Costigan, Ethna Mary Byrne-
Costigan, Ethna Mary Byrne- (1904–91), academic and writer, was born 24 May 1904 at Upper Leeson Street, Dublin, the eldest daughter of Thomas Joseph Byrne (qv), chief architect to the Office of Public Works, and Mary Ellen Byrne…...
Cotter, George Sackville
Cotter, George Sackville (1755–1831), clergyman, poet, and translator, was most probably born in Co. Cork, the fourth and youngest son of Sir James Cotter, MP, created first baronet of Rockforest, Co. Cork, in 1763, and his wife, Arabella (née Rogerson, formerly Cassaubon), coheir…...
Cowan, (Robert) Barry
Cowan, (Robert) Barry (1948–2004), journalist and broadcaster, was born 1 February 1948 in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, one of two sons of Fred Cowan, a manager in the Ulster Transport Authority, and his wife Myrtle (née Gilliland Patterson). Barry was brought up a presbyterian. The…...
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…...
Coyne, John Stirling
Coyne, John Stirling (1803–68), dramatist and comic journalist, was born in Birr, Co. Offaly, the son of Denis Coyne, port surveyor of Waterford, and his wife, Bridget (née Cosgrave). Educated at Dungannon School, Co. Tyrone, he abandoned plans of entering the legal profession, and…...
Crawford, Emily
Crawford, Emily (1841–1915), journalist, was born 31 May 1841, probably in Dublin, daughter of Andrew Johnstone, landowner, of Corboy, Co. Longford, and Grace Johnstone, an American. She was educated at home. After her father's financial difficulties and death, she went (1857) with…...
Crawford, (Robert) Lindsay
Crawford, (Robert) Lindsay (1868–1945), journalist, Orangeman, and diplomat, was born 1 October 1868 at Tonagh, Lisburn, Co. Antrim, son of James Crawford, scripture reader, and Matilda Crawford (née Hastings). Educated privately, he worked for a time in business before becoming…...
Crilly, Daniel
Crilly, Daniel (1857–1923), journalist and politician, was born 14 December 1857, a son of Daniel Crilly of Rostrevor, Co. Down. In his youth he left his native country for England. He was educated at the Catholic Institute, Hope Street, Liverpool, and at Sedgley Park College,…...
Cronin, Seán Gerard
Cronin, Seán Gerard (1922–2011), journalist, historian and republican, was born on 29 August 1922 in Dublin, the only son among three children of Con Cronin (d. 1924), a member of the IRA, and his wife Kate. After Con Cronin's death, Kate worked as a cook in a boarding school while…...
Crosbie, George
Crosbie, George (1864–1934), newspaper proprietor and politician, was born 7 May 1864 at Cork, the second son of four children of Thomas Crosbie of Waterloo Place, Cork, editor of the Cork Examiner, and Marianne (or perhaps Mary Anne) Crosbie (née Callaghan), daughter of…...
Crosbie, Patrick (‘Paddy’)
Crosbie, Patrick (‘Paddy’) (1913–82), teacher, humorist, and broadcaster, was born 1 October 1917 at 12A Bridewell Lane, Dublin, third among three sons and one daughter of Martin Crosbie, foreman-fitter, and Elizabeth (Lily) Crosbie (née Corcoran). He was educated at Stanhope St.…...
Crosbie, Richard
Crosbie, Richard (1756?–1800?), balloonist, was born in Co. Wicklow, second son among five children of Sir Paul Crosbie, 4th baronet and barrack master at Bray, Co. Wicklow, and Mary Crosbie (née Daniel), an Englishwoman. His elder brother was (Sir)…...
Crosbie, Thomas
This is a co-subject for the entry on Crosbie, George. View the original entry....
Crosbie, Thomas
Crosbie, Thomas (1817?–1899), newspaper editor and proprietor, was born in Ardfert, Co. Kerry. Educated at Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare, in 1842 he joined the Cork Examiner of John Francis Maguire (qv) soon after…...
Cross, Eric
Cross, Eric (1903/5–1980), writer and broadcaster, was born in Newry, Co. Down, the only child of James Cross, a British civil servant and catholic. Educated in the north of England, he studied medicine at Manchester University for six months before moving to London to study…...
Crossley, Hastings
This is a co-subject for the entry on Crossley, Francis (‘Frank’) William. View the original entry....
Crowe, Eyre Evans
Crowe, Eyre Evans (1799–1868), journalist, fiction writer, and historian, was born 20 March 1799, at Redbridge, near Southampton, of Anglo-Irish parents. His father, David Miles Crowe, was a captain in an East India regiment; his mother died shortly after his birth. He was educated…...
Crozier, Maurna
Crozier, (Rose Mary) Maurna (1942–2015), social anthropologist, was born in Belfast on 22 January 1942, the only surviving child of Robert Frizzell, the first general manager of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB), and his wife Molly (née Rands), a rosarian and the daughter of…...
Cú-Chuimne
Cú-Chuimne (d. 747), monk and scholar of Iona, was (according to a note in Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS lat. 12021) joint compiler with Ruben of Dairinis, a monastery on the Blackwater river, of the Irish collection of canons known as ‘Collectio canonum Hibernensis’. The genealogies…...
Curtayne, Alice
Curtayne, Alice (1901–81), writer and journalist, was born 6 November 1901 in Upper Castle Street, Tralee, Co. Kerry, the youngest child of John Curtayne, founder and proprietor of the Tralee Carriage Works, and Bridget Curtayne (née O'Dwyer). She received her initial education at…...
Curtin, Jeremiah
Curtin, Jeremiah (1835–1906), folklorist, writer, translator and linguist, was born 6 September 1835 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, eldest among seven children of David Curtin, an Irish-speaker who emigrated from Bruree, Co. Limerick, and his wife Ellen (née Furlong) who came from Buttevant…...
Curtis, Maeve
Curtis, Maeve (1911–71), journalist and teacher, was born Alice Margaret, 7 August 1911, at West Teebane, Co. Tyrone, fifth child of four daughters and one son of John Curtis and his wife Alice Geown, both from Tyrone. Her father was a farmer-builder. Her mother died when she was…...
Cyprianus (Pseudo -)
Cyprianus (Pseudo -) (fl. early 7th cent.) was the otherwise anonymous author of an important Hiberno-Latin tract, ‘De duodecim abusiuis’. Athough we lack any biographical details other than that he flourished in the first half of the seventh century and was an…...
Czira (Gifford), Sydney Madge (‘John Brennan’)
Czira (Gifford), Sydney Madge (‘John Brennan’) (1889–1974), journalist, broadcaster, and republican, was born 3 August 1889 at 8 Temple Villas, Rathmines, Dublin, the youngest of twelve children of Frederick Gifford, a wealthy solicitor, and Isabella Gifford (née Burton), a niece of the…...
D'Alton, John Francis
D'Alton, John Francis (1882–1963), cardinal and classical scholar, was born on 11 October 1882 in Claremorris, Co. Mayo, son of Joseph D'Alton, a shopkeeper, and Mary D'Alton (née Brennan). He was a nephew of the antiquary and dean of Tuam Monsignor Edward Alfred D'Alton,…...