King, Murtagh (Ó Cionga, Muircheartach)
King, Murtagh (Ó Cionga, Muircheartach) (c.1562–c.1639), translator of the Old Testament into Irish, was a member of a learned family of scribes and poets in the Irish midlands. The Ó Cionga family were traditionally associated with Fox's Country, in the barony of…...
Kinlen, Dermot Patrick
Kinlen, Dermot Patrick (1930–2007), barrister, judge and penal reformer, was born 24 April 1930 in Dublin, the eldest of two sons and one daughter of Louis P. Kinlen, of Darwin Hall, 200 Rathfarnham Road, Dublin, a building contractor, and his wife Aileen (née O'Donnell). Educated…...
Kinnane, Michael Joseph (‘M. J.’)
Kinnane, Michael Joseph (‘M. J.’) (1889–1952), civil servant and Garda Síochána commissioner, was born 18 January 1889 in Drumcondra, Dublin, son of Martin Kinnane and Eileen Kinnane (née Carney), national school teachers. Raised in Mountbellew, Co. Galway, and educated at…...
Knott, (Philippa Marie) Eleanor
Knott, (Philippa Marie) Eleanor (1886–1975), Irish-language scholar, was born 18 November 1886, one of two children of John Freeman Knott, physician, of Kingsland, Co. Roscommon, and Philippa Annie Knott (née Balcombe), of Hull. Her family lived at Sallymount Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin.…...
Lagan, Francis ('Frank')
Lagan, Francis ('Frank') (1916–2005), policeman, was born 11 December 1916 in Lisnamuck, Maghera, Co. Londonderry, one of seven children of Francis Lagan and his wife Bridget (née O'Donnell), who were both schoolteachers; Bridget's father was a member of the…...
Lane, Timothy O'Neill
Lane, Timothy O'Neill (1852–1915), lexicographer and Irish scholar, was born at Templeglentan, Co. Limerick, third son of Timothy Lane, farmer, and Mary Lane (née O'Neill), who also had four daughters. As a child he spoke Irish and English, and was a pupil at Templeglentan national…...
Lhuyd (Lhwyd, Lloyd), Edward
Lhuyd (Lhwyd, Lloyd), Edward (1660?–1709), Celtic philologist and naturalist, was born c.1660 in Cardiganshire, Wales, or near Oswestry, Shropshire, the illegitimate son of Edward Lloyd of Llanvorda and Bridget Pryse, both from landowning families. Lhuyd entered Jesus College,…...
Lloyd, John (Lúid, Seon)
Lloyd, John (Lúid, Seon) (1740?–c.1785), writer, was probably a native of Limerick. Information on his place and date of birth and family background is lacking, but the earliest datable manuscript in his hand was written in 1755. Lloyd may have been a quack physician in his…...
Lloyd, Joseph Henry
Lloyd, Joseph Henry (Laoide, Seosamh) (1865–1939), folklorist and Gaelic Leaguer, was born 24 May 1865 at 7 Annaville Lower, Ranelagh, Dublin, eldest son of Joseph Henry Lloyd, language scholar, and Anne Lloyd (née Phair). He was educated privately, probably by his father, and at…...
Logan, Michael J. (Ó Lócháin, Micheál)
Logan, Michael J. (Ó Lócháin, Micheál) (1836–99), editor, publisher, and ‘father of the Gaelic language movement’ in America (Ford, 1899), was born 29 September 1836 at Currach Doire (Curraghderry), Baile an Mhuilinn (Milltown), near Tuam, Co. Galway, son of Patrick Logan, a small…...
Lynch, Patrick (Ó Loingsigh, Pádraig
Lynch, Patrick (Ó Loingsigh, Pádraig ) (1754/7–1818), schoolmaster and scholar was born 17 March in either 1754 or 1757, in Quin, Co. Clare. He attended a hedge school for his early education in Ennistymon, Co. Clare, where his teacher, Donnchadh ‘an Chairn’ Ó Mathghamhna, taught Latin…...
Lynegar, Charles (Ó Luinín, Cormac)
Lynegar, Charles (Ó Luinín, Cormac) ( fl. 1708–1731), scribe, genealogist, and ‘professor’ of Irish at TCD, was known to some of his Irish-speaking acquaintances in Dublin as Cathal, the more usual Gaelic name to be translated…...
