Mac Grianna (Mhic Ghrianna), Róise
Mac Grianna (Mhic Ghrianna), Róise (1879–1964), traditional Irish-language singer and storyteller, was born 13 March 1879 in Seascann an Róinn, near Dungloe (Clochán Liath), Co. Donegal, one of five children of Tomas Ó Colla, farmer, and his wife, Maighréad, a noted musician and the…...
Mac Kenna, Niall (MacCann)
Mac Kenna, Niall (MacCann) (fl.1700), poet, harper, and songwriter, was born in the Fews, Co. Armagh. His date of birth and parents’ names are unknown. Indeed very little is known about him apart from the songs he left behind. While O'Reilly gives MacKenna as the English…...
Mac Mathúna, Ciarán
Mac Mathúna, Ciarán (1925–2009), folk music collector and broadcaster, was born Kieran MacMahon on 26 November 1925 at 14 St John's Avenue, off Mulgrave Street, Limerick city, youngest among five sons and one daughter of James MacMahon (1875–1967), national school teacher, native…...
Maconchy, Dame Elizabeth Violet
Maconchy, Dame Elizabeth Violet (1907–94), composer, was born 19 March 1907 at Silverleys, St Catherine's Estate, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, the second of three daughters of Gerald Edward Campbell Maconchy, a solicitor, and his wife Violet Mary Maconchy (née Poe); both parents were…...
Mac Suibhne (McSweeney), Tarlach
Mac Suibhne (McSweeney), Tarlach (Searlaí Eamonn Ruaidh) (1818/32–1916), uilleann piper, was born in Ard Leathan, parish of Glenfin, Co. Donegal, son of Edward Mór Mac Suibhne (b. 1774), itinerant piper, descended in direct paternal line from the MacSweeney Doe family of Doe Castle, Co…...
Maguire, Hugh
Maguire, Hugh (1926–2013), violinist, orchestral leader, chamber musician and teacher, was born Andrew Hugh Michael Maguire on 2 August 1926 in Dublin, one of four boys and two girls, to Elias 'Bunty' Maguire, principal of the Inchicore Model School, and his wife Rose (née…...
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…...
Makem, Thomas ('Tommy')
Makem, Thomas ('Tommy') (1932–2007), folk singer, was born 4 November 1932 in Keady, Co. Armagh, youngest of five children of Peter Makem and his wife Sarah (née Boyle). Though Peter Makem was a fiddler and flautist, Tommy derived his musical interests and talent primarily through…...
Malone, Molly (or Mollie)
Malone, Molly (or Mollie) , heroine of song, was probably a generic fishmonger and street trader of nineteenth-century Dublin. Molly (the name is derived from ‘Mary’), is named in a popular, unofficial anthem of the city (‘Cockles and mussels’ or ‘Molly Malone’) as a fishmonger's…...
Markey, Nicholas
Markey, Nicholas (c.1837–1914), uilleann piper, was born either in Co. Meath or in Drogheda, Co. Louth. Little is known of his early life, but as a child in Drogheda he was tutored in the uilleann (‘union’) pipes by Billy Taylor, an outstanding piper and instrument-maker of…...
Maude, (Maighréad) Caitlín
Maude, (Maighréad) Caitlín (1941–82), poet, writer, singer, actress, dramatist and Irish-language activist, was born 22 May 1941 in Casla, Co. Galway, second child of John Joseph Maude (Seán Ó Máidhbh) and his wife Mai Ridge (Máire Nic an Iomaire), a teacher. Caitlín received her…...
May, Frederick (‘Freddie’)
May, Frederick (‘Freddie’) (1911–85), composer, was born 9 June 1911 in Dublin, son of Frederick May, who worked in the city's Guinness brewery, and his wife, Jeanne. The family were Church of Ireland and Freddie enjoyed a relatively comfortable upbringing on Marlborough Road,…...
