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…...
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…...
Cunningham, John
Cunningham, John (1729–73), poet, playwright, and actor, was born in Dublin. His father was of Scottish extraction, a wine cooper who invested a lottery win in a wine merchant business, but soon went bankrupt; his mother's name was Fleming. Cunningham was educated at a grammar…...
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, Cyril James
Cusack, Cyril James (1910–93), actor, director, and writer, was born 26 November 1910 in Durban, South Africa, son of James Walter Cusack, an Irish officer with the Natal mounted police, and Alice Violet Cusack (née Cole), a Cockney chorus girl, who was related to the music-hall…...
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…...
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…...
Daiken, Leslie Herbert
Daiken, Leslie Herbert (1912–64), author, film-maker, and expert on children's toys, was born in Dublin. He graduated M.Litt. from TCD in 1933. As a student he was already publishing poetry and short…...
Dalton, (James) Emmet
Dalton, (James) Emmet (1898–1978), soldier, revolutionary, and film producer, was born 4 March 1898 in Fall River, Massachusetts, USA, eldest among seven children of James Francis Dalton, manufacturer's agent, of Oniville, Rhode Island, and Katherine Lee Dalton (née Riley; d. 1957) of…...
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,…...
D'Alton, Louis
D'Alton, Louis (1900–51), writer and actor, was born Louis Dalton at Fairview, Dublin, on 24 May 1900, eldest of five children (of whom two sons and a daughter survived to adulthood) of Frank Dalton, actor and theatre producer, and his wife Catherine (née Lynch). Louis later adopted…...
Daly, Richard
Daly, Richard (1758–1813), theatrical manager, was born in Co. Galway, second son of Joseph Daly, a prosperous farmer. He entered TCD in 1773, but there is no record of his taking a degree. A reckless and violent character, he was said…...
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 Buitléar, Éamon
De Buitléar, Éamon (1930–2013), filmmaker, environmentalist, author and musician, was born on 22 January 1930 in Renmore Barracks, Co. Galway, one of seven children of Colonel Éamon de Buitléar (1902–81), an army officer of Clanbrassil Street, Dublin, and his wife Nóra (née O'Brien…...
de Búrca, Séamus
de Búrca, Séamus (1912–2002), writer and costumier, was born James Bourke on 16 March 1912 in Dublin, one of the ten children of the writer-actor-manager P. J. Bourke (qv) and Margaret Bourke (née Kearney), a Dublin seamstress.…...
De Chenu, (Roger) Noël
De Chenu, (Roger) Noël (1924–2002), architect, artist and actor, was born on 25 December 1924 in Drumcondra, Dublin, the son of Roger Louis de Chenu (1891–1964) and his wife Aileen (née McShane; b. 1893). Roger, a dress designer, originally came from Poitiers in France, and is said…...
de Jubainville, Marie-Henri d'Arbois-
de Jubainville, Marie-Henri d'Arbois- (1827–1910), Celtic scholar and linguist, was born 5 December 1827 at Nancy, France, son of Charles-Joseph d'Arbois de Jubainville, judge-auditor of the civil tribunal of Nancy and later advocate to the bar of that district, and his wife…...