Leen, Edward
Leen, Edward (1885–1944), priest and academic, was born 17 August 1885 at Abbeyfeale, West Limerick, the son of Daniel Leen, a shopkeeper, and his wife Margaret (née Barrett). Born into a large catholic family of 14 children, of whom seven died in their youth, Leen received his…...
Leman, Jules
Leman, Jules (1826–80), priest and educationist, was born 30 June 1826 at his parents’ parish school in Deulemont, north-east of Armentières, northern France. His father, François Leman, was a Belgian migrant and his mother, Lucille (née Lecomte), a local woman; both were teachers…...
Leonard, John Patrick
Leonard, John Patrick (1814–89), English teacher, writer, and Irish nationalist resident in Paris, was born 12 October 1814 on Spike Island in Cork Harbour. His father (forename unknown), an engineer on a building site at Haulbowline, died in Paris en route for the Mediterranean…...
Leslie, John Randolph (‘Shane’)
Leslie, John Randolph (‘Shane’) (1885–1971), writer and lecturer, was born in London on 24 September 1885 and christened John Randolph a few weeks later at Castle Leslie, Co. Monaghan. His father, Sir John Leslie, second baronet, was an extensive landowner in Monaghan and Donegal…...
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…...
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, Maire (Mary McDonagh)
MacDonagh, Maire (Mary McDonagh) (1918–97), trade unionist, was born 20 March 1918 in Kilconnell, Co. Galway, the second of three daughters who lived into adulthood of Michael MacDonagh, customs official, and his wife, Caroline, née Keary, both of Co. Galway. She appears to have…...
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 (…...
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…...
Macken, Peter Paul (Peadar)
Macken, Peter Paul (Peadar) (1878–1916), trade unionist and revolutionary, was born 29 June 1878 at 13 Nassau Place (latterly part of the Setanta building, Nassau Street), Dublin, youngest of three children of George Macken, house painter, and Anne Macken (née Shanahan) (d. 1901), both…...
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…...
MacPartlin, Thomas
MacPartlin, Thomas (1879–1923), trade unionist, was born 22 August 1879 in Thomas Street, Sligo town, son of John McPartland, builder, and Margaret McPartland (née Burns). The family moved to Dublin in his infancy. After attending St Mary's Christian Brothers' School, he apprenticed as…...
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…...
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…...
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.…...