Mac Cana, Proinsias
Mac Cana, Proinsias (1926–2004), Celtic scholar, was born 6 July 1926 in Belfast, son of George McCann and his wife Mary Catherine (née Mallon). He grew up in a catholic district in east Belfast, where inter-community tensions were keenly felt. He attended St Malachy's College during…...
MacCarthy, Denis Florence
MacCarthy, Denis Florence (1817–82), Young Irelander, poet, and translator, was born 26 May 1817 at 24 Lower Sackville St., Dublin, the only son of John MacCarthy (d. 1857), a catholic woollen merchant with premises on Eden Quay, Dublin, and Sarah MacCarthy (née Courtney) (d. 1845…...
MacCarthy, Diarmuid
MacCarthy, Diarmuid (c.1570s–1621), founder of the Irish College, Bordeaux, was son of Sir Callaghan MacTeige MacCarthy, 15th Lord Muskerry, and his wife Ellen, daughter of James, Lord Barry. Little is known of his early life but he was probably educated in Douai and he…...
MacCarthy, Mary (Mother Mary Stanislaus)
MacCarthy, Mary (Mother Mary Stanislaus) (1849–97), Dominican nun, educator, and poet, was born in Dublin 26 December 1849, eldest of nine children of Denis Florence MacCarthy (qv), poet, and Elizabeth MacCarthy (née Donnelly…...
MacDonagh, Thomas
MacDonagh, Thomas (1878–1916), teacher, writer, and republican revolutionary, was born 1 February 1878 in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary, third child and eldest son among six surviving children (four sons and two daughters; three elder children had died in infancy) of Joseph MacDonagh (…...
MacHale, Joseph Patrick
MacHale, Joseph Patrick (1922–2005), university administrator and sportsman, was born 8 January 1922 in Dublin, sixth child and younger son of J. P. MacHale, a senior official with the Hibernian Insurance Company, and his wife Grace. Educated at CBS Dún Laoghaire (1930–32) 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,…...
MacMahon, Bernard
MacMahon, Bernard (c.1736–1816), priest, scientist, and translator, was born at Castlering, Co. Louth, one of two brothers. He was educated locally and studied for the secular priesthood at Antwerp, presumably at the Irish College there. His name appears on the 1771 list…...
MacMahon, Bryan Michael
MacMahon, Bryan Michael (1909–98), writer and teacher, was born 29 September 1909 in Listowel, Co. Kerry, one of four children of Patrick MacMahon, clerk in a law office and later a butter-buyer and exporter, and Joanna MacMahon (née Caughlin), schoolteacher. From an early age…...
MacNamee, Pádraig
MacNamee, Pádraig (1896–1975), teacher, Irish-language enthusiast, and GAA official, was born 8 August 1896 in Carrigastickan, near Forkhill, Co. Armagh, one of four children (two sons and two daughters) of James MacNamee, farmer, and Brigid MacNamee (née McCann). Growing up in a partly…...
MacRory, Joseph
MacRory, Joseph (1861–1945), academic and catholic bishop, was born 18 March 1861 in Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone, one of ten children of Francis MacRory, farmer, and Rose MacRory (née Montague). He began his education at the local parish school and from an early age demonstrated an…...
MacSwiney, Patrick John
MacSwiney, Patrick John (1885–1940), catholic priest, Gaelic scholar, antiquarian, historian and teacher, was born on 16 March 1885 in 40 Nile Street (latterly Sheares Street), Cork city, the son of Terence McSweeney (b. 1847), a bootmaker, and his wife Hannah (née McCarthy; b. 1848…...
Madgett, Nicholas
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Madgett, Nicholas
Madgett, Nicholas (d. 1813), French official and translator, was born in Co. Kerry, probably in the early 1740s. He went to France (in or before 1760), studied for the catholic priesthood at the Irish College, Toulouse (licence and doctorat, 1764), was ordained…...
Magee, John ('Jack')
Magee, John ('Jack') (1914–93), historian and teacher, was born 11 December 1914 in Belfast, son of Francis Magee, a fireman and later an engine driver on the Great Northern Railway, and his wife Mary; he had at least one brother and a sister. His father was transferred to Clones, Co.…...
Magennis, William
Magennis, William (1867–1946), academic, politician, and proponent of censorship, was born 18 May 1867 in Kilmore, Co. Down, the second son of Hugh Magennis, painter, and his wife Catherine Magill. Educated at CBS Belfast and…...
Maguire, Thomas
Maguire, Thomas (1831–89), classicist and unionist, was born 24 January 1831 in Dublin, son of Thomas Maguire, a catholic businessman. He had two sisters, Eliza and Mary. Their father became a colonial magistrate in Mauritius, where Thomas junior, after education in Dublin, lived…...
Maher, Fr Tommy
Maher, Fr Tommy (1922–2015), hurling coach, was born 25 April 1922, the youngest of eleven children of John Maher a smallholding farmer from Whitepark, near Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, and his wife Annie (née Fowler), also from Whitepark. Four of his siblings had died before he was born, two…...
Mahon, Catherine
Mahon, Catherine (1869–1948), president of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, was born 15 May 1869 in Laccah, north Co. Tipperary, eldest among seven children of James Mahon, labourer, and Winifred Mahon (née O'Meara). She was educated locally and at the Convent of Mercy in…...
Malone, James
Malone, James (d. 1721), printer and bookseller, was of obscure origin. A catholic, he was admitted free of the city of Dublin in 1672, and of the guild of stationers in 1676. He came to prominence under James II (qv); when the…...
Mangan, James Clarence
Mangan, James Clarence (1803–49), poet and translator, was probably born 1 May 1803 in Dublin, the second of five children of James Mangan (1765–1843) from Shanagolden, Co. Limerick, who may have been a hedge-school teacher, and Catherine (née Smith; 1771–1846), whose family owned…...
McAuley, Jeremiah (‘Jerry’)
McAuley, Jeremiah (‘Jerry’) (c.1839–84), reformed criminal and missionary, was born in Ireland, the abandoned son of a counterfeiter. Raised by his grandmother as a Roman Catholic, he did not attend school and at the age of 13 was sent to America to live with his sister…...
McAuley (McGauley), Catherine Elizabeth
McAuley (McGauley), Catherine Elizabeth (1778–1841), educator, social worker, and religious foundress, was born 29 September 1778 at Stormanstown House, Drumcondra, Dublin, one of three children (two girls and a boy) of James McGauley and his wife Elinor (née Conway). McGauley, by…...
McCann, Michael Joseph
McCann, Michael Joseph (1820/24–1883), teacher, journalist, poet, and Young Irelander, was born in Galway. He received a private education before attending St Jarlath's diocesan college in Tuam, Co. Galway, where, on the recommendation of Archbishop…...
McCarthy, Michael Donald (‘Dónal Mac’)
McCarthy, Michael Donald (‘Dónal Mac’) (1908–80), statistician and university administrator, was born 4 June 1908 in Midleton, Co. Cork, son of Michael McCarthy, labourer, and Margaret McCarthy (née Murphy). His early education was at the CBS…...