Costello, Michael Joseph (‘Mickey Joe’)
Costello, Michael Joseph (‘Mickey Joe’) (1904–86), army officer and public servant, was born 2 July 1904 in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary, the eldest of five boys and three girls (three of the children died of influenza in 1917) of Denis Costello of Kilmihill, Co. Clare, and Teresa…...
Cotter, Sir James
Cotter, Sir James (c.1630–1705), soldier and Jacobite, was second of two sons and three daughters of Edmond Cotter, gentleman, of Ballinsperry, Carrigtohill, Co. Cork, and his wife Ellish, daughter of John Connell of Barryscourt, Carrigtohill. James Cotter appears to have…...
Courtney, Thaddeus Cornelius (‘Ted’)
Courtney, Thaddeus Cornelius (‘Ted’) (1895–1961), engineer, army officer, and businessman, was born at Cork on 13 December 1895, the elder son of Timothy Courtney of Co. Kerry, pensioner of the RIC, and Ellen Courtney (née Shea) of…...
Crawford, Leo
Crawford, Leo (1903–73), trade union leader, was born 1 December 1903 at 2 Grattan Place, Dublin, son of John Crawford, plasterer, and Annie Crawford (née Molloy). Educated at Westland Row CBS, he followed his father's trade as an…...
Crean, Eugene
Crean, Eugene (1854–1939), trade unionist and home rule MP, was born at 3 Douglas St., Cork, third child and only son among four children of Ellen Crean (née Wall) and Daniel Crean, urban landlord. His siblings were Honora (b. 1841), Margaret (b. 1848), and Anne (b. 1860). Eugene…...
Crean, Thomas Joseph
Crean, Thomas Joseph (1873–1923), rugby player, military doctor, and VC holder, was born 19 April 1873 in Morrison's Hotel, Dawson Street, Dublin, the second son and fifth of the eight children of Michael Theobald Crean, barrister of the Irish land commission, and his wife, Emma,…...
Crosby, Sir Piers
Crosby, Sir Piers (1590–1646), courtier and army officer, was the son of Patrick Crosby (Mac an Chrosain) and his wife Catherine, probably an only son with one sister. In 1611 he inherited the property accumulated by his father in Queen's County and Kerry, but disputes over his…...
Cullinan, Stephen
Cullinan, Stephen (1918–51), agriculturalist, was born 18 February 1918 at Ballinfoyle, Co. Galway, fourth of eight children of progressive farmers William Cullinan (d. 1937) and Mary Cullinan (née Fahy; d. 1947). After attending the Patrician Brothers’ secondary school at Nun's…...
Cusack, George
Cusack, George (d. 1677), army officer, was from a landed family in the Pale, and was the brother of Christopher Cusack of Donore, Co. Meath. He held the rank of captain in the confederate Leinster army of General Thomas Preston (qv),…...
Dalton, James
Dalton, James (1834–1919), Irish-Australian merchant and pastoralist, was born 24 May 1834 at Duntryleague, Co. Limerick, third child of James Dalton, farmer, and his first wife Ellen (née Ryan). While Ellen was pregnant with James, his father assisted in the failed kidnapping of a…...
Daly, James
Daly, James (1836?–1911), newspaper editor, farmer, and local politician, was born in the later 1830s at Boghadoon, parish of Addergoole, Co. Mayo, second son of Charles Daly (d. 1869), tenant farmer, hotelier, and poor law guardian. Educated at national school and at the…...
Darby, Tom
Darby, Tom (1928–2009), trade unionist, was born in Kinnegad, Co. Westmeath, on 28 February 1928, one of seven children of James Darby, a labourer, and his wife Rachel (née Keenan). His family was poor and, after leaving Kinnegad national school at age 14, he worked locally as a turf…...
Davin, William
Davin, William (1890–1956), trade unionist and politician, was born 19 February 1890 at Grogan, Rathdowney, Queen's Co. (Laois), son of Timothy Davin, farmer, and Ellen Davin (née Costigan). He was educated at Rathdowney national school, at St Kieran's College, Kilkenny, and later…...
Dease, Maurice James
Dease, Maurice James (1889–1914), soldier, first VC of the first world war, was born 28 September 1889, only son of Edmund Fitzlaurence Dease, JP, of Coole, Co. Westmeath, and Katherine Dease (née Murray…...
Deasy, Rickard
Deasy, Rickard (1916–99), army officer and a founder of the National Farmers’ Association, was born 13 March 1916 in Leeson St., Dublin, the youngest of three children (one son and two daughters) of Major Henry Hugh Peter Deasy, car manufacturer, explorer and son of the Clonakilty…...
Deasy, Timothy
Deasy, Timothy (1838/41–1880), soldier, Fenian, and politician, was born in Clonakilty, Co. Cork. During 1847 his family emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, and settled in the nearby city of Lawrence, in a district dominated by Irish immigrants. He may have completed an…...
Deegan, Columbanus
Deegan, Columbanus (1925–2007), war veteran and Franciscan friar, was born John Joseph Deegan on 4 April 1925 at 23 Usher's Island on Dublin's south quays, one of three boys of James Deegan, a labourer, and his wife Annie Deegan (formerly Finnegan; née Quinn). Known in his youth as…...
De Lacey, Lawrence (Larry)
De Lacey, Lawrence (Larry) (1885–1973), revolutionary and journalist, was born on 18 March 1885 in Oulart, Co. Wexford, the youngest of three sons and one daughter of Lawrence Lacey, a local farmer, and his wife Mary (née Brien). Born Lawrence Lacey , he styled himself de Lacey in…...
Derry, Valentine
Derry, Valentine (b. c.1760–d. p.1806), United Irishman, soldier, and teacher. Nothing is known about his early life. His brother was Father Edmund Derry (c.1747–1819), parish priest of Clonduff and later catholic bishop of Dromore (1801–19). Valentine…...
Devenish, John James
Devenish, John James (c. 1669–1739), military officer, was born to William Devenish of Curraghnegoole, near Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, and his wife Eleanor (née O’Conor Roe) of nearby Cloonfree, near Strokestown. His grandfather was George Devenish, a catholic Dublin merchant…...
Devereux (D'Evereux, Devereaux), John
Devereux (D'Evereux, Devereaux), John (1778?–1860), soldier and adventurer, was born in Co. Wexford, son of a prominent catholic landowner, probably William Devereux of Taghmon, Co. Wexford. He and his father may have been United Irishmen: they certainly took part in the 1798…...
Devine, William
Devine, William (1887–1959), priest and military chaplain, was born 5 October 1887 at Castlederg, Co. Tyrone, son of George Devine, draper, and Catherine Devine (née McGlinchy). Educated at St Columb's College, Derry, and St Patrick's College, Maynooth, he was ordained for the diocese…...
Dillon, Arthur
Dillon, Arthur (1670–1733), Jacobite general in the French service, was born in Co. Roscommon, the third son of Theobald Dillon (qv), 7th Viscount Dillon of Loughglinn, Co. Roscommon, and lieutenant-colonel in the army of…...
Dillon, Comte Theobald
Dillon, Comte Theobald (1745–92), general in French service, was born in Dublin, son of Thomas Dillon, banker, and Marie Dillon, daughter of Edward Hussey of Donore, Co. Kildare. His father took the family to France in 1746 and, as a distant relative of the 7th Viscount…...
Dillon, Sir James
Dillon, Sir James (c.1600–c.1667), army officer, was the eighth son of Theobald, 1st Viscount Dillon (qv) of Costello-Gallen (d. 1624/5) and Eleanor (d. 1638), the daughter of Sir Edward Tuite of Tuitestown…...