Dictionary of Ulster Biography |
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Cainnech was born at Drumrammer, near Limavady, County Londonderry, and was the patron saint of Kilkenny. He studied at Clonard around 543, and is said to have visited Columba at Iona. He belonged to the Corca-dalan of Ulster and founded churches at Aghaboe and Kilkenny and a school at Drumachose. He was the son of the famous poet Lydach, and his feast day is the 11th of October. David Cairnes was born in Derry and became a lawyer. He played a prominent part in the defence of Derry in the early stages of the siege. In 1689 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of a regiment. For thirty years after the war he served Derry as a member of parliament, and was appointed Recorder of the city. He is buried in the cathedral churchyard. Cairnín was Abbot of Iniscaltra, Lough Derg, County Donegal. He became an anchorite, and large numbers of people went to Lough Derg to seek him out. The Franciscan convent in Donegal preserved his manuscript, which contained a commentary on the 119th Psalm. It was then housed in Rome, but in 1871 was returned to the Dublin Franciscans. His feast day is 24th March.
Hugh Cairns was born in Belfast and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He became a lawyer in 1844 and a member of parliament for Belfast from 1852 to 1866. By 1867 he had been raised to the peerage and the following year became Lord Chancellor of England. Robert Caldwell was born in Clady and was educated in Glasgow. In 1837 he went to Madras as a missionary and during this period translated the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Tamil. He wrote a great deal on Indian history and Indian languages and was consecrated Bishop of Tinnevelly in 1877. He died at Kodaikanal in 1891. His work, Reminiscences; Madras, was published in 1894.
Bernard Callan was born in Farney, County Monaghan, and was educated in Antwerp. In 1780 he was appointed parish priest of the parishes of Inniskeen and Donaghmoyne, County Monaghan. He instigated the building of Drumcatton and Taplagh Churches. He was an Irish scholar and he commissioned an Irish prayer book in 1800. It was reprinted in 1819, 1825 and 1835, and was known as The Spiritual Rose. He composed both prose and poetry in Irish, English and Latin, and many of his manuscripts are in the Franciscan archives in Killiney. Agnes Campbell, Lady of Kintyre, was reared at the Court of the Stuarts. She married James MacDonald, to whom she bore Angus, Donald Gorm and Finula. In 1569 she again married, Turlough Luineach O'Neill, who hoped, through her influence in Scotland, to obtain a constant supply of mercenary soldiers. Although, with her daughter Finula, she was responsible for recruiting most of the Scots mercenaries who served in Ireland at that time, she did not always comply with Turlough's wishes. She strove to establish her sons Angus and Donald Gorm MacDonald in the Glens of Antrim as rivals to Sorley Boy, whom Turlough had hoped to keep as an ally. In 1590 she instigated the murder of her stepson Domhnall, who had been appointed sheriff of Donegal by the English.
Alexander Campbell was born in Ballymena, County Antrim. Having studied theology at Glasgow University, he became a Presbyterian minister. He emigrated to Bethany in Western Virginia and left the Presbyterian Church. He and his father established several congregations which disapproved of all sects and became known as the Disciples of Christ, or Campbellites. In 1840 they founded a college. By 1867 approximately half a million people in the United States were followers. Alexander Campbell published various theological works including The Christian Baptist. He believed that the possession of slaves ought not to disqualify one from church membership. He died in West Virginia. [Life by Richardson, 1868] Arthur Campbell was born near Derry. He worked all his life on methods of establishing fundamental electrical standards. He made a major contribution under Sir Richard Glazebrook to the National Physical Laboratory, the reputation of which became world-wide. He was awarded the Duddell Medal of the Physical Society.
George Campbell was born in Arklow, County Wicklow, but spent his formative years in Belfast and was educated in Dublin, London and Paris. He began to paint and after the Second World War was involved in founding the Living Art Exhibition. He was a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy and won, among other awards, the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal in 1966 and the Oireachtas Prize for Landscape in 1969. The Spanish government conferred on him the honour of Knight Commander of Spain, and indeed Spain, where he lived for twenty-five years, is the subject of many of his paintings, as is Belfast and the west of Ireland. As well as exhibiting his paintings in Canada, Gibraltar, Holland, Spain and America, he exhibited with his brother Arthur, and with his mother, Gretta Bowen. He made stained glass windows for Galway Cathedral and played the flamenco guitar. He was a close friend of Gerard Dillon. In 1970 he illustrated the Guide to the National Monuments in the Republic of Ireland.
J. Campbell was a soccer international midfielder and played for Cliftonville and Distillery. He won Irish Cup medals in 1896, 1897, 1900, 1901 and 1907. He was capped fifteen times for Ireland between 1896 and 1904 and scored one international goal. James Campbell was born in Cairncastle, County Antrim, and was taught locally. He learnt to weave, and moved to Ballynure, County Antrim, where he worked as a journeyman, and then to Ballybracken, County Antrim. He was a United Irishman, and was arrested in 1798. His papers, which contained all his poems written up to that point, were seized by the authorities, and not returned. The work was edited by Alexander McDowell and the Posthumous Works of James Campbell of Ballynure, was published in 1820, two years after his death.
