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…...
Magee, William
Magee, William (1750?–1827), printer, was probably born in Belfast, where his father, James Magee, printer and bookseller, had been involved with Francis Joy (qv) in papermaking near Ballymena in 1740, and had published the early Belfast news…...
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.…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Montgomery, (William) Eric (Wolfe)
Montgomery, (William) Eric (Wolfe) (1916—2003), civil servant and pioneer of the study of Scotch-Irish folk history, was born 19 April 1916 in Moy, Co. Tyrone, son of John Montgomery, a methodist minister, who was president of the Methodist Church in Ireland in 1952, and of his…...
Morris, William O'Connor
Morris, William O'Connor (1824–1904), judge and historian, was born 26 November 1824 in Kilkenny city, eldest son of the Rev. Benjamin Morris, clergyman, and his wife Elizabeth, youngest daughter and co-heiress of Morris Nugent O'Connor, a wealthy landowner from Gortnamona, King's…...
Musgrave, Sir Richard
Musgrave, Sir Richard (1746?–1818), 1st baronet, political writer, was born at Lismore, Co. Waterford, the first of the three sons of Christopher Musgrave (d. 1787) of Tourin, near Cappoquin, local agent to the duke of Devonshire, and his wife Susannah, daughter of James Usher of…...
Nicolson, William
Nicolson, William (1655–1727), bishop of Derry, politician, and scholar, was born 3 June 1655 at Great Orton in Cumberland, the eldest of three sons and three daughters of Joseph Nicolson (1623–86), rector of Plumbland, and his wife, Mary (d. 1689), daughter of John Brisco, a puritan…...
O Brien, Conor
O Brien, Conor (1880–1952), sailor and author, was born Edward Conor Marshall O'Brien on 3 November 1880 in Cahirmoyle, Co. Limerick, the son of Edward William O'Brien, JP, and Julia O'Brien (née Marshall). A grandson of…...
O'Daly, John
O'Daly, John (1800–78), writer and publisher, was born 5 February 1800 in Fernane, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, eldest among three sons and three daughters of Eamonn O'Daly and Brigid O'Daly (née Kyley). He was educated at a local hedge school before going to work, in 1826, for the…...
O'Sullivan, Samuel
O'Sullivan, Samuel (1790–1851), Church of Ireland clergyman and writer, was born 13 September 1790 in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, eldest son of John O'Sullivan, schoolmaster. His brother was the clergyman and writer Mortimer O'Sullivan…...
Otway, Caesar
Otway, Caesar (1780–1842), protestant clergyman, travel writer, and antiquary, was the elder son in the family of two sons and two daughters of Loftus Otway (1755–89), a merchant at Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, and his wife Sarah, daughter of William Woodward of Cloughprior. Born in Co.…...
Oulton, Walley Chamberlain
Oulton, Walley Chamberlain (c.1765–c.1820), dramatist and theatre historian, was born in Dublin, son of Walley Oulton, a merchant, and his wife Catherine (née Walker). Very little is known of his life outside his work. Educated locally by Dr Thomas Ball (1718?–…...
Pakenham, Francis Aungier (‘Frank’)
Pakenham, Francis Aungier (‘Frank’) (1905–2001), 1st Baron Pakenham and 7th earl of Longford , writer and politician, was born 5 December 1905 at 7 Great Cumberland Place, London, the third of six children (and the second son) of Thomas Pakenham (1864–1915), 5th earl of Longford…...
Parnell (- Hayes), William
Parnell (- Hayes), William (1777–1821), writer, landlord, and MP, was born probably in August 1777 (some sources suggest 1780), third son of Sir John Parnell (qv) and his wife Letitia Charlotte, daughter of Sir Arthur Brooke of…...
Parr, Richard
Parr, Richard (1617–91), Church of England clergyman and biographer, was born in Fermoy, Co. Cork, in 1617, the son of Richard Parr, a local rector. After being taught in a local school, he entered Exeter College, Oxford, on 6 November 1635, going on to graduate…...