McAuley, Anthony Gerard (Tony)
McAuley, Anthony Gerard (Tony) (1939–2003), broadcaster, television producer and expert on folksongs, was born 24 October 1939 in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, one of two sons and five daughters of William John McAuley, who owned a chemist’s shop on James Street. His mother Ita (née…...
McCall, Patrick Joseph
McCall, Patrick Joseph (1861–1919), songwriter and poet, was born 6 March 1861 in Dublin, the only surviving son among three children of John McCall and his wife Eliza Mary (née Newport) of Rathangan, Co. Wexford. His father John McCall (1822–1902), publican and writer…...
McCann, James (‘Jim’)
McCann, James (‘Jim’) (1944–2015), singer, was born on 26 October 1944 in Dublin, one of seven children (five sons and two daughters) of Thomas McCann, a schools inspector with the Department of Education, and his wife Winifred (née Murphy). Growing up in the Dublin suburb of Rathgar,…...
McCormack, John Francis
McCormack, John Francis (1884–1945), singer, was born 14 June 1884 in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, fourth of five children to survive out of a family of eleven of Andrew McCormack and his wife Hannah (née Watson), Scottish mill workers who had moved to Ireland. The tenor's paternal…...
McCosh, James
McCosh, James (1811–94), presbyterian minister, philosopher, and academic, was born 1 April 1811, near Patna, Ayrshire, Scotland, second and only surviving son and fifth child of seven born to Andrew McCosh, farmer, and Jean Carson, his wife. Educated at the local parish school,…...
McDaniel, Maisie
McDaniel, Maisie (1939–2008), singer, was born Mary Anne McDaniel on 28 October 1939 in Kensington, London, England, one of four daughters and two sons of Sligo man Paddy McDaniel and his wife Lizzie (née Wynne). The family soon returned to Sligo, and Maisie grew up in Garavogue…...
McGuckin, (Bartholomew) Barton
McGuckin, (Bartholomew) Barton (1852–1913), tenor, was born in Dublin on 28 July 1852, the son of Anthony McGuckin (d. 1895) of Kilkenny, registrar of Mercer's Hospital, Dublin, between 1875 and 1895. He received his early musical education while a chorister at St Patrick's Church…...
McGuire (Maguire), Seán Stephen
McGuire (Maguire), Seán Stephen (1927–2005), traditional musician, was born in Dunmore Street, off the Springfield Road, Belfast, on 26 December 1927, the son of Johnnie Maguire, of Callanagh Kilcogy, Mullaghoran, Co. Cavan, and his wife Martha (née Butler), of Ballycastle, Co.…...
McKenna, Barney (Bernard Noël; 'Banjo Barney')
McKenna, Barney (Bernard Noël; 'Banjo Barney') (1939–2012), folk musician, was born on 16 December 1939 in the Coombe Lying-in Hospital, Dublin, eldest of two sons and two daughters of John ('Jack') McKenna, a labourer soon to become an army cook, from Trim, Co. Meath, residing at the…...
McKenna, John
McKenna, John (1880–1947), flute player, was born 6 January 1880 in the townland of Tents near the village of Tarmon, Co. Leitrim, the son of Pat McKenna from Arigna and Cecily McKenna (née Ward), who was from Tents. The area was, and still is, closely identified with flute playing…...
McPeake, Francis (‘Francie’)
McPeake, Francis (‘Francie’) (1917–86), piper, was born 20 January 1917 at 43 Malcolmson Street, Belfast, the son of Francis J. McPeake (1885–1971), piper and tram conductor, and Mary McPeake (née Loney). The elder Francis McPeake was born 4 May 1885 at 2 Springview Street,…...
McPeake, Francis J.
This is a co-subject for the entry on McPeake, Francis (‘Francie’). View the original entry....
Meredith, James Creed
Meredith, James Creed (1875–1942), judge of the supreme court and writer, was born in Dublin, son of Sir James Creed Meredith, secretary of the Royal University of Ireland from 1880 to 1909, and his third wife, Nellie (née Graves). He had three brothers and two sisters. He began…...