J. J. Campbell was born in Belfast and was educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast, and Queen's University. He taught for a year at Methodist College, Belfast, and in 1931 was appointed classics master in St Malachy's College. He was strongly nation-alist in his youth, and published Orange Terror, though he subsequently modified his views. He became lecturer in education at St Mary's Training College in 1950, and later head of the Education Department at St Joseph's College of Education. In 1969 he was Director of the Institute of Education at Queen's University, Chairman of Convocation at Queen's and a member of the Senate. He was editor of the Irish Bookman and published widely in journals and newspapers. He was a member of the BBC Advisory Council, and a noted broad-caster. He served on many committees, notably the Cameron Commission on the disturbances in Northern Ireland in 1969. He died in Belfast and bequeathed his col-lection of books to the Linen Hall Library. John Campbell was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and ordained in 1687. In the same year he went to Seagoe parish, in Portadown, County Armagh, and remained there for the rest of his life. He was also rector of Killead and was chaplain to Viscount Nassereene. He took an active part in the siege of Derry in 1689. He was one of eighteen Anglican clergymen who both fought and held daily services in the beleaguered city. After the siege he accompanied his friend, the Rev. George Walker, to the Battle of the Boyne, where Walker was killed. John Campbell returned to Seagoe and is buried there. John Campbell was born in Templepatrick, County Antrim, and was educated at Queen's College, Belfast. In 1887 he graduated as a Doctor of Medicine and in 1909 a Doctor of Laws. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He served during the First World War and held many hospital appointments. From 1921 to 1925 he served as member of parliament for Queen's University and was Chairman of Convocation. In 1925 he was knighted. He published A History of Unitarianism and works on obstetrics and gynaecology. Johnny Campbell was born in Belfast. He played soccer for Belfast Celtic and Fulham. He was an outside-left and was capped twice for Northern Ireland in 1951. He was an Ulster100 and 200 yards sprint champion.
John Patrick Campbell was born in Belfast and trained as an artist in the Belfast School of Art. Some of his earliest illustrations appeared in Irish text publications of the Gaelic League under the name Seaghan MacCathmhaoil. He was involved in the Ulster Literary Theatre and was an actor as well as designing costumes. He reproduced a portrait of Sir Samuel Ferguson for the centenary of the poet's birth, and he illustrated Mary A. Hutton's The Tain. In 1911 he emigrated to the United States and during his stay there, illustrated many books, however, his greatest achievement in the memories of those who knew him there, was an Irish pageant produced in the Armory, Thirty-first, New York.
Joseph Campbell was born in Belfast. He was educated locally and contributed to the journal Uladh and to the Ulster Literary Theatre, where his play The Little Cowherd of Slainge was performed in 1905. He collected many traditional songs, such as 'My Lagan Love'. He became secretary of the Irish National Literary Society in London, and published several books of poetry and song: The Garden of the Bees, The Rush Light, The Man Child, Earth of Cualann and The Gilly of Christ. He wrote a play, Judgement, which was performed at the Abbey in 1912. When the Civil War broke out he was arrested and interned for two years. In 1923 he emigrated to New York and remained at Fordham University until 1935, when he returned to Ireland. His collected poems were published in Dublin in 1963. [Biography: Joseph Campbell: Poet and Nationalist (1879-1944 by N. Saunders and A. A. Kelly, 1988]
Samuel Campbell was a rugby international forward. He played for Edinburgh Univer-sity and Derry. Between 1911 and 1913 he won twelve international caps. He won a Military Cross in the First World War. Thomas Campbell was born in Glack, County Tyrone, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He became a clergyman and visited London, where he met Dr Johnson and is mentioned by Boswell. He wrote many controversial works, including A Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland, which adopts an Englishman for its narrator. He became Chancellor of St McCartan's, and his diary was published posthumously in 1854.
Thomas Campbell was born in Belfast and educated at the Christian Brothers' School and St Malachy's College. He was editor of the Irish News from 1895 to 1906. In 1900 he was called to the Bar and was the first treasurer of the Northern Ireland Bar and the first secretary of the Northern Ireland Circuit. He became King's Counsel in 1918, represented the Nationalist party, after 1929, in both houses of the Northern Ireland parliament, and ended his career as a County Court Judge. He was author of Fifty Years of Ulster.
William Campbell was born and educated in Derry and graduated from Edinburgh University in 1880. He was ordained and went to India, as a missionary where he became an authority on the Telugu language. He wrote a grammar and three other works in this language. He was also an entomologist and discovered approximately sixty new species of moths. Albert Canning was the son of the 1st Lord Garvagh. He lilved in Rostrevor, County Down and was deputy-lieutenant for Counties Down and Londonderry. He achieved a reputation in the field of literary history and published about thirty works, which included a study of Shakepeare. George Canning was born in Garvagh, County Londonderry, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was banished to London on an allowance of £150 a year and failed in both attempts both to become a lawyer and to establish himself in the wine trade. When George Canning married Mary Ann Costello, his father in his anger stopped the allowance; he therefore turned to writing for a living. Although he published articles, Poems, a translation of Anti-Lucretius, and (in desperation) his own personal love-letters, he died in penury 'in a wretched garret in Holborn, in a state of the most abject poverty', leaving a child, George, one year of age, who was to become Prime Minister in 1827.
