Cobden, Thomas Alfred
Cobden, Thomas Alfred (fl. 1814–42), architect, was born in England; his family background and early life are unknown. In 1814 and 1815 he produced drawings for Gurteen le Poer house, Kilsheelan, Co. Waterford, and he exhibited designs for buildings in Ireland at the Royal…...
Cochrane, Robert
Cochrane, Robert (1844–1916), engineer, architect, and antiquarian, was born 21 July 1844 in Co. Down, eldest son of Hugh W. Cochrane, of an ancient Scottish-Danish family that came to Ireland in the seventeenth century. He graduated in engineering from…...
Cockburn, Sir George
Cockburn, Sir George (1764–1847), soldier, traveller, writer, and antiquary, was born 18 February 1764 in Dublin, only child of George Cockburn (d. 1775), a Scottish businessman who settled in Ireland in 1739 and married Ann (d. 1769), second of two children of Charles Caldwell,…...
Coffey, George
Coffey, George (1857–1916), archaeologist and nationalist, was born 2 July 1857 in Dublin, the third and youngest son of James Charles Coffey (d. 1880), county court judge for Londonderry, and his wife, Anna Maria Coffey (formerly Lee Trafford, née Wilkinson). Educated at…...
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…...
Cogan, Anthony
Cogan, Anthony (1824/5–72), catholic priest and diocesan historian, was born at Slane, Co. Meath, the first of the six sons of Thomas Cogan, a baker, and his wife Anne (née Sillary). Anne Cogan, whose family owned land at Nobber and Platten, was a protestant until her marriage.…...
Cogitosus
Cogitosus (fl. c.650), grandson of Aéd, was author of a Latin Life of St Brigit (qv) of Kildare written not much later than 650, possibly the earliest extant specimen of Irish hagiography. In the epilogue…...
Cole, Richard Lee
Cole, Richard Lee (1878–1963), methodist minister and historian, was born 24 January 1878 in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, second of five sons of the Rev. Richard Cole (1847–1925), methodist minister and editor of the Irish Christian Advocate, and Margaret Anne Cole (née Lee). He…...
Colgan, John
Colgan, John (1592?–1658), Franciscan friar and hagiographer, was born in Priestown in the parish of Donagh, Inishowen, Co. Donegal. Little is known for certain of his early years or family circumstances. He was a member of a well-established Donegal clerical family, the Mac Colgans of…...
Concannon, Helena
Concannon, Helena (1878–1952), historian and politician, was born 28 October 1878 in Magherafelt, Co. Londonderry, one of two daughters of Louis Walsh, hotel owner in Maghera, Co. Londonderry, and Elizabeth Walsh (née Donnelly); there were also three sons. Louis Walsh had been a…...
Connellan, Owen
Connellan, Owen (1797–1871), Gaelic scholar, royal historiographer, and scribe, was born in Tireragh, Co. Sligo, son of a farmer. He claimed descent from the kings of Ireland through the chieftains of Bunnyconnellan in Mayo, and was most likely related to another nineteenth-century…...
Connell, Kenneth Hugh
Connell, Kenneth Hugh (1917–73), historian, was born at Southampton of what he called ‘Irish peasant stock’ and was educated there at Taunton's School. After graduating at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1941 he taught history at Aberystwyth, Liverpool, and the LSE, moving…...
Connor (O'Connor), Bernard
Connor (O'Connor), Bernard (c.1666–1698), royal physician, anatomist, and historian, was born into a catholic family in Co. Kerry, one of at least three children of Bernard O'Connor, possibly a member of the branch of the lords of Kerry, whose seat was at Carrigafoyle;…...
Conolly, Thurloe
Conolly, Thurloe (1918–2016), artist, was born in Cork city on 21 July 1918, the younger of two sons to William Joseph Conolly, a structural engineer, and his wife Constance Elizabeth Conolly (née Jeffares). According to family lore, the Conollys were descended from the eighteenth-…...
Conway, Dominic
Conway, Dominic (1918–96), missionary, catholic bishop of Elphin, and historian, was born in rural Co. Longford on 1 January 1918, in the parish of Templemichael and Ballymacormack in the diocese of Ardagh, second child of Dominic Conway, family grocer, and Mary (née Hoare). The…...
Conway, Frederick William
Conway, Frederick William (1781/2–1853), journalist and book collector, was the son of Luke Conway, printer of the Connaught Gazette, a pro-government newspaper published at Loughrea, Co. Galway, for some months in 1797. From 1806 to 1812 he was a major contributor to the…...
Conyngham, David Power
Conyngham, David Power (c.1825–1883), historian, journalist, and soldier, was born in Crohane, Co. Tipperary, the eldest son of John Cunningham and Catherine Cunningham (née Power), who were well-to-do tenant farmers. On his mother's side he was related to…...
Conyngham, William Burton
Conyngham, William Burton (1733–96), politician, antiquarian, and landowner, was second of two sons of Francis Burton , politician, of Buncraggy, Co. Clare, and Mary Burton, only daughter of Maj.-gen. Henry Conyngham, and sister of Henry…...
Cooke, Robert Francis
Cooke, Robert Francis (1821–82), catholic priest and author, was born 14 February 1821 in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, son of a businessman; no other details of his family are known. He was educated locally and subsequently studied medicine in Dublin, before becoming an assistant…...
Cooke, Thomas Lalor
Cooke, Thomas Lalor (1792–1869), attorney and antiquary, probably born in Borrisoleigh, Co. Tipperary, was fifth among sixteen children of Richard Cooke, Roman catholic distiller and merchant, and Mary Cooke (née Lalor). Cooke was apprenticed to a solicitor in Dublin and entered…...
Cooley, Thomas
Cooley, Thomas (1742–84), architect, was baptised 11 July 1742 in the church of St Katherine Coleman, London, the son of William Cooley, master mason, and his wife Mary. On 3 August 1756 he was apprenticed to George Wright, a carpenter. He served some of his apprenticeship with, or…...
Cooper, Austin
Cooper, Austin (1759–1830), antiquary, was born 15 February 1759 at Killinure, Co. Tipperary, third son among fourteen children of William Cooper, registrar of the diocese of Cashel, and his wife Jane (née Wayland). Cooper was educated in Cashel, and in 1774 entered the treasury…...
Corbett, William Edward
Corbett, William Edward (1824–1904), engineer and architect, was born 19 April 1824 in Limerick city, son of Patrick Corbett, a member of an old Limerick family. Nothing is known of his mother. He is described as a civil engineer on his death certificate and obituaries, but there…...
Corcoran, Doreen
Corcoran, Doreen (1934–2013), local historian, was born in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, on 12 July 1934, the eldest child of William Luney and Roberta Luney (née Robinson). Doreen and her two brothers and sister were brought up in Greenisland, Co. Antrim, with visits to grandparents…...
Corish, Patrick Joseph
Corish, Patrick Joseph (1921–2013), priest and historian, was born on 17 March 1921 in Ballytarsna near Ballycullane, Co. Wexford, the son of Peter William Corish, a schoolteacher, and his wife Brigid (née O’Shaughnessy). Patrick had five brothers and one sister, and remained close to…...