Cooley, Thomas
This is a co-subject for the entry on Cooley, Thomas. View the original entry....
Coppinger, Richard William
Coppinger, Richard William (1847–1910), naval surgeon, naturalist, and explorer, was born 11 October 1847 in Dublin, youngest among six sons of Joseph William Coppinger, solicitor, of Farmley, Dundrum, Co. Dublin, and Agnes Mary Coppinger (née Cooke), a native of Co. Tipperary. He…...
Costigan, Christopher
Costigan, Christopher (1810–35), explorer, was third son of Sylvester Costigan, distiller, of Thomas St., Dublin, and Catherine Costigan (née Fitzsimons or Fitzmont), formerly of Toddstown, Co. Meath. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College (1819–26) and, for a period, at…...
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…...
Cousser (Kusser), John (Johann) Sigismond
Cousser (Kusser), John (Johann) Sigismond (1660?–1727), composer and master of the king's music in Ireland, was born in Pressburg (later Bratislava) and baptised on 13 February 1660, the son of a Hungarian cantor and composer. In 1674 he moved with his parents and sister to Stuttgart…...
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,…...
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…...
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…...
Crean, Thomas (‘Tom’)
Crean, Thomas (‘Tom’) (1877–1938), sailor and Antarctic explorer, was born either on or shortly before 16 February 1877 at Gurtuchrane, near Anascaul, Co. Kerry, one of eight sons and three daughters of Patrick Crean, farmer, and Catherine Crean (née Courtney). (His birth certificate…...
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…...
Crommelin, Maria Henrietta (‘May’) de la Cherois
Crommelin, Maria Henrietta (‘May’) de la Cherois (1849–1930), author and traveller, was born at Carrowdore Castle, Co. Down, second daughter of Samuel de la Cherois Crommelin, JP, DL, and high sheriff…...
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…...
Crotty, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’)
Crotty, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’) (née Markham ) (1885–1960), concertina player, was born 8 January 1886 at Gower, Cooraclare, Co. Clare, the youngest in the large family of Michael Markham, farmer, and Margaret Markham (née Keane). She attended national school in Cooraclare (1893–9).…...
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…...
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…...
Crozier, Francis Rawdon Moira
Crozier, Francis Rawdon Moira (1796–1848), Royal Navy captain and polar explorer, was born in September 1796 in Banbridge, Co. Down, one of thirteen children of George Crozier, attorney-at-law, and his wife Jane Elliot Crozier (née Graham). He joined the RN…...
Culwick, Florence
Culwick, Florence (1877–1929), director of the Culwick choir, was born 4 November 1877 at 21 Upper Lesson Street, Dublin, the daughter of James Cooksey Culwick, professor of music, and Mary Jane (née Richardson), his second wife. Florence was educated at Alexandra College, Dublin,…...
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, Larry
Cunningham, Larry (1938–2012), country music singer, was born on 13 February 1938 in Clooneen, Mullinalaghta, near Granard, Co. Longford, the second youngest of seven children (four daughters and three sons) of Michael Cunningham and Julia Cunningham (née Cosgrove), who farmed fifty…...
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…...