Caffyn, Kathleen Mannington
Caffyn, Kathleen Mannington (née Hunt ) (c.1853–1926), novelist, also known by her pseudonym Iota , was born in Waterloo House, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, the daughter of William de Vere Hunt and his wife Louisa (née Going). Educated at home by English and German governesses,…...
Caitilín Dubh
Caitilín Dubh (fl. 1624–9), poet, lived in Thomond (present-day Co. Clare). She is the earliest woman poet for whom texts in the Irish language survive in quantity. Five of her elegies, in accentual (or stressed) caoineadh metre, are copied into Duanaire Uí Bhriain…...
Callan, Margaret (née Hughes) (Thornton MacMahon)
Callan, Margaret (née Hughes) (Thornton MacMahon) (c.1817–c.1883), writer, teacher, and nationalist, was born in Newry, Co. Down, the daughter of Phillip Hughes, a local flax buyer, and his wife, Susan Gavan, of Latnamard, Co. Monaghan, the aunt of…...
Campbell, Gertrude Elizabeth
Campbell, Gertrude Elizabeth (née Blood ) (1857–1911), writer, journalist, and critic, was the second daughter of Edmond Maghlin Blood (d. 1891), of Thurloe Square, London, and Brickhill, Co. Clare, and Mary Amy Fergusson (d. 1899), of Leixlip, Co. Kildare. Owing to her father's…...
Carbery, Ethna
Carbery, Ethna (1866–1902), poet, writer, and journalist, was born Anna Johnston 3 December 1866 into a catholic family in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, the second of three children. She lived nearly all her life in Belfast, where her father, …...
Carroll, Margaret Anna (Sister Mary Teresa Austin)
Carroll, Margaret Anna (Sister Mary Teresa Austin) (1835–1909), Sister of Mercy, educator, historian, and writer, was born 23 February 1835 in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, second eldest daughter and fourth eldest among nine children (four sons and five daughters) of William Carroll,…...
Cary (Tanfield), Elizabeth
Cary (Tanfield), Elizabeth (1585–1639), Viscountess Falkland , writer and translator, was born at Burford Priory, Oxfordshire, the only child and heir of Lawrence Tanfield (c.1551–1625), a wealthy lawyer, later appointed chief baron of the exchequer, and his wife,…...
Casey, Elizabeth Owens Blackburne
Casey, Elizabeth Owens Blackburne (1845?–94), author (as ‘E. Owens Blackburne ’), was born 10 May 1845/8 in Slane, Co. Meath, daughter of Andrew Casey and his wife (née Mills), and great‑granddaughter of Richard Blackburne of Mulladillon House, Co. Meath. She lost her sight as a…...
Casey, Juanita
Casey, Juanita (Joy Barlow) (1925–2012), novelist, poet, artist and expert horse breeder, was born on 10 October 1925 and adopted soon after. In the 1980s she tracked down her birth certificate, which revealed that she had been named Lorna and born within London’s outer suburbs at Elm…...
Chabot, Isabella Charlotte de Rohan-
Chabot, Isabella Charlotte de Rohan- (1784–1868), aristocrat and diarist, was born 16 July 1784 in Leinster House, Dublin, fourth daughter of William Robert Fitzgerald (qv), 2nd duke of Leinster, and his wife Emilia Olivia,…...
Chapman, Mary Francis
Chapman, Mary Francis (1838–84), novelist, was born 28 November 1838 in Dublin, the daughter of Robert Chapman, of Walthamstow, Essex, who in 1838 was landing surveyor and surveyor of warehouses in Dublin port. When he was transferred to London the family moved with him to England,…...
Charlton, Maureen
Charlton, Maureen (1930–2007), playwright, poet and broadcaster, was born Mary Farrell in Dublin on 14 September 1930, one of three daughters of Edward and Bridget Farrell (or O'Farrell); her mother's maiden name was probably Farrell also. Mary, known as Maureen, was brought up in Mount…...
Chatterton, (Henrietta) Georgiana
Chatterton, (Henrietta) Georgiana (1806–76), writer, was born 11 November 1806 at 24 Arlington Street, Piccadilly, London, the only child of the Rev. Lascelles Iremonger , prebendary of Winchester cathedral, and Harriet, sister of Admiral Lord Gambier. Educated primarily by a…...
