Clarke, Harry (Henry Patrick)
Clarke, Harry (Henry Patrick) (1889–1931), stained-glass and graphic artist, and illustrator, was born 17 March 1889 in Dublin, third child and younger son among two sons and two daughters of Joshua Clarke (1858–1921), an English-born church decorator, and Brigid Clarke (née…...
Clavell, John
Clavell, John (1601–43), adventurer, was born on 11 May 1601, sixth child and second son of John Clavell and his wife Frances Willoughby of Wootton Glanville in Dorset, England. He was admitted to Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1619, pardoned for decamping with the college plate in…...
Clayton, Eleanor (‘Ellen’) Creathorne
Clayton, Eleanor (‘Ellen’) Creathorne (1834–1900), illustrator and writer, was born 15 February 1834 in Gloucester Terrace, Dublin, the eldest child and only daughter of Benjamin Clayton III (1809–83), a member of a long-established family of Dublin engravers, and his wife Mary (née…...
Clive (Raftor), Catherine (Kitty)
Clive (Raftor), Catherine (Kitty) (1711–85), comic actress, singer, and writer, was probably born in London on 5 November 1711. Her father, William Raftor or Rafter, was a Kilkenny-born lawyer, who lost his claim on a large estate following his support of…...
Cloney, Sheila
Cloney, Sheila (1926–2009), protagonist in the Fethard-on-Sea boycott, was born Sheila Kelly on 6 May 1926 in Fethard-on-Sea, a village on the Hook peninsula of south-western Co. Wexford, daughter of Thomas Kelly, cattle dealer, of John's Hill (just outside Fethard), and his wife Sheila…...
Clotworthy, Pauline (Cecily Elizabeth)
Clotworthy, Pauline (Cecily Elizabeth) (née Keohler , later Keller ) (1912–2004), teacher of fashion design, was born 17 May 1912 in Dublin. She was the daughter of Robert Nesbitt Keohler, a solicitor, and his second wife, Ethel M. Keohler (née Thompson), the daughter of William…...
Cluskey, Mary Elizabeth (‘May’)
Cluskey, Mary Elizabeth (‘May’) (1927–91), actress, was born 18 May 1927 at 83 St Ignatius Road, off Lower Dorset St., Dublin, one of three daughters and two sons of Francis (‘Frank’) Cluskey, butcher and trade unionist, and Elizabeth Mary Cluskey (née Millington). Her father, a close…...
Cockburn, Patricia Evangeline Anne
Cockburn, Patricia Evangeline Anne (1914–89), author and artist, was born 17 March 1914 at Derry House, Rosscarbery, Co. Cork, youngest among six children of Maj. John Bernard Arbuthnot , and his wife Olive, daughter of Sir Henry…...
Colgan, Eileen
Colgan, Eileen (1934–2014), actor, was born on 2 January 1934 in Dublin to Charles Colgan, a cabinet maker, and his wife Eileen (née McNamara). She was one of five children (three boys and two girls) and grew up on Russell Street on the north side of the city. Her father and an elder…...
Collie, George Joseph
Collie, George Joseph (1904–75), artist and teacher, was born 14 April 1904 at Greaghdrummit, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, the second child of George Collie, an Aberdeen-born chef, and Ellen Collie (née Donovan) of Carrickmacross. Brought up in Dublin, he was educated at St Kevin's…...
Collier, Michael
Collier, Michael (1780–1849), highwayman, was born at Bellewstown Hill, Co. Meath, son of a small farmer; no other details of his parents are known. Aged 13, he was employed as a farm labourer in Co. Louth, and he later worked as a carman on the Dublin–Drogheda mail coach (where he…...
Collins, Patrick
Collins, Patrick (1910–94), painter, was born 6 November 1910 at Dromore West, Co. Sligo, second of four children of William Collins, RIC constable, and Mary Collins (née McLaughlin), daughter of a businessman from Dowra, Co. Cavan.…...
Collis, Maurice Stewart
Collis, Maurice Stewart (1889–1973), author, artist, and civil servant, was born 10 January 1889 in Eglinton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin, the eldest son of William Stewart Collis, a solicitor in the firm of Collis & Ward, and Edith Lilla Collis (née Barton);…...
Collis, Peter
Collis, Peter (1929–2012), artist, was born in London on 16 November 1929, the son of Herbert Collis, an architect, and Phyllis Collis (née Clark). Growing up in Guildford, Surrey, and later at Esher, Surrey, he received a formal academic training in oil painting at Epsom College (…...
Coll, Vincent (‘Mad Dog’)
Coll, Vincent (‘Mad Dog’) (1908–32), gangster, was born 20 July 1908 in Bunbeg, Gweedore, Co. Donegal, seventh child among six sons and two daughters of Tuathall Óg (‘Toaly’) Coll, of Bunbeg, a small farmer, and Anna Mary Coll (née Duncan), of Dublin. His parents had met and married…...
Colthurst, John Colthurst Bowen-
Colthurst, John Colthurst Bowen- (1880–1965), army officer and murderer, was born John Colthurst Bowen in Cork on 12 August 1880, eldest son of Robert Walter Travers Bowen JP (who changed the family name to Bowen-Colthurst in 1882 to meet the…...
Comerford, John
Comerford, John (c.1770–1832), miniaturist and portrait painter, was born in Kilkenny city, son of a local flax-dresser who lived and worked opposite the Tholsel. He acquired his early artistic knowledge from copying paintings in Kilkenny Castle, Carrick-on-Suir, and other…...
Condon, Richard
Condon, Richard (1937–91), theatre manager, was born 27 July 1937 in Belfast, the eldest son of a local architect. Educated at St Gerald's College, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, he qualified to study medicine at UCG in 1956; however, while…...
Connolly, Patrick Joseph
Connolly, Patrick Joseph (1927–2016), barrister and attorney general of Ireland, was born 25 May 1927 at 70 Botanic Road, Glasnevin, Dublin. He was the elder of two sons born to Patrick Joseph Connolly, principal of Ballyboughal national school, and his wife Ellen (‘Nellie’; née O’Hara…...
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…...
Connolly, Sybil Veronica
Connolly, Sybil Veronica (1921–98), fashion designer, was born 24 January 1921 at Clanllienwen Road, Morriston, Swansea, Wales, elder of two daughters of John Connolly, insurance salesman, from Waterford, Ireland, and Evelyn Connolly (née Reynolds) from Wales. On the death of the…...
Connor, Jerome
Connor, Jerome (1874–1943), sculptor, craftworker, and graphic artist, was born 23 February 1874 in Coumduff, Anascaul, Co. Kerry, youngest among six surviving children (four sons, two daughters) of Patrick Connor, farmer and housebuilder, and his second wife, Margaret Connor (née…...
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-…...
Conor, William
Conor, William (1881–1968), figure and portrait painter, was born 9 May 1881 in Fortingale Street, Belfast, the third son and fourth child of William Connor, a tinsmith and sheet-metal worker, who later became a gas fitter, and Mary Connor (née Wallace). Educated at the Clifton Park…...
Cooke, Barrie
Cooke, Barrie (1931–2014), artist, was born William Barrie Cooke on 13 June 1931 in a nursing home at Sandiway Road, Ashton-upon-Mersey, England, the elder of two sons of William Barrie, company director, and his American wife, Gladys (née Judge). His father ran the family business, an…...