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…...
Cóelfhind (mod. Ir. Caelainn, Caoilinn)
Cóelfhind (mod. Ir. Caelainn, Caoilinn) (6th cent.), foundress of Termonmore and saint in the Irish tradition, was (according to the genealogies) daughter of Cóel son of Finchad of the Ciarraige Aí of Connacht, and Medb daughter of Garbán, who belonged to the Uí Saithgil line of…...
Cóemgen (Kevin)
Cóemgen (Kevin) (d. 618/22), founder and first abbot of Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, and saint in the Irish tradition, is linked genealogically with the proto-historic Laigin dynasty of Dál Messin Corb. Although there is nothing inherently improbable about this link (the tradition that…...
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…...
Colgu
Colgu (d. 796) grandson of Duinechaid, lector of Clonmacnoise and, according to some sources, author of a devotional litany known as ‘Scuap Chrábaid’, may be the same Colcu with whom the English scholar Alcuin corresponded concerning the victories of Charlemagne, addressing him as…...
Colmán
Colmán (d. 604?) son of Léiníne, saint and poet, is patron of the church of Cloyne, east Co. Cork, which first attained more than local importance at the synod of Kells–Mellifont (1152), when it became the seat of a bishopric. Prior to this it is scarcely noticed in the annals,…...
Colmán
Colmán (d. 654) of the moccu Thellduib, bishop and abbot of Clonard and saint in the Irish tradition, belonged (as his kin-group designation indicates) to the minor dynasty of Uí Lóscáin of Leinster. He would therefore have been a member of the lineage attributed to St…...
Colmán
Colmán Elo
Colmán Elo (c.560–611) of the moccu Béognae was monastic founder of the church of Lann Elo (Lynally, near Durrow, Co. Offaly), whence he derives his epithet, which has caused some confusion in bringing about the creation of a separate Colmán Elo (or Ela). Some sources…...
Colmán (Mo-Cholm-Óc)
Colmán (Mo-Cholm-Óc) (fl. 6th cent.), bishop and patron of Dromore diocese, was born into the Dál nAraide (in modern Co. Antrim), according to one of his Latin Lives. He is named in the genealogies of the saints as ‘Mocholmóc m. Conrathain m. Corcrain’. The sources…...
Coloman (Colmán)
Coloman (Colmán) (d. 1012), an Irish pilgrim to the Holy Land, was mistaken for a spy because of his strange appearance, and was taken captive, tortured, and hanged at Stockerau, near Vienna, Austria, on 16 July 1012. Later tradition has it that he was the son of…...
Columbanus (Colmán, Columba)
Columbanus (Colmán, Columba) (c.540–615), missionary, is mainly associated with his monastic foundations at Luxeuil and Bobbio. Originally named Colmán, he was generally known to his contemporaries by the Latinised forms Columbanus or Columba. He has sometimes…...
Conláed (Conleth)
Connolly, James
Connolly, James (1868–1916), socialist and revolutionary leader, was born in Cowgate, Edinburgh, on 5 June 1868, the youngest in a family of three boys. His father, John Connolly, and his mother, Mary McGinn, were both born in Ireland in 1833, possibly in Co. Monaghan, and emigrated to…...
Connolly, Roderic James (‘Roddy’)
Connolly, Roderic James (‘Roddy’) (1901–80), socialist, trade unionist, and politician, was born 11 February 1901 at 54 Pimlico, Dublin, only son and sixth among seven children of James Connolly (qv), native of Edinburgh, Scotland, the…...
Connolly, Sean
Connolly, Sean (1882–1916), actor, trade unionist, and republican, was born 12 April 1882 at 10 Seafort Ave., Sandymount, Dublin, third child and eldest son among eight daughters and eight sons of Michael Connolly, seaman, and Mary Connolly (née Ellis). When his father ceased seafaring…...
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-…...
Conroy, John
Conroy, John (1904–69), trade unionist, was born 17 April 1904 in Wicklow town, son of Thomas Conroy, a railway signalman, and Catherine Conroy (née McNamara). He attended national school locally before beginning work at a very early age in a fertiliser factory. Subsequently he…...
Conroy, Sheila (née Williams)
Conroy, Sheila (née Williams) (1918–2012), trade unionist, social activist and administrator, was born on 22 April 1918 (or 4 April 1917) in Bantry, Co. Cork, only child of Harry and Jane Williams. A Welsh petty officer in the Royal Navy, Harry Williams was stationed at Bantry (1914–…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Corish, Richard
Corish, Richard (1886–1945), trade unionist and politician, was born 17 September 1886 at 35 William St., Wexford town, eldest among three children of Peter Corish, carpenter, and Mary Corish (née Murphy). Educated at the CBS Wexford…...
Cormac
Cormac (fl. 6th cent.) of the Uí Liatháin was a pilgrim monk mentioned several times by Adomnán (qv) in his ‘Vita Columbae’. He appears in the genealogies as ‘priest’, son of Dímma, grandson of Commán, and belonging to the tribe of…...
Cormac
Cormac (d. 497), bishop and first abbot of Armagh. His genealogy gives his father's name as Colmán and describes him as bishop of Áth Truim in Brega (Co. Meath). He does not figure in Patrician hagiography, but in the annals and in the Martyrology of…...