Colum, Mary Catherine (‘Molly’)
Colum, Mary Catherine (‘Molly’) (1887–1957), critic, editor, and teacher, was born 13 June 1887 in Co. Sligo, daughter of Charles Maguire of Derryhawlagh, Killesher parish, Co. Fermanagh, and Maria Maguire (née Gunning). After the death of her parents, she was raised by her…...
Comerford, Maire (Mary Eva)
Comerford, Maire (Mary Eva) (1893–1982), republican and journalist, was born 29 June 1893, in Ardavon, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, the eldest daughter of James Charles Comerford, a mill owner, and Eva May Comerford, the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Esmonde of Co.Wexford. She…...
Condell, Frances Pauline
Condell, Frances Pauline (1916–86), politician and journalist, was born 29 June 1916 at 8 Sexton St., Limerick, sixth child of James Eades , signal inspector, and Fanny Eades (née Sheppard). She had five older brothers. The family was protestant, and Frances attended St Michael's…...
Conway, Honoria (Sister Mary Vincent)
Conway, Honoria (Sister Mary Vincent) (1815–92), Sister of Charity, foundress, and educator, was born 18 June 1815 in Dover Castle, Isle of Wight, England, youngest of three children (one son and two daughters) of Sgt Michael Conway of the Galway Militia, Galway, and Eleanor…...
Conyers, (Minnie) Dorothea Spaight
Conyers, (Minnie) Dorothea Spaight (1869–1949), novelist, was born 11 November 1869, in Fedamore, Co. Limerick, one of twin daughters of Colonel John Blood-Smith of Fedamore and Ardsollus, Co. Clare, and Amelia Blood-Smith (née Spaight) of Derry Castle, Co. Tipperary. Her family…...
Conyngham, Elizabeth Emmet Lenox
Conyngham, Elizabeth Emmet Lenox (née Holmes ) (b. 1800), poet and translator, was born in Dublin, the only child of the barrister and orator Robert Holmes (qv), barrister, and his wife…...
Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox-
Conyngham, Melosina Anne Lenox- (1941–2011), traveller and writer, was born on 22 February 1941 in Ceylon (latterly, Sri Lanka). Her father, Gerald Hamilton Lenox-Conyngham, a tea planter in Wattegoda, in the south of the island, was descended from an Ulster ascendancy family and…...
Corlett, (Ada) Barbara
Corlett, (Ada) Barbara (d.1891), pioneer of women's education, was the daughter of Henry Corlett, coach-spring manufacturer in Dublin, who may have been originally from the Isle of Man. He patented a coach spring in 1867, and retired in 1871. Nothing is known of her early life or…...
Cosgrave, Mary Anne (Patrick)
Cosgrave, Mary Anne (Patrick) (1863–1900), pioneer nurse in Rhodesia, educationist, and Dominican prioress, was born 22 May 1863 in Summerhill, Co. Meath, one of four children of a member of the Irish Constabulary, who came from Ballysilla, near Oulart Hill, Co. Wexford. Her…...
Costigan, Ethna Mary Byrne-
Costigan, Ethna Mary Byrne- (1904–91), academic and writer, was born 24 May 1904 at Upper Leeson Street, Dublin, the eldest daughter of Thomas Joseph Byrne (qv), chief architect to the Office of Public Works, and Mary Ellen Byrne…...
Cousins, Margaret (‘Gretta’) Elizabeth
Cousins, Margaret (‘Gretta’) Elizabeth (1878–1954), suffragist, educator, and theosophist, was born 7 November 1878 in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, eldest of fifteen children of Joseph Gillespie , petty sessions clerk, and Margaret Annie Gillespie (née Shera). Brought up in a unionist and…...
Cowley, Jane (Sister Mary Teresa)
Cowley, Jane (Sister Mary Teresa) (1857–1914), Sister of Mercy, Boer war nurse, and educator, was born in Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath, daughter of John Cowley and Margaret Cowley (née Loughran). She entered the Convent of Mercy, Strabane, Co. Tyrone, on 2 February 1877, taking the…...
