Laffan, William Mackay
Laffan, William Mackay (1848–1909), journalist, newspaper owner, and art connoisseur, was born 24 January 1848 at 41 Philipsburgh Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin, eldest of six children of Michael Laffan, clerk in the Custom House, and Ellen Sarah Laffan (née Fitzgibbon). William's…...
Lambert, Eugene
Lambert, Eugene (1928–2010), puppeteer and entertainer, was born in spring 1928 in Bayview Terrace, Sligo, one of two sons and one daughter in the family of John Malachy ('Jack') Lambert (d. 1943), county librarian of Sligo, and Eileen Lambert (née O'Connor; d. 1985). His mother had…...
Laverty (Kelly), (Mary) Maura
Laverty (Kelly), (Mary) Maura (1907–66), author and broadcaster, was born 15 May 1907 in Rathangan, Co. Kildare, the third of nine surviving children of Michael Kelly and Mary Ann Kelly (née Treacy). Her father appears to have given up his career in farming at his wife's…...
Lawless, John
Lawless, John (1780?–1837), lawyer, journalist, and political agitator, was the eldest son among twenty-one children of Philip Lawless, brewer, of Warren Mount, Mill St., Dublin, and his wife Bridget (née Savage). Philip's younger brother, Barry, of Cherrywood, near Bray, was a delegate…...
Lawless, Luke
This is a co-subject for the entry on Lawless, John. View the original entry....
Leeson, Margaret (‘Peg’)
Leeson, Margaret (‘Peg’) (1727–97), prostitute, brothel-keeper, and memoirist, was born Margaret Plunket at Killough, Co. Westmeath, one of eight surviving children of Matthew Plunket, a wealthy farmer, and his wife, whose maiden name was O'Reilly. Most of what is known about Margaret…...
Le Fanu, Joseph Thomas Sheridan
Le Fanu, Joseph Thomas Sheridan (1814–73), novelist and journalist, was born 28 August 1814 in Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, eldest son and second child of three children of the Rev. Thomas Philip Le Fanu (1784–1845), Church of Ireland clergyman, and his wife, Emma Lucretia (née…...
Lemass, Peter Aloysius
Lemass, Peter Aloysius (1933–88), priest, broadcaster, and writer, was born 22 June 1933 in Dublin, the youngest of three sons of Peter H. Lemass, dispensary doctor in Rathmines, and Mary J. Lemass (née Neary), both of Dublin. He was educated at Xavier School, Morehampton Road,…...
Lenihan, Maurice
Lenihan, Maurice (1811–95), journalist and author, was born 5 February 1811 in St Patrick's parish, Waterford city, eldest of fifteen children (ten sons and five daughters) of James Lenihan, woollen draper (in Broad St., then the leading business area in the city), and Margaret…...
Leonard, John Patrick
Leonard, John Patrick (1814–89), English teacher, writer, and Irish nationalist resident in Paris, was born 12 October 1814 on Spike Island in Cork Harbour. His father (forename unknown), an engineer on a building site at Haulbowline, died in Paris en route for the Mediterranean…...
Linnane, Joe
Linnane, Joe (1910–81), broadcaster and actor, was born 19 April 1910 in Marlborough Street, Dublin, the son of Thomas Linnane, who owned and ran a drapery in Marlborough Street, and his wife Johanna (Josephine) (née Lambe). The family subsequently moved to Sandymount Avenue, Dublin,…...
Little, Patrick John (‘P. J.’)
Little, Patrick John (‘P. J.’) (1884–1963), journalist, lawyer, and politician, was born 17 June 1884 in Dundrum, Co. Dublin, son of Philip Francis Little and Mary Jane Little (née Holdwright). His father, born in Canada of Irish parents, was a former leader of the Liberal party in…...
Littleton, Michael Flannan
Littleton, Michael Flannan (1938–2002), broadcaster, was born 5 March 1938 in Limerick city, the eldest child of Michael Littleton and his wife, Bridget Long, shopkeepers of Tulla, Co. Clare. He had two brothers and three sisters. Educated at Tulla national school and at St Joseph…...
