MacDermott, John Clarke
MacDermott, John Clarke (1896–1979), Baron MacDermott , lord chief justice of Northern Ireland, was born 12 April 1896 in Belfast, third surviving son and sixth of seven children of the Rev. John MacDermott, DD, minister of Belmont…...
MacKnight (McKnight), James
MacKnight (McKnight), James (1801–76), journalist and agrarian reformer, was born 27 February 1801 near Grallagh House, Rathfriland, Co. Down, son of an Irish-speaking presbyterian smallholder; other details of his parents are unknown. As a youth he aspired to the presbyterian…...
Martin, John
Martin, John (1812–75), nationalist journalist and politician, was born 8 September 1812 at Loughorne, near Newry, Co. Down, second son of Samuel Martin (d. 1831), a presbyterian farmer and co-owner of a linen manufactory, and Jane Martin (née Harshaw; d. 1847) of Ringbane. His…...
Mason, Thomas Holmes
Mason, Thomas Holmes (1877–1958), photographer, naturalist, meteorologist, and businessman, was born 9 September 1877, eldest among three children of Thomas Mason, optical manufacturer, and Sarah Mason (née Barry) of Dublin. Having worked in the family business in Parliament St.,…...
McCaughey, Sir Samuel
McCaughey, Sir Samuel (1835–1919), pastoralist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist in Australia, was born 30 June 1835 in Tullynewey, near Ballymena, Co. Antrim, eldest son and second child of Francis McCaughey, tenant of a large farm, and Eliza McCaughey (née Wilson), who later had…...
McCleery, Sir William Victor
McCleery, Sir William Victor (1887–1957), businessman and politician, was born 17 July 1887, son of the Rev. John Richard McCleery, of First Killyleigh presbyterian church, and Henrietta McCleery (née Hodgins). After being educated privately, he went into business, and quickly…...
McComb, William
McComb, William (1793–1873), journalist and poet, was born 17 August 1793 at Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, son of Thomas McComb, linen manufacturer and draper, and his wife (née Foster). The ‘pushing and ambitious’ Thomas soon afterwards moved his family and business to Derry city…...
McDougall, Margaret Moran
McDougall, Margaret Moran (1826–99), author and journalist, was born 25 December 1826, according to family records (though her obituary said 25 December 1828), probably in Co. Antrim. Her father, J. Moran (or William Henry) Dixon , tailor, died in Galgorm, Co. Antrim, when…...
Mellon, Thomas
Mellon, Thomas (1813–1908), judge, investor, and banker, was born 3 February 1813 at Camp Hill Cottage, Castletown, near Omagh, Co. Tyrone, eldest of two sons and three daughters of Andrew Mellon (1785–1856), farmer, and his wife Rebecca (1789–1868), daughter of Samuel Wauchob,…...
Mitchel, John
Mitchel, John (1815–75), nationalist and journalist, was born on 3 November 1815 at Camnish, near Dungiven, Co. Londonderry, eldest surviving child among two sons and four daughters of John Mitchel (1781–1840), presbyterian minister of the Dungiven congregation, and his wife Mary…...
Monteith, Charles Montgomery
Monteith, Charles Montgomery (1921–95), publisher, was born 9 February 1921 in Lisburn, Co. Antrim, son of James Monteith, draper, and Marian Monteith (née Montgomery). The family were devoutly presbyterian. Charles was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institute – he later…...
Musgrave, Sir James
Musgrave, Sir James (1826–1904), businessman, was born 30 December 1826 at Lisburn, Co. Antrim, one of twelve children of Dr Samuel Musgrave (1770–1836), a physician, and his wife, Mary (d. 1862), daughter of William Riddel of Comber, Co. Down. (There is some dispute over his…...
Pinkerton, Emily (Emilie) Cordner-
Pinkerton, Emily (Emilie) Cordner- (c.1859–1902), publisher, was born probably in Newry, Co. Down, where her parents, William Henry Cordner (d. 1890) and Matilda Cordner (née McCracken), had a jewellery and watchmaker's shop. There were also at least three sons in the family…...
Porter, James
Porter, James (1752/3–1798), presbyterian minister and satirist, was born in the townland of Tamnawood, near Ballindrait in the Laggan district of Co. Donegal. His parents, who were presbyterians, were natives of the place and had three younger sons and four daughters. The father…...
Porter, William
Porter, William (1805–80), attorney general of the Cape Colony, was the second son of the Rev. William Porter (qv), presbyterian minister of Limavady, Co. Londonderry, and his first wife Mary (née Scott), both of them the offspring of tenant farmers near…...
Pottinger, Thomas
Pottinger, Thomas (c.1633–1715), merchant, was probably the second son of Edward Pottinger, ship's captain of Kirkwall, Orkney, and his third wife, Isobel Stewart. Thomas and his younger brother Edward (d. 1690) settled in Belfast in the early 1660s. In 1663 he married…...
Quigley, Sir George
Quigley, Sir George (1929–2013), civil servant and businessman, was born William George Henry Quigley into a presbyterian family on 26 November 1929 in Drumrot, Moneymore, Co. Londonderry, the son of William George Quigley, a potato inspector for the Ministry of Agriculture, and his…...
Rentoul, James Alexander
Rentoul, James Alexander (1845–1919), presbyterian minister, lawyer and politician, was born at Errity House, Manorcunningham, Co. Donegal, on 7 August 1845, eldest son (of three sons and five daughters) of Alexander Rentoul, presbyterian minister, and his wife Erminda (née Chittick…...
Robb, John Hanna
Robb, John Hanna (1873–1956), politician and barrister, was born 4 November 1873 in Clogher, Co. Tyrone, second son among ten children of the Rev. James Gardner Robb (d. 1891), presbyterian minister, and Martha Robb (née Hanna). As a child he spent five years in Toronto, Canada,…...
Robinson, Samuel
Robinson, Samuel (1865–1958), businessman and philanthropist, was born 9 June 1865 in Culcrum, near Cloughmills, Co. Antrim, eldest son among three sons and two daughters of Samuel Robinson, farmer, and Margaret Robinson (née Megaw). His mother's family, the Megaws, produced…...
Ross, Sir John
Ross, Sir John (1853–1935), judge, politician, and last lord chancellor of Ireland, was born 11 December 1853 in Derry, eldest son among eight children of the Rev. Robert Ross (d. 1894), presbyterian minister and moderator (1886–7) of the general assembly of the Presbyterian…...
Rylett, Harold
Rylett, Harold (1851–1936), non-subscribing presbyterian minister, journalist, land leaguer, and home ruler, was born 4 February 1851 in Boston Road, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, the son of Henry Rylett, a book binder, and later a commercial traveler, of Boston Road, and his wife Mary Jane…...
Scott, William
Scott, William (1765–1858), shirt manufacturer, was born 12 March 1765 in the townland of Ballougry, in the Liberties of Derry city, the youngest of three sons of David Scott, a farmer, whose ancestors had held the farm since 1610. After a limited education, Scott was apprenticed to…...
Shaw, James Johnston
Shaw, James Johnston (1845–1910), economist, barrister, and judge, was born 4 January 1845 at Kirkcubbin, Co. Down, second son of John Maxwell Shaw (d. 1852), merchant and farmer, and Anne Shaw (née Johnston). His father died when he was only seven, leaving his mother to raise a…...
Sibbett, Robert Mackie
Sibbett, Robert Mackie (1868–1941), journalist and author, was born 4 September 1868 in the townland of Killycoogan, Portglenone, Co. Antrim, the only son of James Mackie and Agnes Ann Mackie (née Sibbett; b. 1832, d. 4 November 1916), who were married on 20 November 1867. After…...