Clandillon, Seamus (‘Clan’)
Clandillon, Seamus (‘Clan’) (1878–1944), musician, civil servant, and first director of radio broadcasting at 2RN, was born 6 June 1878 near Gort, Co. Galway, son of William A. Clandillon, national…...
Clarke, Adam
Clarke, Adam (1760/62–1832), methodist minister and scholar, was born at Moybeg, near Maghera, Co. Londonderry, son of John Clarke (fl. 1762), schoolmaster, whose early marriage to a Miss McLean prevented him from completing a degree in…...
Clark, Henry Maitland
Clark, Henry Maitland (1929–2012), politician, colonial administrator and businessman, was born on 11 April 1929 in Co. Londonderry, the middle of three children (two boys and a girl) of Henry ('Harry') Francis Clark and his wife Sybil Emily (née Stuart); the family resided in Rockwood…...
Clark, Sir Ernest
Clark, Sir Ernest (1864–1951), civil servant, was born 13 April 1864, youngest child among three sons and two daughters of Samuel Henry Clark, state schoolmaster, and Anne Clark (née Seaver). The family lived at 64 St James's Place, Plumstead, Kent, England. As a teenager Clark…...
Clemens Scottus
Clemens Scottus (‘the Irishman’) (fl. c.800), scholar, was teacher at the palace school at Aachen under Charlemagne (d. 814) and his son Louis the Pious. A letter from Alcuin to Charlemagne, dated 797, refers to the presence of Irish scholars at the palace court, one of…...
Clements, Henry Theophilus
Clements, Henry Theophilus (1734–95), financial administrator and MP, was second son of Nathaniel Clements (qv), treasury official and MP, and his wife Hannah, daughter of the Rev. William Gore, dean of Down. The younger brother of…...
Clements, Nathaniel
Clements, Nathaniel (1705–77), treasury official, property developer, architect, and MP, was third of four surviving sons of Robert Clements (1664–1722), landowner, of Rathkenny, Co. Cavan, and Abbotstown, Co. Dublin, and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1742), daughter of…...
Clere, Nicholas de
Clere, Nicholas de (d. c.1303), treasurer of the Irish exchequer, seems to have entered royal service in 1277 when he was granted the prebend of the king's chapel in the castle of Nottingham. His first connection with Ireland came in 1284 when he was appointed custodian of…...
Cliffe, John
Cliffe, John (d. 1691), administrator, was the son of Anthony Cliffe of Westminster. He was secretary to the commissioners dispatched to Ulster by the parliament of England in 1645–7. In 1650–51 he acted to secretary to Henry Ireton (qv),…...
Clifford, Sir Conyers
Clifford, Sir Conyers (d. 1599), soldier and administrator, was the eldest son of George Clifford and Ursula Clifford (née Finch) of Bobbing Court, Kent. He distinguished himself under the command of the earl of Essex (qv) in the…...
Clinch, James Bernard
Clinch, James Bernard (1770–1834), scholar and pamphleteer, was born 16 July 1770 in James's St., Dublin, fifth son of Joseph Clinch, a merchant originally from Ratoath, Co. Meath, and Mary Clinch (née Higgins) from Knockmane, Co. Roscommon. Educated at the Rev. Beragh's academy…...
Codling, Arthur Dean (‘Art’)
Codling, Arthur Dean (‘Art’) (1876–1950), civil servant, was born 30 November 1876 at Lytham, Lancashire, England, eldest son and second among four children of William Eggitt Codling, Wesleyan Methodist minister, and Isabella Codling (née Dean). He was educated at Mr Leathley's…...
Coffey, Æneas
Coffey, Æneas (c.1780–1852), excise official and inventor, was the son of Andrew Coffey and his wife, daughter of a Capt. Ryan who died of wounds received during the arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald (qv). Andrew Coffey…...
Coffey, Hugh Diarmid James
Coffey, Hugh Diarmid James (1888–1964), author and public servant, was born 24 December 1888 in Dublin, the only child of George Coffey (qv) (d. 1916) and his wife Jane Sophia Frances (d. 1921), daughter of Sir George Burdett L'Estrange. The…...
Coghill, Marmaduke
Coghill, Marmaduke (1673–1739), chancellor of the exchequer, was born 28 December 1673, elder of two sons of Sir John Coghill of Co. Dublin, formerly of Coghill Hall, Yorkshire, England, and Hester Coghill (née Cramer); there were also two sisters. Sir John, master in chancery…...
Colbert, John Patrick
Colbert, John Patrick (1898–1975), public servant and economist, was born 12 February 1898, the son of William Colbert JP, a farmer of Templeathea, Co. Limerick, and Norah Colbert (née Danaher). Educated at Rockwell College, near Cashel,…...
Colby, Thomas Frederick
Colby, Thomas Frederick (1784–1852), engineer and administrator, was born 1 September 1784 at Rochester, Kent, England, eldest child of Maj. Thomas Colby (Royal Marines) of south Wales, and Cornelia Colby (née Hadden), both of military families. Educated at Northfleet, Kent, and the…...
Cole, Sir (Galbraith) Lowry
Cole, Sir (Galbraith) Lowry (1772–1842), army officer and colonial governor, was born in Dublin on 1 May 1772, second son in the family of five sons and five daughters of William Willoughby Cole (1736–1803), 1st earl of Enniskillen, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Galbraith Lowry…...
Collier, Michael
Collier, Michael (1780–1849), highwayman, was born at Bellewstown Hill, Co. Meath, son of a small farmer; no other details of his parents are known. Aged 13, he was employed as a farm labourer in Co. Louth, and he later worked as a carman on the Dublin–Drogheda mail coach (where he…...
Collins, John
Collins, John (1883–1954), civil servant, was born 29 May 1883 in Waterford city, one of four children of John Collins, borough constable, and Bridget Collins (née Quinlan), of the City Hall, Waterford. Educated at Mount Sion CBS,…...
Collis, Maurice Stewart
Collis, Maurice Stewart (1889–1973), author, artist, and civil servant, was born 10 January 1889 in Eglinton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin, the eldest son of William Stewart Collis, a solicitor in the firm of Collis & Ward, and Edith Lilla Collis (née Barton);…...
Coll, Vincent (‘Mad Dog’)
Coll, Vincent (‘Mad Dog’) (1908–32), gangster, was born 20 July 1908 in Bunbeg, Gweedore, Co. Donegal, seventh child among six sons and two daughters of Tuathall Óg (‘Toaly’) Coll, of Bunbeg, a small farmer, and Anna Mary Coll (née Duncan), of Dublin. His parents had met and married…...
Colmán
Colmán ( fl. 7th century?) is known only as the author of a letter to one Feradach, announcing that he had received certain improved texts a Romanis (‘from those in Rome’ or ‘from the Romani’). The texts mentioned were Isidore, ‘De ecclesiasticis officiis’ (the…...
Colmán
Colmán (fl. 9th cent.), the otherwise unknown author of two well-constructed poems in Virgilian hexameters. One of the poems recalls a miracle of St Brigit (qv); it was written at Rome (in Roma…...
Colthurst, John Colthurst Bowen-
Colthurst, John Colthurst Bowen- (1880–1965), army officer and murderer, was born John Colthurst Bowen in Cork on 12 August 1880, eldest son of Robert Walter Travers Bowen JP (who changed the family name to Bowen-Colthurst in 1882 to meet the…...