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…...
Loftus, Sean Daniel ('Dublin Bay')
Loftus, Sean Daniel ('Dublin Bay') (1927–2010), environmentalist and political activist, was born in Dublin on 26 November 1927, eldest of seven children (four sons and three daughters) of J. J. Loftus, medical doctor, and his wife Margaret, former captain of the Irish hockey team. The…...
Lynchehaun, James
Lynchehaun, James (1858/60–1937/46?), criminal, was born in Tonregee, Corraun, parish of Achill, Co. Mayo, son of Neal Lynchehaun, substantial sheep farmer, and Bridget Lynchehaun (née Cafferky). Having attended the village school, he was appointed class monitor at 14 and progressed…...
Maclaine, James
Maclaine, James (1724–50), gentleman highwayman, was born in Co. Monaghan, second son among two sons and one daughter of the Rev. Lauchlin Maclaine, presbyterian minister, from Scotland, and Elizabeth Maclaine (née Milling). His brother, …...
Mac Murchadha Caomhánach, Seán Óg
This is a co-subject for the entry on Kavanagh, Muiris (‘Kruger’). View the original entry....
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…...
MacNamara, Desmond Joseph
MacNamara, Desmond Joseph (1918–2008), artist, writer and bohemian, was born 10 May 1918 in a private hospital at 29 Upper Mount Street, Dublin, son of Patrick William MacNamara, secretary of Greenslade and Co., ladies' tailors and costumers of 32 Wicklow Street, Dublin (at which…...
Mansfield, Jim
Mansfield, Jim (1939–2014), businessman, was born on 9 April 1939 in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, one of three sons of Mary Mansfield. There is no reference to a father on his birth certificate. He was brought up by his mother on a plot of land at Crooksling, Brittas, Co. Dublin, and…...
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…...
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…...
Murphy, Hugh Leonard Thompson (‘Lenny’)
Murphy, Hugh Leonard Thompson (‘Lenny’) (1952–82), loyalist paramilitary and sectarian killer, was born 2 March 1952 in Belfast, third and youngest son of William Murphy and Joyce Murphy (née Thompson). The family suffered harassment due to the mistaken belief that William Murphy…...
Nelson, Brian
Nelson, Brian (1947–2003), loyalist paramilitary and undercover agent, was born 30 September 1947 in Belfast, one of six children of Adam Nelson, shipyard worker, and his wife Maisie. His parents lived on Crosby Street in the Shankill Road area of west Belfast. The family had catholic…...
O'Donnell, Charles James O'Cahan
O'Donnell, Charles James O'Cahan (1850–1934), civil servant, politician, and controversialist, was probably born 28 May 1850 at Port Louis, Mauritius, youngest son of Capt. Bernard MacDonald of the Northumberland Fusiliers, from Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, and Mary MacDonald (née…...
Outlaw, William
This is a co-subject for the entry on Kyteler (Kettle, Keyetler), Dame Alice. View the original entry....
Payne, Davy (Hugh David)
Payne, Davy (Hugh David) (1948?–2003), loyalist paramilitary, was born in Belfast, where he was brought up in the Woodvale area of the Shankill Road. He was involved in loyalist activism from his teens (although he later falsely claimed to have been radicalised by IRA bombings in the…...
Ryan, Luke
Ryan, Luke (1750–89), privateer and smuggler, was born on 14 February 1750 in Rush, Co. Dublin, the son of Michael Ryan, a farmer of Kenure, near Rush, and his wife Mary (née Taylor). As a child he attended the country school at Hackettstown, near Skerries, Co. Dublin. In 1762 he…...
Sadleir, John
Sadleir, John (1813–56), banker, politician, speculator, and swindler, was born 17 November 1813 at Shronell House in the parish of Shronell near Tipperary town, fifth of seven children born to Clement William Sadleir, a protestant farmer and middleman, whose earliest known…...
Shackleton, Francis Richard (‘Frank’)
Shackleton, Francis Richard (‘Frank’) (1876–1941), Dublin Herald of Arms (1905–7), was born 19 September 1876 at Kilkea House, Kilkea, Co. Kildare, second son of Henry Shackleton and Henrietta Letitia Sophia Shackleton (née Gavan). His elder brother was Sir…...
Sheehy, Edmund
Sheehy, Edmund (1733–66), farmer executed for murder, of Lodge (parish of Ardfinnan, Co. Tipperary), was the son of Ellin Fitzpatrick. He was otherwise known as ‘Buck’ Sheehy, a term indicative of semi-gentleman status, as he had an income of £300 or £400 a year, and was a person…...
Skeffington, Clotworthy
Skeffington, Clotworthy (1743–1805), 2nd earl of Massereene, eccentric, was born 28 January 1743, eldest son of Clotworthy Skeffington, 1st earl of Massereene (c.1713–1757) and his second wife, Anne (c.1715–1805), daughter of Henry Eyre of Row Tor, Derbyshire. At 14 he…...
Smyth, Brendan
Smyth, Brendan (1927–97), catholic priest and paedophile, was born John Gerard Smyth in Nansen Street, off the Falls Road, west Belfast, on 6 June 1927. He was educated at Barracks Street CBS, Belfast. In 1945 he joined the Norbertine…...
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’)
Sugrue, Elizabeth (‘Lady Betty’) (1740/50–1807), executioner, is thought to have been born in Co. Kerry into a tenant farming family between 1740 and 1750. The location of her birth and names of her parents are not known, and available details of her life are largely anecdotal or…...
Taylor, William Desmond
Taylor, William Desmond (1872–1922), silent film director and celebrity murder victim, was born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner at Straw Hill House, Carlow town, Co. Carlow, on 26 April 1872, second child and oldest son among two daughters and three sons (one of whom died in infancy) of…...
Wright, William (‘Billy’)
Wright, William (‘Billy’) (1960–97), loyalist paramilitary, was born in July 1960 in Wolverhampton in the west midlands of England, son of David Wright and his wife, both originally from Portadown, Co. Armagh. The Wrights had moved to England because of harassment after David…...
Young, Mary ('Jenny Diver')
Young, Mary ('Jenny Diver') (c.1704–41), notorious pickpocket and head of a criminal gang, was born c.1704 in the north of Ireland. There are no extant records relating to Young's early life so most accounts rely on the text published by James Guthrie, The…...