Keatinge, Maurice Bagenal St Leger
Keatinge, Maurice Bagenal St Leger (c.1761–c.1835), soldier, politician, and writer, was the only son of Maurice Keatinge (d. 1777), high sheriff of Co. Kildare (1774) and MP for Harristown (1776–7), and his wife, Catherine, daughter of Walter Bagenal of Dunleckney…...
Kellett, Sir Henry
Kellett, Sir Henry (1806–75), vice-admiral (RN) and polar explorer, was born 2 November 1806 at Clonacody, Co. Tipperary, son of John Dalton Kellett; nothing is known of his mother. His cousin was Commander Arthur Kellett, RN. He entered the Royal…...
Kirker, James
Kirker, James (1793–1852/3), scalp-hunter and frontiersman, was born on 2 December 1793 in Kilcross, Co. Antrim, the son of Gilbert Kirker, a grocer of Carnaghlis, Co. Antrim, and his wife Rose (née Anderson). His paternal ancestors had fled Scotland for Antrim in the 1680s to escape…...
Kirwan, William Bourke
Kirwan, William Bourke (c.1814–1880?), convicted murderer, was born in Dublin the son of Patrick Kirwan, picture dealer, originally from Co. Fermanagh, and his wife. He studied art with Richard Downes Bowyer and became a skilled miniature painter. Between 1836 and 1846 he…...
Kyteler (Kettle, Keyetler), Dame Alice
Kyteler (Kettle, Keyetler), Dame Alice (fl. 1324), accused of witchcraft and sorcery, was probably from a Kilkenny family, though nothing is known of her life prior to marriage. The Kytelers were a family of Flemish merchants who came to Ireland some time in the mid to late…...
Lamport, William
Lamport, William (1611?–1659), adventurer, was baptised in Wexford town, Co. Wexford, soon after his birth, which was probably on 25 February 1611, though he later claimed it occurred up to four years later. He was the youngest of four children of Richard Lamport, a ship's pilot of…...
Leared, Arthur
Leared, Arthur (1822–79), physician and traveller, was born in Wexford, son of Richard Leared, merchant. He graduated BA (1845), MB (1847), and MD (1860) from…...
Le Blond, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’) Alice Frances (née Hawkins-Whitshed; other married names Burnaby, Main)
Le Blond, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’) Alice Frances (née Hawkins-Whitshed; other married names Burnaby, Main) (1860–1934), mountaineer, author and photographer, was born 26 June 1860 in Dublin, the only child of Sir St Vincent Bentinck Hawkins-Whitshed, 3rd (and last) baronet of Killincarrick…...
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…...
Legge, Thomas
Legge, Thomas (d. 1808), traveller and mystic, was born in Donaghadee, Co. Down, the son of a ship-owner who transported Irish emigrants to America. Little else is known about his family background, although towards the end of his life he reportedly told a Scottish doctor that his…...
Leonard, Arthur Glyn
Leonard, Arthur Glyn (1856– p.1909?), soldier, ethnographer, and Rhodesian pioneer, was born in August 1856 in Ireland. In 1873 he joined the 2nd Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, serving as a transport officer in India and in conflicts in Afghanistan, Egypt, and the Sudan,…...
Lloyd, Edward
Lloyd, Edward (d. 1847), army officer and explorer, was born at Beechmount, Rathkeale, Co. Limerick, the fifth son of Colonel Thomas Lloyd of Beechmount and his wife Ellen, daughter of Thomas Lloyd of Kildromin and Drumsallagh, Co. Limerick. He was commissioned ensign in the 54th…...
Longfield, Cynthia Evelyn
Longfield, Cynthia Evelyn (1896–1991), entomologist and traveller, was born 16 August 1896 at 20 Pont St., Belgravia, London, youngest of three daughters of Lt-col. Mountifort John Courtenay Longfield and his wife Alice Elizabeth (née Mason) of Castle Mary, Cloyne, Co. Cork, 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…...
Lynch, Henry Blosse
Lynch, Henry Blosse (1807–73), explorer, was born 24 November 1807 at Partry House, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, third among eleven sons of Maj. Henry Blois Lynch, a soldier who had served with distinction in Portugal, and Eliza Lynch (née Finnis). At the age of 15 he joined the Indian…...
Lynch, Thomas Kerr
This is a co-subject for the entry on Lynch, Henry Blosse. View the original entry....
Mac Gabhann, Micheál (‘Micí’) (MacGowan, Michael)
Mac Gabhann, Micheál (‘Micí’) (MacGowan, Michael) (1865–1948), Klondike miner, was born 22 November 1865 at Derryconor, Cloghaneely, Co. Donegal, one of the twelve children of Tomás Mac Gabhann, small farmer, and his wife, Bríd Ní Chanainn. Mac Gabhann attended the primary school at…...
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, …...
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…...
MacQuitty, William Baird
MacQuitty, William Baird (1905–2004), traveller, film producer, photographer and polymath, was born in Belfast on 15 May 1905, elder of two sons of James Baird MacQuitty, managing director of the Belfast Telegraph (a cousin of the principal proprietors), and his wife Henrietta…...
Madden, Richard Robert
Madden, Richard Robert (1798–1886), medical man, traveller, anti-slavery campaigner, government official, and historian of the United Irishmen, was born 20 August 1798 at 6 Wormwood Gate, Dublin, the youngest of the 21 children of a prosperous silk manufacturer, Edward Madden (1739–1829…...
Madden, Thomas More
This is a co-subject for the entry on Madden, Richard Robert. View the original entry....
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…...
McCarthy, Mortimer
This is a co-subject for the entry on McCarthy, Timothy (‘Tim’). View the original entry....