Butler, James Bayley
Butler, James Bayley (1884–1964), biologist and academic, was born 8 April 1884 at Secundrabad, India, only son among four children of Col. James William Butler and Henrietta Butler (née Bayley). His father had been an administrator in the East India Company. On his family's…...
Butler, Sir Edwin John
Butler, Sir Edwin John (1874–1943), plant pathologist, was born 13 August 1874 at Kilkee, Co. Clare, the second son of Thomas Butler (d. 1919) and his wife, Annie (d. 1898), the daughter of James Barry of Co. Limerick. Thomas Butler's brother was Sir…...
Byrne, James Loughlin (‘Locky’)
Byrne, James Loughlin (‘Locky’) (1913–41), hurler, was born 28 April 1913 at 41 Morgan St., Waterford city, the only child of James Byrne, engine driver, and Johanna Byrne (née McGrath). He was educated locally at Mount Sion CBS. A…...
Cahill, Mabel Esmonde
Cahill, Mabel (1863–1905), tennis player, was born 2 April 1863 in Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny, twelfth of thirteen children of Michael Cahill, gentleman landowner and barrister-at-law, of Ballyconra House, Ballyragget, and his first wife, Margaret (née Magan), Ballymore, Co. Westmeath (…...
Cahill, Pearse
Cahill, Pearse (1917–2011), aviator, businessman and race driver, was born Matthew Pearse Cahill (in honour of the executed leader of the 1916 rising) in Dublin on 26 January 1917, son of Hugh Cahill (1883–1966), of Glasnevin, Dublin, and his wife Caroline (née O'Connor). The owner-…...
Caldwell, John ('Johnny')
Caldwell, John ('Johnny') (1938–2009), boxer, was born on 7 May 1938 at 63 Cyprus Street, Belfast, the son of John Caldwell, a joiner, and Bridget Caldwell (née Maguire). During his education at St Comghall's School, Divis Street, his diminutive stature attracted bullying, and at…...
Callan, Nicholas Joseph
Callan, Nicholas Joseph (1799–1864), priest and pioneering scientist in electrical science, was born 22 December 1799 at Darver, between Drogheda and Dundalk, Co. Louth, third youngest among seven children of Denis Callan, farmer, and Margaret Callan (née Smith). His parents…...
Cantwell, Noel (Eucharia)
Cantwell, Noel (Eucharia) (1932–2005), footballer and cricketer, was born 28 December 1932 at 2 Illen Villas, Mardyke Walk, Cork, one of five sons and a daughter of Michael Cantwell, a master tailor, and his wife Hannah (née Daly) (d. 1941). He was educated at St Joseph's national…...
Carey, John Joseph ('Johnny', 'Jackie')
Carey, John Joseph ('Johnny', 'Jackie') (1919–95), footballer, was born 23 February 1919 at 4 Adelaide Place, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin, the son of John Carey, a van driver, and Sarah Carey (née Byrne). Educated at Westland Row CBS, he…...
Carr, Joseph (Joe) Benedict
Carr, Joseph (Joe) Benedict (1922–2004), amateur golfer and businessman, was born 18 February 1922 in his grandmother's house in Inchicore, Dublin, the fifth of seven children of George Waters and his wife Mary ('Missie') (née McDonough). His parents were in financial difficulties…...
Carroll, John
Carroll, John (1903–86), agricultural zoologist, was born 4 April 1903 in Bantry, Co. Cork, eldest of two sons and five daughters of John Carroll (d. 1955), land steward and cattle dealer, of Crookstown, Kilmurry, Co. Cork, and Julia Carroll (née Cunningham), also of Crookstown.…...
Christle, Joseph Patrick
Christle, Joseph Patrick (1927–98), republican, college lecturer, and sports administrator, was born 4 November 1927 in Dublin, into the large family (which included at least seven sons, of whom he was the fourth) of James Christle, a small farmer from Co. Offaly who moved to…...
