MacNeven (MacNevin), William James
MacNeven (MacNevin), William James (1763–1841), physician, scientist, and United Irishman, was born 21 March 1763 at Ballynahown, near Aughrim, Co. Galway, the eldest of the four sons of James MacNeven and his wife Rose (née Dolphin). Rose MacNeven died young and James not long…...
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…...
McCarthy, Michael Donald (‘Dónal Mac’)
McCarthy, Michael Donald (‘Dónal Mac’) (1908–80), statistician and university administrator, was born 4 June 1908 in Midleton, Co. Cork, son of Michael McCarthy, labourer, and Margaret McCarthy (née Murphy). His early education was at the CBS…...
McConnell, James Robert
McConnell, James Robert (1915–99), mathematical physicist and priest, was born 25 February 1915 at 3 Duke Row, Dublin, second child of Robert McConnell, pharmacist, and Frances McConnell (née Lennon). His grandfather was a presbyterian from Ballymena, Co. Antrim. He was educated at…...
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…...
McEnery, John
McEnery, John (1796–1841), palaeontologist and catholic priest, was born 17 November 1796 in Limerick city. Educated at St Munchin's seminary, Park House, near Limerick city, he was ordained in 1819 for the diocese of Limerick. Soon thereafter, pursuant to his participation in a…...
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…...
McKiernan, Eoin
McKiernan, Eoin (1915–2004), cultural entrepreneur and promoter of Irish studies, was born in Manhattan, New York city, on 10 May 1915, eldest of four children of Henry McKiernan (born in America of Cavan–Leitrim parents), foreman engineer, and his wife Delia (née Nagle), who had…...
McKinney, Thomas Joseph
McKinney, Thomas Joseph (1887–1973), army surgeon and Irish scholar, was born 30 October 1887 at Greencastle, Co. Antrim, son of Thomas McKinney, sergeant in the RIC, and Mary McKinney (née McKillop). His family later moved to…...
McLaughlin, Patrick John (‘Paddy’)
McLaughlin, Patrick John (‘Paddy’) (1899–1973), priest and physicist, was reputedly born in Scotland. The early part of his life was spent in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, where his father was a publican. He entered Maynooth College, where he studied science (…...
McNulty, Kathleen Rita ('Kay')
McNulty, Kathleen Rita ('Kay') (1921–2006), pioneering computer programmer, was born on 12 February 1921 in the townland of Feymore, Creeslough, Co. Donegal, the third of six children (three boys and three girls) of James McNulty (1890–1977) and his wife Anne or Annie (née Nelis).…...
McWilliams, Brendan Eugene
McWilliams, Brendan Eugene (1944–2007), meteorologist, writer and broadcaster, was born in south Dublin on 7 August 1944, the only son of John (Sean) McWilliams and his wife Nora (née Smyth). Sean McWilliams (1911–84), originally from Maghera, Co. Londonderry, was one of the first…...
Meenan, James Francis
Meenan, James Francis (1910–87), barrister-at-law, political economist, and writer, was born 18 October 1910 in Dublin, eldest of three sons and one daughter of Dr James Nahor Meenan (qv), professor of medicine at…...
Meenan, Patrick Nahor
Meenan, Patrick Nahor (1917–2008), microbiologist and physician, the second of three sons of James Nahor Meenan (qv), professor of systemic medicine at UCD, and Mary Elizabeth Meenan (née…...
Molloy, Gerald
Molloy, Gerald (1834–1906), priest and scientist, was born 10 September 1834 in Mount Tallant House, Terenure, Co. Dublin, second son of Thomas Molloy, tanner, and Catherine Molloy (née Whelan). He was educated first at a private school and then at Castleknock College. He entered…...
Molony, Helena
Molony, Helena (1883–1967), actress, republican, trade unionist, and feminist, was born 15 January 1883 at 8 Coles Lane, off Henry St., Dublin, the younger of one daughter and one son of Michael Moloney, grocer, of that address, and Catherine Moloney (née McGrath). Orphaned at an early…...