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…...
Coffey, Victoria
Coffey, Victoria (1911–99), one of the first female paediatricians in Ireland, was born 16 September 1911 at 108 Brunswick Street, Dublin, the daughter of John Coffey, a weigh-master, and Ellie Coffey (née McCall). Her paternal grandfather, William Coffey, had been lord mayor of Dublin…...
Colgan, Eileen
Colgan, Eileen (1934–2014), actor, was born on 2 January 1934 in Dublin to Charles Colgan, a cabinet maker, and his wife Eileen (née McNamara). She was one of five children (three boys and two girls) and grew up on Russell Street on the north side of the city. Her father and an elder…...
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…...
Concannon, Helena
Concannon, Helena (1878–1952), historian and politician, was born 28 October 1878 in Magherafelt, Co. Londonderry, one of two daughters of Louis Walsh, hotel owner in Maghera, Co. Londonderry, and Elizabeth Walsh (née Donnelly); there were also three sons. Louis Walsh had been a…...
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…...
Conlon, Sarah (née Maguire)
Conlon, Sarah (née Maguire) (1926–2008), campaigner, was born 20 January 1926 in the Falls Road area of Belfast, the daughter of Vincent Maguire and Mary Catherine Maguire; she had three brothers and three sisters. Sarah's life was dominated by work, family and religion. On leaving…...
Conolly, Katherine (Catherine)
Conolly, Katherine (Catherine) (c. 1662–1752), political hostess, landowner, and philanthropist, was the eldest child among four daughters and six sons of Sir Albert Conyngham (qv), later a Williamite general of ordnance, and…...
Conolly, Lady Louisa
Conolly, Lady Louisa (1743–1821), society woman and public benefactor, was born 5 December 1743, perhaps at Goodwood House, Sussex, fifth child of Charles Lennox , 2nd duke of Richmond, and his wife Lady Sarah Cadogan. After her parents’ deaths (1750, 1751) Lady Louisa and two…...
Conolly, Violet
Conolly, Violet (1899–1988), authority on Soviet Russia and traveller, was born 11 May 1899 at Fernville, Glasnevin, Co. Dublin, the eldest of six children, five daughters and one son, of Thomas Conolly, a master builder, and his wife, Teresa (née McQuaid), of Stormanstown, Co.…...
Conroy, Sheila (née Williams)
Conroy, Sheila (née Williams) (1918–2012), trade unionist, social activist and administrator, was born on 22 April 1918 (or 4 April 1917) in Bantry, Co. Cork, only child of Harry and Jane Williams. A Welsh petty officer in the Royal Navy, Harry Williams was stationed at Bantry (1914–…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
Cosgrave, Mary Josephine
Cosgrave, Mary Josephine (c.1877–1941), social worker and local politician, was born in Naas, Co. Kildare, the daughter of James William Daly and Jane Daly. Educated at St Mary's Convent in Naas, she went on to study at St Andrews University, from where she graduated LLA…...
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…...
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…...
Courtenay, Ellen
Courtenay, Ellen (1802–c.1837), accuser of Daniel O'Connell (qv), was born in Co. Cork, daughter of a native of the county. In 1817, at the age of 15, she moved to Dublin, and the catholic bishop of Cork,…...
Coutts, Angela Georgina Burdett
Coutts, Angela Georgina Burdett- (1814–1906), Baroness Burdett-Coutts, philanthropist, was born 21 April 1814 in Piccadilly, London, the youngest of the six children of the one-time radical politician Sir Francis Burdett (1770–1844) and his wife Sophia, daughter of the London banker…...
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, Eithne (Anne)
Coyle, Eithne (Anne) (1897–1985), republican, was born in Killult, Falcarragh, Co. Donegal, the youngest child of Charles Coyle, a farmer, and his wife, Mary (née McHugh). She received her secondary education in Strabane. Her father, who died soon after her birth, was a veteran of…...
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…...
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…...