Cumméne (Cummíne, Cummian) Find
Cumméne (Cummíne, Cummian) Find (‘the white’) (d. 669), sometimes misleadingly given as Cumméne Ailbe (from Latin gen. albi), was 7th abbot of Iona (657–69) and successor to Suibne (qv) of the moccu Urthri. His genealogy places…...
Cummian (Cummíne, Cumméne) Foto
Cummian (Cummíne, Cumméne) Foto (‘the long’) (d. 661/2) of Clonfert, was designated comarba Brénaind, coarb or successor of Brendan (qv) of Clonfert (Cluain Ferta Brénainn in some sources), Co. Galway. The genealogies give 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…...
Dagán
Dagán (d. 641), founder and first abbot of Inber Doíle (Ennereilly, Co. Wicklow) and a saint in the Irish tradition, was a member of the familia of Glendalough. According to the genealogies his father was Colmad, whose ancestry is traced to the Leinster dynasty of Dál…...
Daig
Daig (d. 587), son of Cairell, founder and first bishop of Inis Caín and a saint in the Irish tradition, is traced by the genealogists to the Uí Néill dynasty of Cenél nÉogain. His father is named as Cairell son of Laisre Lond, a descendant of …...
Dallán Forgaill
Dallán Forgaill (fl. c.600), poet, church founder, and saint in the Irish tradition, is placed by the genealogists among the Uí Macc Uais. The indications are that he belonged to a subject population – perhaps the Cathraige or Mascraige. His original name is given as…...
Darley, Frederick
Darley, Frederick (1764–1841), builder, alderman, and police magistrate, born in Dublin and baptised on 6 July 1764, was one of the many children of Henry Darley (1721?–1798), a wealthy public works contractor, and his first wife, Mary (née Steele; d. 1770). Henry's grandfather,…...
Declan (Déclán)
Declan (Déclán) (fl. 5th/early 6th cent.) of Ardmore, saint in the Irish tradition, bishop and patron of the Déisi of East Munster. The martyrologies and genealogies give inconsistent information about him, but according to tradition he was born in Drumroe, near Cappoquin…...
Deicolus
Deicolus (d. 625), saint in the Irish tradition, may have been a brother of St Gallus (qv), and is said to have accompanied Columbanus (qv) to Luxeuil. The main source of…...
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…...
Diarmait
Diarmait (d. 825), grandson of Áed Rón, was founder and first abbot of Dísert Diarmata, a prominent member of the Céli Dé church reform movement, and a saint in the Irish tradition. His father, Fergal, was a relatively undistinguished member of the east Ulster Dál Fiatach…...
Diarmait
Diarmait (late 6th cent.), founder and first abbot of Inis Clothrann (Inchcleraun on Lough Ree, Co. Longford), and saint in the Irish tradition, was – according to the medieval pedigree assigned to him – son of Lugna son of Lugaid, who was attached to the Connacht dynasty of Uí…...
Diuma (Dímma)
Diuma (Dímma) (d. 658), missionary-bishop called the ‘apostle of Mercia’, was sent with three others by Fínán (qv), abbot and bishop of Lindisfarne, to evangelise Mercia after the baptism of King Peada, son of Penda, c.652. His…...
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…...
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…...
Donatus
Donatus (d. 876), Irish scholar and ecclesiastic born at the end of the eighth century, was elected bishop of Fiesole, near Florence, in 829. The tenth/ eleventh-century ‘Vita sancti Donati episcopi’ has little biographical detail, and almost nothing is known of Donatus's Irish…...
Donnán
Donnán (d. 615) of Eigg, missionary and martyr in Scotland, was born (according to tradition) in north-eastern Ireland; he trained under Finnian (qv) of Movilla, and came as a missionary to Scotland sometime before 590. He…...
Dudley, Thomas (‘Bang Bang’)
Dudley, Thomas (‘Bang Bang’) (1906–81), eccentric, was born on 13 February 1906 in the Rotunda hospital, Dublin. Raised in an orphanage in Cabra, he lived for much of his adult life on Mill Lane near The Coombe in the Liberties. Although he worked briefly as a kitchen porter in Rialto…...
Dúnchad
Dúnchad (d. 717), 11th abbot of Iona, was of royal descent, being a direct descendant of some of the Uí Néill high-kings – grandson of Maél Cobo (d. 615) and grandnephew of Domnall (qv) (d. 642). Under his rule (from c.707) Iona, and…...
Dunseith, David Lumsden
Dunseith, David Lumsden (1934–2011), policeman and broadcaster, was born on 2 October 1934 in Derry city, the eldest child of Robert Dunseith, a flour miller, and his wife Mary Dunseith (née Lumsden), formerly a factory worker. David grew up in the protestant Waterside area of Derry…...
Ecgberht
Ecgberht (c.638–729), an Englishman of noble birth, moved to Ireland, ‘either for the sake of religious studies or to live a more contemplative life’, according to Bede. His departure for Ireland can be assigned to the period when Bishops…...
Énnae (Enda, Éanna)
Énnae (Enda, Éanna) (d. c.530), one of the earliest monastic founders of the Irish church, is said to have been born in the mid fifth century in the kingdom of Airgialla. His Latin Life, which is a late production, has a number of chronological incongruities. It states…...
Éogan
Éogan (fl. c.570), monk of Kilnamanagh, bishop of Ardstraw, and saint in the Irish tradition, belonged in all probability to Dál nAuluim, a forshloinne (subject people) of the Ulaid. The genealogies represent Éogan as the son of Cainnech, son of Bishop Erc. If…...
Erc
Erc (d. 513/15), bishop of Slane and saint in the Irish tradition, belonged to the obscure Munster population-group of Corco Auloimm. His father is named in the genealogies as Daig son of Branchú, and he shares his Corco Auloimm ancestry with St…...
Fachtna (Fachanan)
Fachtna (Fachanan) (c.554–c.600), abbot and founder of Ros Ailithir (Ross Carbery, Co. Cork), was born at Tulach Tenn, in the territory of the Corco Loígde. The Martyrology of Donegal describes him as ‘of the race of Lughaidh, son of Íth’. According to a twelfth-…...