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…...
Maher, Margaret
Maher, Margaret (c.1845–1924), servant, was born in Killusty, Co. Tipperary, the third of four children, to Michael and Mary Maher. About 1865 she emigrated to America with her older sister Mary, her brother Michael and possibly their youngest sibling, Thomas. Soon…...
Malleson (Annesley), Lady Constance Mary (‘Colette O'Niel’)
Malleson (Annesley), Lady Constance Mary (‘Colette O'Niel’) (1895–1975), actress and writer, was born 24 October 1895 at Castlewellan, Co. Down, the second daughter of the marriage of Hugh, fifth earl of Annesley (qv) and Priscilla…...
Mallon, Mary (‘Typhoid Mary’)
Mallon, Mary (‘Typhoid Mary’) (1869–1938), domestic cook and notorious carrier of typhoid fever, was probably born 23 September 1869 in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, daughter of John Mallon and Catherine Mallon (née Igo), and probably attended national school locally. Emigrating to the USA at…...
Manahan, Anna (Maria)
Manahan, Anna (Maria) (1924–2009), actress, was born on 18 October 1924 in Waterford city, third child in a family of three sons and three daughters of Patrick Manahan (d. 1967) and Mary Manahan (née Barry). Her father was a clerk in the margarine manufacturing business of W. and C.…...
Maude, (Maighréad) Caitlín
Maude, (Maighréad) Caitlín (1941–82), poet, writer, singer, actress, dramatist and Irish-language activist, was born 22 May 1941 in Casla, Co. Galway, second child of John Joseph Maude (Seán Ó Máidhbh) and his wife Mai Ridge (Máire Nic an Iomaire), a teacher. Caitlín received her…...
McAvin, Josie (Josephine)
McAvin, Josie (Josephine) (1919–2005) theatrical stage manager, and set decorator in cinema and theatre, was born 23 April 1919 in Dublin, one of three daughters and three sons of John McAvin (d. 1938), cattle exporter, and his wife Mollie. Her father was the last serving high…...
McKenna, Siobhán
McKenna, Siobhán (1922–86), actor and theatre director, was born 24 May 1922 at 28 St James's Park, off the Falls Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, the second daughter of Margaret (Gretta) O'Reilly from Loch Gamhna, Co. Longford, and her husband, Eoghan McKenna (b. Millstreet, Co. Cork, 1892)…...
Molony, Helena
Molony, Helena (1883–1967), actress, republican, trade unionist, and feminist, was born 15 January 1883 at 8 Coles Lane, off Henry St., Dublin, the younger of one daughter and one son of Michael Moloney, grocer, of that address, and Catherine Moloney (née McGrath). Orphaned at an early…...
Mooney, Ria
Mooney, Ria (1904–73), actress, teacher, and producer, was born in Rathmines, Dublin, daughter of William Mooney, who had a confectionery and catering business in Baggot St. She started acting at age six, and was singing with the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society at sixteen,…...
Ní Chanainn (Ní Cheanainn) (Cannon), Áine
Ní Chanainn (Ní Cheanainn) (Cannon), Áine (1907–99), headmistress and co-founder of Cumann Scannán na nÓg, was born Annie Delia Cannon on 22 October 1907 in Derryvea, Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo, daughter of Michael Cannon, farmer and shopkeeper, and his wife Annie (née Kelly). She received…...
Nic Shiubhlaigh, Máire
Nic Shiubhlaigh, Máire (1883–1958), actress and republican, was born Mary Elizabeth Walker, 8 May 1883, at 39 Charlemont Street, Dublin, daughter of Matthew Walker, a printer and typesetter, and Mary Anne Walker (née Dogherty), a dressmaker. Her father, who had printed Fenian and other…...
O'Casey, Eileen
O'Casey, Eileen (1897–1995), actress, author, and wife of writer Sean O'Casey (qv), was born 27 December 1897 in Dublin, youngest among three children of Edward Reynolds , accountant, from Athlone, Co. Westmeath, and Kathleen Reynolds (…...
