 Ingram was born on 7 July 1823, at the Rectory of Templecarne (Aghnahoo), just south of Pettigo, a village in south-east County Donegal, Ireland into an Ulster Scots family.Although his ancestry was Scottish Presbyterian, Ingram's grandparents had converted to Anglicanism.His grandfather Captain John Ingram ran a linen mill and had a business as a linen bleacher in Glennane (Lisdrumhure).