Le Fanu, William Richard
Le Fanu, William Richard (1816–94), civil engineer and commissioner of public works, was born 24 February 1816 in the Royal Hibernian Military School, Phoenix Park, Dublin, youngest child among two sons and a daughter of the Very Rev. Thomas Philip Le Fanu (1784–1845), dean of…...
Lewis, Sir George Cornewall
Lewis, Sir George Cornewall (1806–63), politician, author, and assistant commissioner of the poor law in Ireland, was born 21 April 1806 in London, elder son of Sir Thomas Frankland Lewis (1780–1855), later MP for Beaumaris (1812–26) and Ennis (1826–8), commissioner for Irish…...
Lloyd, Edward
Lloyd, Edward (fl. 1700–1732), coffee house proprietor, publisher, and writer, was born in England and probably moved to Dublin in the 1690s. Nothing is known of his parents. A namesake, Edward Lloyd (d. 1713), founded (c.1688) Lloyd's coffee house in London, which…...
Loftus, Adam
Loftus, Adam (1568?–1643), 1st Viscount Loftus of Ely, lord chancellor of Ireland, was the second, but eldest surviving, son of Robert Loftus of Swineside in the parish of Coverham, Yorkshire. Adam matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating BA…...
Logan, James
Logan, James (1674–1751), scientist and public servant in America, was born 20 October 1674 at Lurgan, Co. Armagh, son of Patrick Logan, a schoolmaster and former Church of Scotland clergyman who became a quaker, and his wife, Isabel Logan (née Hume) – both had moved to Ireland from…...
Lowther, James (‘Jem’)
Lowther, James (‘Jem’) (1840–1904), chief secretary for Ireland, was born 1 December 1840 at Swillington House, near Leeds, second son of Sir Charles Lowther (1803–94) and his wife Isabella (d. 1887), daughter of the Rev. Robert Morehead, rector of Easington. He was educated first…...
Lowther, Sir Gerrard (Gerard)
Lowther, Sir Gerrard (Gerard) (1590–1660), lawyer and judge, was probably the natural son of Christopher Lowther of Penrith, Cumberland. He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 7 June 1605. He entered Gray's Inn in 1608 and was called to the bar in 1614. He was in Dublin as…...
Ludgate, Percy
Ludgate, Percy Edwin (1883–1922), pioneer in digital computing, was born 2 August 1883 at the house of his parents, Michael Ludgate and Mary (née McMahon), in Townsend Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, the youngest of at least eight children. His father taught shorthand, later joined by…...
Lye (Leigh, Lee, Alie), John
Lye (Leigh, Lee, Alie), John (d. 1612), crown agent, is of obscure origins: he may have been the son of Francis Lasighsigh and his wife, a daughter of John O'Carroll, of Killeigh, King's County, or he may have been English-born. Lye held an important position as an agent of the crown in…...
Lyons, John Charles
Lyons, John Charles (1792–1874), antiquary and horticulturist, was born 22 April 1792, the only child of Charles John Lyons (1766–96), a Westmeath landowner and soldier, of huguenot descent, and his wife, Mary Anne Lyons (née Levinge). His father died when he was four and in 1798…...
Macartney, George
Macartney, George (1737–1806), Earl Macartney , diplomat, chief secretary, and colonial governor, was born 3 May 1737 at Lisanoure, near Dervock, Co. Antrim, the only surviving son of George Macartney (d. 1779), a landowner of Lisanoure, who in 1732 married Elizabeth (d. 1755),…...
Macartney (McCartney), George
Macartney (McCartney), George (1626–91), merchant and customs official, was the only son of Bartholomew McCartney of Auchinleck, near Kirkcudbright, Scotland, and his wife Catherine, daughter of George Maxwell of Orchardton. George spelt his name as McCartney, but the form ‘…...
MacDonnell, Sir Alexander
MacDonnell, Sir Alexander (1794–1875), resident commissioner of national education, was born in Belfast, elder of two sons of James MacDonnell (qv), MD, of Belfast and Murlough, Co. Antrim, and…...
MacDonnell, Sir Richard Graves
MacDonnell, Sir Richard Graves (1814–81), judge and colonial governor, was born 3 September 1814 in Dublin, the eldest son of Rev. Richard MacDonnell (qv), provost of TCD (1852–67), and…...
MacLysaght, Edward Anthony Edgeworth
MacLysaght, Edward Anthony Edgeworth (1887–1986), farmer, horticulturist, poet, novelist, senator, historian, and genealogist, was born 6 November 1887 at Flax Bourton, Somerset, the elder of the two sons of Sidney Royse Lysaght, novelist, poet, and businessman, and his wife, Kathrine,…...
Magee, Patrick
Magee, Patrick (1924–82), actor, was born on 31 March 1924 in Edward Street, Armagh town, eldest of five children of Patrick McGee, schoolteacher and eventually principal of St Patrick's primary school. When he joined Actors' Equity he changed his surname to 'Magee' to avoid confusion…...
Magee, William
Magee, William (1750?–1827), printer, was probably born in Belfast, where his father, James Magee, printer and bookseller, had been involved with Francis Joy (qv) in papermaking near Ballymena in 1740, and had published the early Belfast news…...
Mainwaring, Sir Philip
Mainwaring, Sir Philip (1589–1661), secretary of state for Ireland and royalist, was the fourth son of Sir Randle Mainwaring, of Over Peover, Cheshire, and his wife Margaret Fitton of Gawsworth, Cheshire. In 1609 he entered Gray's Inn and on 29 August 1610 matriculated from…...
Marsden, Alexander
Marsden, Alexander (1761–1834), barrister, East India Company agent, and government official, was born in Dublin, probably in October 1761 – he was baptised at St Michan's, Dublin, on 17 October – the youngest of the sixteen children of John Marsden (1716?–1801) and his second…...
Mason, William Shaw
Mason, William Shaw (c.1774–1853), administrator and statistician, was born in 1774 or 1775 in Dublin, where his father, Henry Mason, was a tax official; nothing is known of his mother. It is not known if he was related to the Monck Masons, his contemporaries. He was…...
McDonnell, Sir Schomberg Kerr
McDonnell, Sir Schomberg Kerr (1861–1915), civil servant and private secretary to the British prime minister, was born 22 March 1861 at Glenarm Castle, Co. Antrim, fifth son of Mark McDonnell, 5th earl of Antrim, and his wife, Jane Emma Hannah McDonnell (née Macan). Educated at…...
Methold (Methwold), Sir William
Methold (Methwold), Sir William (c.1560–1620), chief baron of the exchequer and chief justice of the king's bench, was eldest son of William Methold of Rushworth and South Pickenham, Norfolk, England, and his wife Susanna, daughter of George Alington of Swinhope,…...
Molloy, Charles
Molloy, Charles (1690–1767), dramatist and journalist, was born in Dublin in 1690, son of Hugh Molloy; nothing is known of his mother. He is believed to have been educated at TCD, though no records survive to confirm this. Moving to…...
Molyneux (Molinel), Thomas
Molyneux (Molinel), Thomas (1531–97), administrator, was born in Calais, France, a member of the English community there; nothing more is known of his parents. An only child, he was orphaned at an early age and reared by John Brishin, an alderman of Calais. Following the surrender…...
Monck, Charles Stanley
Monck, Charles Stanley (1819–94), 4th Viscount Monck , first Canadian governor-general, church temporalities commissioner, and MP, was the eldest of the two sons and two daughters of Charles Joseph Kelly Monck, third Viscount Monck (second brother of the earl of Rathdowne, second…...