Clarke, John
Clarke, John (1889–1980), potato breeder, was born on 1 February 1889 in his mother's homeplace of Lemnagh Beg in the parish of Ballintoy, north Co. Antrim, eldest child of Daniel Clarke (d. 1940) and his wife Rose Clarke (née McLernon) (d. 1897). Daniel Clarke owned a small farm in…...
Close, Leo St John
Close, Leo St John (1934–77), paraplegic athlete, was born 20 October 1934, the son of Leo Joseph Close, inspector of schools, and his wife, Kathleen Mary, née O'Connor, who lived at 16 Berea Terrace, Dublin. He was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, Mount St Joseph Abbey, Roscrea,…...
Colbert, John Patrick
Colbert, John Patrick (1898–1975), public servant and economist, was born 12 February 1898, the son of William Colbert JP, a farmer of Templeathea, Co. Limerick, and Norah Colbert (née Danaher). Educated at Rockwell College, near Cashel,…...
Colleran, Enda
Colleran, Enda (1942–2004), Gaelic footballer, was born 2 May 1942 in Moylough, Co. Galway, the fifth of six children of James Colleran, farmer, of Moylough, and his wife Ellen (née Wilson), a national school teacher. Born into a strong Gaelic football family, with three older…...
Collins, Jerome James
Collins, Jerome James (1841–81) meteorologist, Arctic explorer, and founder of Clan na Gael, was born 17 October 1841 in Cork city, the son of Mark Collins, a lime and saltworks owner of South Main Street, Cork, and his wife Ellen (née Ryan). He attended St Vincent's Seminary,…...
Colohan, John Fallon Sydney
Colohan, John Fallon Sydney (1862–1932), physician and pioneering motorist, was born in Dublin, son of James Colohan, bank manager; nothing is known of his mother. He studied at the Edinburgh Medical School, and was admitted…...
Conefrey, Peter
Conefrey, Peter (1880–1939), catholic priest and social critic, was born 9 June 1880 in Mohill, Co. Leitrim, son of James Conefrey, publican, and his wife Mary McGivney. There were many priests on both sides of the family. His uncle, Fr Thomas Conefrey, parish priest of Drumlish,…...
Conneff, Thomas Patrick
Conneff, Thomas Patrick (1866–1912), athlete and soldier, was born in Kilmurry, Clane, Co. Kildare, the son of James Conneff and his wife Marcella (née Rourke). The Conneff family were blacksmiths plying their trade in the neighbourhood of Clane, in the shadow of the Jesuit college at…...
Conniffe, Denis
Conniffe, Denis (1942–2011), economist, was born on 10 January 1942 in Dublin, the only child of Patrick Conniffe, of Dublin, who had a career in law, and his wife Brigid (née Toland), of Derry. The family lived in Whitehall on the north side of the city and he attended the School of…...
Connolly, Joe
Connolly, Joe (1922–2008), community activist and politician, was born 11 March 1922 at 5 Tolka Avenue, North Dock ward, Dublin, son of John Connolly, an engine driver, and his wife Esther (née McNally). Growing up in Lusk, Co. Dublin, and later in the East Wall area of the north-…...
Conway, Arthur William
Conway, Arthur William (1875–1950), academic and president of UCD, was born 2 October 1875 in Main St., Wexford town, the only son of Myles and Teresa Conway (née Harris). He had one sister. His father died, aged 34, when Arthur was only two, and his mother married again, to a…...
Conway, Edward Joseph
Conway, Edward Joseph (1894–1968), biochemist, was born 3 July 1894 in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, son of William Francis Conway, a draper who came from farming stock, and Mary Anne Conway (née McCready), whose relatives had established the McCready Shoe Corporation in the United…...
Cotter, Brigid Mary
Cotter, Brigid Mary (1921–78), chemist and barrister, was born 3 January 1921 in Roscommon, the eldest daughter in the family of twelve children of Nicholas Patrick Cotter, the chief agricultural officer for Roscommon, and his wife, Bridie, née O'Brien. Brigid was educated at the…...