Chesson, Eleanor (‘Nora’)
Chesson, Eleanor (‘Nora’) (née Hopper ) (1871–1906), poet and writer, was born 2 January 1871 at 8 Radnor Place, St Leonards, Devon, the daughter of Captain Harman Baillie Hopper, an Irish officer retired from the 31st Bengal native infantry, and Caroline Augusta Francis, who was…...
Chetwood, Anna Maria
Chetwood, Anna Maria (1774–1870), writer, was born on 7 February 1774, a daughter of the Rev. John Chetwood of Glanmire, Co. Cork (1742–1814), and Elizabeth Chetwood (née Hamilton) (d. 1826?), and great-granddaughter of Knightley Chetwood of Woodbrook, Portarlington, a friend of…...
Clarke (Crilly), Margaret
Clarke (Crilly), Margaret (1881–1961), artist and teacher, was born 29 July 1881 in Newry, Co. Down, the daughter of Patrick Crilley and his wife Mary. After working as a baller in a rope factory she initially trained, with her sister Jane, at Newry technical school, and, in 1905,…...
Clarke (McFall), Frances Bellenden (Sarah Grand)
Clarke (McFall), Frances Bellenden (Sarah Grand) (1854–1943), novelist and feminist, was born 10 June 1854 at Donaghadee, Co. Down, where her father, Edward Bellenden Clarke, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, was stationed in the coastguard. Her mother was Margaret (née Bell Sherwood…...
Clayton, Eleanor (‘Ellen’) Creathorne
Clayton, Eleanor (‘Ellen’) Creathorne (1834–1900), illustrator and writer, was born 15 February 1834 in Gloucester Terrace, Dublin, the eldest child and only daughter of Benjamin Clayton III (1809–83), a member of a long-established family of Dublin engravers, and his wife Mary (née…...
Clerke, Ellen Mary
Clerke, Ellen Mary (1840–1906), journalist and writer, was born 26 September 1840 in Skibbereen, Co. Cork, elder daughter among three children of John William Clerke (1814–90), manager of the Provincial Bank, and his wife Catherine Mary, sister of lawyer…...
Clive (Raftor), Catherine (Kitty)
Clive (Raftor), Catherine (Kitty) (1711–85), comic actress, singer, and writer, was probably born in London on 5 November 1711. Her father, William Raftor or Rafter, was a Kilkenny-born lawyer, who lost his claim on a large estate following his support of…...
Clotworthy, Pauline (Cecily Elizabeth)
Clotworthy, Pauline (Cecily Elizabeth) (née Keohler , later Keller ) (1912–2004), teacher of fashion design, was born 17 May 1912 in Dublin. She was the daughter of Robert Nesbitt Keohler, a solicitor, and his second wife, Ethel M. Keohler (née Thompson), the daughter of William…...
Cobbe, Frances Power
Cobbe, Frances Power (1822–1904), feminist, journalist, anti-vivisectionist, and philanthropist, was born 4 December 1822 in Dublin, the fifth child and only daughter of Charles Cobbe (1781–1857), a landlord and magistrate of Newbridge House, Co. Dublin, and Frances Cobbe (née…...
Cochrane, Jean Crawford
Cochrane, Jean Crawford (1914–2013), educator and activist for women's education, was born on 27 June 1914 in Lifford, Co. Donegal, the eldest daughter of Hugh Crawford Cochrane, a solicitor and under-sheriff for the county, and Lucy Cameron Cochrane (née Boyd). Jean attended school…...
Cockburn, Patricia Evangeline Anne
Cockburn, Patricia Evangeline Anne (1914–89), author and artist, was born 17 March 1914 at Derry House, Rosscarbery, Co. Cork, youngest among six children of Maj. John Bernard Arbuthnot , and his wife Olive, daughter of Sir Henry…...
Coghill, Rhoda Sinclair
Coghill, Rhoda Sinclair (1903–2000), pianist, composer, and poet, was born 14 October 1903 in Dublin, the youngest of eight children of Alexander Sinclair Coghill, printing manager, from Thurso, Scotland, and his wife, Rhoda Ann Sinclair (née Baily). Coghill attended Alexandra…...