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…...
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…...
Crimthann Cualann
Crimthann Cualann (d. 633), son of Áed Dibchíne and overking of Leinster, belonged to the dynasty of Uí Máil. His sobriquet associates him with Cualu, the Bray area in north Wicklow. He had at least six brothers, including Toca king of Cualu, and Rónán who was apparently a bishop.…...
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…...
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…...
Cuffe, Otway Frederick Seymour
Cuffe, Otway Frederick Seymour (1853–1912), benefactor and Gaelic revivalist, was born 11 January 1853 in London, third and youngest son of John Otway O'Connor Cuffe (1818–1865), 3rd earl of Desart (an Irish title), and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Lucy Campbell (1822–1898), third daughter…...
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…...
Cúndún, Pádraig Phiarais
Cúndún, Pádraig Phiarais (1777–1857), Irish-language writer, was born at Shanakill, a son of Piaras Cúndún, a farmer of Kilmacdonagh, Ballymacoda, Co. Cork, and his wife, Máire. He had two brothers, Tomás and Cit, and he may have had at least one sister. Information is scant on his…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Daniel (Ó Domhnuill, O'Donnell), William
Daniel (Ó Domhnuill, O'Donnell), William (1570–1628), Church of Ireland archbishop of Tuam and translator of the New Testament into Irish, was a son of Nicholas Daniel of Kilkenny; nothing is known of his mother. During his youth he became a protestant, probably under the…...
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…...
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…...
Davitt, Michael
Davitt, Michael (1950–2005), poet, was born Joseph Michael Davitt on 20 April 1950 in Mayfield, Cork city, the third child of four children (three girls and a boy) of Joe Davitt, a bus driver and native of Mallow, Co. Cork, and his wife Hilda (néae Parker), originally from Stoke-on-…...
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…...
Deakin, James Aubrey
Deakin, James Aubrey (1874–1952), Irish-language and republican activist, was born 19 June 1874 at Mount Auburn, Richmond Road, Drumcondra, Dublin, one of at least three sons and five daughters of James Deakin, commercial traveller, native of Birmingham, England, and Mary Anne Deakin (…...
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…...
Dease, Thomas (Déis, Tomás)
Dease, Thomas (Déis, Tomás) (c. 1568–1651/2), catholic bishop of Meath and poet in Irish, was second of three sons of Richard Dease of Turbotstown, Co. Westmeath, and his wife Lady Eleanor Nugent of Carlanstown, Co. Meath. He was closely related to the Nugents of Delvin…...
De Barra, Dáibhí (Barry, David; Dáth an Ghleanna)
De Barra, Dáibhí (Barry, David; Dáth an Ghleanna) (1757/8–1851), prose writer, scribe, and poet in Irish, was born in Woodstock, Carrigtohill, Co. Cork, son of Dáibhí, a tenant farmer on the earl of Barrymore's estate. He was educated locally and could read and write both Irish and…...
De Bhailís, Colm
De Bhailís, Colm (1796–1906), composer of traditional songs, was born 2 May 1796 in the area known as Ceantar na nOileán (then an isolated island district), west of Béal an Daingin in Connemara, Co. Galway. The precise location of his birth is unknown; Denvir (p. 8) suggests three…...