MacNeven, William James (1763–1841), physician and Irish nationalist, was born on 21 March 1763 at Ballynahowne, near Aughrim in co. Galway, the eldest of the four children of James MacNeven, owner of a small estate, and Rosa Dolphin. His parents were Gaelic-speaking Catholics; according to family tradition, their ancestors had owned large tracts of land in the north of ...