Lloyd, Humphrey
Lloyd, Humphrey (1800–81), scientist and provost of TCD, was born 16 April 1800 in Dublin, eldest son of the Rev. Bartholomew Lloyd (qv), then a fellow and later provost of TCD, and…...
Lombard, Peter
Lombard, Peter (c.1554–1625), professor at the university of Louvain, theologian, and catholic archbishop of Armagh, was born in Waterford, probably in 1554 (although in 1623 he estimated his own age to be about 65). He came from an important mercantile family, deeply…...
Luce, John Victor
Luce, John Victor (1920–2011), classicist, was born on 21 May 1920 in Dublin, the elder of two sons of Arthur Aston Luce (qv), then professor of moral philosophy in TCD, and his wife Lilian Mary (née Thompson), a philosophy graduate…...
Lydon, James Francis Michael
Lydon, James Francis Michael (1928–2013), historian, was born on 12 May 1928 in Galway city, the second youngest of eleven children, to Daniel Lydon, a baker and owner of Lydon's bakery on Mary Street, Galway, and Catherine (née Hogan), who came from an Irish-speaking family just…...
Lynch, Alexander
Lynch, Alexander (c.1585–p. 1620), schoolmaster, was son of Thomas and Letitia Lynch. As a boy he was educated in Galway, reading humanities for four years under English and Irish teachers. In 1602 he left Galway for the Irish Jesuit college in Salamanca, where…...
Lynch, Richard
Lynch, Richard (1611–47), Jesuit priest and rector of the Irish college, Seville, was born in Galway. His family background and early years are undocumented. He left Ireland in 1630 for Spain, where he was admitted to the Irish college in Seville. The college was to prove central…...
Mac Aonghusa, Criostóir
Mac Aonghusa, Criostóir (1905–91), teacher, author, critic, and campaigner for the Irish language, was born 13 December 1905 in Gort an Ghabhainn, Banagher, King's Co. (Offaly), son of Francis McGuiness (surname thus on his birth certificate), farmer, and his wife, Rosanna (née Egan).…...
Mac Caba (McCabe), Alasdair (‘Alec’)
Mac Caba (McCabe), Alasdair (‘Alec’) (1886–1972), teacher, revolutionary, politician, and founder of the Educational Building Society, was born 5 June 1886 in Keash, Co. Sligo. Educated at Keash national school and Summerhill College, Sligo, he won a scholarship to St Patrick's…...
MacCaffrey, James
MacCaffrey, James (1875–1935), priest, historian, and president of St Patrick's College, Maynooth, was born 25 October 1875 in Alderwood, Clogher, Co. Tyrone, son of Francis MacCaffrey, farmer, and Ann MacCaffrey (née McElroy). After early education at St Macartan's seminary,…...
Mac Cana, Proinsias
Mac Cana, Proinsias (1926–2004), Celtic scholar, was born 6 July 1926 in Belfast, son of George McCann and his wife Mary Catherine (née Mallon). He grew up in a catholic district in east Belfast, where inter-community tensions were keenly felt. He attended St Malachy's College during…...
MacCarthy, Diarmuid
MacCarthy, Diarmuid (c.1570s–1621), founder of the Irish College, Bordeaux, was son of Sir Callaghan MacTeige MacCarthy, 15th Lord Muskerry, and his wife Ellen, daughter of James, Lord Barry. Little is known of his early life but he was probably educated in Douai and he…...
MacCarthy, Mary (Mother Mary Stanislaus)
MacCarthy, Mary (Mother Mary Stanislaus) (1849–97), Dominican nun, educator, and poet, was born in Dublin 26 December 1849, eldest of nine children of Denis Florence MacCarthy (qv), poet, and Elizabeth MacCarthy (née Donnelly…...
MacDonagh, Thomas
MacDonagh, Thomas (1878–1916), teacher, writer, and republican revolutionary, was born 1 February 1878 in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary, third child and eldest son among six surviving children (four sons and two daughters; three elder children had died in infancy) of Joseph MacDonagh (…...
MacDonnell, Richard
MacDonnell, Richard (1787–1867), provost of TCD, was born 10 June 1787 in Cork city, son of Robert MacDonnell, carrier, from Douglas, Co. Cork, and his wife Susannah Nugent, of Co. Waterford. MacDonnell received his primary education at the Cork diocesan school before entering…...
MacDonnell, Sir Alexander
MacDonnell, Sir Alexander (1794–1875), resident commissioner of national education, was born in Belfast, elder of two sons of James MacDonnell (qv), MD, of Belfast and Murlough, Co. Antrim, and…...
MacHale, Joseph Patrick
MacHale, Joseph Patrick (1922–2005), university administrator and sportsman, was born 8 January 1922 in Dublin, sixth child and younger son of J. P. MacHale, a senior official with the Hibernian Insurance Company, and his wife Grace. Educated at CBS Dún Laoghaire (1930–32) and…...
MacMahon, Bryan Michael
MacMahon, Bryan Michael (1909–98), writer and teacher, was born 29 September 1909 in Listowel, Co. Kerry, one of four children of Patrick MacMahon, clerk in a law office and later a butter-buyer and exporter, and Joanna MacMahon (née Caughlin), schoolteacher. From an early age…...
MacNamee, Pádraig
MacNamee, Pádraig (1896–1975), teacher, Irish-language enthusiast, and GAA official, was born 8 August 1896 in Carrigastickan, near Forkhill, Co. Armagh, one of four children (two sons and two daughters) of James MacNamee, farmer, and Brigid MacNamee (née McCann). Growing up in a partly…...
MacRory, Joseph
MacRory, Joseph (1861–1945), academic and catholic bishop, was born 18 March 1861 in Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone, one of ten children of Francis MacRory, farmer, and Rose MacRory (née Montague). He began his education at the local parish school and from an early age demonstrated an…...
MacSwiney, Patrick John
MacSwiney, Patrick John (1885–1940), catholic priest, Gaelic scholar, antiquarian, historian and teacher, was born on 16 March 1885 in 40 Nile Street (latterly Sheares Street), Cork city, the son of Terence McSweeney (b. 1847), a bootmaker, and his wife Hannah (née McCarthy; b. 1848…...
Magee, John ('Jack')
Magee, John ('Jack') (1914–93), historian and teacher, was born 11 December 1914 in Belfast, son of Francis Magee, a fireman and later an engine driver on the Great Northern Railway, and his wife Mary; he had at least one brother and a sister. His father was transferred to Clones, Co.…...
Magennis, William
Magennis, William (1867–1946), academic, politician, and proponent of censorship, was born 18 May 1867 in Kilmore, Co. Down, the second son of Hugh Magennis, painter, and his wife Catherine Magill. Educated at CBS Belfast and…...
Mahaffy, Sir John Pentland
Mahaffy, Sir John Pentland (1839–1919), classical scholar and provost of TCD, was born at Chapponnaire, near Vevey, Switzerland, on 26 February 1839, youngest of six children of Nathaniel Brindley Mahaffy, Church of Ireland clergyman, and his wife, Elizabeth (née Pentland).…...
Maher, Fr Tommy
Maher, Fr Tommy (1922–2015), hurling coach, was born 25 April 1922, the youngest of eleven children of John Maher a smallholding farmer from Whitepark, near Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, and his wife Annie (née Fowler), also from Whitepark. Four of his siblings had died before he was born, two…...
Mahon, Catherine
Mahon, Catherine (1869–1948), president of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, was born 15 May 1869 in Laccah, north Co. Tipperary, eldest among seven children of James Mahon, labourer, and Winifred Mahon (née O'Meara). She was educated locally and at the Convent of Mercy in…...