Clancy, Thomas (‘Tom’)
Clancy, Thomas (‘Tom’) (1924–90), folk singer and actor, was born 29 October 1924 on William St., Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, seventh child and second son among four sons and seven daughters of Robert Joseph Clancy, accountant, and Johanna Clancy (née McGrath), from a family of…...
Clare, Wallace George
Clare, Wallace George (1895–1963), priest and genealogist, was born 9 August 1895 in Ipswich, Suffolk, the only son of Frederick Clare, wine buyer, and Agnes Clare (née Keegan). His father died when Wallace was 2 years old, and his mother brought him and his sister up in…...
Clarke, Desmond
Clarke, Desmond (1907–79), librarian, historian, and writer, was born 2 July 1907 in Dublin, eldest son of John Clarke and Marcella Clarke (née Shaw). His entire career was with the RDS library, which he joined as an assistant in 1925. In…...
Clark, Wallace
Clark, Wallace (1926–2011), yachtsman, writer and businessman, was born in Upperlands, Co. Derry, on 20 November 1926, one of three children, two boys and a girl, of Harry Francis Clark, of Rockwood in Upperlands, and his wife Sybil Emily (née Stuart). His father was a director and…...
Clayton, Robert
Clayton, Robert (1695–1758), Church of Ireland bishop of Clogher, antiquary, and religious controversialist, was born in England, possibly at Fulwood, near Preston, Lancashire, the eldest of eight children and first of four sons of John Clayton (1657–1725) and his wife, Eleanor (…...
Cloney, Seán
Cloney, Seán (1926–99), farmer, central figure of the Fethard-on-Sea controversy, and historian, was born 5 September 1926 in Co. Wexford, the only child of Michael Cloney (1866–1934), steward of Dungulph estate, and his second wife, Ellen (née Cavanagh), of Templederry, Gorey, Co.…...
Clyn, John
Clyn, John (d. 1349?), Franciscan friar and annalist, appears to have come from a minor gentry family of north Co. Kilkenny. Much of our evidence for his life is circumstantial and comes from internal evidence in his annals, ‘Annalium Hiberniae chronicon, ad annum MCCCXLIX’. ‘Clyn’ is…...
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…...
Cockburn, Sir George
Cockburn, Sir George (1764–1847), soldier, traveller, writer, and antiquary, was born 18 February 1764 in Dublin, only child of George Cockburn (d. 1775), a Scottish businessman who settled in Ireland in 1739 and married Ann (d. 1769), second of two children of Charles Caldwell,…...
Coffey, George
Coffey, George (1857–1916), archaeologist and nationalist, was born 2 July 1857 in Dublin, the third and youngest son of James Charles Coffey (d. 1880), county court judge for Londonderry, and his wife, Anna Maria Coffey (formerly Lee Trafford, née Wilkinson). Educated at…...
Coffey, Hugh Diarmid James
Coffey, Hugh Diarmid James (1888–1964), author and public servant, was born 24 December 1888 in Dublin, the only child of George Coffey (qv) (d. 1916) and his wife Jane Sophia Frances (d. 1921), daughter of Sir George Burdett L'Estrange. The…...
Cogan, Anthony
Cogan, Anthony (1824/5–72), catholic priest and diocesan historian, was born at Slane, Co. Meath, the first of the six sons of Thomas Cogan, a baker, and his wife Anne (née Sillary). Anne Cogan, whose family owned land at Nobber and Platten, was a protestant until her marriage.…...
Cogitosus
Cogitosus (fl. c.650), grandson of Aéd, was author of a Latin Life of St Brigit (qv) of Kildare written not much later than 650, possibly the earliest extant specimen of Irish hagiography. In the epilogue…...
Cole, Richard Lee
Cole, Richard Lee (1878–1963), methodist minister and historian, was born 24 January 1878 in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, second of five sons of the Rev. Richard Cole (1847–1925), methodist minister and editor of the Irish Christian Advocate, and Margaret Anne Cole (née Lee). He…...
Colgan, John
Colgan, John (1592?–1658), Franciscan friar and hagiographer, was born in Priestown in the parish of Donagh, Inishowen, Co. Donegal. Little is known for certain of his early years or family circumstances. He was a member of a well-established Donegal clerical family, the Mac Colgans of…...
Colgan, Nathaniel
Colgan, Nathaniel (1851–1919), botanist, marine biologist, and traveller, was born 28 May 1851 in Dublin. The identity of his parents is not known with certainty, though they may have been Nathaniel Watson Colgan and Letitia Phair, who married in Dublin in 1846. Colgan was educated…...
Conefrey, Peter
Conefrey, Peter (1880–1939), catholic priest and social critic, was born 9 June 1880 in Mohill, Co. Leitrim, son of James Conefrey, publican, and his wife Mary McGivney. There were many priests on both sides of the family. His uncle, Fr Thomas Conefrey, parish priest of Drumlish,…...
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…...
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;…...
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, Adolphus
Cooke, Adolphus (1792–1876), eccentric, was born in Cookesborough near Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, illegitimate son of Robert Cooke, landowner, and an unnamed servant. Adolphus's mother was sent away, and he was raised by a nurse, Mary Kelly, in a two-room thatched cottage, forbidden…...
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…...