Croft(s), Sir James
Croft(s), Sir James (1517/18–90), soldier and administrator, was second son of Sir Richard Croft of Herefordshire and Catherine Croft (née Herbert). James sat in parliament for Herefordshire (1542; 1545?); was made a knight (1547), governor of Haddington (1549), and member of the…...
Croker, Bithia Mary (‘B. M.’)
Croker, Bithia Mary (‘B. M.’) (née Sheppard ) (c.1849–1920), novelist and short-story writer, was born in Roscommon, the youngest daughter of the Rev. William Sheppard (d. 1856), Church of Ireland clergyman for the parish of Kilgeffin, Co. Roscommon. She was educated in…...
Croker, John Wilson
Croker, John Wilson (1780–1857), politician and author, was born in Galway 20 December 1780, eldest among two sons and a daughter of John Croker (1743–1814), exciseman and surveyor general of Dublin port 1800–07, and his second wife, Hester (née Rathbone), daughter of a Co. Galway…...
Croly, George
Croly, George (1780–1860), clergyman and writer, was born 17 August 1780 in Dublin, the son of Robert Croly, a physician. In 1795 he enrolled at TCD, becoming a scholar (1798), graduating BA (1800)…...
Cromwell, Edward
Cromwell, Edward (1560?–1607), 3rd Baron Cromwell , soldier, was son of Henry Cromwell, 2nd Baron Cromwell, and his wife Mary (née Paulet), daughter of the marquis of Winchester. He spent some time at Jesus College, Cambridge, but was not created MA…...
Crookshank, Anne Olivia
Crookshank, Anne Olivia (1927–2016), art historian, was born in Whiteabbey, Co. Antrim, on 3 January 1927, the second of three daughters to Henry Crookshank, a geographical surveyor, and his wife Eileen ‘Kitty’ Crookshank (née Somerville-Large). For the first five years of her life Anne…...
Crosbie, Thomas
Crosbie, Thomas (d. 1694), soldier and politician, was the eldest son of David Crosbie of Ardfert, a protestant planter whose family had moved to Kerry in the early seventeenth century. His mother (d. 1628), whose name does not survive in the records, was a daughter of John Steere,…...
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…...
Culme, Sir Hugh
Culme, Sir Hugh (d. 1630), army officer, was a younger son of Hugh Culme of Canonleigh, Devon, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Richard Fortescue of Filleigh, Devon; he had at least three brothers including Benjamin Culme, dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin. A relative of Lord Deputy…...
Curran, Amelia
Curran, Amelia (1775–1847), artist, was born in Redmond's Hill, Dublin, eldest child of John Philpot Curran (qv), orator, lawyer, and parliamentarian, and Sarah Curran (née Creagh), both of Newmarket, Co. Cork. Her artistic…...
Curran, Henry Grattan
Curran, Henry Grattan (1800–76), barrister, resident magistrate, and author, was born 5 February 1800 in Tipperary, illegitimate son of John Philpott Curran (qv), master of the rolls; his mother's surname was Fitzgerald. Having one stepbrother and one stepsister,…...
Currey, Frances Wilmot (‘Fanny’)
Currey, Frances Wilmot (‘Fanny’) (1848–1917), artist and horticulturalist, was born 30 May 1848 at Lismore castle, Co. Waterford, the daughter of Francis Edmund Currey and his wife, Anna. Her father, who for many years was land agent to the dukes of Devonshire, was also an early…...
Cutts, John
Cutts, John (1661–1707), Baron Cutts of Gowran , soldier and lord justice of Ireland, was born in Arkesden, Essex, second son of Richard Cutts of Arkesden and Matching, Essex, and Joan Cutts, daughter of Sir Richard Everard. Educated for a time at Catherine Hall, Cambridge (…...
Daborne, Robert
Daborne, Robert (c.1580–1628), playwright and cleric, was the son of Robert Daborne (1551–1612), a tradesman of Guildford, Surrey, and his wife, Susan (née Travis; d. 1626). He states in the preface to A Christian turn'd Turke (1612) that his descent was ‘not…...
Danvers, Henry
Danvers, Henry (1573–1644), earl of Danby , army officer and lord president of Munster, was born 28 June 1573 at Dauntsey, Wiltshire, the second son of Sir John Danvers of Dauntsey and Elizabeth, youngest daughter and coheir of John Neville, last Baron Latimer. Appointed to his…...
Davies, Sir John
Davies, Sir John (1569–1626), lawyer and poet, was baptised at Tisbury, Wiltshire, 16 April 1569. His father, whose name is usually given as John, but sometimes as Edward, Davies (d. 1580), was of Welsh descent, and his mother, Mary (née Bennett; d. 1590), came from a Wiltshire…...
Davis, Thomas Osborne
Davis, Thomas Osborne (1814–45), Young Irelander, poet, and journalist, was born 14 October 1814 at Mallow, Co. Cork, youngest of three sons and one daughter of James Thomas Davis, military surgeon, and his wife Mary (née Atkins). Family and education James…...
Dawson, Arthur
Dawson, Arthur (1698–1775), lawyer, poet, and politician, was born 9 October 1698, the eldest son of Joshua Dawson (c.1660–1725), landowner and later MP for Wicklow borough (1705–14), and his wife, Anne Dawson (née Carr). He was educated by Dr Jones in Dublin, and then…...
Dawson, George William Percy
Dawson, George William Percy (1927–2004), geneticist, art lover and philanthropist, was born 7 August 1927 in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England, the only child of Percy John Fritz Stanley Dawson, fishmonger, and his wife Edith Helen (née Fildes). Education He was…...
Day, Robert
Day, Robert (1746–1841), politician, judge, and diarist, was born 1 July 1746 at Lohercannon, near Tralee, Co. Kerry, the third son in a family of five sons and two daughters of the Rev. John Day (1711–81), chancellor of Ardfert, and his wife Lucy, a daughter of Maurice FitzGerald…...
Delacour, James
Delacour, James (1709–81), clergyman and poet, was eldest son of John Delacour, landowner, of Killowen, near Blarney, Co. Cork; nothing is known of his mother. The Delacours (or de la Courts) settled in Co. Cork during the 1650s and became affluent landowners by the beginning of the…...
Delany, Mary
Delany, Mary (1700–88), artist, was born 14 May 1700 in Coulston, Wiltshire, England, elder daughter and second among four children of Col. Bernard Granville and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Martin Westcomb, former consul at Cadiz. Her father, the younger brother of George…...
Delany, Patrick
Delany, Patrick (1685?–1768), clergyman and writer, was born in Rathcrea, Queen's Co. (Laois), probably on 15 March 1685. His father, Dennis Delany, is reputed to have been a servant to the Irish judge Sir John Russell. Delany was educated in Athy, Co. Kildare, at the school of Mr…...
Delmonte, (Simeon) Koert
Delmonte, (Simeon) Koert (1913–82), portrait and landscape painter, was born 15 April 1913 in van Mierlestraat, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, eldest of three children of Solomon Delmonte, banker, and his wife Nanetha, daughter of Simon Speyer, diamond merchant. His younger brother…...
Denham, Sir John
Denham, Sir John (1615–69), poet and architect, was born in Dublin, the only son of Sir John Denham (qv), lord chief justice of Ireland 1612–17, and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Sir Garret…...