France

Lauzun, Antonin Nompar de Caumont (1633–1723), comte de Lauzun , French commander of Jacobite forces in Ireland, was born in 1633 in France, into a family of impoverished Gascon nobility. He was the fourth of five sons (there were also four daughters) of Gabriel de Lauzun and his…

Lawless, William (c.1764–1824), surgeon, United Irishman, and officer in Napoleon's Irish Legion, was born in Dublin, son of John Lawless and Mary Lawless (née Beauman) of Shankill, Co. Dublin. He was a distant relation of…

Law, Sir Edward Fitzgerald (1846–1908), diplomat and financial expert, was born 2 November 1846 at Rostrevor House, Co. Down, third son among nine children of Michael Law of Castle Fish, Co. Kildare, lawyer and later director of the Bank of Ireland, and Sarah Anne Law (née…

Leamy, Edmund (1848–1904), writer, politician, and lawyer, was born 25 December 1848 in Waterford city. Educated at University High School, Waterford, St John's College, Waterford, and St Stanislaus College in Tullabeg, he was admitted a solicitor in 1878 and called to the Irish…

Leman, Jules (1826–80), priest and educationist, was born 30 June 1826 at his parents’ parish school in Deulemont, north-east of Armentières, northern France. His father, François Leman, was a Belgian migrant and his mother, Lucille (née Lecomte), a local woman; both were teachers…

Lentaigne, Benjamin (1773–1813), physician, was born 14 February 1773 in Caen, Normandy, France, third son of Pierre François Lentaigne, lieutenant of dragoons, and his wife Anne Marguerite, daughter of Guillaume François Duclos. His family had strong royalist sympathies, one of his…

Leonard, John Patrick (1814–89), English teacher, writer, and Irish nationalist resident in Paris, was born 12 October 1814 on Spike Island in Cork Harbour. His father (forename unknown), an engineer on a building site at Haulbowline, died in Paris en route for the Mediterranean…

Leventhal, Abraham Jacob (‘Con’) (1896–1979), lecturer, essayist, and critic, was born 9 May 1896 in Lower Clanbrassil St., Dublin, son of Moses (Maurice) Leventhal, draper, and Rosa Leventhal (née Levenberg). He was reared in an orthodox Jewish family; his mother, a poet and lifelong…

Lewines, Edward Joseph (d. 1828), United Irish agent, seems to have been a close relative, most likely a son, of Laurence Lewins, who was in business as a wool-card maker at 6 Vicar Street, Dublin (1789–94), 6 Thomas Street (1795), and 38 Vicar Street (from 1796). Edward Lewines…

Lloyd, Sylvester (1680?–1747), catholic bishop and Jacobite, was born probably in Co. Tipperary, although Kilkenny has also been claimed as his birthplace. His father was a twice-married anglican clergyman with a dubious reputation, probably the Edward Lloyd who married Elizabeth Tailor…

Luttrell, Simon (1643–98), Jacobite soldier and governor of Dublin, was eldest among four sons of Thomas Luttrell of Luttrellstown, Co. Dublin, and his wife Barbara, daughter of William Sedgrave; he was elder brother of Henry Luttrell…

Lynch, Eliza Alicia (1834–86), mistress of Francisco Solano Lopez (dictator of Paraguay, 1862–70), was born in Charleville, Co. Cork, the eldest of at least three children of John Lynch, MD, AB, and his wife, Jane Elizabeth, second daughter of…

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, Henry Blosse (1807–73), explorer, was born 24 November 1807 at Partry House, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo, third among eleven sons of Maj. Henry Blois Lynch, a soldier who had served with distinction in Portugal, and Eliza Lynch (née Finnis). At the age of 15 he joined the Indian…

Lynch, James (c.1624–1713), catholic archbishop of Tuam, was born in Galway. His family background and early life remain obscure, but he was educated at the Irish College in Seville, Spain, and later received a doctorate in theology from Salamanca. He preached in San…

Lynch, John (c.1599–1677), historian and priest, was born in Galway city, and went to study on the Continent at an early age, firstly at Douai in the Spanish Netherlands, where he followed the Ratio Studiorum of the Jesuits. Subsequent stays in the Oratorian college in Dieppe (…

Lyte, Henry Francis (1793–1847), hymn writer and clergyman, was born 1 June 1793 at The Cottage, Ednam, near Kelso, Roxburghshire, Scotland, second among three sons of Lt Thomas Lyte, soldier, and Anna Maria Oliver; his English-born parents do not appear to have married. In 1798 his…

MacBride, Seán (1904–88), lawyer and politician, was born in Paris on 26 January 1904. He was the only child of the marriage of Major John MacBride (qv) and (Edith) Maud Gonne (qv) and…

MacCarthy, Justin (c.1643–1694), Viscount Mountcashel and Baron Castleinch , army officer, was born probably in Blarney, youngest of three sons of Donough MacCarthy (qv), Viscount Muskerry and Earl Clancarty, and his wife…

MacDonnell, Randell (c.1633–1711), naval commander and Jacobite, was second son of Sir James MacDonnell, 2nd baronet of Moye, a cousin of Randal MacDonnell (qv), 2nd earl and later marquis of Antrim. His mother was Mary…

MacDonnell, Sir Richard Graves (1814–81), judge and colonial governor, was born 3 September 1814 in Dublin, the eldest son of Rev. Richard MacDonnell (qv), provost of TCD (1852–67), and…

MacGeoghegan, James (1702–63), historian and priest, was probably born near Uisneach, Co. Westmeath, son of a prosperous catholic farmer. Educated from an early age in France, he studied at Rheims, where he obtained distinction in his theological studies, and on his ordination he…

Mahony, Francis Sylvester (‘Father Prout’) (1804–66), priest and humorist, was born 31 December 1804 in Cork, the second son of seven sons and four daughters of Martin Mahony, a woollen manufacturer, and his second wife, Mary Mahony (née Reynolds). Educated at Clongowes Wood…

Malachy (Máel-M'áedóc) Ua Morgair (1094/5–1148), abbot, bishop, church reformer, and the first Irish saint to be formally canonised, was born into an Armagh-based ecclesiastical family. His father, Mugrón, who was ard-fher légind (chief lector or chief scholar) of Armagh,…

Manning, Robert (1816–97), surveyor and civil engineer, was born 22 October 1816 in Avincourt, Normandy, France, third of eight children of William Manning (1783–1826) of Knocknamohil, Co. Wicklow, a lieutenant in the Wicklow militia who fought in the USA, in the Peninsular war, and…