O'Connell, Deirdre
O'Connell, Deirdre (1939–2001), founder of the Focus Theatre, was born Eleanor O'Connell on 16 June 1939 in New York, USA, fourth among five children of Michael Joe O'Connell, worker in the Brooklyn navy yard and trade unionist, and his wife Nellie, daughter of Timothy Taaffe of…...
O'Hara, Maureen
O’Hara, Maureen (1920–2015), actor, was born Maureen FitzSimons on 17 August 1920 at the family home at 32 Upper Beechwood Avenue in Ranelagh, Dublin. Her father, Charles Stewart Parnell FitzSimons, managed a high-end clothing company and was part-owner of Dublin’s Shamrock Rovers FC.…...
O'Malley, Mary (Margaret)
O'Malley, Mary (Margaret) (1918–2006), theatrical director and activist, co-founder of the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast, was born Mary Margaret Hickey in Mallow, Co. Cork, on 28 July 1918, the posthumous daughter of Daniel Hickey and his wife Annie (née Lysaght). Her father died of…...
O'Neill, Eliza (Lady Wrixon- Becher)
O'Neill, Eliza (Lady Wrixon- Becher) (1791–1872), actress, was born in Drogheda, Co. Louth. Both her father (John O'Neill, manager of a Drogheda theatre) and mother (formerly a Miss Featherstone) were actors, and she, like her sister and three brothers, performed on the stage from…...
O'Neill, Máire (Molly)
O'Neill, Máire (Molly) (1886–1952), actress, was born 12 January 1886 in Dublin as Mary Allgood, daughter of George Allgood , printing compositor and son of a protestant English army officer, and Margaret Allgood (née Harold), whose catholic parents owned a junk shop on the Dublin quays…...
O'Sullivan, Maureen Paula
O'Sullivan, Maureen Paula (1911–98), actress, was born 17 May 1911 at Boyle, Co. Roscommon, one of the five children of Major Charles Joseph O'Sullivan of the Connaught Rangers, and his wife, Mary Lovatt (née Fraser). Educated briefly at a convent in Dublin, she also attended the…...
Pope, Maria
Pope, Maria (1775–1803), actress, was born Maria Ann Campion in Waterford, daughter of a merchant and member of an old Cork family. Her father died around 1788, leaving her mother, a younger sister, and herself impoverished. Her mother solicited Hitchcock, prompter at Crow St.…...
Potter, Maureen
Potter, Maureen (1925–2004), variety artiste, comedian, and actress, was born Maria Philomena Potter (the baptising priest supposedly refused to countenance 'Maureen' as an acceptable Christian name) on 3 January 1925 at 7 St Joseph's Terrace, Philipsburg Avenue, Fairview, Dublin, the…...
Raftery, Mary Frances Thérèse
Raftery, Mary Frances Thérèse (1957–2012), campaigning journalist and documentary maker, was born on 21 December 1957 in Dublin to Adrian Raftery, an Irish diplomat, and Ita Raftery (née Elmes). She had one sister and two brothers. The family lived in France for much of her early life,…...
Rehan, Ada
Rehan, Ada (1857–1916), American actress, was born 22 April 1857 in Limerick, fifth of six children of Thomas Crehan and Harriet Crehan (née Ryan) of Limerick (Thomas Crehan, an adventurer and speculator, was in prison for smuggling when he met and courted Harriet Ryan, the jail…...
Reid, Christina
Reid, Christina (1942–2015), playwright, was born on 12 March 1942 in Ardoyne in North Belfast, the eldest of three children and only daughter of James Orchin, a Belfast dock worker, and Christina Orchin, who worked as a linen mill worker and later a waitress. Although the family…...
Richards, Shelah
Richards, Shelah (1903–85), actress and director, was born 23 May 1903 in Dublin, the daughter of John William Richards, solicitor, and Adelaide Richards (née Roper), a once militant suffragette. Educated at Alexandra College, Dublin, and a convent in Paris, she was introduced to…...