Clarke, Edward Marmaduke
Clarke, Edward Marmaduke (c.1806–1859), entrepreneur and scientific-instrument maker, was born c.1806, probably in Dublin, the son of Edward Clarke. An Edward Clarke appears as an optician based in Sackville Street, Dublin, from 1810 until 1821 (with interruptions). It…...
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…...
Clemens Scottus
Clemens Scottus (‘the Irishman’) (fl. c.800), scholar, was teacher at the palace school at Aachen under Charlemagne (d. 814) and his son Louis the Pious. A letter from Alcuin to Charlemagne, dated 797, refers to the presence of Irish scholars at the palace court, one of…...
Clinch, James Bernard
Clinch, James Bernard (1770–1834), scholar and pamphleteer, was born 16 July 1770 in James's St., Dublin, fifth son of Joseph Clinch, a merchant originally from Ratoath, Co. Meath, and Mary Clinch (née Higgins) from Knockmane, Co. Roscommon. Educated at the Rev. Beragh's academy…...
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…...
Cochrane, Robert
Cochrane, Robert (1844–1916), engineer, architect, and antiquarian, was born 21 July 1844 in Co. Down, eldest son of Hugh W. Cochrane, of an ancient Scottish-Danish family that came to Ireland in the seventeenth century. He graduated in engineering from…...
Coffey, Æneas
Coffey, Æneas (c.1780–1852), excise official and inventor, was the son of Andrew Coffey and his wife, daughter of a Capt. Ryan who died of wounds received during the arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald (qv). Andrew Coffey…...
Colby, Thomas Frederick
Colby, Thomas Frederick (1784–1852), engineer and administrator, was born 1 September 1784 at Rochester, Kent, England, eldest child of Maj. Thomas Colby (Royal Marines) of south Wales, and Cornelia Colby (née Hadden), both of military families. Educated at Northfleet, Kent, and the…...
Colles, William
Colles, William (1702–70), inventor and entrepreneur, was born on 31 August 1702, the second of four sons of William Colles (1648–1719), surgeon, who practised in England until 1677 and eventually acquired landed property in Co. Kilkenny, and his second wife, Hanna (née Culter).…...
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…...
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…...
Colmán
Colmán ( fl. 7th century?) is known only as the author of a letter to one Feradach, announcing that he had received certain improved texts a Romanis (‘from those in Rome’ or ‘from the Romani’). The texts mentioned were Isidore, ‘De ecclesiasticis officiis’ (the…...
Colmán
Colmán (fl. 9th cent.), the otherwise unknown author of two well-constructed poems in Virgilian hexameters. One of the poems recalls a miracle of St Brigit (qv); it was written at Rome (in Roma…...
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…...
Comber, Patrick Forstall
Comber, Patrick Forstall (1831–1909), civil engineer, was born 30 April 1831 in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, eldest son of Thomas Comber, architect and builder, and his wife Catherine, daughter of Edward Gannon, all from Kilmena, Co. Mayo. He was educated by private tutors and by the…...
Conan, Walter
Conan, Walter (1860–1936), inventor and tailor, was born at the family house, Roseneath, Sandymount Avenue, Dublin, one of four sons and six daughters of Joseph Conan, a wealthy merchant tailor, of Dawson St., Dublin, and his wife Agnes, daughter of a Scottish clockmaker, David…...
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…...
Conway, Anne
Conway, Anne (1631–79), Viscountess Conway , woman of learning, was born in London, youngest child of Heneage Finch (1580–1631) and his second wife, Elizabeth Cradock (d. 1655). Elizabeth, from Staffordshire, brought both sturdy independence and wealth into her second marriage,…...
Conyngham, Elizabeth Emmet Lenox
Conyngham, Elizabeth Emmet Lenox (née Holmes ) (b. 1800), poet and translator, was born in Dublin, the only child of the barrister and orator Robert Holmes (qv), barrister, and his wife…...
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....
Coppin, William
Coppin, William (1805–95), sailor, shipbuilder, and inventor, was born 9 October 1805 in Kinsale, Co. Cork; no details of his parents are known. From his childhood he displayed a strong affinity to the sea, and at the age of 15 was involved in the rescue of six customs men from a…...
Corbett, William Edward
Corbett, William Edward (1824–1904), engineer and architect, was born 19 April 1824 in Limerick city, son of Patrick Corbett, a member of an old Limerick family. Nothing is known of his mother. He is described as a civil engineer on his death certificate and obituaries, but there…...
Cordner, Joseph (James)
Cordner, Joseph (James) (1875–1963), pioneer aviator, was born 11 February 1875 in Derryinver, Co. Armagh, twin brother of Edward Cordner and son of Ussiagh Cordner, farm labourer, and Anne Cordner. Educated locally, Joseph (who may also have been known as ‘James’) and Edward opened…...
Cormac
Cormac (846–908), son of Cuilennán and king of Cashel (seat of the Éoganacht kings of Munser), was according to the genealogies son of Sealbach, grandson of Dub-dá-chrích, and descendant of Óengus (qv) son of Nad-fraích. He was the chief…...