John Carey was born at Duneane, County Antrim, was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, and became a Presbyterian minister in Ballymena. He claimed he was a descendant of the sister of Anne Boleyn. In 1839 he was minister of Albany, County Tyrone. He later moved to Brookvale Presbyterian church in County Down. He was involved in a shooting incident, and though he was arrested, lack of evidence led to his release. It is unclear how he spent the next seven years. In 1850 he went to live in Rarity Cottage, Toome. He earned a reputation during the Famine of lending money at extortionate rates of interest, but, at the same time he was said to have been a benefactor to the destitute. He erected a fine pump in Toome and built a small schoolhouse, but it is his 'Temple of Liberty, Learning and Select Amusement' for which he is remembered. This extraordinary building had seating for one thousand five hundred people and had a fine organ and a fifty-candle chandelier. Its library contained five thousand books. It survived until 1910, when it was burnt to the ground. Joseph Carey received his early art training in the firm of Marcus Ward & Co., Belfast, and eventually formed a business partnership with Richard Thomson. His watercolour sketches, produced in a presentation album in 1915 are in the Armagh County Museum. He was an active member of the Belfast Art Society and a member of the Ulster Academy of Arts. His picture, 'Sailing Ships off Blackhead, County Antrim', painted in 1912, is in the Belfast Harbour Office, and 'British Fleet Anchored in Bangor Bay, 1914-18 War' is in the Town Hall, Bangor. Other examples of his work are in the Ulster Museum, the Linen Hall Library, and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, County Down. Guy Carleton was born in Strabane, County Tyrone, and entered the Guards where he became lieutenant-colonel of the 72nd Foot. He served in the German campaign, at the siege of Louisburg and became Quartermaster-General under Wolfe at Quebec in 1759. Having fought in many campaigns, he became a colonel in 1762 and later Lieutenant-Governor and then Governor of Quebec. He drove the Americans from Quebec and consolidated the victory in a naval battle on Lake Champlain. In 1778 he became lieutenant-general and subsequently was promoted to the post of commander-in-chief in America. On his return to Great Britain he was created Baron Dorchester and for ten years he was Governor of British North America. He died in England. William Carleton was born in Prillisk near Clogher, County Tyrone, into a family which spoke both Irish and English. The youngest of fourteen children, he attended a hedge school and a school in Donagh, County Monaghan. It is said that he was drawn to the priesthood, but converted to Protestantism when he married. After a motley series of occupations which varied from tutoring to taxidermy and an attempt to join the army, he was befriended by the Rev. Caesar Otway, who encouraged him to write. The Christian Examiner printed his story 'The Lough Derg Pilgrimage', and this confirmed him in his choice of career. This was followed by Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry in five volumes; Fardarougha the Miser (1839); The Black Prophet, a story of the Famine; and The Tithe Proctor. He was a prolific writer and 'farmed his talents as he might have farmed his fields if he had had any, putting in the crop that suited the market'. Towards the end of his life he received a Civil List pension of £200 a year.He returned once to the Clogher Valley during the Famine in 1847. He died in Dublin and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery. [Biographies by O'Donoghue; and by Benedict Kiely: Poor Scholar, 1947]
Ann Jane Carlile was born in Ruskey, County Monaghan. After her husband, the Rev. Francis Carlile, and three of her seven children died, she went to Dublin, where she was engaged in the visiting of prisons and the founding of temperence associations. She made frequent visits to England and Scotland, to advocate the formation of temperance associations there and invented the title 'Band of Hope' to describe such organisations.
Amy Carmichael was born in Millisle, County Down and was educated at Harrogate, Yorkshire, and in Belfast. She went to Japan as a missionary in 1893 and to India in 1895, where she remained until her death. She was the author of thirty-five publications, including many poems: Gold by Moonlight; Ploughed Under; From Sunrise Land and Gold Cord to name but a few. None of her books carried her photograph, and she is reputed to have said: 'I think nothing can be less beautiful than I am, and there are enough "not" beautiful things in the world without my adding to the number'. Thomas Carnduff was born in the Sandy Row district of Belfast and spent his early childhood in Dublin, where he was educated at the Royal Hibernian School and the Royal Military College. He worked as a butcher's boy, in a thread and needle factory, in a printing house, as a drover in a linen factory and in the Belfast shipyards. He joined the Young Citizens' Volunteers and fought in the First World War in the Royal Engineers. He was involved in the Labour and trade union movements and active in the Independent Orange Order. He was a friend of Peadar O'Donnell and supported the Connolly Association. All his life he had written poetry, and in 1936 he formed the Young Ulster Literary Society and was a member of the Irish Pen Club. He wrote for several newspapers, including the Bell and published books of poems, one of which was Songs from the Shipyard and Other Poems. He wrote many plays: Workers; Traitors; Castlereagh; Industry; The Stars Foretell and Murder at Stranmillis. Some of these were performed in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and the Empire Theatre, Belfast; The Birth of a Giant was a play written for radio. His later years were spent working as a caretaker in the Linen Hall Library, where his portrait now hangs. Winifred Carney was born in Bangor, County Down, was educated at the Christain Brothers' School in Donegall Street, Belfast and was for a time a junior teacher there. She qualified as a secretary and shorthand typist from Hughes' Commercial Academy, one of the first women to do so. She worked as a clerk and became involved in the Gaelic League, in the Suffragist movement and in socialist activities. In 1912 she met James Connolly and became secretary of the Textile Workers' Union, which was in practice the women's section of the Belfast branch of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, though officially part of the Irish Women Workers' Union. She typed Connolly's articles for publication and became a friend and confidant. In Cumann na mBan, she taught first aid and was very proficient in rifle