MacAdam, Robert Shipboy
MacAdam, Robert Shipboy (1808–95), folklorist and antiquary, was born in High St., Belfast, younger of two surviving sons of James MacAdam (1755–1821), who owned a hardware shop in the same street, and his wife Jane Shipboy (1774–1827), a native of Belfast. MacAdam was educated at…...
Mac Airt, Seán Breandán (Arthurs, John Brendan)
Mac Airt, Seán Breandán (Arthurs, John Brendan) (1918–59), Irish-language scholar, was born 16 May 1918 in Keady, Co. Armagh, one of eight sons and two daughters of James Arthurs, owner of a hardware shop, and Mary Arthurs (née Nugent). One of his brothers, Eugene Arthurs, was bishop of…...
Mac A Liondain (Mac Giolla Fhiondáin), Padraig
Mac A Liondain (Mac Giolla Fhiondáin), Padraig (c.1665–1733), poet, was probably a native of the barony of Fews, Co. Armagh, the district in which he spent his adult life. The son of Eoghan Mac a Liondain and his wife Siobhán Nic Ardail, Mac a Liondain was a prosperous farmer…...
Mac Amhlaigh, Dónall Peadar
Mac Amhlaigh, Dónall Peadar (1926–89), author, journalist, and labourer, was born 10 December 1926 in Co. Galway, the eldest of three sons and one daughter of James McCauley and his wife, Mary McCauley (née Condon). James McCauley was born in Limerick and served with the Munster…...
Mac an Bhaird, Eoghan Ruadh
Mac an Bhaird, Eoghan Ruadh (1560s?–1625?), possibly son of Uilliam Óg Mac an Bhaird (d. 1576), bardic poet and retainer of Ruaidhrí O'Donnell (qv) and Hugh O'Neill (qv), was a…...
Mac an Bhaird, Fearghal Óg
Mac an Bhaird, Fearghal Óg (late 1540s–c.1618), bardic poet and retainer of the O'Donnells of Tyrconnell, was the son of the poet and guesthouse keeper, Fearghal (d. 1550) son of Domhnall Ruadh Mac an Bhaird. Both Fearghal Óg and his brother Eoghan Ruadh (d. 1572) followed…...
Mac An Lega, Uilliam (Iollann)
Mac An Lega, Uilliam (Iollann) (d. p.1475), scribe and author-translator of many texts, belonged, as his name suggests, to an hereditary medical family, but Uilliam himself seems to have composed or copied nothing of a medical nature. He has been accurately described as…...
Mac Aonghusa, Criostóir
Mac Aonghusa, Criostóir (1905–91), teacher, author, critic, and campaigner for the Irish language, was born 13 December 1905 in Gort an Ghabhainn, Banagher, King's Co. (Offaly), son of Francis McGuiness (surname thus on his birth certificate), farmer, and his wife, Rosanna (née Egan).…...
Mac Aonghusa, Proinsias
Mac Aonghusa, Proinsias (1933–2003), journalist and Irish language activist, was born in Salthill Nursing Home, Co. Galway, on 23 June 1933, eldest of four children (two sons and two daughters) of Criostóir Mac Aonghusa (qv), writer…...
MacArthur, Sir William Porter
MacArthur, Sir William Porter (1884–1964), army medical officer, Irish-language scholar, and historian, was born 11 March 1884 at Belmont, east Belfast, Co. Down, the only son of John Porter MacArthur (d. 1930), tea merchant, and his wife Margaret Rainey (d. 1936), daughter of William…...
Mac Brádaigh, Fiachra
Mac Brádaigh, Fiachra (c.1690–c.1760), poet, was a native of Co. Cavan. Nothing is known of his immediate family and his place of birth cannot be determined precisely, but he appears to have resided throughout his life in the parish of Drung – part of the MacBradys'…...
Mac Brádaigh, Philip
Mac Brádaigh, Philip (c.1650–c.1719), poet and clergyman, commonly known as ‘Philip Ministir’ or ‘Parson Brady’, was born in Co. Cavan about the middle of the seventeenth century, probably in the district to the west of Cootehill that had previously formed the Cúil…...
Mac Bruaideadha, Maoilín Óg
Mac Bruaideadha, Maoilín Óg (1550?–1602), poet, was a son of Maoilìn Mac Bruaideadha, ollamh le seanchas or chronicler to the O'Briens of Thomond and head of one of the learned families of Gaelic society. Maoilìn Òg received an education in keeping with his ancestors’ status,…...