Crofton, Sir John Wenman
Crofton, Sir John Wenman (1912–2009), physician, scientist and public health campaigner, was born on 27 March 1912 at the family home, 55 Merrion Square South, Dublin, the only son (between two sisters) of William Mervyn Crofton, physician and bacteriologist, and his wife Mary…...
Croker, Thomas Crofton
Croker, Thomas Crofton (1798–1854), antiquary and folklorist, was born 15 January 1798 in Buckingham Square, Cork city, the only son of Thomas Croker, major in the army, and his wife Maria, widow of a Mr Fitton; she was daughter and co-heir of Croker Dillon of Baltidaniel, Co. Cork, a…...
Crone, Robert
Crone, Robert (c.1718–1779), landscape painter, was born in Dublin. He trained under Robert West (qv) in the Dublin Society's drawing-school in George's Lane, receiving prizes in 1748 and 1750. He was also a pupil of the portrait…...
Cronin, Elizabeth (‘Bess’)
Cronin, Elizabeth (‘Bess’) (1879–1956), folk singer, was born 30 May 1879, the eldest of the five children of Seán ‘Máistir’ Ó hIarfhlaithe and Maighréad Ní Thuama. Her father was headmaster in the school of Barr d'Ínse in the Fuhirees area of West Cork, near the Cork–Kerry border.…...
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…...
Crossley, Hastings
This is a co-subject for the entry on Crossley, Francis (‘Frank’) William. View the original entry....
Crowley, (Mary) Patricia
Crowley, (Mary) Patricia (1933–2013), fashion designer, was born on 17 May 1933, in Taylor's Hill, Galway, the daughter of Hubert Vernon , who worked in a local branch of the Bank of Ireland, and Margaret ('Netta') Vernon (née Morrissey), daughter of a prosperous family of grain…...
Crowley, Nicholas Joseph
Crowley, Nicholas Joseph (1819–57), portrait and subject painter, was born 6 December 1819 in Dublin, the third son of Peter Crowley (d. 1835), a propertied gentleman. As a child he was something of an artistic prodigy. He received his first art training in 1827 at the…...
Cú-Chuimne
Cú-Chuimne (d. 747), monk and scholar of Iona, was (according to a note in Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS lat. 12021) joint compiler with Ruben of Dairinis, a monastery on the Blackwater river, of the Irish collection of canons known as ‘Collectio canonum Hibernensis’. The genealogies…...
Cullen, Luke
Cullen, Luke (1793–1859), Carmelite brother and collector of reminiscences of the rebellions of 1798 and 1803, was born at Little Bray in the parish of Cabinteely, Co. Dublin, and spent much of his youth at his grandfather's house at Glenbrien, near Gorey, Co. Wexford. At the age…...
Cuming, William
Cuming, William (1769–1852), portrait and history painter, was the youngest of four sons of William Cuming of Dublin and his wife, whose maiden name was Hamilton. As a child he visited the workshops of the coach and herald painters in Moore Street, Dublin, and decided that he wanted…...
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…...
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…...
Curtin, Jeremiah
Curtin, Jeremiah (1835–1906), folklorist, writer, translator and linguist, was born 6 September 1835 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, eldest among seven children of David Curtin, an Irish-speaker who emigrated from Bruree, Co. Limerick, and his wife Ellen (née Furlong) who came from Buttevant…...
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’)
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’) (1829–99), nun and author, was born 6 May 1829 at Coolock, Co. Dublin, the elder of two children of Dr Samuel Cusack and his wife, Sarah (née Stoney). Early life and conversion to catholicism She was educated privately, learning informally…...
Cusack, Ralph Desmond Athanasius
Cusack, Ralph Desmond Athanasius (1912–65), artist, was born 28 October 1912 at Drumnigh House, Portmarnock, Co. Dublin, the only child of Maj. James Robert Roland Cusack, banker (later stockbroker), and Eileen Cusack, daughter of Capt. Watson of the 7th Dragoon Guards and widow of Hugo…...
Cyprianus (Pseudo -)
Cyprianus (Pseudo -) (fl. early 7th cent.) was the otherwise anonymous author of an important Hiberno-Latin tract, ‘De duodecim abusiuis’. Athough we lack any biographical details other than that he flourished in the first half of the seventh century and was an…...
D'Alton, John Francis
D'Alton, John Francis (1882–1963), cardinal and classical scholar, was born on 11 October 1882 in Claremorris, Co. Mayo, son of Joseph D'Alton, a shopkeeper, and Mary D'Alton (née Brennan). He was a nephew of the antiquary and dean of Tuam Monsignor Edward Alfred D'Alton,…...
Danby, Francis
Danby, Francis (1793–1861), landscape painter, was born 16 November 1793 at Common, Killinick, Co. Wexford. The family had been established in this area since the 1730s. His father, James Danby, landowner, married first (1762) Susannah, daughter of the Rev. Ambrose Harvey of…...
Davidson, Lilian Lucy (‘Ulick Burke’; ‘Jennifer Maude’)
Davidson, Lilian Lucy (‘Ulick Burke’; ‘Jennifer Maude’) (1879–1954), landscape and portrait artist, art teacher, and writer, was born 26 January 1879 at Castle Terrace, Bray, Co. Wicklow, the sixth of ten children of Edward Ellice Davidson, a clerk of petty session, and Lucy Rising…...
Davidson, Samuel
Davidson, Samuel (1806–98), biblical scholar, was born probably in September 1806 in Kellswater, Co. Antrim, son of Abraham Davidson, farmer, and Margaret Davidson (née Mewha), who had at least one other child, a daughter. Samuel attended a local school, for whose master, James…...
Davis, William
Davis, William (1812–73), painter, was born in August 1812 in Dublin. Nothing is known of his family except that he was the son of a solicitor, and was originally intended to follow his father's profession; however, he chose instead to become an artist and received his training at…...
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…...
Dean, Hugh Primrose
Dean, Hugh Primrose (1746–84), landscape painter, was one of the three sons of Alexander Dean and Grizell Kennedy of Donaghadee, Co. Down, both of Scottish descent. The family moved to Kinsale, Co. Cork. Dean is recorded as living with his brother, David, a carpenter and builder, in…...
De Búrc (Búrc), Éamon
De Búrc (Búrc), Éamon (1866–1942), storyteller and singer in Irish, was born 2 April 1866 in Carna, Connemara, Co. Galway, son of the storyteller Liam a’ Búrc. His mother came from Cashel, Roundstone, Connemara; other details of her are unknown. He was more commonly known as Éamon Liam…...