Literature

Displaying 176 - 200 of 1049 results on page 8 of 42

Colmán

Colmán (d. 604?) son of Léiníne, saint and poet, is patron of the church of Cloyne, east Co. Cork, which first attained more than local importance at the synod of Kells–Mellifont (1152), when it became the seat of a bishopric. Prior to this it is scarcely noticed in the annals,…

Colmán

Colmán (d. c.665) of the moccu Chluasaig, described in the annals as abbot and fer léigind (lector or chief scholar) of the monastery of Cork and tutor of Cummian Foto (qv), is reputed to have been…

Columbanus (Colmán, Columba)

Columbanus (Colmán, Columba) (c.540–615), missionary, is mainly associated with his monastic foundations at Luxeuil and Bobbio. Originally named Colmán, he was generally known to his contemporaries by the Latinised forms Columbanus or Columba. He has sometimes…

Colum, Mary Catherine (‘Molly’)

Colum, Mary Catherine (‘Molly’) (1887–1957), critic, editor, and teacher, was born 13 June 1887 in Co. Sligo, daughter of Charles Maguire of Derryhawlagh, Killesher parish, Co. Fermanagh, and Maria Maguire (née Gunning). After the death of her parents, she was raised by her…

Colum, Padraic

Colum, Padraic (1881–1972), playwright, poet, and novelist, was born 8 December 1881 in Longford, eldest of eight children of Patrick Collumb, master of the Longford workhouse and stationmaster in the Sandycove railway station near Dublin, and Susan Collumb (née MacCormack), from Co.…

Comyn, Michael (Micheál Coimín)

Comyn, Michael (Micheál Coimín) (c.1680–1760), prose writer and poet in Irish, was son of Patrick Óg Comyn, farmer of Kilcorcoran, Co. Clare, and Joanna Comyn (née Fitzgerald). Michael's grandfather lost a substantial freehold in five townlands of Kimacrehy parish during…

Concanen, Matthew

Concanen, Matthew (1701–49), poet, playwright, and political writer, was born in Ireland. Although he was ‘bred to the bar’ (Shiels, 27), and apparently qualified as a barrister, he abandoned law to pursue a literary career, and an early play, a comedy entitled ‘Wexford Wells', was…

Congreve, William

Congreve, William (1670–1729), playwright and poet, was born 24 January 1670 at Bardsley, Yorkshire, the son of William Congreve (1637–1708), an army officer, and Mary Browning (d. 1715) of Doncaster. In 1674 his father gained a commission as lieutenant in the army in Ireland, and…

Conmee, John Stephen

Conmee, John Stephen (1847–1910), Jesuit priest, writer, and educator, was born 25 December 1847 in Glanduff, near Athlone, Co. Westmeath, the son of John N. Conmee, a prosperous farmer. His family later moved to Kingsland, Co. Roscommon, and it was here that he spent his early…

Connell, Vivian Cecil Francis St John

Connell, Vivian Cecil Francis St John (1905–81), writer, was born 28 February 1905 in Carrigaline, Co. Cork, the son of John Connell, a physician and surgeon, and Josephine Connell (née McDonnell). According to his own accounts he was taught to read and write by his father, after which…

Connolly, Peter Romauld

Connolly, Peter Romauld (1927–87), catholic priest and literary critic, was born 25 February 1927 at Rathlagan, Drumconrath, Co. Meath, eldest of five children (three sons and two daughters) of Peter Paul Connolly, farmer, and Susan Connolly (née Slattery), schoolteacher. He was…

Conyers, (Minnie) Dorothea Spaight

Conyers, (Minnie) Dorothea Spaight (1869–1949), novelist, was born 11 November 1869, in Fedamore, Co. Limerick, one of twin daughters of Colonel John Blood-Smith of Fedamore and Ardsollus, Co. Clare, and Amelia Blood-Smith (née Spaight) of Derry Castle, Co. Tipperary. Her family…

