Mac Cuarta, Séamas ‘Dall’
Mac Cuarta, Séamas ‘Dall’ (c.1650–1732/3), poet, was probably born near Omeath, Co. Louth, although the Drumcondra area of Co. Meath is given as his birthplace in some sources. Little is known of his immediate family or their circumstances except that his father's name was…...
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…...
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…...
MacEntee, Sean (John) Francis
MacEntee, Sean (John) Francis (1889–1984), revolutionary, politician, and engineer, was born 1 January 1889 at Mill St., Belfast, eldest among seven children of James MacEntee, publican, and Mary MacEntee (née Owens), who both came from Co. Monaghan. James MacEntee owned three public…...
MacErlean, John Campbell (Mac Fhir Léinn, Eoin)
MacErlean, John Campbell (Mac Fhir Léinn, Eoin) (1870–1950), Irish-language scholar and church historian, was born 15 February 1870 in Belfast, son of Andrew MacErlean, legal clerk, and Eliza MacErlean (née Campbell). Having attended St Malachy's College, Belfast, he entered the…...
Mac Firbhisigh, Dubhaltach Óg
Mac Firbhisigh, Dubhaltach Óg (c.1600–71), antiquary, was a native of Lackan, parish of Kilglass, Co. Sligo. His father, Giolla Íosa Mór Mac Firbhisigh, was a member of a family that had provided the O'Dowds, lords of Tír Fhiachrach (the barony of Tireragh, Co. Sligo),…...
Mac Gearailt, Piaras (Fitzgerald, Pierce)
Mac Gearailt, Piaras (Fitzgerald, Pierce) (c.1709–c.1792), poet, was born in Ballykinealy, near Ballymacoda, Co. Cork, into a branch of the Fitzgeralds who were related to the knights of Kerry but had lost most of their property as a result of their involvement in the…...
Mac Giolla Phádraig (FitzPatrick), Brian
Mac Giolla Phádraig (FitzPatrick), Brian (d. 1652), catholic priest and Gaelic poet, was born in Co. Laois sometime in the late sixteenth century, the son of Turlough Mac Giolla Phádraig, the half-brother of Barnaby Mac Giolla Phádraig (Fitzpatrick), the second baron of Upper…...
Mac Góráin (Mac Gabhráin), Riobard
Mac Góráin (Mac Gabhráin), Riobard (1928–2007), promoter of the Irish language, was born 19 March 1928 in Dublin, the eldest of five children of Séamus McGoran, an army officer, and his wife Elizabeth 'Lily' (née Mulholland), originally from Glenavy, Co. Antrim. Séamus McGoran (1892–…...
Mac Grianna, Seosamh
Mac Grianna, Seosamh (1900–90), writer in Irish, was born 15 January 1901 in Ranafast, Co. Donegal, one of eleven children of Féilimí Dhónaill Phroinsiais, farmer and fisherman, and his wife, Máire (née Ní Dhomhnaill). Both of his parents came from a storytelling background. His brother…...
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…...
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…...
MacNeill, Eoin (John)
MacNeill, Eoin (John) (1867–1945), Gaelic scholar and nationalist politician, was born 15 May 1867 in Glenarm, Co. Antrim, sixth of eight children of Archibald MacNeill, baker, sailor and merchant, and his wife Rosetta (née Macauley). Family background and education MacNeill was…...
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…...
Mac Réamoinn, Seán
Mac Réamoinn, Seán (1921–2007), broadcaster and journalist, was born John Redmond on 27 November 1921 in Birmingham, son of James Joseph Redmond, an insurance official from Boolavogue, Co. Wexford, and his wife Wilhelmina Mary (née Bruen), from Sligo; two elder siblings had died in the…...
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…...
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…...
Mallin, Michael Thomas
Mallin, Michael Thomas (1874–1916), trade unionist and revolutionary, was born on 1 December 1874 at Ward's Hill in the Liberties in Dublin, the eldest of six surviving children (four boys and two girls) of John Mallin, a boatwright and carpenter, and his wife Sarah (née Dowling), a…...
Malone, Sylvester
Malone, Sylvester (1822–1906), priest, ecclesiastical historian, and Irish-language enthusiast, was born in the parish of Kilmally, Co. Clare, son of Jeremiah Malone and Mary Malone (neé Slattery). A fluent Irish-speaker since his youth, he was educated at Maynooth and ordained in 1853…...
Markievicz, Constance Georgine
Markievicz, Constance Georgine (1868–1927), Countess Markievicz, republican and labour activist, was born 4 February 1868 at Buckingham Gate, London, eldest of the three daughters and two sons of Sir Henry Gore-Booth of Lissadell, Co. Sligo, philanthropist and explorer, and Georgina…...
McDonnell, Joseph Patrick
McDonnell, Joseph Patrick (1846–1906), revolutionary and labour activist, was born 27 March 1846 in Smithfield, Dublin, son of Peter McDonnell, baker's foreman. Educated at Marlborough Street national school (1853–8) and St Paul's Academy, Arran Quay (1858–60), he grew into a man of…...
McDowell, Kathleen Mary (‘Kay’)
McDowell, Kathleen Mary (‘Kay’) (1897–1975), trade union leader, was born 16 August 1897 at 20 Connaught St., Phibsborough, Dublin, daughter of William McDowell, wine merchant, of that address, and Mary McDowell (née Kirwan). Her father's family, which had roots in the north of…...
McGauley, James William
McGauley, James William (d. 1867), priest, scientist, and inventor, was apparently born into a Roman catholic family in Dublin, and is said to have been the son of a carpenter; it is possible he was in some way related to the family of the Venerable…...
McHugh, Edward
McHugh, Edward (1853–1915), political activist and trade unionist, was born on 21 August 1853 in Co. Tyrone (probably in the parish of Termonamongan in the far west of the county), the son of Matthew McHugh, smallholder and labourer, and his wife Margaret (née McCrory); he had one…...
McKenna, Lambert (Mac Cionnaith, Láimhbheartach)
McKenna, Lambert (Mac Cionnaith, Láimhbheartach) (1870–1956), Irish-language scholar and catholic social thinker, was born 16 July 1870 in Clontarf, Co. Dublin, son of Andrew McKenna, accountant, and Mary McKenna (née Lambert). Having attended Belvedere College, Dublin, he entered the…...