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…...
Mac Gabhann, Micheál (‘Micí’) (MacGowan, Michael)
Mac Gabhann, Micheál (‘Micí’) (MacGowan, Michael) (1865–1948), Klondike miner, was born 22 November 1865 at Derryconor, Cloghaneely, Co. Donegal, one of the twelve children of Tomás Mac Gabhann, small farmer, and his wife, Bríd Ní Chanainn. Mac Gabhann attended the primary school at…...
Macken, Peter Paul (Peadar)
Macken, Peter Paul (Peadar) (1878–1916), trade unionist and revolutionary, was born 29 June 1878 at 13 Nassau Place (latterly part of the Setanta building, Nassau Street), Dublin, youngest of three children of George Macken, house painter, and Anne Macken (née Shanahan) (d. 1901), both…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Mason, William Shaw
Mason, William Shaw (c.1774–1853), administrator and statistician, was born in 1774 or 1775 in Dublin, where his father, Henry Mason, was a tax official; nothing is known of his mother. It is not known if he was related to the Monck Masons, his contemporaries. He was…...
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,…...
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…...
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…...
McCullough, William Henry (‘Billy’)
McCullough, William Henry (‘Billy’) (1901–67), trade unionist and communist, was born 8 April 1901 at 9 Olive St., Belfast, son of Joseph McCullough, postman, and Martha McCullough (née Carse). His father was prominent in the Orange order. During the first world war William…...
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…...
McElborough, Robert Henry
McElborough, Robert Henry (1884–1952), gas fitter and trade unionist, was born 11 February 1884 at 13 Matilda St. (in the predominantly protestant Sandy Row–Donegall Road area of Belfast, where he lived for the greater part of his life), second among four sons of William McElborough…...
McElligott, Thomas J.
McElligott, Thomas J. (1888–1961), police man, union activist, and republican, was born 2 April 1888 at Duagh, Listowel,Co. Kerry, second eldest of sixteen children of a small farmer named McElligott and his wife Julia (née McCarthy). He received a local national school education…...
McGhee, Richard
McGhee, Richard (1851–1930), trade unionist and politician, was baptised on 12 February 1851 in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, the eldest of three sons of Richard McGhee, a tenant farmer and later a shopkeeper, and his wife Alice. He claimed that at age 14, in protest against 'the bigotry and…...
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…...
McMullen, William
McMullen, William (1888–1982), trade unionist and politician, was born in Lilliput Street, Belfast, son of Joseph McMullen, shop owner, of County Monaghan; his mother was a native of County Cavan. When he was two years old, his family moved to a bigger shop on Shore Road, Belfast…...
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…...
Merrigan, Matthew Paul (‘Matt’)
Merrigan, Matthew Paul (‘Matt’) (1921–2000), trade unionist and socialist, was born 25 June 1921 in a two-room cottage at 5 Thomas Place, Dolphin's Barn, Dublin, eighth of nine children of Matthew Merrigan (c.1884–1928), builder's labourer, and Anne (‘Nanny’) Merrigan (née…...
Midgley, Henry Cassidy (‘Harry’)
Midgley, Henry Cassidy (‘Harry’) (1892–1957), trade unionist and politician, was born 8 September 1892 at 59 Seaview St., Belfast, third child and eldest son among two daughters and three sons of Alexander Midgley (1860–99), shipyard labourer, originally of Lurgan, Co. Armagh,…...
Moloney, Katherine (Kathleen)
Moloney, Katherine (Kathleen) (1896–1969), republican and trade unionist, was born Catherine Agnes Barry on 19 October 1896 in the family home at 8 Fleet Street, Dublin, eldest child among five daughters and two sons of Thomas Barry (d. 1908), prosperous dairyman, and Mary Barry (…...