Coyle, Kathleen
Coyle, Kathleen (1886–1952), novelist, was born 23 October 1886 in Derry, the eldest child of John Coyle and Catherine Coyle (née McKenna); they had a son and two other daughters. Her mother, who was born in New York and brought up in Ireland, was proud of her Irish ancestry.…...
Crawford, Emily
Crawford, Emily (1841–1915), journalist, was born 31 May 1841, probably in Dublin, daughter of Andrew Johnstone, landowner, of Corboy, Co. Longford, and Grace Johnstone, an American. She was educated at home. After her father's financial difficulties and death, she went (1857) with…...
Cregan, Máirín
Cregan, Máirín (1891–1975), republican and writer, was born 27 March 1891 in Killorglin, Co. Kerry, the second of four daughters of Morgan Cregan, a stonemason originally from Newcastle West, Co. Limerick, and Ellen Cregan (née O'Shea). She was a child of the Gaelic revival, and an…...
Crichton, Frances Elizabeth
This is a co-subject for the entry on Sinclair, Thomas. View the original entry....
Croker, Bithia Mary (‘B. M.’)
Croker, Bithia Mary (‘B. M.’) (née Sheppard ) (c.1849–1920), novelist and short-story writer, was born in Roscommon, the youngest daughter of the Rev. William Sheppard (d. 1856), Church of Ireland clergyman for the parish of Kilgeffin, Co. Roscommon. She was educated in…...
Crommelin, Maria Henrietta (‘May’) de la Cherois
Crommelin, Maria Henrietta (‘May’) de la Cherois (1849–1930), author and traveller, was born at Carrowdore Castle, Co. Down, second daughter of Samuel de la Cherois Crommelin, JP, DL, and high sheriff…...
Crone, Anne
Crone, Anne (1915–72), novelist and teacher, was born 16 September 1915 in Dublin, daughter of William Crone, a Belfast-born civil servant who was subsequently appointed assistant secretary in the Northern Ireland ministry of commerce, and Mary Jane (‘Mollie’) Crone (née Plunkett)…...
Crookshank, Anne Olivia
Crookshank, Anne Olivia (1927–2016), art historian, was born in Whiteabbey, Co. Antrim, on 3 January 1927, the second of three daughters to Henry Crookshank, a geographical surveyor, and his wife Eileen ‘Kitty’ Crookshank (née Somerville-Large). For the first five years of her life Anne…...
Crottie, Julia M.
Crottie, Julia M. (1853–1930), novelist, was born in Lismore, Co. Waterford. Educated privately by Miss Lizzie Fitzsimon, and by the Presentation nuns in Lismore, she emigrated to America but returned and lived in Ramsey, Isle of Man, for many years. She was a regular contributor…...
Crowley, Mary Frances
Crowley, Mary Frances (1906–90), nurse and educator, was born 1 August 1906 at 12 William Street, Wexford town, the home of her maternal grandparents, James Williams, a retired lighthouse keeper, and his wife Margaret. Mary was the eldest of six children born to John Crowley, a…...
Crozier, Maurna
Crozier, (Rose Mary) Maurna (1942–2015), social anthropologist, was born in Belfast on 22 January 1942, the only surviving child of Robert Frizzell, the first general manager of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB), and his wife Molly (née Rands), a rosarian and the daughter of…...
Cummins, Geraldine (Dorothy)
Cummins, Geraldine (Dorothy) (1890–1969), writer, suffragist, and psychic, was born 24 January 1890 at 17 St Patrick's Place, Cork city, fifth child and eldest daughter of William Edward Ashley Cummins, MD, later professor of medicine at…...
Curtayne, Alice
Curtayne, Alice (1901–81), writer and journalist, was born 6 November 1901 in Upper Castle Street, Tralee, Co. Kerry, the youngest child of John Curtayne, founder and proprietor of the Tralee Carriage Works, and Bridget Curtayne (née O'Dwyer). She received her initial education at…...