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…...
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…...
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).…...
Mailduf
Mailduf (d. c.675), teacher and scholar who gave his name to Malmesbury (Maeldufi urbem), is named by William of Malmesbury as the first teacher of Aldhelm (d. 709), the first Anglo-Saxon man of letters. William describes Mailduf as ‘an Irishman by birth, a…...
Manchán
Manchán (d. 665) of Liath Mancháin (Lemanaghan, Co. Offaly), Irish ecclesiastic and scholar, has been given contradictory genealogies, perhaps through confusion with one of the several ecclesiastics named Manchán/ Mainchín. The most reliable source states that his father was Sillán…...
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…...
Manning, Robert
Manning, Robert (1816–97), surveyor and civil engineer, was born 22 October 1816 in Avincourt, Normandy, France, third of eight children of William Manning (1783–1826) of Knocknamohil, Co. Wicklow, a lieutenant in the Wicklow militia who fought in the USA, in the Peninsular war, and…...
Marconi, Guglielmo
Marconi, Guglielmo (1874–1937), pioneer of wireless telegraphy, was born 25 April 1874 of mixed Irish–Italian parentage: his mother, Annie, from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, was the only child of Andrew Jameson, of the Jameson family of distillery fame, which had settled in Ireland…...
Marsden, William
Marsden, William (1754–1836), orientalist, numismatist, and secretary to the admiralty, was born 16 November 1754, probably in Verval, Co. Wicklow, youngest child among six sons and four daughters of John Marsden (d. 1801), a wealthy merchant in Dublin, who was one of the founders…...
Marstrander, Carl
Marstrander, Carl (1883–1965), Celtic scholar and linguist, was born 26 November 1883 in Kristiansand, Norway, son of Fredric Marstrander, principal of a local college, and his wife Christiane Brodtkorb Svendrup. His interest in languages was probably encouraged at an early age by a…...
Martin, James
Martin, James (1783–1860), poet, antiquary, and linguist, was born at Millbrook, near Oldcastle, Co. Meath, youngest son among several children of James Martin, small farmer, who owned several cabins and some plots of land in Oldcastle, and who, according to McCall (1896, 631),…...
Martinus (Martin) Hiberniensis
Martinus (Martin) Hiberniensis (‘the Irishman’) (819–75), scribe and master of the cathedral school at Laon, was one of the greatest of Irish Carolingian scholars. What little we know of Martin has been provided by himself in a manuscript of the Annals of Laon (‘Annales Laudunenses…...
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…...
McCarthy, Janie
McCarthy, Janie (c.1890–1964), resistance worker and language teacher, was born in Bohereengowan, Killarney, Co. Kerry, the fourth of eight children, two boys and six girls, of Jeremiah McCarthy, mason, and Mary McCarthy, both of Co. Kerry. She appears to have been educated…...
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…...
McDonnell, Alexander
McDonnell, Alexander (1829–1904), civil and locomotive engineer, was born in Dublin on 18 December 1829, third son amongst six sons and five daughters born to John MacDonnell (qv), an eminent Dublin doctor, and his wife Charity,…...
McGregor, John James
McGregor, John James (c.1773–1834), historian and topographer, was born 24 February c.1773 in Limerick city, the seventh son and youngest of seventeen children (many of whom did not survive to adulthood) of John McGregor (d. 1796), native of Scotland, probably by…...
McKenna, Lambert (Mac Cionnaith, Láimhbheartach)
McKenna, Lambert (Mac Cionnaith, Láimhbheartach) (1870–1956), Irish-language scholar and catholic social thinker, was born 16 July 1870 in Clontarf, Co. Dublin, son of Andrew McKenna, accountant, and Mary McKenna (née Lambert). Having attended Belvedere College, Dublin, he entered the…...
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…...
Merne, Oscar James
Merne, Oscar James (1943–2013), ornithologist and conservationist, was born on 6 November 1943 in Dublin to Oscar Sean Merne, a bank official, and Madeline Mary (née Patten). He was the middle child between two sisters, Morna (b. 1942) and Cloida (b. 1947). He attended school at the…...
Meyer, Kuno
Meyer, Kuno (1858–1919), Celtic scholar, philologist and translator, was born 20 December 1858 in Hamburg, north Germany, second among four children of Eduard Meyer, a classical historian of some repute, and Henrietta Meyer. Kuno first attended the Siemsenschen Privatschule and then the…...
Mitchell, George Francis (‘Frank’)
Mitchell, George Francis (‘Frank’) (1912–97), environmental historian, archaeologist, geologist, and educator, was born 15 October 1912 in Dublin, younger son of David William Mitchell, owner of a Dublin ironmongery and furniture business, and Francis Elizabeth Mitchell (née Kirby). His…...
Mo-Chuaróc
Mo-Chuaróc (fl. 7th cent.) of the moccu Neth Sémon, scholar of the pro-Roman faction within the Irish church, belonged as his name suggests (although his parentage is unknown) to a population group known as the Semuine, whose existence is attested in the genealogies and…...