Coyle, James
Coyle, James (c.1838–1920), Gaelic scribe and national schoolteacher, was born in Co. Cavan, south of Lough Ramore, on the Meath border, son of Patrick Coyle (1790–1862), scribe, local poet, and farmer. Growing up in one of the last pockets of native Irish speech in south…...
Crean, Thomas (‘Tom’)
Crean, Thomas (‘Tom’) (1877–1938), sailor and Antarctic explorer, was born either on or shortly before 16 February 1877 at Gurtuchrane, near Anascaul, Co. Kerry, one of eight sons and three daughters of Patrick Crean, farmer, and Catherine Crean (née Courtney). (His birth certificate…...
Crozier, Francis Rawdon Moira
Crozier, Francis Rawdon Moira (1796–1848), Royal Navy captain and polar explorer, was born in September 1796 in Banbridge, Co. Down, one of thirteen children of George Crozier, attorney-at-law, and his wife Jane Elliot Crozier (née Graham). He joined the RN…...
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…...
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…...
Cunningham, Andrew Browne
Cunningham, Andrew Browne (1883–1963), naval commander, was born 7 January 1883 in Rathmines, Dublin, second son of Daniel John Cunningham (qv), professor of anatomy at TCD, and…...
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…...
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-…...
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 (…...
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…...
De Bhál (de bhFál), Éamonn (Edward Wall)
De Bhál (de bhFál), Éamonn (Edward Wall) (1667/8–1763), poet, was probably a native of Couragh in the parish of Dungourney, some 10 km north-east of Midleton, Co. Cork – the district in which he spent most of his life. Nothing is known of his immediate family, but a hostile composition…...
de Bhaldraithe, Tomás
de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1916–96), Irish-language scholar, was born in Ballincurra, Co. Limerick, one of five children of Pádraig de Bhaldraithe (1884–1953), civil servant, from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, and Eilís Nic Conmara (1886–1973) from near Kilkee, Co. Clare. When his family moved to…...
De Brún, Pádraig (Browne, Patrick)
De Brún, Pádraig (Browne, Patrick) (1889–1960), priest, scholar, and academic administrator, was born 13 October 1889 in Grangemockler, Co. Tipperary, third child and second son among four sons and two daughters of Maurice Browne (1844–1911), a national school teacher from Cappoquin, Co…...
De Búrc (Búrc), Éamon
De Búrc (Búrc), Éamon (1866–1942), storyteller and singer in Irish, was born 2 April 1866 in Carna, Connemara, Co. Galway, son of the storyteller Liam a’ Búrc. His mother came from Cashel, Roundstone, Connemara; other details of her are unknown. He was more commonly known as Éamon Liam…...
de Jubainville, Marie-Henri d'Arbois-
de Jubainville, Marie-Henri d'Arbois- (1827–1910), Celtic scholar and linguist, was born 5 December 1827 at Nancy, France, son of Charles-Joseph d'Arbois de Jubainville, judge-auditor of the civil tribunal of Nancy and later advocate to the bar of that district, and his wife…...
De Nógla, Éadbhard
De Nógla, Éadbhard (fl. c.1710–c.1792), Irish-language poet and tailor, was probably born in Cork city, son of the Jacobite lawyer Patrick Nagle. His mother's name is unknown. His father was originally from the area between Mallow and Fermoy and was a close friend of…...
De Renzy, Sir Matthew
De Renzy, Sir Matthew (1577–1634), Irish planter, customs official, and Gaelic scholar, was born in Cullen (probably Cologne), Germany. His career reflects the possibilities open to continental immigrants in early seventeenth-century Ireland. Having spent some time as a cloth dealer in…...
De Robeck, Sir John Michael
De Robeck, Sir John Michael (1863–1928), admiral, was born 10 June 1863 at Gowran Grange, Naas, Co. Kildare, second son of John Henry Edward Fock, 4th Baron de Robeck, and Sophia Charlotte de Robeck (née Burton) of Burton Hall, Co. Carlow. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1875…...
De Róiste, Liam
De Róiste, Liam (1882–1959), politician, writer and Irish-language activist, was born 15 June 1882 in Fountainstown, Co. Cork, son of Edward Roche and Eliza Roche (née Ahern), both schoolteachers. He attended the local national school and, although little Irish was spoken in his area,…...
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt)
De Siúnta, Earnán (Ernest Edwin Joynt) (1874–1949), engineer and Irish-language enthusiast, was born Ernest Edwin Joynt, 11 November 1874, at the family residence in Knox St., Ballina, Co. Mayo, only son among four children of Richard Watson Joynt, editor of the Ballina Herald…...
De Valera, Sinéad
De Valera, Sinéad (1875–1975), teacher, folklorist, and writer, was born Jane Flanagan , 1 June 1875, in Ballbriggan, Co. Dublin, one of three daughters and four children of Laurence Flanagan, a carpenter, and Margaret Flanagan (née Byrne). When she was seven the family moved to Munster…...
Dillon, Myles Patrick
Dillon, Myles Patrick (1900–72), Celtic and Sanskrit scholar, was born 11 April 1900 in Dublin, third son among five sons and one daughter of the Irish nationalist leader John Dillon (qv) and his wife Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the Rt Hon.…...
Dinneen, Patrick Stephen
Dinneen, Patrick Stephen (Ó Duinnín, Pádraig Stiabhna ) (1860–1934), Irish language lexicographer, was born 25 December 1860 on a smallholding in Carn townland near Rathmore in the Sliabh Luachra district of Co. Kerry, fifth of ten children of Maitiú Ó Duinnín, farmer and livestock…...