Colmán
Colmán (d. c.665) of the moccu Chluasaig, described in the annals as abbot and fer léigind (lector or chief scholar) of the monastery of Cork and tutor of Cummian Foto (qv), is reputed to have been…...
Columbanus (Colmán, Columba)
Columbanus (Colmán, Columba) (c.540–615), missionary, is mainly associated with his monastic foundations at Luxeuil and Bobbio. Originally named Colmán, he was generally known to his contemporaries by the Latinised forms Columbanus or Columba. He has sometimes…...
Colum, Padraic
Colum, Padraic (1881–1972), playwright, poet, and novelist, was born 8 December 1881 in Longford, eldest of eight children of Patrick Collumb, master of the Longford workhouse and stationmaster in the Sandycove railway station near Dublin, and Susan Collumb (née MacCormack), from Co.…...
Comyn, Michael (Micheál Coimín)
Comyn, Michael (Micheál Coimín) (c.1680–1760), prose writer and poet in Irish, was son of Patrick Óg Comyn, farmer of Kilcorcoran, Co. Clare, and Joanna Comyn (née Fitzgerald). Michael's grandfather lost a substantial freehold in five townlands of Kimacrehy parish during…...
Concanen, Matthew
Concanen, Matthew (1701–49), poet, playwright, and political writer, was born in Ireland. Although he was ‘bred to the bar’ (Shiels, 27), and apparently qualified as a barrister, he abandoned law to pursue a literary career, and an early play, a comedy entitled ‘Wexford Wells', was…...
Condon, Richard
Condon, Richard (1937–91), theatre manager, was born 27 July 1937 in Belfast, the eldest son of a local architect. Educated at St Gerald's College, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, he qualified to study medicine at UCG in 1956; however, while…...
Congreve, William
Congreve, William (1670–1729), playwright and poet, was born 24 January 1670 at Bardsley, Yorkshire, the son of William Congreve (1637–1708), an army officer, and Mary Browning (d. 1715) of Doncaster. In 1674 his father gained a commission as lieutenant in the army in Ireland, and…...
Conmee, John Stephen
Conmee, John Stephen (1847–1910), Jesuit priest, writer, and educator, was born 25 December 1847 in Glanduff, near Athlone, Co. Westmeath, the son of John N. Conmee, a prosperous farmer. His family later moved to Kingsland, Co. Roscommon, and it was here that he spent his early…...
Connell, Vivian Cecil Francis St John
Connell, Vivian Cecil Francis St John (1905–81), writer, was born 28 February 1905 in Carrigaline, Co. Cork, the son of John Connell, a physician and surgeon, and Josephine Connell (née McDonnell). According to his own accounts he was taught to read and write by his father, after which…...
Connolly, Peter Romauld
Connolly, Peter Romauld (1927–87), catholic priest and literary critic, was born 25 February 1927 at Rathlagan, Drumconrath, Co. Meath, eldest of five children (three sons and two daughters) of Peter Paul Connolly, farmer, and Susan Connolly (née Slattery), schoolteacher. He was…...
Connolly, Sean
Connolly, Sean (1882–1916), actor, trade unionist, and republican, was born 12 April 1882 at 10 Seafort Ave., Sandymount, Dublin, third child and eldest son among eight daughters and eight sons of Michael Connolly, seaman, and Mary Connolly (née Ellis). When his father ceased seafaring…...
Corbet, William
Corbet, William (d. 1838?), printer and newspaper proprietor, was in business in Dublin by 1783; he later had premises in Great Britain Street (1788–1810), Sycamore Alley (1813–22), College Green (1823–4), Palace Street (1825–30), and Upper Ormond Quay (from 1831). In 1783 he was…...
Corkery, Daniel
Corkery, Daniel (Ó Corcora, Domhnall ) (1878–1964), writer, cultural philosopher, and literary critic, was born 14 February 1878 at Gardiner's Hill, Cork city, one of five children of William Corkery and Mary Corkery (née Barron). The Corkerys were of carpentering stock for four or five…...
Corry, John
Corry, John ( fl. 1792–c.1825), writer, was born near Newry, Co. Down, perhaps in Ravensdale, Co. Louth. He is said to have been educated by a village schoolmaster. He may have been distantly (or illegitimately) related to the prominent Corry family of Newry, one…...
Corry, Thomas Charles Steuart
Corry, Thomas Charles Steuart (1825/6–1896), doctor, poet, and entrepreneur, was born in 1825 or 1826, possibly in Brandon, Suffolk, elder of two sons of Thomas Charles Stewart Corry and Mary Corry (née Britnell; 1795–1871), who may have been his second wife. The family home was at…...
Costello, Michael (‘The Amazing Blondini’)
Costello, Michael (‘The Amazing Blondini’) (1922–96), fairground performer and escapologist, was born at a fairground in Dublin in August 1922; both his parents were fairground novelty acts from Tralee, his father a strong man and his mother a fortune teller. He had no formal…...
Cotter (alias O'Brien), Patrick
Cotter (alias O'Brien), Patrick (1760/61–1806), giant and showman, was born at Belgooly, near Kinsale, Co. Cork. His parents were farmers; while no details of his father are available, his mother was still alive at the time of his death and is named in his will as Margaret Cotter…...
Cotter, George Sackville
Cotter, George Sackville (1755–1831), clergyman, poet, and translator, was most probably born in Co. Cork, the fourth and youngest son of Sir James Cotter, MP, created first baronet of Rockforest, Co. Cork, in 1763, and his wife, Arabella (née Rogerson, formerly Cassaubon), coheir…...
Coulter, John (William)
Coulter, John (William) (1888–1980), playwright, was born 12 February 1888 in Naples St., Belfast, the son of Francis Coulter, a member of the RIC, and Annie Coulter (née Clements). At an early age he was interested primarily in art, and…...
Cousins, James Henry Sproull
Cousins, James Henry Sproull (1873–1956), writer, teacher, and theosophist, was born 22 July 1873 in Cavour Street, Belfast, the eldest child of James Cousins, a deep-sea mariner of Glastry, Co. Down, and Susan Cousins (née Davey), of Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. Educated at a local…...
Cowell, John Saint Patrick
Cowell, John Saint Patrick (1912–2008), medical administrator and writer, was born 13 March 1912 in Audenshaw, Lancashire, the only son of Dr William J. Cowell and his wife Adeline (née Kelly) (d. 1956). Drawn home by the abundant shooting and fishing, William Cowell returned to his…...
Cowley, John Ultan
Cowley, John Ultan (1923–98) actor and animal welfare activist, was born 8 September 1923 in Ardbraccan, Navan, Co. Meath, the third child of Patrick Cowley, a small farmer, and his wife Margaret. Educated at the local national school, he left at the age of thirteen to work on the…...
Coyle, Anthony
Coyle, Anthony (1728–1801), catholic bishop of Raphoe, poet, and antiquarian, was born in Listack, near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, son of a farmer. Educated at the Irish college in Paris, he was expelled in his fourth year for various mischiefs, including writing a pamphlet…...
Coyne, John Stirling
Coyne, John Stirling (1803–68), dramatist and comic journalist, was born in Birr, Co. Offaly, the son of Denis Coyne, port surveyor of Waterford, and his wife, Bridget (née Cosgrave). Educated at Dungannon School, Co. Tyrone, he abandoned plans of entering the legal profession, and…...
Coyne, Richard
Coyne, Richard (1776/7–1856), printer and bookseller, was first in business in 1808 at 154 Capel Street, Dublin. In 1821 he took over the business of Hugh Fitzpatrick (qv) (d. 1818) at 4 Capel Street and from the following year he…...