Lawlor, Hugh Jackson
Lawlor, Hugh Jackson (1860–1938), church historian and dean of St Patrick's, Dublin, was born 11 December 1860 at Ballymena, Co. Antrim, third son of John Hilliard Lawlor (b. 1819), bank manager, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Lieut-col. John Elliott Cairnes (1785–1847). John…...
Lecky, William Edward Hartpole
Lecky, William Edward Hartpole (1838–1903), historian, was born 26 March 1838 in Newtown Park, Dublin. Of Scottish origin, the Leckys had settled in the north of Ireland in the early seventeenth century, and became prominent in the public life of the city of Derry. Robert Lecky,…...
Ledwich, Edward
Ledwich, Edward (1737?–1823), clergyman and historian, was born in Dublin, son of John Ledwich, merchant and brewer, and his wife, possibly Elizabeth (née Davies); his father's brother was Edward Ledwich (1707–82), dean of Kildare. Edward Ledwich jun. was educated by a Mr Shiels and…...
Leland, Thomas
Leland, Thomas (1722–85), historian, was born in Dublin, son of John Leland (about whom nothing is known). Having been schooled by the Rev. Dr Thomas Sheridan (qv) (1687–1738), he entered TCD…...
Leslie, James Blennerhassett
Leslie, James Blennerhassett (1865–1952), clergyman and scholar, was born 28 May 1865, third son of James Leslie, farmer, and Mary Anne Leslie (née Blennerhassett) of Clouncannon, Killarney, Co. Kerry. He read history, political economy, and jurisprudence at…...
Lewis, Clive Staples (‘Jack’)
Lewis, Clive Staples (‘Jack’) (1898–1963), writer, scholar, and Christian apologist, was born 29 November 1898 in Dundela Villas, Belfast, the younger son of Albert James Lewis, police solicitor and unionist activist, and his wife, Florence (Flora) Augusta, daughter of the Rev.…...
Lodge, John
Lodge, John (1692–1774), archivist and genealogist, was born in Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire, England, son of Edward Lodge, farmer, and was baptised there 22 January 1693. Nothing is known of his mother. After attending the Clapham School in Yorkshire he entered St John's College,…...
Luce, Arthur Aston
Luce, Arthur Aston (1882–1977), clergyman and philosophy professor, was born 21 August 1882 in Gloucester, England, seventh son of the Rev. John James Luce, vicar of St Nicholas church, Gloucester. He was educated initially at Eastbourne College and graduated from…...
Lyon, John
Lyon, John (1710–90), clergyman and antiquary, was baptised 5 October 1710, son of John Lyon, a blacksmith, and his wife, Sarah Lyon. He was a scholar (1727) at TCD, and graduated BA in 1729,…...
Lyons, John Charles
Lyons, John Charles (1792–1874), antiquary and horticulturist, was born 22 April 1792, the only child of Charles John Lyons (1766–96), a Westmeath landowner and soldier, of huguenot descent, and his wife, Mary Anne Lyons (née Levinge). His father died when he was four and in 1798…...
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,…...
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…...
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…...
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.…...
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…...
McCarthy, Charles
McCarthy, Charles (1924–86), trade unionist and academic, was born 25 January 1924 at 12 Annmount, Friars Walk, Cork city, second child of John George McCarthy of Cork, plumber, and Agnes Abina McCarthy (née O'Donoghue). He was educated at Presentation College, Cork,…...
McCormack, Inez Jane Mary (née Murphy)
McCormack, Inez Jane Mary (née Murphy) (1943–2013), human rights activist and trade unionist, was born on 28 September 1943 in Belfast to Francis Cecil Murphy, a printer, and his wife, Margaret Murphy (née Sterritt), a nurse. She had one older brother, Terence (b. 1942). When Inez was…...
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…...
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, 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…...
Meredith, James Creed
Meredith, James Creed (1875–1942), judge of the supreme court and writer, was born in Dublin, son of Sir James Creed Meredith, secretary of the Royal University of Ireland from 1880 to 1909, and his third wife, Nellie (née Graves). He had three brothers and two sisters. He began…...
Miller, George
Miller, George (1764–1848), historian and ecclesiologist, was born 22 October 1764 in Dublin, son of Stephen Miller, wine merchant, an Ulsterman of ‘sturdy independence’ (Read, 309); nothing is known of his mother. Receiving his primary education at the classical school of the Rev…...
Molyneux, Daniel
Molyneux, Daniel (1568–1632), herald, was born in Bruges, Flanders, second son of Thomas Molyneux (qv) of Calais and his wife Katherine, daughter of Ludowick Slobert, burgomaster of Bruges. His father had been a member of the…...
Molyneux, Sir Thomas
Molyneux, Sir Thomas (1661–1733), physician, natural historian, and antiquarian, was born 14 April 1661, near Gormond's (Ormond, Wormwood) Gate on Cook St., Dublin, second son among five sons and two daughters of Samuel Molyneux (d. 1693), lawyer, landowner, and army captain, and his…...