practice. She was summoned to Dublin by Connolly on the 4th April 1916, and as adjutant she joined the insurgents in the General Post Office, where they were garrisoned. She stayed with Connolly after he had been wounded. In 1917 she was the Belfast delegate to the Cumann na mBan convention and a year later stood as Sinn Fein candidate with the view to establishing a Workers' Republic. She lost the election, but continued to work for the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union until 1928. In 1924 she had joined the Labour Party. In 1928 she married George McBride in Wales, and they moved back to Belfast. She alienated people who could not understand why she would wish to spend her life with 'an Orangeman'. In the 1930s she joined the Belfast Socialist Party. Her grave in Milltown Cemetery remains unmarked. Alexander Carson was born in Stewartstown, County Tyrone, and was educated in Glasgow. He became a Presbyterian minister at Tobermore, County Londonderry, but had leanings towards Baptist theology and resigned in 1804. He wrote prolifically on theological subjects, and his work is published in six volumes. He received an honorary degree from two American universities. [Biography by Moore and Douglas]
Edward Carson was born in Dublin, and was educated at Portarlington and Trinity College, Dublin, and was called to the Irish Bar in 1877. He joined the Leinster Circuit and in 1887 became junior Counsel to the Attorney-General. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1889 and Solicitor-General for Ireland in 1892. From 1892 to 1918 he was member of parliament for Dublin University. In 1893 he was called to the English Bar and became Queen's Counsel in 1894, receiving a knighthood in 1900. He is remembered for his cross-examination of Oscar Wilde. When the Conservative party went out of office in 1905, he was already a leading member and in 1910 he accepted the leadership of the Irish Unionists in the Westminster parliament. He was prominent in forming the Ulster Volunteers, who were trained, illegally armed, and prepared to oppose Home Rule. When the Liberal government gave way to a coalition in the spring of 1915, he was appointed Attorney General, but resigned this post after a few months because of his dissatisfaction with how the war was being conducted. In 1916 he accepted the office of First Lord of the Admiralty and in 1917 entered the war Cabinet, resigning again in 1918. In the same year he abandoned his seat for Dublin University and became member of parliament for the Duncairn division of Belfast. He refused the invitation to be Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, regarding partition as a defeat. He resigned from politics and was given a life peerage as Baron Carson of Duncairn. He was buried in St Anne's Cathedral after a state funeral in Belfast. [Biographies by E. Marjoribanks and Paul Bew].
Joyce Cary was born in Derry and was educated at Tunbridge Wells and Clifton College. After an attempt to become an artist he graduated in law from Trinity College, Oxford. In 1912-13 he served in the Balkan Wars with the Red Cross, and having joined the Nigerian political service, fought in the Cameroons in the First World War, where he was wounded. Ill health forced him to return to Oxford in 1920, and his first novel, Aissa Saved, was published. He published many novels and short stories, including his autobiographical novel, A House of Children. His best known trilogy is The Horse's Mouth; Herself Surprised and To Be a Pilgrim.
Anne Beatrice Casement came to live in Magherintemple, Ballycastle, County An-trim on her marriage to Captain John Casement. She opened her home in 1941 as the first nursery unit for young evacuees from Belfast. She was a member of the North Antrim Hospital Management Committee and of the Dalriada Hospital Management Committee, and she was active in the Ulster Unionist party. In 1956 she was awarded the OBE. She died in Ballycastle County Antrim.
Frances Casement was born in Dublin. During the First World War she worked for the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmens' Families Association in Dublin, and in London in the Second World War. She served on the War Pensions Committee. She was Irish Ladies Golf Champion in 1910, 1911 and 1912, and was runner-up in 1913. She died in Ballymoney, County Francis Casement was born in Dublin and spent his childhood in Ballycastle, County Antrim, where he later lived from 1946 to 1967. He was educated in Coleraine Academical Institution and Trinity College, Dublin. He was an Irish International Rugby Player, being capped three times in 1906 for the side which won the Triple Crown. A year later he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. He served in the First World War as brevet lieutenant colonel in Gallipoli and on the Western Front. He was mentioned three times in despatches. In 1915 he was awarded the Legion d'Honneur, the Distinguished Service Or-der in 1917, its Bar in 1918 and the Order of St John. In 1922 he was principal medical officer in Mauritius. He was Assistant Director General of Army Medical Services in 1935, and Deputy Director two years later. In 1938 he was Deputy Director of General Medical Services, Southern Command, and from 1940 until 1941, was Honorary Surgeon to King George VI. During 1941 he was also Principal Medical Officer for the Ministry of Health. After his retirement in 1946, he served on the Northern Ireland Grand Jury, and was High Sheriff for County Antrim in 1951. He was the husband of Frances Mabel Harrison. He died in Ballycastle, County Antrim. Roger Casement was born in Sandycove, Dublin, and was educated at Ballymena Academy, County Antrim. He was employed in the British Consular Service fro 1895 to 1913, from which position he exposed cruelties in the Congo and on the rubber plantations of Brazil, where he was Consul-General. He received a knighthood in 1911 and retired from the colonial services in 1912. He joined the Irish Volunteer movement in 1913 and the Sinn Fein movement in 1914 and went to Germany to appeal for armed aid. On his return in a German submarine, he was arrested in County Kerry, tried in London for high treason, and was found guilty and hanged in 1916. His collected writings were published in 1958, and The Black Diaries of Roger Casement, which had been used to prejudice public opinion against him, were published in Europe and America in 1959. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, his body having been returned to Ireland in 1965. In the words of Bulmer Hobson, he 'literally gave away everything he had to help the national movement. He raised money to defend prisoners, to feed school children in the Gaeltacht, to finance Gaelic colleges and to keep our small and insolvent newspapers in existence'.
