Cooley, Thomas
This is a co-subject for the entry on Cooley, Thomas. View the original entry....
Cooper, Austin
Cooper, Austin (b. c.1614, d. a.1690), gardener and strongman, inherited property from his father at Byfleet in Surrey. His father or another relative is said to have held a court appointment under Charles I. Cooper purchased land in England from a Cromwellian…...
Coppin, Louisa (Little Weesy)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Coppin, William. View the original entry....
Costello, Mary Ann
Costello, Mary Ann (1747–1827), actress and mother of the British prime minister George Canning, was born in Ireland, daughter of Jordan Costello, a Connacht squire. Apparently orphaned at an early age, she was brought up in the care of her maternal grandfather, Col. Guydickens, in…...
Costello, Michael (‘The Amazing Blondini’)
Costello, Michael (‘The Amazing Blondini’) (1922–96), fairground performer and escapologist, was born at a fairground in Dublin in August 1922; both his parents were fairground novelty acts from Tralee, his father a strong man and his mother a fortune teller. He had no formal…...
Cotter (alias O'Brien), Patrick
Cotter (alias O'Brien), Patrick (1760/61–1806), giant and showman, was born at Belgooly, near Kinsale, Co. Cork. His parents were farmers; while no details of his father are available, his mother was still alive at the time of his death and is named in his will as Margaret Cotter…...
Coulter, William Alexander
Coulter, William Alexander (1849–1936), painter, was born on 7 March 1849 in Glenariff, Co. Antrim, the son of James Coulter, a coastguard, originally from Co. Down, and his wife Sarah, an Irish-speaker from the glens of Antrim. He grew up in a catholic family along the east Antrim…...
Courtenay, Ellen
Courtenay, Ellen (1802–c.1837), accuser of Daniel O'Connell (qv), was born in Co. Cork, daughter of a native of the county. In 1817, at the age of 15, she moved to Dublin, and the catholic bishop of Cork,…...
Cowley, John Ultan
Cowley, John Ultan (1923–98) actor and animal welfare activist, was born 8 September 1923 in Ardbraccan, Navan, Co. Meath, the third child of Patrick Cowley, a small farmer, and his wife Margaret. Educated at the local national school, he left at the age of thirteen to work on the…...
Cox, (Christina Mary) Kathleen
Cox, (Christina Mary) Kathleen (1904–72), artist, sculptor, and mystic, was born 2 July 1904 in Wo Sung, China, eldest daughter of Irish parents. Her father, Dr R. H. Cox, of Dundalk, the port health officer at Shanghai, was an amateur geologist and modelled in clay; on retirement,…...
Cox, Walter
Cox, Walter (c.1770–1837), journalist and informer, was the son of a Co. Meath or Westmeath blacksmith and his wife, a Dease of Summerhill. He was apprenticed in turn to – or at least worked as an ‘inlayer’ for – two Dublin gunsmiths, Daniel Muley and Benjamin Powell, and…...
Craig, James Humbert
Craig, James Humbert (1877–1944), landscape painter, was born 12 July 1877 at 16 Brougham St., Belfast, second of five children and the only son of Alexander Craig, wholesale merchant, and his wife Marie Metezzen, a Swiss national, who had married in Belfast in 1874. Soon after…...
Craig, Mary (‘May’)
Craig, Mary (‘May’) (c.1889–1972), actress, was born in Dublin, younger of two surviving daughters of David Craig, an engineer, and his wife Emma. As a child she enjoyed regular trips with her mother to see operas and plays in the Dublin theatres. Later famous for her…...
Cranwill, Maria (‘Mia’)
Cranwill, Maria (‘Mia’) (1880–1972), design and metal artist, was born 1 March 1880 at 3 Charlotte Place, Drumcondra, Dublin, daughter of Arthur Cranwill, analytical chemist, and Frances Cranwill (née Holland). Her father, an enthusiastic Parnellite, was treasurer of the Irish…...
Crawford, John Wallace
Crawford, John Wallace (1847–1917), frontier scout, writer and entertainer, was born 4 March 1847 in Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, the son of John Austin Crawford, a Glasgow tailor, and Susie Wallace. His father moved to Minersville, Pennsylvania, to work in the coalmines in 1854; his mother…...
Cregan, Martin
Cregan, Martin (1788–1870), portrait painter, was born in Co. Meath and reared by foster parents named Creggan, of Martinstown, Co. Meath, whose name he adopted but later altered to Cregan. As a boy he was placed in the service of the Stewarts of Killymoon, Co. Tyrone, who…...
Crist, Gainor Steven
Crist, Gainor Steven (1922–64), bohemian and Dublin ‘character’, was born on Shafer Boulevard in Dayton, Ohio, USA, on 1 August 1922, the only child of Dr Damian Crist (d. 1952) and his wife, Helen (d. 1928), ballerina, the daughter of Alfred Mannassau of Canada and Chicago, a well…...
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…...
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…...
Crosbie, Sir Edward William
Crosbie, Sir Edward William (1755?–98), 5th baronet and victim of a miscarriage of justice, was the elder son of Sir Paul Crosbie, 4th baronet, and his wife Mary, daughter of Edward Daniel of Freadsom, Cheshire, and was born in Co. Wicklow, probably at his father's seat, Crosbie…...
Crotty, William
Crotty, William (1712–42), highwayman, was probably born at Russellstown in north Co. Waterford, son of a small farmer. He claimed that he became a highwayman aged 18 after his father was evicted from his smallholding for non-payment of rent. His early activities are largely unknown…...
Crowe, Eileen (Alice Izabella)
Crowe, Eileen (Alice Izabella) (1899–1978), actress, was born 2 March 1899 at 1 Carlingford Terrace, Drumcondra, Dublin, daughter of Moses Crowe, grocer, and Theresa Crowe (née Eglinton). From an early age she showed an interest in the theatre, and regularly attended productions…...
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…...
Cruise, Jack (John Joseph)
Cruise, Jack (John Joseph) (1913–79), entertainer, was born 9 August 1913 in the family home at 14 Arranmore Avenue, Phibsborough, Dublin, third child and eldest son among four children of Michael Cruise, a hall porter, native of Essex, England, and Brigid Cruise (née O'Kelly), from…...