Conyngham, Elizabeth Emmet Lenox

Conyngham, Elizabeth Emmet Lenox (née Holmes ) (b. 1800), poet and translator, was born in Dublin, the only child of the barrister and orator Robert Holmes (qv), barrister, and his wife…

Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox-

Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox- (1941–2011), traveller and writer, was born on 22 February 1941 in Ceylon (latterly, Sri Lanka). Her father, Gerald Hamilton Lenox-Conyngham, a tea planter in Wattegoda, in the south of the island, was descended from an Ulster ascendancy family and…

Corkery, Daniel

Corkery, Daniel (Ó Corcora, Domhnall ) (1878–1964), writer, cultural philosopher, and literary critic, was born 14 February 1878 at Gardiner's Hill, Cork city, one of five children of William Corkery and Mary Corkery (née Barron). The Corkerys were of carpentering stock for four or five…

Corry, John

Corry, John (  fl. 1792–c.1825), writer, was born near Newry, Co. Down, perhaps in Ravensdale, Co. Louth. He is said to have been educated by a village schoolmaster. He may have been distantly (or illegitimately) related to the prominent Corry family of Newry, one…

Corry, Thomas Charles Steuart

Corry, Thomas Charles Steuart (1825/6–1896), doctor, poet, and entrepreneur, was born in 1825 or 1826, possibly in Brandon, Suffolk, elder of two sons of Thomas Charles Stewart Corry and Mary Corry (née Britnell; 1795–1871), who may have been his second wife. The family home was at…

Cotter, George Sackville

Cotter, George Sackville (1755–1831), clergyman, poet, and translator, was most probably born in Co. Cork, the fourth and youngest son of Sir James Cotter, MP, created first baronet of Rockforest, Co. Cork, in 1763, and his wife, Arabella (née Rogerson, formerly Cassaubon), coheir…

Coulter, John (William)

Coulter, John (William) (1888–1980), playwright, was born 12 February 1888 in Naples St., Belfast, the son of Francis Coulter, a member of the RIC, and Annie Coulter (née Clements). At an early age he was interested primarily in art, and…

Cousins, James Henry Sproull

Cousins, James Henry Sproull (1873–1956), writer, teacher, and theosophist, was born 22 July 1873 in Cavour Street, Belfast, the eldest child of James Cousins, a deep-sea mariner of Glastry, Co. Down, and Susan Cousins (née Davey), of Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. Educated at a local…

Cowell, John Saint Patrick

Cowell, John Saint Patrick (1912–2008), medical administrator and writer, was born 13 March 1912 in Audenshaw, Lancashire, the only son of Dr William J. Cowell and his wife Adeline (née Kelly) (d. 1956). Drawn home by the abundant shooting and fishing, William Cowell returned to his…

Coyle, Anthony

Coyle, Anthony (1728–1801), catholic bishop of Raphoe, poet, and antiquarian, was born in Listack, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, son of a farmer. Educated at the Irish college in Paris, he was expelled in his fourth year for various mischiefs, including writing a pamphlet…

Coyle, Kathleen

Coyle, Kathleen (1886–1952), novelist, was born 23 October 1886 in Derry, the eldest child of John Coyle and Catherine Coyle (née McKenna); they had a son and two other daughters. Her mother, who was born in New York and brought up in Ireland, was proud of her Irish ancestry.…

Coyne, John Stirling

Coyne, John Stirling (1803–68), dramatist and comic journalist, was born in Birr, Co. Offaly, the son of Denis Coyne, port surveyor of Waterford, and his wife, Bridget (née Cosgrave). Educated at Dungannon School, Co. Tyrone, he abandoned plans of entering the legal profession, and…

Craig, Harry (Henry Armitage Llewellyn, 'H. A. L.')

Craig, Harry (Henry Armitage Llewellyn, 'H. A. L.') (1921–78), writer and political activist, was born on 20 October 1921 in Dromtariffe, Kanturk, Co. Cork, one of twin sons of James Robert Hanna Craig, a Church of Ireland clergyman, and his wife Margaret Eva Grace (née Llewellyn),…