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…...
Costigan, Christopher
Costigan, Christopher (1810–35), explorer, was third son of Sylvester Costigan, distiller, of Thomas St., Dublin, and Catherine Costigan (née Fitzsimons or Fitzmont), formerly of Toddstown, Co. Meath. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College (1819–26) and, for a period, at…...
Crawford, John Wallace
Crawford, John Wallace (1847–1917), frontier scout, writer and entertainer, was born 4 March 1847 in Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, the son of John Austin Crawford, a Glasgow tailor, and Susie Wallace. His father moved to Minersville, Pennsylvania, to work in the coalmines in 1854; his mother…...
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…...
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…...
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, 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…...
Daly, Emily Lucy de Burgh
Daly, Emily Lucy de Burgh (1859–1935), traveller and writer, was born at her father's residence at Clooneyquin, Co. Roscommon, fourth daughter among nine children of Christopher French , JP, DL, and…...
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, Henry Hugh Peter
Deasy, Henry Hugh Peter (1866–1947), soldier, explorer, and pioneer motorist, was born 29 June 1866 in Dublin, second son of Rickard Deasy (qv), privy councillor for Ireland and previously lord justice of appeal, of Carysfort,…...
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…...
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…...
Dingley, Thomas
Dingley, Thomas (d. 1695?), antiquary and traveller, a native of Southampton, England, is known in Ireland for his account of a tour he made in Leinster and Munster in 1681. It contains much on Irish ways of life, particularly diet, dress, pastimes, customs, language, money,…...
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…...
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…...
Downes, George
Downes, George (1790–1846), travel writer and topographer, was born in South King St., Dublin, son of John Downes; no details of his mother are known. He worked as a draper's assistant in his youth before being befriended by one of the Shackletons of Ballitore, Co. Kildare, who…...
Duffy, Luke J.
Duffy, Luke J. (1890–1961), trade unionist, was born 26 March 1890 in Gurteen, Co. Sligo, into a farming family. Educated at Cloonanure national school, he began an apprenticeship in the drapery trade in Moon's in Galway. He immediately became involved in the trade union movement…...
Dunne, Seán
Dunne, Seán (1919–69), republican and labour activist, was born in Waterford city, youngest of three children of Michael Dunne, member of the RIC, and Brigid Dunne, and was educated at the CBS…...
Eustace, John Chetwode
Eustace, John Chetwode (1762/3–1815), catholic priest and writer, was born in Co. Kildare. Both his parents were reputed to belong to gentry families, his father's in that county. It seems likely that through his father, whose name is not known, he was descended from Benjamin…...
Everett, James
Everett, James (1890–1967), Labour politician and trade unionist, was born 14 February 1890 in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, a son of Robert Everett, a small farmer and waiter, and Margaret Everett (née Doyle). He had one brother and a sister and attended the local national school in…...