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 (…...
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…...
Concannon, Helena
Concannon, Helena (1878–1952), historian and politician, was born 28 October 1878 in Magherafelt, Co. Londonderry, one of two daughters of Louis Walsh, hotel owner in Maghera, Co. Londonderry, and Elizabeth Walsh (née Donnelly); there were also three sons. Louis Walsh had been a…...
Conlon, Guiseppe Patrick
This is a co-subject for the entry on Conlon, Sarah (née Maguire). View the original entry....
Connellan, Owen
Connellan, Owen (1797–1871), Gaelic scholar, royal historiographer, and scribe, was born in Tireragh, Co. Sligo, son of a farmer. He claimed descent from the kings of Ireland through the chieftains of Bunnyconnellan in Mayo, and was most likely related to another nineteenth-century…...
Connell, Kenneth Hugh
Connell, Kenneth Hugh (1917–73), historian, was born at Southampton of what he called ‘Irish peasant stock’ and was educated there at Taunton's School. After graduating at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1941 he taught history at Aberystwyth, Liverpool, and the LSE, moving…...
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…...
Connor (O'Connor), Bernard
Connor (O'Connor), Bernard (c.1666–1698), royal physician, anatomist, and historian, was born into a catholic family in Co. Kerry, one of at least three children of Bernard O'Connor, possibly a member of the branch of the lords of Kerry, whose seat was at Carrigafoyle;…...
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…...
Conway, Dominic
Conway, Dominic (1918–96), missionary, catholic bishop of Elphin, and historian, was born in rural Co. Longford on 1 January 1918, in the parish of Templemichael and Ballymacormack in the diocese of Ardagh, second child of Dominic Conway, family grocer, and Mary (née Hoare). The…...
Conyngham, David Power
Conyngham, David Power (c.1825–1883), historian, journalist, and soldier, was born in Crohane, Co. Tipperary, the eldest son of John Cunningham and Catherine Cunningham (née Power), who were well-to-do tenant farmers. On his mother's side he was related to…...
Conyngham, William Burton
Conyngham, William Burton (1733–96), politician, antiquarian, and landowner, was second of two sons of Francis Burton , politician, of Buncraggy, Co. Clare, and Mary Burton, only daughter of Maj.-gen. Henry Conyngham, and sister of Henry…...
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…...
Cooke, Robert Francis
Cooke, Robert Francis (1821–82), catholic priest and author, was born 14 February 1821 in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, son of a businessman; no other details of his family are known. He was educated locally and subsequently studied medicine in Dublin, before becoming an assistant…...
Cooke, Thomas Lalor
Cooke, Thomas Lalor (1792–1869), attorney and antiquary, probably born in Borrisoleigh, Co. Tipperary, was fifth among sixteen children of Richard Cooke, Roman catholic distiller and merchant, and Mary Cooke (née Lalor). Cooke was apprenticed to a solicitor in Dublin and entered…...
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…...
Cooper, Austin
Cooper, Austin (1759–1830), antiquary, was born 15 February 1759 at Killinure, Co. Tipperary, third son among fourteen children of William Cooper, registrar of the diocese of Cashel, and his wife Jane (née Wayland). Cooper was educated in Cashel, and in 1774 entered the treasury…...
Corcoran, Doreen
Corcoran, Doreen (1934–2013), local historian, was born in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, on 12 July 1934, the eldest child of William Luney and Roberta Luney (née Robinson). Doreen and her two brothers and sister were brought up in Greenisland, Co. Antrim, with visits to grandparents…...
Corish, Patrick Joseph
Corish, Patrick Joseph (1921–2013), priest and historian, was born on 17 March 1921 in Ballytarsna near Ballycullane, Co. Wexford, the son of Peter William Corish, a schoolteacher, and his wife Brigid (née O’Shaughnessy). Patrick had five brothers and one sister, and remained close to…...
Cosgrave, Ephraim MacDowel
Cosgrave, Ephraim MacDowel (1853–1925), physician and antiquary, was born 17 July 1853, a son of William Alexander Cosgrave of Corrstown House, Co. Dublin, clerk of the peace for Co. Longford, and his wife, Anna Maria, daughter of Ephraim MacDowel (1798–1835), surgeon at the…...
Costello, Thomas Bodkin
Costello, Thomas Bodkin (1864–1956), medical doctor and antiquary, was born 4 February 1864 in Tuam, Co. Galway, son of Michael Costello, a shopkeeper, and his wife, Sarah Bodkin. His mother was a descendent of the Kilcloony branch of the Bodkin family, one of the original…...
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…...