Mathew, Sir James Charles
Mathew, Sir James Charles (1830–1908), barrister and judge, was born 10 July 1830 in Bordeaux, France, eldest son of Charles Mathew, gentleman, of Lehanagh House, Co. Cork, and Castlelake, Co. Tipperary, and his wife Mary, daughter of James Hackett of Cork. He was of a Roman…...
McAuley, Charles Joseph
McAuley, Charles Joseph (1910–99), painter, was born 15 March 1910 in Lubatavish, Glenaan, in the Glens of Antrim, where his family lived on a small farm, youngest child of four boys and four girls born to Bernard McAuley and his wife Lizzie (née McElheron). The family tradition was…...
McCarthy, Niall St John
McCarthy, Niall St John (1925–92), lawyer and judge, was born in Cork on 25 May 1925, the sixth of seven children of Joseph A. McCarthy, an engineer who was later called to the bar and became a circuit court judge, and his wife, Rose A. O'Neill. The family shortly afterwards moved…...
McClean, (John) Raymond
McClean, (John) Raymond (1933–2011), medical doctor, civil-rights activist and humanitarian, was born on 18 January 1933 in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, third in a family of three sons and one daughter of Charles McClean and his wife Kathleen (née King). Charles McClean, a trophy-winning…...
McGilligan, Patrick
McGilligan, Patrick (1889–1979), politician, academic, and lawyer, was born 12 April 1889. His family home was at Hanover Place, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, and he was the second child and second son among the eight sons and four daughters of Patrick McGilligan, businessman and MP (…...
McGoldrick, Hubert Vincent
McGoldrick, Hubert Vincent (1897–1967), stained-glass artist, was born in Rathgar, Dublin, youngest son of James McGoldrick, commercial traveller, and Margaret Letitia McGoldrick (née Mullen), and was educated at the CBS, Synge St.,…...
McGonigal, Richard
McGonigal, Richard (1902–64), barrister and senior counsel, was born at 8 Mount Street Crescent, Dublin, on 14 February 1902, the eldest son of John McGonigal KC, county court judge for Co. Tyrone (1939–43), and his wife Margaret Davoren,…...
McGonigal, Sir Ambrose Joseph
McGonigal, Sir Ambrose Joseph (1917–79), judge, was born 22 November 1917 at 18 Herbert Street, Dublin, the second son of the three sons and four daughters of John McGonigal KC, county court judge for Co. Tyrone (1939–43), and Margaret Davoren,…...
McGough, Joseph Christopher (Joe)
McGough, Joseph Christopher (Joe) (1919–2003), army officer, barrister and businessman, was born 23 December 1919 at Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, the fourth child and first son of John McGough, originally of Co. Clare, and his wife Ann (née Brennan). His father, having served as a…...
McGrory, Patrick John Mary (‘Paddy’)
McGrory, Patrick John Mary (‘Paddy’) (1923–94), solicitor, was born 11 October 1923 in the St James area of the Falls Road, Belfast, one of four children of Patrick Joseph McGrory, insurance manager, of 1 St James's Parade, Belfast, and his wife Mary (née Skeffington). His father…...
McGuire, Edward Augustine
McGuire, Edward Augustine (1901–92), businessman, politician, painter, and sportsman, was born at his grandfather's home in Tramore, Co Waterford on 28 August 1901, the eldest of five sons (one son died in infancy) and two daughters of…...
McKenna, Theobald
McKenna, Theobald (1765–1808), catholic activist and lawyer, was born 6 December 1765 in Dublin, the fourth son of Edmond McKenna, a catholic merchant originally from Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary. He trained as a physician and in the 1780s was active in the campaign for the…...
McSparran, James
McSparran, James (1892–1970), lawyer and politician, was born 1 May 1892 in Glasgow, Scotland, third among five sons of James McSparran, farmer and merchant of Cushendun, Co. Antrim, and Albert Road, Glasgow, and Ann (Annie) McSparran (née McDonnell), farmer's daughter from north…...
Meenan, James Francis
Meenan, James Francis (1910–87), barrister-at-law, political economist, and writer, was born 18 October 1910 in Dublin, eldest of three sons and one daughter of Dr James Nahor Meenan (qv), professor of medicine at…...
Methuen, John
Methuen, John (c.1649–1706), lord chancellor of Ireland, was the eldest son of Paul Methuen, clothier, of Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, and his wife Grace, daughter of John Ashe of Freshford, Somerset. He matriculated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford (1665), aged 15, and entered…...
Molony, Sir Thomas Francis
Molony, Sir Thomas Francis (1865–1949), 1st baronet, last lord chief justice of Ireland, was born 31 January 1865 in Dublin, youngest son of James Molony, Dublin hotel proprietor, and his wife Jane, daughter of Nicholas Sweetman of Newbawn, Co. Wexford. Thomas was educated by the…...
Monahan, James Henry
Monahan, James Henry (1802/4–1878), judge, lawyer, and MP, was born at Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, eldest son of Michael Monahan, merchant, of Heathlawn, Portumna, Co. Galway, and his wife Mary, daughter of Stephen Bloomfield of Eyrecourt. Though the family was catholic, he was boarded…...
Morphy, Garret
Morphy, Garret (c.1655–1716?), portrait painter, was probably born and educated in Ireland. His familial origins are obscure. His earliest works, from c.1676, are similar in style to Gaspar Smitz, who was working in Ireland at this time. It is possible that…...
Morris, Frank
Morris, Frank (1928–70), sculptor, was born 8 November 1928 in Arklow, Co. Wicklow, son of Edward Morris, convert to catholicism and draughtsman with the civil service, and Catherine Morris (née Collins). The family moved to Dublin in the mid 1930s and lived at 93 Ranelagh Road…...
Morris, Sir Michael
Morris, Sir Michael (1826–1901), 1st Baron Morris and Killanin , lawyer and chief justice, was born 14 November 1826 at Spiddal, Co. Galway, eldest son of Martin Morris (1784–1862), a Roman catholic merchant who was a JP and later high…...
Mossop, William
Mossop, William (1751–1805), and his son William Stephen (1788–1827), engravers and designers of medals, were born in Dublin. William Mossop was born as William Browne; when he was a child, his father (a Roman catholic) died and his mother – after her second marriage to William Mossop (…...
Muldoon, John
Muldoon, John (1865–1938), lawyer and politician, was born in Dromore, Co. Tyrone, third son of James Muldoon, a prosperous catholic landowner; nothing is known of his mother. Educated locally, during the mid 1880s he worked as a journalist with the Galway Vindicator before…...
Mulready, William
Mulready, William (1786–1863), painter, was born 1 April 1786 in Ennis, Co. Clare, the only son and only surviving child of Michael Mulready, maker of leather breeches. His mother's name remains unknown. In 1788 the family moved to Dublin, leaving soon afterwards for London, where…...
Murnaghan, James Augustine
Murnaghan, James Augustine (1881–1973), judge and jurist, was born 6 July 1881 in St Louis, Missouri, USA, to which his parents, George Murnaghan and his wife, Angela (née Mooney), had emigrated in the 1860s. They returned to Omagh, Co. Tyrone, about 1883 where his father began to…...
Murphy, Arthur
Murphy, Arthur (1727–1805), dramatist, actor, and lawyer, was born 27 December 1727 at his mother's family home at Cloonyquin, Co. Roscommon, the fifth (and second surviving) child of Richard Murphy, a prosperous Dublin merchant, and his wife, Jane (née French) (d. 1761). Following…...