Lloyd, Edward
Lloyd, Edward (fl. 1700–1732), coffee house proprietor, publisher, and writer, was born in England and probably moved to Dublin in the 1690s. Nothing is known of his parents. A namesake, Edward Lloyd (d. 1713), founded (c.1688) Lloyd's coffee house in London, which…...
Logan, Michael J. (Ó Lócháin, Micheál)
Logan, Michael J. (Ó Lócháin, Micheál) (1836–99), editor, publisher, and ‘father of the Gaelic language movement’ in America (Ford, 1899), was born 29 September 1836 at Currach Doire (Curraghderry), Baile an Mhuilinn (Milltown), near Tuam, Co. Galway, son of Patrick Logan, a small…...
Longfield, Mountifort
Longfield, Mountifort (1802–84), economist and lawyer, was second son of the Rev. Mountifort Longfield (d. 1850), JP and vicar of Desert Serges, Co. Cork, of the Anglo-Irish Longfield family of Longueville, near Mallow, Co. Cork, and his…...
Lucas, Charles
Lucas, Charles (1713–71), politician, physician, and writer, was born 16 September 1713, the younger son of Benjamin Lucas (d. c.1727) of the townland of Ballingaddy, Kilmanahan parish, Corcomroe, Co. Clare, and his wife, Mary (née Blood), also of Co. Clare. …...
Lucas, Frederick
Lucas, Frederick (1812–55), journalist and politician, was born 30 March 1812 at Westminster, second son of Samuel Hayhurst Lucas, a quaker and London corn merchant. His elder brother, Samuel Lucas (1811–65), became a noted journalist and social and educational reformer and married the…...
Lynam, Sybil Mary Joan (‘Shevawn’)
Lynam, Sybil Mary Joan (‘Shevawn’) (1914–98), administrator, author, and linguist, was born 16 April 1914 in Dublin, daughter of Charles Lynam, engineer, and Margaret (‘Mai’) Lynam (née Moran), both from Co. Galway. Her father served in the first world war as an officer in the…...
Mac Amhlaigh, Dónall Peadar
Mac Amhlaigh, Dónall Peadar (1926–89), author, journalist, and labourer, was born 10 December 1926 in Co. Galway, the eldest of three sons and one daughter of James McCauley and his wife, Mary McCauley (née Condon). James McCauley was born in Limerick and served with the Munster…...
Mac Aonghusa, Proinsias
Mac Aonghusa, Proinsias (1933–2003), journalist and Irish language activist, was born in Salthill Nursing Home, Co. Galway, on 23 June 1933, eldest of four children (two sons and two daughters) of Criostóir Mac Aonghusa (qv), writer…...
Macardle, Dorothy Margaret
Macardle, Dorothy Margaret (1889–1958), writer and republican activist, was born 7 March 1889 in Dundalk, Co. Louth, the eldest child of Thomas Callan Macardle (later knighted), businessman, and his wife, Minnie Lucy (née Ross), who had three sons and another daughter. Her father'…...
MacCabe, Frederick Faber
MacCabe, Frederick Faber (1868–1954), racehorse trainer and journalist, was born in Glasnevin, Dublin. Educated at Terenure College, Downside School, and TCD, he qualified as a medical doctor in 1891. In his late teens and early twenties…...
MacCabe, William Bernard
MacCabe, William Bernard (1801–91), journalist, poet, historian, and author, was born 23 November 1801 in Dublin. Details of his early life are scarce but it is known that he began a career as a journalist in the 1820s, working for both Dublin and provincial newspapers. In 1823 he…...
Mac Eoin, Gary (Gearóid)
Mac Eoin, Gary (Gearóid) (1909–2003), journalist and catholic activist, was born Garrett Anthony Johnson on 12 June 1909 in Curry, Co. Sligo, where his father, William Johnson, was clerk of the local petty sessions court. Mac Eoin was sixth of nine children and third son. According to…...