Richard Cassells was German and he came to Ireland early in the eighteenth century. He was an architect and built a house, no longer surviving, for Sir Gustavus Hume in Enniskillen. He designed the Rotunda Lying-In Hospital; the printing house at Trinity College, Dublin, Powerscourt, County Wicklow, and the Newry canal, which was the first inland navigatiuon in the British Isles. What is now the Agricultural College in County Cavan is a house designed by him. James Cassidy was born in the Sandy Row area of Belfast and, when he was old enough, started work in Linfield Mill, originally as a part-timer, and at the age of fourteen as a full-time apprentice hackle-maker. During the First World War he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and was stationed in Salonica. He returned home in 1919, having been awarded various medals. Until 1927 he worked at Linfield Mill and then became a full-time missionary on behalf of Belfast City Missions in the Donegall Road area. He worked for forty years in the service of the working-class people of Belfast.
James Caulfield was 1st Earl of Charlemont. He was born in Dublin, but the family estates were in County Tyrone and County Armagh. He planned the village of Moy, said to be modelled on Marengo in Lombardy. He was commander-in-chief of the Irish Volunteers and served against the French in Carrickfergus in 1760. He was first president of the Royal Irish Academy. He is buried in Armagh. [The Volunteer Earl, Maurice Craig, 1948]
Cellach was born in Armagh and at the age of twenty-seven, was consecrated archbishop of that diocese. In 1121 he became Bishop of Dublin. He was active in the Church, both intellectually and practically, repairing Armagh Cathedral in 1125. He acted in a conciliatory role on many occasions, the most notable being the truce between the King of Connaught and the King of Munster in 1128. His pupil, St Malachy, he recommended to succeed him. He died in Ardpatrick, County Limerick, and was remembered for his outstanding contribution to the organisation of the Church. His feast day is on the 6th of April.
Susanna Centlivre was born in County Tyrone, where her father had been granted land in the plantation of Ulster. At the age of fifteen she ran away to Liverpool and from there walked to London. She was befriended by Arthur Hammond, who persuaded her to go with him as his valet to Cambridge University, dressed in boy's clothes. After some years she left for London, where she married a man who was soon to be killed in a duel. Her second husband was also killed in a duel within a year of their marriage. She began to write for the stage, and her first play was The Purjured Husband, which, though not a success, was watched by Queen Anne's chef, Joseph Centlivre, who was struck by the beauty of Susanna, playing the tragic heroine, and married her. Their house near Charing Cross often hosted the literati of the day. Susanna, who spoke several languages, wrote a number of successful comedies. The Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret, 1714, starred Garrick, and another of her plays, A Bold Stroke for a Wife, was very popular. She is buried in the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. James Charlemont was a viscount and was educated at Winchester and commissioned in the Coldstream Guards in 1914. He had previously taken part in the Ulster Volun-teer movement against Home Rule. In 1938, he was co-founder of the Irish Association of which he remained the first president for eight years. John Charles was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, and was educated at Queen's College, Belfast, and abroad. In 1865 he graduated as Doctor of Medicine and for the next ten years was a lecturer in Anatomy in Queen's College, Belfast. He moved to Queen's College, Cork, where until 1907 he was Professor of Anatomy and Physiology.
Richard Charles was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, and was educated at Queen's College, Cork, in Dublin and in Europe. He became a medical doctor, won a gold medal for scholarship and was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He joined the Indian Medical Service in 1882 and rose to the rank of major-general. He was appointed physician to the Prince of Wales and Serjeant-Surgeon to King George V. He was President of the Medical Board and Professor of Surgery at Calcutta and Lahore. He was knighted and awarded the Grand Cross of the Star of India.
Robert Charles was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, the brother of Richard Charles. He was educated at Queen's College, Belfast, Trinity College, Dublin, and was ordained in 1883 to a curacy in Whitechapel, London, and two years later, to Kensington. From 1898 to 1899 he lectured at Oxford University and again from 1905 to 1914. He was Professor of Biblical Greek at Trinity College, Dublin, from 1898 to 1906. In 1913 he became a canon and six years later Archdeacon of Westminster. He translated manuscripts from the Greek, Hebrew, Armenian, Ethiopic, Syriac, Slavonic and Aramaic and published lectures and sermons.
William Charley was born in Finaghy, County Antrim, and was educated in Oxford. After a career in law he became member of parliament for Salford from 1868 to 1880. He was made Queen's Counsel and knighted. In 1878 he was appointed Common Serjeant of the City of London, an appointment which he filled for the next fourteen years. He published many works on legal subjects.
