MacDermot, Hugh Hyacinth O'Rorke
MacDermot, Hugh Hyacinth O'Rorke (1834–1904), solicitor general and attorney general for Ireland, was born 1 July 1834 at the family seat at Coolavin, Co. Sligo, the eldest of twelve children of Charles Joseph MacDermot (1794–1873), JP and…...
MacDonagh, Donagh
MacDonagh, Donagh (1912–68), writer and judge, was born 22 November 1912 in Temple Villas, Rathmines, Dublin, elder of the two children of Thomas MacDonagh (qv), one of the executed leaders of the 1916 rising, and his wife…...
MacDonagh, Terence
MacDonagh, Terence (1640–1713), soldier, poet, Jacobite, and lawyer, also known as ‘Turlough Óg’ or ‘Tirlough Caoch’ (one-eyed), was second son of Terence (Turlough) MacDonagh, of Creevagh, Kilmactranny, Co. Sligo, and his wife Mary, daughter of the poet…...
MacDonnell, Eneas
MacDonnell, Eneas (d. 1858), barrister, pamphleteer, and agent of the Catholic Association, was born in Co. Mayo, fourth son of Charles MacDonnell, a merchant of Clonagh, Westport, and his wife Jane (née Miller). Eneas MacDonnell was educated at the Lay College, Maynooth (opened…...
MacDonnell, James Joseph
MacDonnell, James Joseph (1766–c.1848), lawyer, United Irishman, and French army officer, was born 12 August 1766 at Carnacon or Carnacun, near Hollymount, Co. Mayo, the youngest of three sons of Joseph MacDonnell (1720?–1806?), a large grazier, and his wife Mary (née…...
Mackey, Rex
Mackey, Rex (1911–99), barrister, actor, and writer, was born Arthur Joseph Connel Mackey on 7 December 1911, the eldest of three sons and two daughters of Joseph Arthur Mackey of Liosnamara, Bray, Co. Wicklow, and his wife Gertrude (née Gallagher). Educated at Castleknock College…...
MacNally, Leonard
MacNally, Leonard (1752?–1820), barrister, writer, United Irishman, and informer, was born in Dublin, the only son of William MacNally (d. 1756), a grocer. It seems that his mother brought him up with the support of his uncle, a merchant named Featherstone of St Mary's Lane. A…...
Magan, Francis
Magan, Francis (1774–1843), lawyer and government informer, was born 24 May 1774 in Dublin, descended of an ancient catholic family from Co. Westmeath, the Magans of Umma-more (Emoe). His grandfather, James Magan, established a medical practice in Dublin, where he was succeeded by…...
Maguire, Conor Alexander
Maguire, Conor Alexander (1889–1971), lawyer, revolutionary, and politician, was born 16 December 1889 in Claremorris, Co. Mayo, twin son among four sons of Conor Joseph O'Loughlin Maguire (qv), medical doctor, and…...
Martin, Richard
Martin, Richard (c.1604–c.1659), lawyer and politician, belonged to one of the élite families of Galway who had controlled the city since medieval times. The eldest son of Oliver Martin, who was deprived of the mayoralty in 1632 for refusing to take the oath of…...
Mathew, Sir James Charles
Mathew, Sir James Charles (1830–1908), barrister and judge, was born 10 July 1830 in Bordeaux, France, eldest son of Charles Mathew, gentleman, of Lehanagh House, Co. Cork, and Castlelake, Co. Tipperary, and his wife Mary, daughter of James Hackett of Cork. He was of a Roman…...
McCarthy, Niall St John
McCarthy, Niall St John (1925–92), lawyer and judge, was born in Cork on 25 May 1925, the sixth of seven children of Joseph A. McCarthy, an engineer who was later called to the bar and became a circuit court judge, and his wife, Rose A. O'Neill. The family shortly afterwards moved…...
McClean, (John) Raymond
McClean, (John) Raymond (1933–2011), medical doctor, civil-rights activist and humanitarian, was born on 18 January 1933 in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, third in a family of three sons and one daughter of Charles McClean and his wife Kathleen (née King). Charles McClean, a trophy-winning…...
McGilligan, Patrick
McGilligan, Patrick (1889–1979), politician, academic, and lawyer, was born 12 April 1889. His family home was at Hanover Place, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, and he was the second child and second son among the eight sons and four daughters of Patrick McGilligan, businessman and MP (…...
McGonigal, Richard
McGonigal, Richard (1902–64), barrister and senior counsel, was born at 8 Mount Street Crescent, Dublin, on 14 February 1902, the eldest son of John McGonigal KC, county court judge for Co. Tyrone (1939–43), and his wife Margaret Davoren,…...
McGonigal, Sir Ambrose Joseph
McGonigal, Sir Ambrose Joseph (1917–79), judge, was born 22 November 1917 at 18 Herbert Street, Dublin, the second son of the three sons and four daughters of John McGonigal KC, county court judge for Co. Tyrone (1939–43), and Margaret Davoren,…...
McGough, Joseph Christopher (Joe)
McGough, Joseph Christopher (Joe) (1919–2003), army officer, barrister and businessman, was born 23 December 1919 at Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, the fourth child and first son of John McGough, originally of Co. Clare, and his wife Ann (née Brennan). His father, having served as a…...
McGrory, Patrick John Mary (‘Paddy’)
McGrory, Patrick John Mary (‘Paddy’) (1923–94), solicitor, was born 11 October 1923 in the St James area of the Falls Road, Belfast, one of four children of Patrick Joseph McGrory, insurance manager, of 1 St James's Parade, Belfast, and his wife Mary (née Skeffington). His father…...
McKenna, Theobald
McKenna, Theobald (1765–1808), catholic activist and lawyer, was born 6 December 1765 in Dublin, the fourth son of Edmond McKenna, a catholic merchant originally from Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary. He trained as a physician and in the 1780s was active in the campaign for the…...
McSparran, James
McSparran, James (1892–1970), lawyer and politician, was born 1 May 1892 in Glasgow, Scotland, third among five sons of James McSparran, farmer and merchant of Cushendun, Co. Antrim, and Albert Road, Glasgow, and Ann (Annie) McSparran (née McDonnell), farmer's daughter from north…...
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…...
Methuen, John
Methuen, John (c.1649–1706), lord chancellor of Ireland, was the eldest son of Paul Methuen, clothier, of Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, and his wife Grace, daughter of John Ashe of Freshford, Somerset. He matriculated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford (1665), aged 15, and entered…...
Molony, Sir Thomas Francis
Molony, Sir Thomas Francis (1865–1949), 1st baronet, last lord chief justice of Ireland, was born 31 January 1865 in Dublin, youngest son of James Molony, Dublin hotel proprietor, and his wife Jane, daughter of Nicholas Sweetman of Newbawn, Co. Wexford. Thomas was educated by the…...
Monahan, James Henry
Monahan, James Henry (1802/4–1878), judge, lawyer, and MP, was born at Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, eldest son of Michael Monahan, merchant, of Heathlawn, Portumna, Co. Galway, and his wife Mary, daughter of Stephen Bloomfield of Eyrecourt. Though the family was catholic, he was boarded…...
Moran, Frances Elizabeth
Moran, Frances Elizabeth (1893–1977), university teacher and lawyer, was born on 6 December 1893, younger daughter and fifth among seven children of James Moran and Elizabeth Moran (née Faulkner). Her father was a prominent catholic businessman, proprietor of Moran's Hotel, 71–3 Lr…...