Macan, Turner
Macan, Turner (1792–1836), soldier, linguist and translator, was born on 30 September 1792 at Kilbrogan, Bandon, Co. Cork, the second son of seven children (three sons and four daughters) of Robert Macan (1750–1808), originally of Carrive, Co. Armagh, and his wife Hannah (née…...
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…...
MacNaghten, John
MacNaghten, John (1722–61), murderer, was born in 1722, probably in Benvarden, Co. Antrim, elder of two sons of Bartholomew MacNaghten, landowner in Co. Antrim and merchant in Derry city, and his wife Mary (née MacManus); he also had a sister. When John was about six, his father…...
MacNally, Leonard
MacNally, Leonard (1752?–1820), barrister, writer, United Irishman, and informer, was born in Dublin, the only son of William MacNally (d. 1756), a grocer. It seems that his mother brought him up with the support of his uncle, a merchant named Featherstone of St Mary's Lane. A…...
MacNeill, John Gordon Swift
MacNeill, John Gordon Swift (1849–1926), jurist and politician, was born 11 March 1849 in Dublin, only son of the Rev. John Gordon Swift MacNeill of Blackhall Street, and his wife Susan Colpoys (née Tweedy). He was descended from Godwin Swift, uncle and guardian of…...
Mahaffy, Sir John Pentland
Mahaffy, Sir John Pentland (1839–1919), classical scholar and provost of TCD, was born at Chapponnaire, near Vevey, Switzerland, on 26 February 1839, youngest of six children of Nathaniel Brindley Mahaffy, Church of Ireland clergyman, and his wife, Elizabeth (née Pentland).…...
Mahony, Pierce
Mahony, Pierce (1792–1853), solicitor, was born 19 December 1792, probably in Co. Kerry, son of Pierce Mahony (1750–1819), landowner and JP of Co. Kerry and Co. Limerick, and his second wife, Anna Maria, daughter of John Maunsell of…...
Malone, Anthony
Malone, Anthony (1700–76), lawyer and politician, was eldest son of Richard Malone (1674–1745), a noted lawyer, of Baronstown, Co. Westmeath, and his wife Marcella, daughter of Redmond Molady, nephew and heir of Sir Patrick Molady of Robertstown. The family were originally…...
Malone, Edmond
Malone, Edmond (1741–1812), lawyer and literary scholar, was born 4 October 1741 in Dublin, the second son of Edmond Malone of Shinglas, Co. Westmeath, MP for Granard (1761–6) and a judge in the court of common pleas, and his wife, Catherine (née Collier) of Ruckholt, Essex. He…...
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…...
Marshall, Robert
Marshall, Robert (1697–1774), attorney, MP, and judge, was born, perhaps in Monaghan, the only son of John Marshall, ‘gentleman’, of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, and Catherine (maiden name unknown). He was educated at Clonmel Free School, possibly Kilkenny College (1711), and…...
Mayart, Sir Samuel
Mayart, Sir Samuel (1587–c.1647), lawyer, was the son of Gilbert Mayart of Ipswich, Suffolk, England, who was of Flemish origin. He matriculated at Merton College, Oxford, in May 1604, at the age of 17, and was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1607, called to the bar in 1614,…...
May, George Augustus Chichester
May, George Augustus Chichester (1816–92), lawyer and lord chief justice of Ireland, was born 16 August 1816 at Belfast, Co. Antrim, son of the Rev. Edward May, rector of Belfast, and Elizabeth May (née Sinclair). Educated at Shrewsbury School, he entered Magdalene College,…...
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…...
McCausland, Dominick
McCausland, Dominick (1806–73), writer on biblical prophecy, anti-Darwinian polemicist, racial theorist, and barrister, was born 20 August 1806 at Roe Park, Co. Londonderry. He was the third of the four sons of Marcus Langford McCausland, landowner, and his wife, Elizabeth (née…...
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…...
McCormack, Percy (Percival Davis)
McCormack, Percy (Percival Davis) (1929–2015), nuclear scientist, rocket engineer, pilot and physician, was born 23 October 1929 at the family home at 5 Garville Road, Rathgar, Dublin, the eldest of three children (he had a sister, Marion, and a brother, John) born to Thomas Henry…...
McGrath, William
McGrath, William (1916–91), loyalist and paedophile, was born 11 December 1916 in Belfast, son of Abraham McGrath and Jane McGrath (née Warrington). McGrath came from a methodist background; in later years he worked with presbyterian and Free Presbyterian churches while operating as a…...
McGuckin (McGucken), James
McGuckin (McGucken), James (d. 1817), attorney, politician, and informer, of South Parade, Belfast, was a native probably of Antrim or Down. According to Bernard McAuley (1771–1863), a catholic priest who knew him well, his father was a catholic but he and his sisters belonged…...
Meade, Sir John
Meade, Sir John (1642–1707), lawyer and politician, was eldest son of Lt.-col. William Meade of Ballintober, Co. Cork, and his wife Elizabeth Travers. Educated at Kinsale, he entered TCD as a sizar on 28 May 1658, but took no degree.…...
Megaw, Arthur Stanley
This is a co-subject for the entry on Megaw, Basil. View the original entry....
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…...
Meredith (Meredyth), Robert
Meredith (Meredyth), Robert (a.1597–1668), chancellor of the exchequer in Ireland, was one of two sons of Richard Meredith (qv), Church of Ireland bishop of Leighlin and dean of St Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, and his…...
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,…...
Milligan, Victor
Milligan, Victor (1929–2009), athlete and civil engineer, was born in Belfast on 11 November 1929, the only child of Albert Milligan, a member of the RUC, and his wife Margaret (née Walker). Growing up in Irwin Drive, Ballyhackamore, in east Belfast, he was encouraged by his parents…...