Robert Chermside was born in Portaferry, County Down, and joined the army as an assistant surgeon. He served in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo. He became a physician to the British Embassy in Paris, and, after a long and distinguished medical career, was knighted in 1835. He died at Oxford.
Charles Chesney, who was born at Packolet near Kilkeel, County Down. Having been educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he entered the Royal Engineers in 1845 and rose to the rank of colonel by 1873. He wrote many books, including Campaigns in Virginia and Maryland; Waterloo Lectures; and Essays on Modern Military Biography, many of which became textbooks. He was Professor of Military History at Sandhurst, where he lectured on the American Civil War while it was still in progress. He died on military duty.
Francis Chesney was born near Annalong, County Down, and was the son of a revenue officer who had served with distinction in America under Hastings and Cornwallis during the American War of Independence. Francis Chesney at the age of nine is said to have held a commission in the yeomanry and later attended the Military Academy at Woolwich. He made a personal tour of Napoleon's battlefields after the Penninsular War and walked over three thousand miles in order to study battle strategy, an obsession which preoccupied him all his life. In 1814 when he returned to County Down he was able to rescue the crew of a French ship which had grounded, and was presented with the Medal of the Societe des Naufrages. In 1829, as lieutenant of artillery he went to Egypt to explore the possibilities of Egyptian and Syrian routes to India. During this trip, which lasted for three years, he visited Damascus, Tiberius, and Djerash, until he reached El Werdi and the Euphrates, which he sailed on a raft. He was able to report the feasibility of a Suez Canal, hence his epithet 'Father of the Suez Canal'. Because of the success of this venture, a second exploration was instigated in 1835 under Chesney's command. The party landed in Syria and transported across the desert two small steamboats which they assembled on the banks of the Euphrates. Despite one of the boats sinking with the loss of twenty people, Chesney managed, with the remaining boat, to explore the Euphrates, the Tigris and the Karum, and to chart these waters. This venture took him to India, and he did not return to London until 1837. This feat won him the admiration of geographers. By 1843 he had risen in rank and was appointed Commandant of Hong Kong, and returned in 1851 to Packolet near Kilkeel, County Down. He was sent on two missions to Constantinople in order to assess the possibilities of a railway system. During this period he rose from the rank of colonel, through major general, to general in 1868. During his lifetime he published many works, including those on the exploration of the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, a book on firearms and artillery, and another on the Russo-Turkish campaigns. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and had conferred on him a Doctorate of Civil Law by Oxford University. [Life by his wife and daughter, Mary Damant, 1893]
George Chesney was probably born at Packolet, Kilkeel,County Down. He joined the Bengal Engineers in 1848 and served through the Indian Mutiny. He rose to be general and became President of Cooper's Hill Engineering College from 1871 to 1880. He was knighted in 1890 and served as a member of parliament for Oxford until 1895. He wrote novels and a famous skit The Battle of Dorking. Arthur Chichester was born in England but fled to Ireland having been accused of committing robbery. He was Captain of one of Drake's ships which sailed to the West Indies, and in France he was knighted by Henry IV. In 1595 he was knighted once again for service in wars in Ireland, where Lodge regarded him as active in the attempt 'to plough and break up that barbarous nation by conquest, and then sow it with seeds of civility'. He was commander at Carrickfergus in 1599 and was involved in warring with O'Neill. In 1604 he was appointed Lord Deputy and was instrumental in encouraging the Ulster plantation after the Flight of the Earls in 1607. In 1612 he was created Baron Chichester of Belfast and given Inishowen. He summoned the first meeting of parliament in Ireland for twenty-seven years and established a Protestant majority. During his office as Lord Deputy the harp was added to the English arms on the coinage. In 1622 he was sent on a mission to Europe, and returned to die in London, though he is buried in the Church of St Nicholas at Carrickfergus, where a monument has been erected to his memory. Arthur Chichster was the son of Viscount Chichester. In 1639 he was member of parliament for County Antrim, and at the outbreak of the rebellion in 1641, he raised troops in Carrickfergus. In 1643 he was made Governor of Carrickfergus, but on his refusal to take the covenant prescribed by the parliament in 1644, he withdrew from Ulster. In 1647 he was created Earl of Donegal, and took his seat in the House of Lords in 1661. In 1668 he established a mathematical lecture at Trinity College, Dublin. He died in Belfast and wwas buried in Carrickfergus.
Frederick Chichester was born in Belfast and was educated at Eton. He gave the proceeds of his earliest musical compositions to the relief of the Famine in 1846. He was president of the Classical Harmonists' Society established in Belfast in 1852. He lectured in working men's clubs in Belfast on poets and poetry, and wrote several novels, among which is Two Generations. He also published a book on Naples, where he died. He was Earl of Belfast, which was a courtesy title. William Chichester was born at Kilmore, County Londonderry, and was educated at Foyle College, Derry, the High School, Shrewsbury and Trinity College, Dublin. He was ordained in 1837 and later inherited the O'Neill estates. An extinct peerage was restored to Chichester under the title of Baron O'Neill of Shane's Castle in 1868.
