Leland, Thomas
Leland, Thomas (1722–85), historian, was born in Dublin, son of John Leland (about whom nothing is known). Having been schooled by the Rev. Dr Thomas Sheridan (qv) (1687–1738), he entered TCD…...
Leslie, James Blennerhassett
Leslie, James Blennerhassett (1865–1952), clergyman and scholar, was born 28 May 1865, third son of James Leslie, farmer, and Mary Anne Leslie (née Blennerhassett) of Clouncannon, Killarney, Co. Kerry. He read history, political economy, and jurisprudence at…...
Lodge, John
Lodge, John (1692–1774), archivist and genealogist, was born in Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire, England, son of Edward Lodge, farmer, and was baptised there 22 January 1693. Nothing is known of his mother. After attending the Clapham School in Yorkshire he entered St John's College,…...
Logier, Frederick
Logier, Frederick (1801–67), organist, teacher, and composer, was born 25 April 1801 in the town of Cavan, the second child of the German pedagogue and inventor Johann Bernhard Logier (qv) and his first wife, Elizabeth Willman…...
Logier, Johann Bernhard
Logier, Johann Bernhard (1777–1846), pedagogue, composer, arranger, inventor, concert promoter, and music publisher and seller, was born 9 February 1777 in Kassel, Germany, the son of Johann Jacob Logier (1736–84), an organist and violinist, and Christina Elizabeth Gotze (1742–87…...
Lyon, John
Lyon, John (1710–90), clergyman and antiquary, was baptised 5 October 1710, son of John Lyon, a blacksmith, and his wife, Sarah Lyon. He was a scholar (1727) at TCD, and graduated BA in 1729,…...
Lyons, John Charles
Lyons, John Charles (1792–1874), antiquary and horticulturist, was born 22 April 1792, the only child of Charles John Lyons (1766–96), a Westmeath landowner and soldier, of huguenot descent, and his wife, Mary Anne Lyons (née Levinge). His father died when he was four and in 1798…...
Lyte, Henry Francis
Lyte, Henry Francis (1793–1847), hymn writer and clergyman, was born 1 June 1793 at The Cottage, Ednam, near Kelso, Roxburghshire, Scotland, second among three sons of Lt Thomas Lyte, soldier, and Anna Maria Oliver; his English-born parents do not appear to have married. In 1798 his…...
MacKnight, Thomas
MacKnight, Thomas (1829–99), newspaper editor and political writer, was born 15 February 1829 at Gainsford, Co. Durham, son of Thomas MacKnight and his wife Elizabeth. He was initially educated at the Rev. Dr Bowman's school at Gainsford. After his parents moved to London he…...
MacLysaght, Edward Anthony Edgeworth
MacLysaght, Edward Anthony Edgeworth (1887–1986), farmer, horticulturist, poet, novelist, senator, historian, and genealogist, was born 6 November 1887 at Flax Bourton, Somerset, the elder of the two sons of Sidney Royse Lysaght, novelist, poet, and businessman, and his wife, Kathrine,…...
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…...
Madden (Maddyn), Daniel Owen
Madden (Maddyn), Daniel Owen (1815–59), writer, was born in Mallow, Co. Cork, the only son of Owen Madden, Cork merchant, and Margaret Madden (née Quain). He was educated in Cork and worked for a time as a merchant before enrolling in King's Inns in 1838. Over the next four…...
Mason, Henry Joseph Monck
Mason, Henry Joseph Monck (1778–1858), miscellaneous bilingual writer, librarian, and evangelical reformer, was born 15 July 1778 at Powerscourt demesne, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, son of Lt-col. Henry Monck Mason and his second wife, Jane, only daughter of…...
Maxwell, William Hamilton
Maxwell, William Hamilton (1792–1850), novelist, historian, and clergyman, was born 30 June 1792 in Market St., Newry, Co. Down, son of James Maxwell, merchant, and his wife, a daughter of William Hamilton. He witnessed the hanging of two United Irishmen in the town in 1798.…...
May, Frederick (‘Freddie’)
May, Frederick (‘Freddie’) (1911–85), composer, was born 9 June 1911 in Dublin, son of Frederick May, who worked in the city's Guinness brewery, and his wife, Jeanne. The family were Church of Ireland and Freddie enjoyed a relatively comfortable upbringing on Marlborough Road,…...
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…...
McDowell, Robert Brendan (R. B.)
McDowell, Robert Brendan (R. B.) (1913–2011), historian, was born on 14 September 1913 at Carrig, Bawnmore Road, Belfast, elder son of Robert McDowell, employed at Musgrave, a Belfast tea firm, and his wife Violet (née Ferris), whose family were wine and spirit merchants in Derry…...
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, (Bartholomew) Barton
McGuckin, (Bartholomew) Barton (1852–1913), tenor, was born in Dublin on 28 July 1852, the son of Anthony McGuckin (d. 1895) of Kilkenny, registrar of Mercer's Hospital, Dublin, between 1875 and 1895. He received his early musical education while a chorister at St Patrick's Church…...
Megaw, Arthur Hubert Stanley ('Peter')
Megaw, Arthur Hubert Stanley ('Peter') (1910–2006), archaeologist, was born in Portobello nursing home in South Richmond Street, Dublin, on 20 July 1910, the second of four sons of Arthur Stanley Megaw (1873–1961), solicitor and writer, and his wife (Helen Isabel) Bertha (née Smith…...
Megaw, Basil
Megaw, Basil (1913–2002), archaeologist and folklife scholar, was born in Belfast on 22 June 1913, the third of four sons of Arthur Stanley Megaw, solicitor and writer, and his wife (Helen Isabel) Bertha (née Smith). Arthur Stanley Megaw (1873–1961) was a younger son of Robert Megaw…...
Miller, George
Miller, George (1764–1848), historian and ecclesiologist, was born 22 October 1764 in Dublin, son of Stephen Miller, wine merchant, an Ulsterman of ‘sturdy independence’ (Read, 309); nothing is known of his mother. Receiving his primary education at the classical school of the Rev…...
Moeran, Ernest John Smeed
Moeran, Ernest John Smeed (1894–1950), composer, was born 31 December 1894 at Spring Grove, Isleworth, Middlesex, the younger of two sons of the Rev. Joseph William Wright and Ada Hester (‘Esther’) Moeran (née Whall). His elder brother, Graham, followed their father into the…...
Molyneux, Daniel
Molyneux, Daniel (1568–1632), herald, was born in Bruges, Flanders, second son of Thomas Molyneux (qv) of Calais and his wife Katherine, daughter of Ludowick Slobert, burgomaster of Bruges. His father had been a member of the…...
Molyneux, Sir Thomas
Molyneux, Sir Thomas (1661–1733), physician, natural historian, and antiquarian, was born 14 April 1661, near Gormond's (Ormond, Wormwood) Gate on Cook St., Dublin, second son among five sons and two daughters of Samuel Molyneux (d. 1693), lawyer, landowner, and army captain, and his…...