Biographies A-Z

Lemass, Frank (1911–74), general manager and director of CIÉ, president of the Irish Management Institute, was born 13 September 1911 in Dublin, youngest son among four sons and three daughters of John T. Lemass, hatter and outfitter, of 3 Capel St., Dublin, and Frances Lemass (…

Lemass, Noel Denis Joseph (1897–1923), republican, was born 15 December 1897 at 2 Capel Street, Dublin, the eldest of the seven children of John Timothy Lemass (d. 1947), draper, and his wife, Frances (née Phelan). He was educated at O'Connell's…

Lemass, Peter Aloysius (1933–88), priest, broadcaster, and writer, was born 22 June 1933 in Dublin, the youngest of three sons of Peter H. Lemass, dispensary doctor in Rathmines, and Mary J. Lemass (née Neary), both of Dublin. He was educated at Xavier School, Morehampton Road,…

Lemass, Seán (1899–1971), revolutionary, politician, and taoiseach, was born 15 July 1899 in Norwood Cottage, Ballybrack, Co. Dublin (where his family were holidaying), second of seven children and second of four sons of John Timothy Lemass (d. 1947), a Dublin hatter, and Frances Lemass…

This is a co-subject for the entry on L'Enfaunt, Walter. View the original entry.

L'Enfaunt, Walter (fl. c.1269–c.1294), knight and justice, was, according to Ball, probably the son of a Walter L'Enfaunt who held lands in Ireland (the family name does not appear to be uncommon; L'Enfaunts can be found in Dublin and Limerick from the 1270s). He…

Lenihan, Brian (1959–2011), politician, was born on 21 May 1959 in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, eldest of five sons and one daughter of Brian Lenihan (qv), Fianna Fáil politician, and his wife Ann (née Devine). His grandfather…

Lenihan, Brian Joseph (1930–95), politician and government minister, was born 17 November 1930 at Dundalk, Co. Louth, eldest among two sons and two daughters of Patrick James Lenihan (qv), teacher, civil servant, businessman, and…

Lenihan, Maurice (1811–95), journalist and author, was born 5 February 1811 in St Patrick's parish, Waterford city, eldest of fifteen children (ten sons and five daughters) of James Lenihan, woollen draper (in Broad St., then the leading business area in the city), and Margaret…

Lenihan, Patrick James (1902–70), civil servant, company director, and TD, was born 4 September 1902 in Lickeen, Ennistimon, Co. Clare, son of Patrick Lenihan, national school teacher, and Hannah Lenihan (née McIherney). Educated at St Joseph's College, Ballinasloe, and…

Lennon, James (1880–1958), republican and advocate of credit reform, was born 26 August 1880 at Ballyrughan, Borris, Co. Carlow, the son of two teachers, Lufoester Lennon and Margaret Lennon (née Tracy). He attended Newton school in Carlow and later Knockbeg College, and became active…

Lennon, James Gerard (‘Gerry’) (1909–76), solicitor and politician, was born in Armagh, eldest child among three sons and two daughters of James Lennon of the Desart, Armagh, town clerk of Armagh, and Margaret Lennon (née Stablien), a native of Germany. He began his education at St…

Lennon, Peter Gerard (1930–2011), journalist, documentary film-maker and social critic, was born on 28 February 1930 at 30 North Frederick Street, Dublin, the eldest of three sons of Peter Joseph Lennon and his wife Delia (née Fenton). His mother was a former post office worker…

Lennox, Charles (1764–1819), 4th duke of Richmond and 4th duke of Lennox , lord lieutenant of Ireland, was born 9 September 1764, the eldest son of Lord George Henry Lennox, a general, and his wife, Lady Louisa Lennox Kerr, daughter of the 4th marquess of Lothian; he was…

Lentaigne, Benjamin (1773–1813), physician, was born 14 February 1773 in Caen, Normandy, France, third son of Pierre François Lentaigne, lieutenant of dragoons, and his wife Anne Marguerite, daughter of Guillaume François Duclos. His family had strong royalist sympathies, one of his…

Lentaigne, John Francis O'Neill (1803–86), physician, of Tallaght, Co. Dublin, was born 21 June 1803, eldest son among four children of Benjamin Lentaigne (qv) (1773–1813), a French physician who settled in Dublin after the French…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Lentaigne, John Francis O'Neill. View the original entry.

Lentin, Louis (1933–2014), theatre, film and television producer and director, was born in Limerick on 11 December 1933, the first of six children of Isaac Lentin, who owned a women’s tailoring business, and Annie Rose (Hyacinth) Lentin (née Goldberg). His parents were the children of…

Leonard, Arthur Glyn (1856– p.1909?), soldier, ethnographer, and Rhodesian pioneer, was born in August 1856 in Ireland. In 1873 he joined the 2nd Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, serving as a transport officer in India and in conflicts in Afghanistan, Egypt, and the Sudan,…

Leonard, Hugh (1926–2009), dramatist and commentator, was born John Joseph Byrne in the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin, on 9 November 1926, son of Annie Byrne and an unknown father. Aged twelve days, he was informally adopted by Margaret Keyes (née Doyle) of Dalkey,…

Leonard, John Patrick (1814–89), English teacher, writer, and Irish nationalist resident in Paris, was born 12 October 1814 on Spike Island in Cork Harbour. His father (forename unknown), an engineer on a building site at Haulbowline, died in Paris en route for the Mediterranean…

le Poer, Arnold (c.1280–1329), one of the foremost magnates of the lordship of Ireland in the early fourteenth century, appears to have come from one of the smaller branches of the le Poer family in Co. Kilkenny. He eventually became one of the two leaders of the fractured…

Leslie, Anita (Anne Theodosia Moria) (1914–85), biographer, was born 21 November 1914, in Talbot Square, London, the eldest child and only daughter of the author Sir (John Randolph) Shane Leslie (qv) of Castle Leslie,…

Leslie, Charles (1650–1722), non-juring clergyman and controversialist, was born 17 July 1650 in Glaslough, Co. Monaghan, sixth and second surviving son of John Leslie (qv), DD, bishop of the Isles…

Leslie, Charles Henry (1767?–1841?), banker and founder of Ballincollig Powder Mills, Cork, was possibly baptised 21 February 1767 in Christ Church, Cork, second son among three sons and a daughter of Charles Leslie, medical doctor, and Ann Leslie (née Lawton) of Cork. His father…