Mac Domhnaill, Aodh (McDonnell, Hugh)
Mac Domhnaill, Aodh (McDonnell, Hugh) (1802–67), writer and folklore collector, was born at Drumgill, near Drumcondra, Co. Meath. His father was named Séamas Mac Domhnaill but nothing else is known of his immediate family. In 1827 he married Bridget Roe of Ardee, Co. Louth, and they had…...
MacDonnell, Randell
MacDonnell, Randell (c.1633–1711), naval commander and Jacobite, was second son of Sir James MacDonnell, 2nd baronet of Moye, a cousin of Randal MacDonnell (qv), 2nd earl and later marquis of Antrim. His mother was Mary…...
Mackle, Henry
Mackle, Henry (1921–94), physical chemist and folklore writer, was born 12 May 1921 at Derrykeeran, Co. Armagh, the son of Patrick Mackle, farmer, and Sarah Mackle (née Byrne). He studied chemistry at QUB, graduating with first-…...
Mac Mathúna, Ciarán
Mac Mathúna, Ciarán (1925–2009), folk music collector and broadcaster, was born Kieran MacMahon on 26 November 1925 at 14 St John's Avenue, off Mulgrave Street, Limerick city, youngest among five sons and one daughter of James MacMahon (1875–1967), national school teacher, native…...
Mac Murchadha Caomhánach, Seán Óg
This is a co-subject for the entry on Kavanagh, Muiris (‘Kruger’). View the original entry....
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…...
Mac Thomáis, Éamonn
Mac Thomáis, Éamonn (1927–2002), author, local historian, and republican, was born Edward Patrick Thomas on 13 January 1927 in an apartment above Rathmines fire station, Dublin, son of James Heather Thomas, a chief fire brigade officer, and Alice Thomas (née Kavanagh). The family's…...
Magennis, James Joseph
Magennis, James Joseph (1919–86), Royal Navy submariner and frogman, was born 27 October 1919 at 4 Majorca St., west Belfast, third child of William Magennis (a packer in a local mill, who also worked as a musician) and Mary Magennis (née Murphy). His early years were ones of…...
Magill, Walter Alexander
This is a co-subject for the entry on Magill, Andrew Philip. View the original entry....
Maguire, Conor Joseph O'Loughlin
Maguire, Conor Joseph O'Loughlin (1861–1944), physician and folklorist, was born in Carraroe, Co. Galway, the only son of the two children of Edward Maguire, also a physician, and his first wife, whose maiden name was O'Loughlin. His father later married a second time and had another…...
Mallon, John
Mallon, John (1839–1915), policeman, was born 10 May 1839 near Meigh, Co. Armagh, the eldest child of Thomas Mallon, a tenant farmer, and his wife, Judith (Susan) Connolly. Educated at Newry model school and mentored by Canon Michael Murphy, Mallon was then apprenticed to a Newry draper…...
Martin, William Gregory Wood-
Martin, William Gregory Wood- (1847–1917), historian, archaeologist, folklorist, landowner, and soldier, was born 16 July 1847 in Woodville, Co. Sligo, the only surviving son of James Wood, landowner of Woodville, and his second wife, Anne (née Martin), of Cleveragh, Co. Sligo. Anne…...
Mayne, Sir Richard
Mayne, Sir Richard (1796–1868), barrister and policeman, was born 27 November 1796 in Dublin, fourth son of Edward Mayne, barrister and later judge of the king's bench in Ireland (1817–20) and possibly descended from a family of English origin settled in the Monaghan–Fermanagh area…...
McCarthy, Mortimer
This is a co-subject for the entry on McCarthy, Timothy (‘Tim’). View the original entry....
McCarthy, Timothy (‘Tim’)
McCarthy, Timothy (‘Tim’) (1887–1917), sailor and Polar explorer, was born 15 July 1887 in Kinsale, Co. Cork, a younger son of John McCarthy, farmer and fisherman of Lower Cove, Kinsale, and Mary McCarthy (née Ford) who was originally from Garrylucas, near the Old Head of Kinsale.…...
McClintock, Sir Francis Leopold
McClintock, Sir Francis Leopold (1819–1907), Royal Naval officer and Arctic explorer, was born 8 July 1819 at 1 Seatown Place, Dundalk, Co. Louth, eldest surviving son of Henry McClintock, collector of customs in Dundalk and formerly an officer in the 3rd Dragoon Guards, and his…...
McClure, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier
McClure, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier (1807–73), Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer, was born 28 January 1807, at the Rectory, Main St., Wexford, son of Capt. Robert McClure of the 89th Foot and his wife Jane, daughter of Archdeacon Elgee, rector of Wexford. His father died…...
McCorley, Roddy (Roger)
McCorley, Roddy (Roger) (d. 1800), United Irishman, was born in the parish of Duneane, Co. Antrim. His family is said to have been prosperous, but to have been evicted from their farm when the father died, and to have been reduced to begging, and the young man became involved in the…...
McElligott, Thomas J.
McElligott, Thomas J. (1888–1961), police man, union activist, and republican, was born 2 April 1888 at Duagh, Listowel,Co. Kerry, second eldest of sixteen children of a small farmer named McElligott and his wife Julia (née McCarthy). He received a local national school education…...
McGrath, Matthew J.
McGrath, Matthew J. (1875–1941), athlete and police officer in the USA, was born 28 December 1875 (not 20 December 1876, as usually given) at Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, one of eleven children of Jim McGrath, a tenant farmer, and his wife, Anne. His birth was registered on 13 January 1876…...
McGuinness, Charles John
McGuinness, Charles John (1893–1947), sailor and adventurer, was born 6 March 1893 in Derry city, elder of two sons of John McGuinness, sea-captain and harbourmaster, and Margaret McGuinness (née Hernand). In 1908, at the age of 15, McGuinness left home, stowing away in a ship and…...
McHugh, Kevin
McHugh, Kevin (1946–2006), fisherman and businessman, was born in Bullsmouth, Achill Island, Co. Mayo, on 26 May 1946, the fourth of eight children of Michael McHugh, ESB maintenance engineer, and his wife Norah (née Lavelle). Educated…...
Mee, Jeremiah
Mee, Jeremiah (1889–1953), leader of the Listowel RIC mutiny, was born 29 March 1889 at Knickanes, Glenamaddy, Co. Galway, fourth child among five sons and four daughters of John Mee and Ellen Mee (née Mee). His home was a 21-acre farm near Glenamaddy village. From 1893 to 1901 he…...
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…...
Melville, William
Melville, William (1852–1918), detective, was born in Sneem, Co. Kerry, son of James Melville. He had at least one brother; other details of his early life are unknown. In 1872 he joined the London Metropolitan Police; his rise within the detective service may have been accelerated…...