Leech, Sarah
Leech, Sarah (b. 1809), poet, was born in 1809, in the townland of Ballylennan in the parish of Taughboyne, Co. Donegal. She was the youngest of six children of a protestant, probably presbyterian, weaver and farmer named Thomas Leech. When Sarah was only three years old, her father…...
Leeson, Margaret (‘Peg’)
Leeson, Margaret (‘Peg’) (1727–97), prostitute, brothel-keeper, and memoirist, was born Margaret Plunket at Killough, Co. Westmeath, one of eight surviving children of Matthew Plunket, a wealthy farmer, and his wife, whose maiden name was O'Reilly. Most of what is known about Margaret…...
Leslie, Mary Isobel (‘Temple Lane’)
Leslie, Mary Isobel (‘Temple Lane’) (1899–1978), novelist, critic, and poet, was born 19 April 1899 in Portobello House, Dublin, one of two daughters of the Rev. John Herbert Leslie, a Church of Ireland clergyman from Cahir, Co. Tipperary, who was subsequently appointed dean of…...
Letts, Winifred Mabel
Letts, Winifred Mabel (1882–1972), novelist and playwright, was born in Salford, Lancashire, on 10 February 1882, the youngest daughter of Reverend Ernest Letts, rector of Newton Heath, Manchester, and his wife Mary Isabel (née Ferrier). She was educated at St Anne's, Abbots Bromley, in…...
Levine, June
Levine, June (1931–2008), feminist, journalist and author, was born Stephanie June Levine in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin, on 31 December 1931, eldest child of Charles Solomon ('Solly') Levine, a cabinet maker, the son of Jewish parents who fled from Latvia, and his wife Muriel Ruth (…...
Lewis, Helen
Lewis, Helen (1916–2009), Holocaust survivor, dance teacher, choreographer and memoirist, was born Helena Katz on 22 June 1916 into a well-off Jewish family in Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian empire (Bohemia became part of the new state of Czechoslovakia in 1918). She was an only child…...
Liddiard, Jane Susannah (J. S.) Anna
Liddiard, Jane Susannah (J. S.) Anna (c.1780–p.1819?), poet, was born in Co. Meath, daughter of Sir Henry Wilkinson , of Corballis, Co. Meath. She dedicated her Poems (Dublin, 1810) to her husband, the Rev. William Liddiard (1773–1841), an anglican clergyman of…...
Longfield, Cynthia Evelyn
Longfield, Cynthia Evelyn (1896–1991), entomologist and traveller, was born 16 August 1896 at 20 Pont St., Belgravia, London, youngest of three daughters of Lt-col. Mountifort John Courtenay Longfield and his wife Alice Elizabeth (née Mason) of Castle Mary, Cloyne, Co. Cork, the…...
Loughridge, Lavinia Winifred
Loughridge, Lavinia Winifred (1930–2014), nephrologist and physician, was born on 20 May 1930 in Templepatrick, Co. Antrim, the younger of two children of John (‘Jack’) Carson Loughridge, a dispensary doctor in the town, and his wife Winifred Elizabeth Loughridge (née Wallace). Her…...
Lynam, Sybil Mary Joan (‘Shevawn’)
Lynam, Sybil Mary Joan (‘Shevawn’) (1914–98), administrator, author, and linguist, was born 16 April 1914 in Dublin, daughter of Charles Lynam, engineer, and Margaret (‘Mai’) Lynam (née Moran), both from Co. Galway. Her father served in the first world war as an officer in the…...
Lynch, Hannah
Lynch, Hannah (1862–1904), journalist, writer, and Land Leaguer, was born in Dublin; though her parents’ names are not known, she was the posthumous child of a Fenian activist. Her mother, also a nationalist, later married the Young Irelander …...
Lynch, Patricia Nora
Lynch, Patricia Nora (1894–1972), children's writer, was born 4 June 1894 in Cork city, daughter of Timothy Patrick Lynch and Nora Lynch (née Lynch; a first cousin), already the parents of a son, Patrick Henry. Information about her early years is scarce and most of what there is…...
Lynn, Kathleen
Lynn, Kathleen (1874–1955), medical practitioner and political activist, was born 28 January 1874 in Mullafarry, near Killala, Co. Mayo, second oldest of three daughters and one son of Robert Lynn, Church of Ireland clergyman, and Catherine Lynn (née Wynne) of Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo.…...
Lytton, Rosina Anne Doyle Bulwer
Lytton, Rosina Anne Doyle Bulwer (‘Lady Lytton’) (1802–82), novelist, was born 2 November 1802 at Ballywhire, Co. Limerick, the youngest of two surviving daughters of Francis Massy Wheeler (d. 1820), a landlord, and the feminist philosopher…...
MacCarthy, Ethna Mary
MacCarthy, Ethna Mary (1903–59), poet and paediatrician, was born 2 April 1903 in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, a granddaughter of the Young Ireland poet Denis Florence MacCarthy (qv), and daughter of Brendan MacCarthy (d. 1934),…...
MacCarthy, Mary (Mother Mary Stanislaus)
MacCarthy, Mary (Mother Mary Stanislaus) (1849–97), Dominican nun, educator, and poet, was born in Dublin 26 December 1849, eldest of nine children of Denis Florence MacCarthy (qv), poet, and Elizabeth MacCarthy (née Donnelly…...
MacCurtain, Frances (née Foad)
MacCurtain, Frances (née Foad) (1936–98), speech therapist and voice coach, was born 12 October 1936 in Belfast, the only daughter of the two children of Roland Foad, chartered accountant, and his wife, Betty. Her father was a financial director in various government bodies involved in…...
MacDonagh, Maire (Mary McDonagh)
MacDonagh, Maire (Mary McDonagh) (1918–97), trade unionist, was born 20 March 1918 in Kilconnell, Co. Galway, the second of three daughters who lived into adulthood of Michael MacDonagh, customs official, and his wife, Caroline, née Keary, both of Co. Galway. She appears to have…...
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…...
MacManus, Emily Elvira Primrose
MacManus, Emily Elvira Primrose (1886–1978), matron of Guy's Hospital, London, was born 18 April 1886 in Wandsworth, south London, the daughter of Leonard Strong MacManus (d. 1911), a doctor, and his wife Julia Emily (née Boyd). Leonard MacManus was from a catholic gentry family with an…...
MacWhinney, Linda Kearns-
MacWhinney, Linda Kearns- (1888–1951), republican and nurse, was born in July 1888 in Carrowmorris, Dromard, Co. Sligo, daughter of Thomas Kearns of Dromard and Catherine Kearns (née Clarke). She received her primary education at the local national school but was sent to Brussels,…...
Maher, Margaret
Maher, Margaret (c.1845–1924), servant, was born in Killusty, Co. Tipperary, the third of four children, to Michael and Mary Maher. About 1865 she emigrated to America with her older sister Mary, her brother Michael and possibly their youngest sibling, Thomas. Soon…...
Mahon, Bríd (Bridget)
Mahon, Bríd (Bridget) (1918–2008), folklorist, was born on 14 July 1918 at 16 Elizabeth Street, Belfast, to Stephen Mahon and Mary Catherine Mahon (née Wall). Her father was an electrician, and she was one of five siblings. When communal and sectarian violence erupted in Belfast in 1922…...
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…...
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…...