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…...
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…...
McAughtry, Sam
McAughtry, Sam (1921–2014), writer and broadcaster, was born on 24 March 1921 in the Tiger’s Bay area of north Belfast, the son of Marriott ‘Mark’ McAughtry (1882–1951), a merchant seaman, and his wife Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ (née Condit). Sam was the sixth of ten children, four of whom died…...
McCarthy, Charles
McCarthy, Charles (1924–86), trade unionist and academic, was born 25 January 1924 at 12 Annmount, Friars Walk, Cork city, second child of John George McCarthy of Cork, plumber, and Agnes Abina McCarthy (née O'Donoghue). He was educated at Presentation College, Cork,…...
McCormack, Inez Jane Mary (née Murphy)
McCormack, Inez Jane Mary (née Murphy) (1943–2013), human rights activist and trade unionist, was born on 28 September 1943 in Belfast to Francis Cecil Murphy, a printer, and his wife, Margaret Murphy (née Sterritt), a nurse. She had one older brother, Terence (b. 1942). When Inez 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…...
Meredith, James Creed
Meredith, James Creed (1875–1942), judge of the supreme court and writer, was born in Dublin, son of Sir James Creed Meredith, secretary of the Royal University of Ireland from 1880 to 1909, and his third wife, Nellie (née Graves). He had three brothers and two sisters. He began…...
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,…...
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…...
Monck, William Henry Stanley
Monck, William Henry Stanley (1839–1915), philosopher and astronomer, was born 21 April 1839 at Skeirke, Queen's Co. (Laois), third son of Thomas Stanley Monck, curate of Skeirke 1829–50, and Lydia Elinor Monck (née Kennedy). The family moved (1850) to Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny,…...
Montgomery, (William) Eric (Wolfe)
Montgomery, (William) Eric (Wolfe) (1916—2003), civil servant and pioneer of the study of Scotch-Irish folk history, was born 19 April 1916 in Moy, Co. Tyrone, son of John Montgomery, a methodist minister, who was president of the Methodist Church in Ireland in 1952, and of his…...
Moriarty, John Stephen
Moriarty, John Stephen (1938–2007), philosopher and shaman, was born 2 February 1938 at Moyvane, near Listowel, Co. Kerry, fourth of six children (two sons and four daughters) of James Moriarty, smallholder and native speaker of Irish (with eleven cows and 'thirty-two acres of bad,…...
Moryson, Fynes
Moryson, Fynes (1566–1630), secretary to Lord Mountjoy and writer on Ireland, was third surviving son of Thomas Moryson (d. 1591), of Cadeby, Lincolnshire, England, clerk of the pipe and MP (for Great Grimsby in the parliaments of 1572, 1584, 1586, and 1588–9), and his wife…...
Moryson (Morrison), Richard
Moryson (Morrison), Richard (c.1571–1625/8?), soldier and administrator, was fifth son of Thomas Moryson (d. 1591), of Cadeby, Lincolnshire, England, clerk of the pipe, and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1587), daughter of Thomas Moigue, of Willingham, Lincolnshire. In 1585…...
Nicholson, John
Nicholson, John (1821–57), army officer and administrator in India, was born 11 December 1821 in Dublin, eldest son among five sons and two daughters of Dr Alexander Nicholson, physician, of Stramore House, Gilford, Co. Down, and his wife Clara (née Hogg). His father had studied…...
O'Brien, William
O'Brien, William (c.1640–92), 2nd earl of Inchiquin , army officer and colonial governor, was the eldest son of Murrough O'Brien (qv) (c.1614–1673), 6th Baron Inchiquin and 1st earl of Inchiquin, and his wife,…...
Ouseley, Sir Gore
Ouseley, Sir Gore (1770–1844), diplomat and orientalist, was born 24 June 1770 at Limerick, second son of Capt. Ralph Ouseley, soldier, and his first wife, Elizabeth (née Holland). Educated at home with his brother, William, and his cousin,…...
Pakenham, Sir Richard
Pakenham, Sir Richard (1797–1868), diplomat, was born 19 May 1797 at Pakenham Hall, Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath, fifth son of Admiral Sir Thomas Pakenham and Louisa Anne Pakenham (née Staples), granddaughter of William Conolly of Castletown, Co. Kildare. He was the nephew of…...
Parsons, Sir William
Parsons, Sir William (1570?–1650), lord justice of Ireland, was the eldest son of James Parsons of Leicestershire and his wife Catherine Fenton. As a youth, he was a staunch puritan and client of the earl of Leicester. After Leicester's death (1588), he settled in Ireland and from…...