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…...
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…...
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…...
Madden, Richard Robert
Madden, Richard Robert (1798–1886), medical man, traveller, anti-slavery campaigner, government official, and historian of the United Irishmen, was born 20 August 1798 at 6 Wormwood Gate, Dublin, the youngest of the 21 children of a prosperous silk manufacturer, Edward Madden (1739–1829…...
Maguire, Joseph Ballantyne
Maguire, Joseph Ballantyne (1898–1964), physician, was born 12 August 1898 at 6 Clarendon Place, Belfast, the eldest son of William Joseph Maguire, a physician at the Mater Infirmorum Hospital, Belfast, and Mary Elizabeth Maguire (née Ballantyne). His father was also a clinical…...
Maher, Michael
Maher, Michael (1860–1918), Jesuit priest, philosopher, and psychologist, was born 29 April 1850 in Church St., Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow. Educated at the school of Mr Conwell in Leighlinbridge, he later entered the Jesuit college at Tullabeg, King's Co., where his uncle, Fr…...
Manahan, Anna (Maria)
Manahan, Anna (Maria) (1924–2009), actress, was born on 18 October 1924 in Waterford city, third child in a family of three sons and three daughters of Patrick Manahan (d. 1967) and Mary Manahan (née Barry). Her father was a clerk in the margarine manufacturing business of W. and C.…...
Mapother, Edward Dillon
Mapother, Edward Dillon (1835–1908), surgeon, was born 14 October 1835 at Fairview Avenue, Dublin, son of Henry J. Mapother of Co. Roscommon, official of the Bank of Ireland, and Mary Lyons (sic in baptismal register) of Co. Limerick. The Mapothers were a catholic family…...
Martin, Máire (Marie, Mary) Helena (‘Mother Mary’)
Martin, Máire (Marie, Mary) Helena (‘Mother Mary’) (1892–1975), founder of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, was born 25 April 1892 at Glencar, Marlborough Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin, eldest among twelve children of Thomas Patrick Martin, partner in T. & C. Martin, a…...
Martyn, Edward
Martyn, Edward (1859–1923), dramatist, patron of the arts and nationalist, was born 31 January 1859 at his mother's family home at Masonbrook, Loughrea, Co. Galway, elder of two sons of Anne Martyn (neé Smith; d. 1898) and John Martyn (d. 1860), a philanderer by repute, of Tulira Castle…...
McAnally, Ray
McAnally, Ray (1926–89), actor, was born 30 March 1926 in Buncrana, Co. Donegal, son of James William McAnally, bank manager, and Winifred McAnally (née Ward). He was educated at the national school in Moville, Co. Donegal, and St Eunan's College, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. From the age…...
McArdle, John Stephen
McArdle, John Stephen (1859–1928), surgeon, was born in September 1859 in Dundalk, Co. Louth, the second child of the six sons and two daughters of Robert McArdle, solicitor, and his wife, Margaret (née Callan), of Francis Street, Dundalk. He was educated in the Christian Brothers…...
McAvin, Josie (Josephine)
McAvin, Josie (Josephine) (1919–2005) theatrical stage manager, and set decorator in cinema and theatre, was born 23 April 1919 in Dublin, one of three daughters and three sons of John McAvin (d. 1938), cattle exporter, and his wife Mollie. Her father was the last serving high…...
McCann, Donal Francis
McCann, Donal Francis (1943–99), actor, was born 7 May 1943 in the Stella Maris private nursing home, 17 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, one of two sons (his brother died young) and one daughter of John McCann (qv), journalist, politician, and…...
McCartan, Patrick
McCartan, Patrick (1878–1963), medical doctor, revolutionary, and politician, was born 13 May 1878 in Carrickmore, Co. Tyrone, third among two sons and three daughters of Bernard McCartan, farmer and engineer, originally from Rostrevor, Co. Down, and Bridget McCartan (née Rafferty…...
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…...
McClory, Kevin O'Donovan
McClory, Kevin O'Donovan (1926–2006), film maker, was born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, on 8 June 1926, son of Thomas John O'Donovan McClory (stage name Desmond O'Donovan), from Banbridge, Co. Down, and his wife Winifred (née Doran) from Wexford. Both parents were actors in…...
McCluskey, Constantine Mary (‘Conn’)
McCluskey, Constantine Mary (‘Conn’) (1915–2013), medical doctor and civil rights campaigner, was born on 19 February 1915 in Warrenpoint, Co. Down, the elder of two sons of John Montague McCluskey, a farmer, and his wife Anne (née Hughes), also from a farming family. Conn attended…...
McKenna, Ellen (Sister Mary Augustine)
McKenna, Ellen (Sister Mary Augustine) (1819–83), Sister of Mercy, American civil war nurse and teacher, was born 24 December 1819 in Traugh, Willville, Co. Monaghan, eldest among three daughters and two sons of James and Mary Anne McKenna. Ellen was educated at home, then at Miss…...
McKenna, Siobhán
McKenna, Siobhán (1922–86), actor and theatre director, was born 24 May 1922 at 28 St James's Park, off the Falls Road, Belfast, Co. Antrim, the second daughter of Margaret (Gretta) O'Reilly from Loch Gamhna, Co. Longford, and her husband, Eoghan McKenna (b. Millstreet, Co. Cork, 1892)…...
McKenna, Thomas Patrick ('T. P.')
McKenna, Thomas Patrick ('T. P.') (1929–2011), actor, was born on 7 September 1929 in Mullagh, Co. Cavan, the eldest of ten children of Raphael ('Ralph') McKenna, an auctioneer and merchant, and his wife Mae. After attending Mullagh national school, he boarded at St Patrick's College,…...
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…...
McSparran, Daniel
McSparran, Daniel (1888–1964), doctor and newspaper proprietor, was born 5 February 1888, one of the five sons of James McSparran, merchant and farmer, and his wife, Annie McSparran (née McDonnell), in Cushendun, Co. Antrim. The McSparrans were a highly respected family from the…...
McWeeney, Edmund Joseph
McWeeney, Edmund Joseph (1864–1925), professor of pathology, was born 8 March 1864 in Dublin, third son of Theophilus Joseph McWeeney (1833?–15 October 1900) of Beaumont, Terenure Road, Rathgar, Co. Dublin, a journalist with the Freeman's Journal, and his wife Margaret (1841?–1…...
Meade, Henry Sords
Meade, Henry Sords (1884–1952), surgeon, was born in December 1884 in Amoy, South China, the son of Henry John Meade and his wife Mary Josephine Meade. At the time of his birth the family was based in China, where his father worked in the imperial civil service, but they returned…...