Leslie, James Blennerhassett
Leslie, James Blennerhassett (1865–1952), clergyman and scholar, was born 28 May 1865, third son of James Leslie, farmer, and Mary Anne Leslie (née Blennerhassett) of Clouncannon, Killarney, Co. Kerry. He read history, political economy, and jurisprudence at…...
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…...
Lodge, John
Lodge, John (1692–1774), archivist and genealogist, was born in Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire, England, son of Edward Lodge, farmer, and was baptised there 22 January 1693. Nothing is known of his mother. After attending the Clapham School in Yorkshire he entered St John's College,…...
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…...
Longfield, Mountifort
Longfield, Mountifort (1802–84), economist and lawyer, was second son of the Rev. Mountifort Longfield (d. 1850), JP and vicar of Desert Serges, Co. Cork, of the Anglo-Irish Longfield family of Longueville, near Mallow, Co. Cork, and his…...
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…...
Lyon, John
Lyon, John (1710–90), clergyman and antiquary, was baptised 5 October 1710, son of John Lyon, a blacksmith, and his wife, Sarah Lyon. He was a scholar (1727) at TCD, and graduated BA in 1729,…...
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…...
MacKnight, Thomas
MacKnight, Thomas (1829–99), newspaper editor and political writer, was born 15 February 1829 at Gainsford, Co. Durham, son of Thomas MacKnight and his wife Elizabeth. He was initially educated at the Rev. Dr Bowman's school at Gainsford. After his parents moved to London he…...
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,…...
Madden (Maddyn), Daniel Owen
Madden (Maddyn), Daniel Owen (1815–59), writer, was born in Mallow, Co. Cork, the only son of Owen Madden, Cork merchant, and Margaret Madden (née Quain). He was educated in Cork and worked for a time as a merchant before enrolling in King's Inns in 1838. Over the next four…...
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, Henry Joseph Monck
Mason, Henry Joseph Monck (1778–1858), miscellaneous bilingual writer, librarian, and evangelical reformer, was born 15 July 1778 at Powerscourt demesne, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, son of Lt-col. Henry Monck Mason and his second wife, Jane, only daughter of…...
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…...
Maxwell, William Hamilton
Maxwell, William Hamilton (1792–1850), novelist, historian, and clergyman, was born 30 June 1792 in Market St., Newry, Co. Down, son of James Maxwell, merchant, and his wife, a daughter of William Hamilton. He witnessed the hanging of two United Irishmen in the town in 1798.…...
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…...
McDowell, Robert Brendan (R. B.)
McDowell, Robert Brendan (R. B.) (1913–2011), historian, was born on 14 September 1913 at Carrig, Bawnmore Road, Belfast, elder son of Robert McDowell, employed at Musgrave, a Belfast tea firm, and his wife Violet (née Ferris), whose family were wine and spirit merchants in Derry…...