Co. Galway

Lynch (Lince), Dominic (Domingo) (1622–1697), Dominican priest and theologian, was born 4 August 1622 in Co. Galway, the son of Peter Lynch and Mary Skerret. He was a member of the illustrious Lynch family of that county: his paternal grandparents were Peter Lynch and Mary Kirwan…

Lynch, Richard (1611–47), Jesuit priest and rector of the Irish college, Seville, was born in Galway. His family background and early years are undocumented. He left Ireland in 1630 for Spain, where he was admitted to the Irish college in Seville. The college was to prove central…

Mac Amhlaigh, Dónall Peadar (1926–89), author, journalist, and labourer, was born 10 December 1926 in Co. Galway, the eldest of three sons and one daughter of James McCauley and his wife, Mary McCauley (née Condon). James McCauley was born in Limerick and served with the Munster…

Mac Aonghusa, Criostóir (1905–91), teacher, author, critic, and campaigner for the Irish language, was born 13 December 1905 in Gort an Ghabhainn, Banagher, King's Co. (Offaly), son of Francis McGuiness (surname thus on his birth certificate), farmer, and his wife, Rosanna (née Egan).…

Mac Aonghusa, Proinsias (1933–2003), journalist and Irish language activist, was born in Salthill Nursing Home, Co. Galway, on 23 June 1933, eldest of four children (two sons and two daughters) of Criostóir Mac Aonghusa (qv), writer…

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 Giollarnáth (Mac Giolla An Átha; Forde), Seán (1880–1970), writer and folklorist, was born 13 September 1880 at Gorteen, near Athenry, Co. Galway, eldest son among nine children of Michael Forde and his wife Brigid Curley, proprietors of a shop and a small farm. He was educated…

MacHale, John (1791–1881), catholic archbishop of Tuam, was born 6 March 1791 at Tubbernavine, Co. Mayo, the sixth child and fifth son of Patrick MacHale and his wife Mary Mulkieran. MacHale's father was a prosperous farmer and innkeeper and was also active in the linen trade. The…

Macken, Walter (1915–67), writer, actor, and theatre director, was born in Galway city on 3 May 1915, youngest son of Walter Macken, a carpenter and actor who was killed in the trenches at St Eloi, Flanders, in March 1916, and Agnes Macken (née Brady). Walter was educated at St Mary's…

MacNeice, John Frederick (1866–1942), Church of Ireland bishop, was born on Omey Island, Co. Galway, third of ten children – eight of whom survived to adulthood – of William Lindsay MacNeice, schoolmaster of the Society of Irish Church Missions (ICM) school on the island, and Alice…

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…

Maguire, Conor Joseph O'Loughlin (1861–1944), physician and folklorist, was born in Carraroe, Co. Galway, the only son of the two children of Edward Maguire, also a physician, and his first wife, whose maiden name was O'Loughlin. His father later married a second time and had another…

Maguire, Cúchonnacht Mór (c.1650–91), Jacobite landowner and soldier, was the only son of Hugh Maguire of Tempo, Co. Fermanagh (an officer of the Irish confederate army who was killed at the battle of Glenswilly in the year of Cúchonnacht's birth) and his wife (née O'…

Maguire, Meredith Francis (‘Frank’) (1929–81), publican and politician, was born in Gort, Co. Galway, eldest son of Francis Maguire (1900–78), detective garda sergeant, and his wife, Sadie (1907–78). He was educated at St Mary's Marist Brothers School in Athlone and subsequently…

Maher, Denis John (1916–84), civil servant, was born 16 June 1916 in Milltown, Tuam, Co. Galway, youngest of three children of William Maher, RIC man and native of Co. Clare, and Catherine Maher (née Kelly) from Co. Galway. His father…

Mahon, Sir Bryan Thomas (1862–1930), general, was born 2 April 1862 in Belleville, Co. Galway, son of Henry Blake Mahon, landowner, and his wife Matilda, daughter of Col. Thomas Seymour, of Ballymore Castle, Co. Galway. Educated locally, he joined the 4th (Militia) Battalion of…

Mair, Peter (1951–2011), political scientist, was born 3 March 1951 in Rosses Point, Co. Sligo, one of three children (two boys and a girl) of Major Moray Mair, OBE, an officer in the Indian army originally from Scotland…

Marsh, Sir Henry (1790–1860), physician, was born in Loughrea, Co. Galway, into a distinguished clerical family, descendant of the protestant archbishop Francis Marsh (qv), and son of the Rev. Robert Marsh, rector of Killinane, Co.…

Martin, Francis (1652–1722), priest and theologian, was born in late autumn 1652 in Galway, descended from one of the Tribe families. His name appears on the matriculation register of the University of Louvain on 19 December 1673, and he was promoted to the faculty of arts there…

Martin, Helen (Mary Gabriel) (c.1610–1673), founder and first abbess of the Poor Clare convent in Galway, was born in Galway. Although her exact parentage is unknown, the Martins were one of twelve Old English catholic mercantile and gentry families of Galway city,…

Martin, Mary Letitia (Mrs Martin Bell) (1815–50), novelist, was born 28 August 1815 at Ballinahinch Castle, Co. Galway, the only child of Thomas Barnewall Martin (1786–1847), landowner and MP for Galway (1832–47), and his wife Julia (née Kirwan) (d. 1858) of Dalgan Park, Co. Mayo.…

Martin, Richard (1754–1834), politician, animal rights campaigner, and duellist, was born 6 February 1754 at Ballinahinch castle, Dangan, Co. Galway, the eldest son of Robert Martin, a landowner, and his first wife, Bridget Martin (née Barnewall), daughter of the 11th Baron…

Martin, Robert Jasper (1846–1905), stage-Irish humorist and unionist political activist, was born 16 June 1846 at Ross House, near Killanin, Co. Galway, eldest son of James Martin and his second wife, Anna Selina (née Fox). Violet Martin (qv) (‘Martin Ross’) (…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Somerville, Edith Anna Œnone. View the…

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…