Mrs Churchill-Luck was born in County Londonderry and was a prolific novelist. Her works include Across an Ulster Bog (1896); Beyond the Boundary (1902) and On an Ulster Farm (1904). Ciarán was educated at Clonard and Scattery Island and was founder of Clonmacnoise in 549. It is said by some that he was the author of the Táin Bó Cúailgne and that he was of an ancient Ulster family. His feast day is on the 9th of September. Cilian was born near Virginia, County Cavan, and was an apostle of Franconia. On the 8th of July689, which is his feast-day, he was martyred in Wurtzburg. Robert Cinnamond was born in Ballinderry, County Antrim. He was a folk singer who collected over two hundred songs. He was still recording songs when he was over seventy years old.
William Clanny was born in Bangor, County Down, and studied medicine at Edinburgh . After serving in the navy he invented a safety lamp for miners, an invention which preceeded Davy's and for which he received a gold medal from the Society of Arts. Miles Clark was born in Magherafelt, County Londonderry. At the age of thirteen, he wrote to Brigadier Smeeton, for advice on how to plan a single-handed trans-Atlantic passage. At the age of seventeen he joined Operation Drake in the Panamanian rain-forest. When he was a geography student at Downing College, Cambridge, he organised an expedition to climb volcanoes, and undertake scientific research in Atka, in the Aleutian Archipelago. He joined the army and in 1984 was one of the oarsmen who rowed Tim Severin's replica Greek Galley through the Black Sea to Georgia. In the mid 1980s he became a full-time writer and photographer. He worked as features editor for Yachting Monthly, contributed to many magazines, and wrote a short book on sky-diving. In 1991 he published High Endeavours, his biography of Miles and Beryl Smeeton. In 1992 he sailed his family's sixty-year-old wooden yacht, Wild Goose to the Arctic Circle, into the White Sea, through canals and rivers to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. At the time of his death he was writing a book about his travels. Adam Clarke was born in County Londonderry, and was apprenticed to the linen business. Though a Quaker, he became a pupil of a Methodist school near Bristol, where he prepared himself for the ministry. He studied Hebrew and Oriental languages. In 1782 he was ordained by Wesley, and over the next twenty years, his preaching attracted large crowds. In 1802 he published a bibliographical dictionary in six volumes. As a consequence of this he became a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Irish Academy. The University of St Andrew's conferred upon him the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Laws. As well as many other works, he published The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Notes in eight volumes and devoted much of his life to this work. He established several schools in Ulster and a small museum, and collected a valuable library. He died of cholera during a visit to England. His last words were 'Am I blue?' [Biographies by his daughter (1833) and Everett and Etheridge] Harry Clarke studied at the Metropolitan School of Art under A. E. Childe. As well as being an accomplished decorative painter and illustrator, he became a stained glass artist. He created the series of stained glass Stations of the Cross in Lough Derg basilica and the windows in the cathedral in Letterkenny, County Donegal. His work is on display in the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin. Joseph Clarke was born in Desertlin, County Londonderry, and was educated in Glasgow and Edinburgh. He became a prosperous and distinguished physician, practising in Dublin, and it is said that of nearly four thousand cases of parturition he attended in his private practice during forty-four years, there were only twenty-two fatalities. He was Master of the Rotunda Hospital for seven years, during which time he kept an invaluable record. [Biography by Collins 1849]
Margaret Clarke was born in Newry, County Down and she trained at Newry Technical School and the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art under Orpen in 1905. She won medals for oil painting, and first exhibited in the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1913. She visited Aran in order to paint and in 1914 married Harry Clarke. She used her children and her family as subjects for her pictures, and as a consequence received many commissions from the 1920s onwards. She painted portraits of among others, Lennox Robinson, President de Valera, and Archbishop McQuaid. She taught in the Dublin School of Art and the Royal Hibernian Academy, and won many prizes for her work. After her husband died in 1931 she directed the Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios, with her daughter. She was a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. She was buried in Redford cemetery, Greystones, County Wicklow and her work is in the National Gallery of Ireland, the Ulster Museum and in Cork and Limerick. Maud Clarke was born in Belfast and was educated in Belfast, Dublin and Oxford. She returned to Belfast as deputy Professor of History at Queen's University. In 1919 she was appointed tutor at Somerville College, Oxford, and in 1922 became a fellow. She was involved in the fourth volume of the Oxford History of England and a book on medieval representation. She died in Carnmoney, County Antrim. Thomas Clarke was born on the Isle of Wight, of Irish parents. He spent his early years in Dungannon, County Tyrone, and emigrated to America in 1881. He joined Clan na Gael and was arrested in London for attempting to dynamite public buildings. He returned to America after he was released from his life sentence, and finally settled in Dublin in 1907. His was the first signature to the republican proclamation in Easter Week 1916. He was subsequently court-martialled, condemned to death and executed.
