MacMoyer (Moyer, Weyer), John (‘Fr Francis’ ‘Maor na Canoine’)
MacMoyer (Moyer, Weyer), John (‘Fr Francis’ ‘Maor na Canoine’) (c.1650–1709?), dissolute Franciscan friar and perjured witness against Archbishop Oliver Plunkett (qv), was a native of Co. Armagh, where the MacMoyer family…...
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…...
Magan, Francis
Magan, Francis (1774–1843), lawyer and government informer, was born 24 May 1774 in Dublin, descended of an ancient catholic family from Co. Westmeath, the Magans of Umma-more (Emoe). His grandfather, James Magan, established a medical practice in Dublin, where he was succeeded by…...
Magee, William
Magee, William (1750?–1827), printer, was probably born in Belfast, where his father, James Magee, printer and bookseller, had been involved with Francis Joy (qv) in papermaking near Ballymena in 1740, and had published the early Belfast news…...
Maguire, Brian Butler
This is a co-subject for the entry on Maguire, Constantine. View the original entry....
Mahon, Charles James Patrick (The O'Gorman Mahon)
Mahon, Charles James Patrick (The O'Gorman Mahon) (1803–1891), politician and adventurer, was born (or so he claimed) 17 March 1803 at Ennis, Co. Clare, eldest son among three sons and one daughter of Patrick Mahon, merchant and JP, and…...
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…...
Malone, James
Malone, James (d. 1721), printer and bookseller, was of obscure origin. A catholic, he was admitted free of the city of Dublin in 1672, and of the guild of stationers in 1676. He came to prominence under James II (qv); when the…...
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…...
Martin, Richard
Martin, Richard (1754–1834), politician, animal rights campaigner, and duellist, was born 6 February 1754 at Ballinahinch castle, Dangan, Co. Galway, the eldest son of Robert Martin, a landowner, and his first wife, Bridget Martin (née Barnewall), daughter of the 11th Baron…...
Mathew, Mary
Mathew, Mary (1724–77), diarist, was daughter of the landowner Theobald Mathew (d. 1699) of Thurles Castle, Co. Tipperary, and his third wife, Catherine Nevill (d. 1742) of Leicestershire, England. Theobald Mathew had five children from his first marriage, one from his second, and four…...
McAllister, Randal
McAllister, Randal (c.1760?–p. 1794?), printer and United Irishman, was made a freeman of the city of Dublin in October 1786 and was then a stationer; nothing else is known of his background. The following year, on 23 October 1787, he was indicted for forging a…...
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…...
McCole, Brigid (Bridget) Ellen
McCole, Brigid (Bridget) Ellen (1942–96), hepatitis C campaigner, was born 21 June 1942 at her family home in Bunawack, Glenties, Co. Donegal, daughter of John Sharkey , labourer, and Ellen Sharkey (née McCole). She was raised and educated locally and lived within Co. Donegal…...
McConville, Jean
McConville, Jean (1935–72), murder victim, was born at Avoniel, east Belfast, in 1935, the daughter of Thomas Murray, shipyard worker, and his wife, May. After a basic education she entered domestic service. In 1952 she married Arthur McConville, a catholic soldier from west Belfast and…...
McCreery, John
McCreery, John (c.1768–1832), printer and radical, was born in Burndunnet, near Strabane, Co. Tyrone, son of James McCreery (1745–1811), a Strabane printer. In the late 1780s John McCreery left Strabane for Liverpool, where he was apprenticed to George Wood, a leading local…...
McDonnell, Thomas
McDonnell, Thomas (d. 1809), printer and bookseller, was known as a young Dublin printer in 1763; nothing else is known of his early life. He was one of the master printers contracted to produce the Hibernian Journal in 1771, the year of its inception, and took part (August…...
McGinty, Thom (‘The Diceman’)
McGinty, Thom (‘The Diceman’) (1952–95), street performer, was born in Strathclyde, Scotland, one of two sons and two daughters of Thomas McGinty and Mary McGinty (maiden name unknown), a native of Co. Dublin. After training in Glasgow in theatre and as an artists’ model, he moved to…...
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 (McGucken), James
McGuckin (McGucken), James (d. 1817), attorney, politician, and informer, of South Parade, Belfast, was a native probably of Antrim or Down. According to Bernard McAuley (1771–1863), a catholic priest who knew him well, his father was a catholic but he and his sisters belonged…...
McLaughlin, Hugh
McLaughlin, Hugh (1918–2006), publisher and inventor, was born 11 October 1918 in the family residence at Cavan Lower in Killygordon, Co. Donegal, the youngest of five sons and two daughters of James McLaughlin, stationmaster, and his wife Dorothy (née Rogers). He attended Dromore…...
Miller, Liam
Miller, Liam (1924–87), publisher, was born William Miller 24 April 1924 in Mountrath, Co. Laois, son of James Miller, victualler, and Elizabeth Miller (née Carbery). He studied architecture at UCD and travelled to London after 1945 to…...
Monteith, Charles Montgomery
Monteith, Charles Montgomery (1921–95), publisher, was born 9 February 1921 in Lisburn, Co. Antrim, son of James Monteith, draper, and Marian Monteith (née Montgomery). The family were devoutly presbyterian. Charles was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institute – he later…...
Mooney, John Joseph
Mooney, John Joseph (1920–2000), farmer and publisher, was born 8 March 1920 in a nursing home at 4 Upper Pembroke Street, Dublin, elder of two children of Patrick Mooney, farmer and cattle dealer, a native of Athy, Co. Kildare, who had inherited an uncle's farm at Kilmurry, Co.…...
Moore, Theophilus
Moore, Theophilus (c.1730–c.1809), almanack compiler, may have been born in King's Co. (Offaly), but details of his life are scant and conflicting. John McCall (qv) in his comprehensive ‘History of Irish almanacks’ (written 1878; unpublished…...