Cherry, Richard Robert
Cherry, Richard Robert (1859–1923), lord chief justice of Ireland, was born near Waterford on 19 March 1859, younger son of Robert William Cherry, a solicitor of huguenot descent, and his wife, Susan, daughter of John Briscoe, MD. In…...
Christian, Jonathan
Christian, Jonathan (1808–87), barrister and judge, was born 17 February 1808 in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, third son of George Christian, solicitor, and Margaret Christian (née Cormac). He entered TCD in 1824 and graduated…...
Clancy, John Joseph
Clancy, John Joseph (1847–1928), journalist, politician, and barrister, was born 15 July 1847, the eldest son of William Clancy (1809?–1874), a farmer of Carragh Lodge, Claregalway, Co. Galway, and his wife Mary (née Burke). He was educated at Summerhill College, Athlone, and at…...
Clarke, John
Clarke, John (1889–1980), potato breeder, was born on 1 February 1889 in his mother's homeplace of Lemnagh Beg in the parish of Ballintoy, north Co. Antrim, eldest child of Daniel Clarke (d. 1940) and his wife Rose Clarke (née McLernon) (d. 1897). Daniel Clarke owned a small farm in…...
Clear, Thomas
Clear, Thomas (1911–94), forester, was born on 22 December 1911 at 50 Main Street, Portlaoise, the son of Thomas Clear, a carpenter, and Lizzie Clear (née Scott). Educated at a local secondary school in Portlaoise, he obtained a county council scholarship in 1930 to study agriculture at…...
Clinton, Mark
Clinton, Mark (1915–2001), government minister and farmer, was born in Walterstown, Moynalty, near Kells, Co. Meath, on 7 February 1915, the fourth son of Tom Clinton, farmer of 160 acres at Walterstown, and his wife Margaret (née Kearney). His father was elected to Meath County Council…...
Cloney, Seán
Cloney, Seán (1926–99), farmer, central figure of the Fethard-on-Sea controversy, and historian, was born 5 September 1926 in Co. Wexford, the only child of Michael Cloney (1866–1934), steward of Dungulph estate, and his second wife, Ellen (née Cavanagh), of Templederry, Gorey, Co.…...
Coakley, Denis
Coakley, Denis (1922–87), businessman and farmer, was born 15 October 1922 at Bunkilla, Donoughmore, Co. Cork, the son of farmers Jeremiah Coakley and Katy (née Buckley) Coakley. Educated at Presentation College, Cork, and UCC, he…...
Cockran, William Bourke
Cockran, William Bourke (1854–1923), lawyer and US congressman, was born 28 February 1854 in Carrowkeel, Co. Sligo, one of four sons and a daughter of Martin Cockran, landlord and horseman, and Harriet Cockran (née Knight-White). On the death of his father in a fall from a horse (…...
Coghlan, Joseph
Coghlan, Joseph (d. 1697), lawyer and politician, was probably the youngest son of Francis MacCoghlan, a catholic landowner of Kilcolgan, King's Co. Joseph became a protestant and in 1672 he was a student at TCD. The place of his…...
Cohalan, Daniel Florence
Cohalan, Daniel Florence (1867–1946), judge and Irish-American leader, was born 21 December 1867 in Middletown, New York, eldest of five sons of Timothy E. Cohalan and Ellen Cohalan (née O'Leary), both Irish immigrants. Educated at Manhattan College, Cohalan graduated in 1885, took…...
Cole, John Sydney Richard
Cole, John Sydney Richard (1907–89), lawyer, was born 24 January 1907 in Belfast, the only son of R. L. Cole (qv), methodist minister, and Selina McKell Cole (née Kelly), who died at the time of his birth. He was educated at Cork…...
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 Henry
Collins, John Henry (1880–1952), lawyer and politician, was born 3 March 1880 in Newry, Co. Down, elder son of Henry Patrick Collins, auctioneer of Derrybeg, Newry, Co. Down, and Kate Collins, daughter of Frank McDonald, farmer, of Carrickredmond, Dundalk, Co. Louth. The family…...
Collins, Sir Richard Henn
Collins, Sir Richard Henn (1842–1911), barrister and judge, was born 1 January 1842, third son of Stephen Collins (d. 1843), QC, of Merrion Square, Dublin, and his wife Frances, daughter of William Henn, a master-in-chancery. He attended the…...
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…...
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…...
Comerford, Gerard (Gerald, Garret)
Comerford, Gerard (Gerald, Garret) (d. 1604), attorney and judge, was a younger son of Fowke (Fulke) Comerford of Callan, Co. Kilkenny, and his wife Rosina Rothe. His father was a loyal adherent of Thomas Butler (qv), 10th earl of…...
Comerford, James ('Jim') Joseph
Comerford, James ('Jim') Joseph (1901–88), nationalist, judge and parade organiser, was born on 7 January 1901 in the family home at Coolraheen, Muckalee, Co. Kilkenny, the only child of John Comerford, farmer, of Coolraheen, and his wife Julia (née Kavanagh), schoolteacher, from…...
Commins, Andrew
Commins, Andrew (1832–1916), barrister and politician, was born at Ballybeg, Co. Carlow, the second son of John Commins and his wife, Catherine, daughter of Laurence Fogarty of Drummond. He studied at Carlow College (where he contributed verse to the Carlow Magazine) and at…...
Comyn, George
Comyn, George (d. 1663), lawyer and politician, second son of Edmund Comyn and Gennett Sarsfield, was born into a family that had played a leading role in the civic life of Limerick for over two centuries. George trained as a lawyer, entering Gray's Inn on 11 February 1621, before…...
Comyn, Michael
Comyn, Michael (1871–1952), lawyer and politician, was born 6 June 1871 at Clareville, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, the eldest son and the second of seven children of James Comyn of Kilshanny, Co. Clare, a tenant farmer and secretary of the local branch of the Land League, and his wife…...
Comyn, Sir James Peter
Comyn, Sir James Peter (1921–97), leading barrister and high court judge in England, was born 8 March 1921 in Beaufield House, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin, the only son of James Comyn, a barrister and former civil servant from Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, and his wife Mary Moloney,…...
Condon, Colm (Columba)
Condon, Colm (Columba) (1921–2008), barrister and attorney general, was born 16 July 1921 in Ashbourne, Co. Meath, the only son and third of six children of Thomas Condon, of Cloonand House, Ashbourne, an accountant and revolutionary, and his wife Margaret (née Maguire), a national…...
Coningsby, Thomas
Coningsby, Thomas (1657–1729), Baron Coningsby of Clanbrassil and earl of Coningsby , lord justice and officeholder, was born 2 November 1657, only son and heir of Humphrey Coningsby of Hampton Court, Herefordshire, and his wife Lettice Loftus (daughter of Sir Arthur Loftus of…...