireland
• Brian McCracken, retired Justice of the Irish Supreme Court; chair of the McCracken Tribunal
• Catherine McGuinness, retired Justice of the Irish Supreme Court; former member of Seanad Éireann and President of the Law Reform Commission
• Frank Murphy, United States Supreme Court Associate Justice (1940–49)
• Patricia O'Brien, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel
• Christopher Palles, judge, Solicitor-General for Ireland
• James Skinner, Chief Justice of Zambia and Malawi
• William Frederick L. Stanley (1872–1939), lawyer and judge in Republic of Hawaii
• William Stawell, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria
• Egbert Udo Udoma, justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court and Chief Justice of Uganda

Literature

• Sebastian Barry, novelist
• Samuel Beckett, dramatist, Nobel laureate
• Eavan Boland, poet
• John Boyne, novelist
• Nicholas Brady, poet and translator
• Erskine Barton Childers, writer and journalist
• Eoin Colfer, children's writer
• William Congreve, playwright and poet
• Michael de Larrabeiti, author
• J. P. Donleavy, Irish-American author
• Richard Ellman, literary critic and biographer
• Anne Enright, novelist, winner of Man Booker Prize 2007
• George Farquhar, dramatist
• Oliver Goldsmith, writer and surgeon
• John Haffenden, professor of literature
• Jennifer Johnston, Man Booker Prize–winning novelist
• Brendan Kennelly, poet and author
• William Larminie, poet
• Sheridan Le Fanu, author
• Michael Longley, poet
• Patrick MacDonogh, poet
• Sir Rupert Mackeson, 2nd Baronet, racing author
• Thomas MacNevin, writer and journalist
• Derek Mahon, poet
• Bryan Malessa, novelist
• Barry McCrea, novelist and lecturer
• Mark C. McGarrity, crime fiction novelist (under pen name Bartholomew Gill)
• Oliver St. John Gogarty, poet and surgeon
• Jo Shapcott, poet
• Thomas Southerne, dramatist
• Bram Stoker, author, known for Dracula
• Jonathan Swift, satirist, author of Gulliver's Travels
• John Millington Synge, dramatist, poet; author of The Playboy of the Western World
• Nahum Tate, lyricist and Poet Laureate
• William Trevor, novelist particularly known for short stories
• Trevor White, food critic and author of Kitchen Con
• Oscar Wilde, poet, dramatist, wit; read Greats in Trinity 1871–1874; was active as a student in the University Philosophical Society

Politics and government

• J. E. W. Addison, British judge and Conservative politician
• Ernest Alton, independent Unionist politician in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and in Seanad Éireann
• Hugh Annesley, 5th Earl Annesley, M.P. for Cavan, later an Irish representative peer in the House of Lords
• Thekla Beere, civil servant and chairwoman of the ILO
• John Beresford, statesman
• Harman Blennerhassett, Irish-American supporter of the Burr conspiracy
• Frederick Boland, diplomat and twenty-first Chancellor of the University
• John Boyd, member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Edmund Burke, philosopher, political theorist, statesman and MP for the British Whig Party
• Hugh Cairns, 1st Earl Cairns, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain and Chancellor of the University of Dublin
• Dara Calleary, Fianna Fáil politician
• Sir Edward Carson, leader of the Irish Unionists
• Richard Curran, National Centre Party and later Fine Gael TD
• Sir Colville Deverell, Governor of the Windward Islands and Mauritius
• Paschal Donohoe, Fine Gael TD
• Robert Emmet, Irish nationalist
• Henry Grattan, member of the Irish House of Commons
• Cecil Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth, Liberal MP and brother of press barons, Lord Northcliffe and Lord Rothermere
• Mary Harney, politician, former leader of the PDs and former Tánaiste
• Sean Haughey, politician
• Mark Herdman, diplomat, Governor of the British Virgin Islands (1986–1991)
• Douglas Hyde, first President of Ireland
• Princess Kako of Akishino, Japan
• Brian Lenihan, politician, former Minister for Finance
• George Macartney, British statesman (1st Earl Macartney)
• Richard Graves MacDonnell, Governor of South Australia, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia and Governor of Hong Kong
• Mairead Maguire (Irish School of Ecumenics), a peace activist, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976
• Mary McAleese, 8th President of Ireland
• Mary Lou McDonald, vice president of Sinn Féin and TD
• Leonard Greenham Star Molloy, surgeon and politician
• David Norris, senator, gay rights activist and former presidential candidate
• Conor Cruise O'Brien, politician, writer and academic
• John O'Connell, member of parliament, leader of the Repeal Association
• Liz O'Donnell, politician and Minister for Overseas Development
• Emily O'Reilly, former journalist, author and ombudsman
• William Hoey Kearney Redmond, Nationalist politician; first World War fatality
• Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland
• Sir Malcolm Stevenson, Governor of Cyprus and of the Seychelles
• James Stopford, 2nd Earl of Courtown, Tory politician
• Theobald Wolfe Tone, father of Irish republicans
• Leo Varadkar, Fine Gael politician
• Jaja Wachuku first Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister
• Henry Westenra, 3rd Baron Rossmore, politician and piper
• Thomas Wyse, politician and diplomat

Religion

• Arthur William Barton, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin
• Robert Henry Charles, biblical scholar, theologian, and translator
• John Nelson Darby, evangelist and Bible translator
• Charles D'Arcy, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin and Armagh
• John Dowden, Bishop of Edinburgh and ecclesiastical historian
• Richard William Enraght, Anglican priest and religious controversialist
• William Fitzgerald, Church of Ireland bishop and author
• David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge since 1991
• Alexander Charles Garrett, bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America
• William Magee, Anglican Archbishop of York
• Father John Main, OSB, Benedictine monk
• Fr. Malachi Martin S.J., author
• Charles Maturin, Church of Ireland clergyman and gothic author
• Joseph Ferguson Peacocke, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin
• William Reeves, bishop, antiquarian, and President of the Royal Irish Academy
• Robert Warren Stewart, missionary to China, murdered in Kucheng Massacre
• Bishop James Ussher, Primate of All Ireland, noted for (mis)calculating the date of creation as the night preceding Sunday 23 October 4004 BC

Sports

• Edward Allman-Smith (1886–1969), British Army soldier and field-hockey player; Olympic silver medalist, as member of the Ireland field-hockey team at the 1908 Summer Olympics
• Michael Gibson, rugby footballer
• James Lindsay-Fynn, rower, world championship gold, Great Britain, LM4 - Munich 2007
• Hugo MacNeill, Ireland and British and Irish Lions rugby player
• William McCrum, inventor of penalty kick of football
• Robin Roe (1928–2010), clergyman and rugby footballer
• Dick Spring (born 1950), Gaelic footballer, hurler, rugby footballer, businessman and politician

Other

• Sir Robert Anderson, intelligence officer, theologian and policeman
• Edward Chichester, 4th Marquess of Donegall
• Richard Lovell Edgeworth, inventor, father of Maria Edgeworth
• Michael Elmore-Meegan, expert on global health issues, author, humanitarian, founder of charities
• Scilla Elworthy, human rights campaigner
• Sally Fegan-Wyles, director of UNDG
• Half Hung MacNaghten, 18th-century gentleman fraudster
• Kevin McCormack, dancer with Riverdance; graduated from Trinity College with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy
• Blathnaid McKenna, former Miss Ireland
• Leonard McNally, playwright, attorney, British spy

See also

• List of Chancellors of the University of Dublin
• List of Professorships at the University of Dublin
• List of Provosts of Trinity College, Dublin