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…...
MacKnight, Thomas
MacKnight, Thomas (1829–99), newspaper editor and political writer, was born 15 February 1829 at Gainsford, Co. Durham, son of Thomas MacKnight and his wife Elizabeth. He was initially educated at the Rev. Dr Bowman's school at Gainsford. After his parents moved to London he…...
MacLysaght, Edward Anthony Edgeworth
MacLysaght, Edward Anthony Edgeworth (1887–1986), farmer, horticulturist, poet, novelist, senator, historian, and genealogist, was born 6 November 1887 at Flax Bourton, Somerset, the elder of the two sons of Sidney Royse Lysaght, novelist, poet, and businessman, and his wife, Kathrine,…...
MacMahon, Ella
MacMahon, Ella (1864–1956), novelist, was born Eleanor Harriet on 23 July 1864 in Dublin, elder of two children of the Rev. John Henry MacMahon (1829–1900), curate of St Werburgh's, Dublin (1860–71), and later chaplain of Mountjoy prison (1887–1900), and Frances MacMahon (née…...
MacNally, Leonard
MacNally, Leonard (1752?–1820), barrister, writer, United Irishman, and informer, was born in Dublin, the only son of William MacNally (d. 1756), a grocer. It seems that his mother brought him up with the support of his uncle, a merchant named Featherstone of St Mary's Lane. A…...
Madden (Maddyn), Daniel Owen
Madden (Maddyn), Daniel Owen (1815–59), writer, was born in Mallow, Co. Cork, the only son of Owen Madden, Cork merchant, and Margaret Madden (née Quain). He was educated in Cork and worked for a time as a merchant before enrolling in King's Inns in 1838. Over the next four…...
Madden, Samuel Molyneux (‘Premium Madden
Madden, Samuel Molyneux (‘Premium Madden ’) (1686–1765), writer and philanthropist, was born in Dublin on 23 December 1686, the second son of John Madden MD (d. 1703), one of the original members of the Irish College of Physicians, and his first…...
Malleson (Annesley), Lady Constance Mary (‘Colette O'Niel’)
Malleson (Annesley), Lady Constance Mary (‘Colette O'Niel’) (1895–1975), actress and writer, was born 24 October 1895 at Castlewellan, Co. Down, the second daughter of the marriage of Hugh, fifth earl of Annesley (qv) and Priscilla…...
Malone, Edmond
Malone, Edmond (1741–1812), lawyer and literary scholar, was born 4 October 1741 in Dublin, the second son of Edmond Malone of Shinglas, Co. Westmeath, MP for Granard (1761–6) and a judge in the court of common pleas, and his wife, Catherine (née Collier) of Ruckholt, Essex. He…...
Martin, Violet Florence
This is a co-subject for the entry on Somerville, Edith Anna Œnone.…...
Mason, Henry Joseph Monck
Mason, Henry Joseph Monck (1778–1858), miscellaneous bilingual writer, librarian, and evangelical reformer, was born 15 July 1778 at Powerscourt demesne, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, son of Lt-col. Henry Monck Mason and his second wife, Jane, only daughter of…...
Mason, John Monck
Mason, John Monck (1725–1809), politician and literary commentator, was born in Dublin, eldest son of Robert Mason, soldier, of Mason Brook, Co. Galway, and Sarah Mason (née Monck), author of the popular Poems by Miranda. Educated privately by Mr Young, he entered…...
Maturin, Basil William
Maturin, Basil William (1847–1915), catholic priest and writer, was born on 15 February 1847 at All Saints’ vicarage, Grangegorman, Dublin, third of the ten children of the Rev. William Maturin (qv) and his wife, Jane Cooke (née…...
Maturin, Charles Robert
Maturin, Charles Robert (1780–1824), Church of Ireland clergyman and novelist, was born 25 September 1780 in Dublin, sixth and youngest child of William Maturin, post office official and clerk of the roads for Munster, and his wife, Fidelia (née Watson). The Maturins were of…...
Maxwell, William Hamilton
Maxwell, William Hamilton (1792–1850), novelist, historian, and clergyman, was born 30 June 1792 in Market St., Newry, Co. Down, son of James Maxwell, merchant, and his wife, a daughter of William Hamilton. He witnessed the hanging of two United Irishmen in the town in 1798.…...
Mayne, Ethel (Ethelind) Frances Colburn
Mayne, Ethel (Ethelind) Frances Colburn (1865–1941), novelist, short story writer, biographer and translator, was born on 7 January 1865 in Johnstown, Co. Kilkenny, the second of eight children of Charles Edward Bolton Mayne and Charlotte Emily Henrietta Sweetman. Her father’s family…...
McAughtry, Sam
McAughtry, Sam (1921–2014), writer and broadcaster, was born on 24 March 1921 in the Tiger’s Bay area of north Belfast, the son of Marriott ‘Mark’ McAughtry (1882–1951), a merchant seaman, and his wife Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ (née Condit). Sam was the sixth of ten children, four of whom died…...
McDowell, Robert Brendan (R. B.)
McDowell, Robert Brendan (R. B.) (1913–2011), historian, was born on 14 September 1913 at Carrig, Bawnmore Road, Belfast, elder son of Robert McDowell, employed at Musgrave, a Belfast tea firm, and his wife Violet (née Ferris), whose family were wine and spirit merchants in Derry…...
McFadden, Roy
McFadden, Roy (1921–99), poet, was born 14 November 1921 in Beechfield St., Belfast, younger son of Roland Victor McFadden, bank official from Downpatrick, Co. Down, and Maud McFadden (née Steel). His paternal grandmother's family, the Quails, had been prominent tradesmen in…...
Meade, L. T. (Elizabeth (‘Lillie’) Thomasina
Meade, L. T. (Elizabeth (‘Lillie’) Thomasina Toulmin Smith) (1844?–1914), novelist, was born in Bandon, Co. Cork, daughter of Richard Thomas Meade, clergyman, and Sarah Meade (née Lane). Reared in Nohaval, near Kinsale, Co. Cork, where her father was Church of Ireland rector, she was…...
Megaw, Arthur Hubert Stanley ('Peter')
Megaw, Arthur Hubert Stanley ('Peter') (1910–2006), archaeologist, was born in Portobello nursing home in South Richmond Street, Dublin, on 20 July 1910, the second of four sons of Arthur Stanley Megaw (1873–1961), solicitor and writer, and his wife (Helen Isabel) Bertha (née Smith…...
Megaw, Arthur Stanley
This is a co-subject for the entry on Megaw, Basil. View the original entry....
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…...
Mercier, Vivian Herbert Samuel
Mercier, Vivian Herbert Samuel (1919–89), literary critic, was born 5 April 1919 in Clara, King's Co. (Offaly), son of William Mercier and Charlotte Olivia Mercier (née Abbot). His father, who was employed in the sales office of Goodbody's Mills in Clara, was of huguenot descent (…...
Michelburne (Michelborne, Mitchelburne), John
Michelburne (Michelborne, Mitchelburne), John (c.1648–1721), soldier, governor of Derry, playwright, was born on 2 January 1648 in Sussex, the only child of Abraham Michelburne and his wife, Penelope (née Wheeler), who died during the birth. Michelburne was baptised 8 January…...