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…...
Corish, Richard
Corish, Richard (1886–1945), trade unionist and politician, was born 17 September 1886 at 35 William St., Wexford town, eldest among three children of Peter Corish, carpenter, and Mary Corish (née Murphy). Educated at the CBS Wexford…...
Cormac
Cormac (fl. 6th cent.) of the Uí Liatháin was a pilgrim monk mentioned several times by Adomnán (qv) in his ‘Vita Columbae’. He appears in the genealogies as ‘priest’, son of Dímma, grandson of Commán, and belonging to the tribe of…...
Cosgrave, Mary Josephine
Cosgrave, Mary Josephine (c.1877–1941), social worker and local politician, was born in Naas, Co. Kildare, the daughter of James William Daly and Jane Daly. Educated at St Mary's Convent in Naas, she went on to study at St Andrews University, from where she graduated LLA…...
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…...
Crawford, Leo
Crawford, Leo (1903–73), trade union leader, was born 1 December 1903 at 2 Grattan Place, Dublin, son of John Crawford, plasterer, and Annie Crawford (née Molloy). Educated at Westland Row CBS, he followed his father's trade as an…...
Crean, Eugene
Crean, Eugene (1854–1939), trade unionist and home rule MP, was born at 3 Douglas St., Cork, third child and only son among four children of Ellen Crean (née Wall) and Daniel Crean, urban landlord. His siblings were Honora (b. 1841), Margaret (b. 1848), and Anne (b. 1860). Eugene…...
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…...
Crofton, Sir John Wenman
Crofton, Sir John Wenman (1912–2009), physician, scientist and public health campaigner, was born on 27 March 1912 at the family home, 55 Merrion Square South, Dublin, the only son (between two sisters) of William Mervyn Crofton, physician and bacteriologist, and his wife Mary…...
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…...
Cullen, Denis
Cullen, Denis (1886–1971), trade unionist and politician, was probably born 19 August 1886 at Seafield, Donabate, Co. Dublin (the family estate of John Hely Hutchinson (1836–1919)), son of John Cullen, a groom, and Anne Cullen (née Redmond). It is probable that he attended Artane…...
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…...
Cunningham, Joseph Mullan
Cunningham, Joseph Mullan (1877–1965), trade unionist, senator, and Orangeman, was born in Belfast, and educated at a national school. His apprenticeship to the engineering trade began in 1890 with Combe Barbour & Coombe; in 1896 he travelled to Glasgow, and worked as a…...
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’)
Cusack, Margaret Anna (‘The nun of Kenmare’) (1829–99), nun and author, was born 6 May 1829 at Coolock, Co. Dublin, the elder of two children of Dr Samuel Cusack and his wife, Sarah (née Stoney). Early life and conversion to catholicism She was educated privately, learning informally…...
Daly, Patrick Thomas
Daly, Patrick Thomas (1870–1943), republican and trade unionist, was born 2 December 1870 in Cumberland St., Dublin, son of John Daly, tailor, and Mary Daly (née Murphy). After attending a local national school he served an apprenticeship as a compositor. In 1892 he began working in…...
Darby, Tom
Darby, Tom (1928–2009), trade unionist, was born in Kinnegad, Co. Westmeath, on 28 February 1928, one of seven children of James Darby, a labourer, and his wife Rachel (née Keenan). His family was poor and, after leaving Kinnegad national school at age 14, he worked locally as a turf…...
Davin, William
Davin, William (1890–1956), trade unionist and politician, was born 19 February 1890 at Grogan, Rathdowney, Queen's Co. (Laois), son of Timothy Davin, farmer, and Ellen Davin (née Costigan). He was educated at Rathdowney national school, at St Kieran's College, Kilkenny, and later…...
Deasy, Joseph ('Joe')
Deasy, Joseph (‘Joe’) (1922–2013), left-wing activist, was born on 12 July 1922 in Ballyfermot, Dublin, the eldest of two boys and two girls born to Dick Deasy, a train driver with the Great Southern Railway (GSR), and Mary Deasy (née O’Connor). Educated at St Michael’s National School…...
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…...
Devlin, Paddy
Devlin, Paddy (1925–99), politician and trade unionist, was born 8 March 1925 at 46 Lady St. in the Falls Road area of Belfast, eldest child among four daughters and three sons of Patrick Devlin, ex-serviceman and later flour-mill worker, and his wife Anna, of Belfast, daughter of…...
Dobbs, Francis
Dobbs, Francis (1750–1811), Volunteer, author, and MP, was born 27 April 1750, second son among four sons and a daughter of the Rev. Richard Dobbs (c.1694–1775), rector (1743–75) of Lisburn cathedral, Co. Antrim, and his wife Mary (d. 1796), widow of Cornet McMannus, and…...
Doherty, John
Doherty, John (c.1798–1854), trade union pioneer, radical activist, journalist, and factory reformer, was born in Inishowen, Co. Donegal; nothing is known of his parents. His birth place and date are uncertain. A son said it was ‘Buncrana, Inishowel’ (sic) in…...
Dombrain, Sir James
Dombrain, Sir James (1793–1871), comptroller general of the Irish coastguard, was born in Canterbury, Kent, son of Abraham Dombrain. He was of French huguenot stock and it is believed that his family were descended from the D'Embron family of Rouen, Normandy. He joined the Royal…...
Dowling, Sheila (Sighle)
Dowling, Sheila (Sighle) (née Bowen ) (c.1896–1957), republican, socialist, trade unionist, and feminist, was a member of Cumann na mBan. During the war of independence she served as stenographer in dáil courts in north Dublin city, and worked for the republican solicitor…...