Biographies A-Z

Cashman, Nellie (1845?–1925), frontier entrepreneur and philanthropist, was born in the mid 1840s near Cobh (Queenstown), Co. Cork. Documentary details of her early life in Ireland and America are few, rendering any chronology of her first twenty-five years largely speculative.…

Cassidy, James Archbold (1827/8–90), distiller and brewer, was the second of three sons of Robert Cassidy (1791–1858), a strong farmer at Jamestown, Co. Kildare, who in 1839 took over the distilling and brewing firm at nearby Monasterevan founded in 1784 by his father, John…

Cassidy, Joseph (1933–2013), archbishop and preacher, was born on 29 October 1933 in Charlestown, Co. Mayo, the only son of seven children of John Cassidy, national school headteacher, and Mary Cassidy (née Gallagher). His maternal uncle, Canon Eddie Gallagher, was parish priest of…

Casson, Christopher Thorndike (1912–96), actor, was born 20 January 1912 at Prestwich, Manchester, Lancashire, England, younger son among two sons and two daughters of Sir Lewis Casson (1875–1969) and Dame Sybil Thorndike (1882–1976), both of whom were among the foremost actors…

Castle (Castles, Cassels, Cassells), Richard (c.1690/95–1751), was one of at least four sons in a huguenot family and was possibly born in Kassel, Hesse, Germany; his parents' names are not known. An officer (c.1715) in a regiment of engineers, he travelled…

Cathaír Már (‘the great’), ancestor-figure of the Laigin and putatively king of Ireland, was credited in the regnal lists with a reign of fifty years. The genealogists present Fedelmid Fer Aurglas as his father, and Mairne, daughter of Morann of the Cruithni, as his principal…

Cathal (d. 742), son of Finguine and king of Munster, was a member of the Éoganacht Glendamnach dynasty (Rawl. B. 502, 148a 44, b1; LL, 320c 54). His father Finguine was a son of Cathal Cú cen Máthair (qv), but there is no…

Cathal (d. 819), son of Dúnlaing and king of Uí Chennselaig (south Leinster), belonged to the lineage of Síl Máeluidir, which gave its name to the baronies of Shelmaliere East and West, Co. Wexford. Nothing is recorded of his father Dúnlaing, although his grandfather Cú-chongelt (…

Cathal (d. 925), son of Conchobar and king of Connacht, belonged to the Síl Muiredaig lineage of Uí Briúin Aí, which had virtually monopolised the provincial kingship of Connacht since the second half of the eighth century. His immediate predecessors in the kingship were his…

Cathal (d. 1010), son of Conchobar and overking of Connacht, belonged, like his earlier namesake Cathal (qv) (d. 925), to the Síl Muiredaig lineage of Uí Briúin Aí. Indeed, repetitive name-patterns in the pedigree of this dynasty have, in the…

Cathal Cú Cen Máthair (d. 665/6), son of Cathal and king of Munster, belonged to the dynasty of Éoganacht Glendamnach (Rawl. B. 502, 148b 1, 32; LL, 320bb 56). A misplaced notice of his death at 604 (AU 603; AFM 600) led both…

Cathaldus (7th cent.), bishop of Taranto, was originally perhaps from Lismore (Co. Waterford). According to one late tradition, he was born in Ireland in the seventh century and educated in the monastery of Lismore. Later he became a bishop and ministered in Munster for some years…

Caulfeild, James (1728–99), 1st earl of Charlemont , politician, and landowner, was born 18 August 1728 at Castle Caulfeild, Co. Tyrone, second (but first surviving) son of James Caulfeild, 3rd Viscount Charlemont, and his wife Elizabeth Barnard of Castle Barnard, Co. Cork. As his…

Caulfeild, James Edward Geale (1880–1949), 8th Viscount Charlemont , politician, was born 12 May 1880 in London, only son of Marcus Piers Francis Caulfeild (1840–95) and Louisa Gwyn Caulfeild, fourth daughter of Robert Williams of Fryars, Anglesea. Educated at Cheam School and…

Caulfeild, Sir Toby (Tobias) (1565–1627), 1st Baron Charlemont , soldier and administrator, was baptised 2 December 1565 in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. His father's name is registered as Alexander Calfehill. He became a soldier, serving under Frobisher, Lord Howard, and then…

Caulfeild, Toby (1621–42), 3rd Baron Charlemont , MP, may have been born in September or October 1621, eldest among ten children of William Caulfeild, 2nd Baron Charlemont, and his wife Mary, daughter of the royal administrator and landowner Sir…

Caulfeild, William (1624?–1671), 5th Baron and 1st Viscount Charlemont , was third son among ten children of Sir William Caulfeild, 2nd baron, and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir John King (qv) (d. 1636), and was thus a younger brother of…

Caulfeild, William (1665–1737), MP and justice of king's bench, was eldest son of Capt. Thomas Caulfeild (d. 1691), landowner, of Donamon, Co. Galway, and his wife Anne, eldest daughter of Charles, 2nd Viscount Moore, of Drogheda. The family estate comprised lands in Co. Galway…

Caulfield, James (c.1732–1814), catholic bishop of Ferns, was born at Saltmills, Co. Wexford. He was educated at a classical school at Saltmills conducted by a Church of Ireland minister under the patronage of Caesar Colclough…

Caulfield, Malachy Francis (‘Max’) (1915–97), journalist, broadcaster, and author, was born 10 May 1915 in Agincourt Ave., Belfast, eldest of two sons and two daughters of Malachy Caulfield, civil servant, of Co. Roscommon, and Julia Caulfield (née Campion) of Dublin. Educated at…

Caulfield, Richard (1823–87), antiquary and local historian, was born 23 April 1823 in Cork, one of five sons of a merchant, William Caulfield, and his wife Catherine, who was the daughter of Henry Gosnell, a Cork doctor and surgeon. Richard was educated at Bandon endowed school,…

Causantín (Cusantín, Constantine) (d. 820), son of Fergus and king of the Scots and Picts, is traced to the dynasty of Dál Riata. He was king of the Picts from 789 and held a joint kingship of the Scots and Picts from c.811, one of only three rulers to achieve that…

Cavanagh, Bartholomew (1821–97), catholic priest, was born in Kilcahill, Annaghdown, Co. Galway, one of thirteen children of John Cavanagh, affluent leaseholder of some 1,000 acres, mainly on the Blake estate, and Kate Cavanagh (née Browne). He studied first at a private school in…

Cavanagh (Kavanagh), Patrick (d. 1581), catholic martyr, was a sailor in the port of Wexford. In 1581 Viscount Baltinglass (qv), then in rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I, and his Jesuit chaplain Robert Rochford attempted to find…

Cavanagh, Michael (1822–1900), Fenian, poet, and biographer, was probably born 22 January 1822 in Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, the son of Andrew Cavanagh, a cooper of Cook St., Cappoquin, and his wife Mary (née Cullanane). He had six sisters, one of whom, Julia (b. 1833), was the wife…