Kitty Clive is believed to have been born in the north of Ireland. While still very young she separated from her husband, Richard Clive, who was a barrister, and became an actress. She was admired by Handel, and Dr Johnson said of her, 'Clive, Sir, is a good thing to sit by; she always understands what you say'. She was continually mentioned by contemporaries such as Garrick, who played opposite her in her last performance. In her retirement to Strawberry Hill, where she became a close friend and neighbour of Horace Walpole, she remained a focus for public attention. She wrote several pieces for the theatre, of which The Rehearsal was the only one printed. [Biography by Percy Fitzgerald (1888)] John Clotworthy was born near Antrim and became a noted soldier. He was later knighted and created First Lord Massareene. He was present to uphold the claims of the Presbyterian leaders before Ormond, the Lord Lieutenant, in 1661. Joe Coburn was born in Middletown, County Armagh and moved to America. He was a prize-fighting boxer and fought a draw against Ned Price in Boston in 1856 and won against Mike McCoole in 1863. He fought twice for the world title against Jem Mace in 1864. James Coigly was born in County Armagh, and was educated in Paris for the priesthood. He returned to Armagh and became involved with the United Irishmen. He attempted to return to France, but was arrested at Margate and sentenced to death for possessing treasonable documents. Florence Cole was a third daughter of the 1st Earl of Enniskillen. She lived at Florencecourt, near Enniskillen, Cpounty Fermanagh, and sketched prolifically. She is noted for her cut-out work with paper. Her sketch books have been presented to the National Trust for Northern Ireland and are displayed at Florencecourt.
Galbraith Cole was born in Dublin and entered the army, serving in the West Indies and in Egypt. He was member of parliament for Enniskillen and Fermanagh for twenty years. He rose to the rank of general and served in the Penninsular War. He was knighted, and from 1823 to 1833 he served as Governor of Mauritius and the Cape. A monument to him stands on Fort Hill in Enniskillen. William Cole was born in England but settled in County Fermanagh in 1607. He had the title of 'captain of the long boats and barges' bestowed upon him and he carried out his duties at Ballyshannon and Lough Erne. He was first Provost of Enniskillen. He was knighted in 1617 and was the first to give warning to the Lord Deputy, of the impending uprising of 1641. At this time he raised a regiment and protected Enniskillen for King Charles I. He is buried in St Michan's Church, Dublin.
William Cole, 3rd Earl of Enniskillen, collected over 10,000 specimens of fossil fish which were housed in a specially built museum at Florence Court, his family home. The Science Museum in London now possesses his invaluable collection.
John Colgan was born in Donegal and educated at Louvain where he entered the Franciscan order in 1618. He was asked to write a history of Irish saints, along with Aodh Mac an Bhaird, and Acta Sanctorum Veteris et Majoris Scotiae seu Hiberniae contains the biographies of saints with feast-days from January to March. He also wrote Trias Thaumaturg on the lives of Saints Patrick, Brigid and Columba, as well as a Life of Johannes Duns Scotus. He retired from the post of Professor of Theology at Louvain in 1645. He was the first to describe the work of Michael O'Clery and his colleagues as The Annals of the Four Masters. [Biography by O'Hanlon] George Collie was born in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, and was educated at St Kevin's Metropolitan School, Blackpitts, Dublin, the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Metropolitan School of Art. In 1927 he won the Taylor Art Scholarship, which allowed him to travel. He studied art in Paris at both the Academie Colorossie and the Grande Chaumerie, and in London at the Royal College of Arts. When he returned to Dublin, where he opened his own studio and school in Schoolhouse Lane, he taught in the National College of Art. He gained a reputation as a portrait painter, and President de Valera and Cardinal D'Alton were among his subjects. In the parish church, Bailieborough, County Cavan, he painted the Stations of the Cross. Colman was born in Glenelly, County Tyrone. He visited St Columba, who was his uncle, at Iona, and subsequently founded an abbey at Muckamore, County Antrim, and a monastery at Land Elo Lynally, now Lynally, County Offaly. He requested that he was to be buried in Clonard and his feast-day is on the 26th of September.
Colmcille was born in Gartan, County Donegal; his baptismal name was Crimthann. He was educated at Moville and possibly Strangford and under St Finian at Clonard, where he was ordained. He founded monasteries in Swords, Durrow, Kells and Derry. He is said to have inscribed the Gospels and instructed others in the art of illuminating texts. One of these Gospel books, the Book of Durrow, is now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. He sailed with twelve companions to Scotland from Derry in 563 and founded the Abbey of Iona. He returned briefly to Ireland in 575 to attend the Council of Drumcett. He wrote poetry in Celtic and Latin, notably the Latin hymn Altus Prosator, and a Latin manuscript of the Psalms is said to be in his handwriting. His biography was written by St Adamnan. His feast-day is on the 9th of June. John Colton was born in Norfolk. In 1373 he was appointed Lord Treasurer of Ireland and in 1374 became the Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin. He became Lord Chancellor in 1380 and Lord Justice in 1382. In 1381 he was raised to the primacy by Pope Urban V1. He wrote Visitation of the Diocese of Derry in 1397 and it was published in 1850 with a preface by William Reeves. He is buried in the Church of St Peter at Drogheda. Padraic Colum was born in County Longford and reared on his grandfather's farm in County Cavan. He worked as a clerk in the railway clearing-house in Dublin and began to write in 1903. His plays Broken Soil (later renamed The Fiddler's House); The Land; and Thomas Muskerry were produced for the theatre. He was the author of lyrics such as 'She Moved Through the Fair'. In 1907 his first collection of poems The Wild Earth was published. Before moving to America, where he taught comparative literature at Columbia University, he co-founded the Irish Review. During his stay in America he published folk tales in the New York Tribune and was invited by the government of Hawaii to investigate their myths and legends and to write them as children's stories. His collected poems appeared in 1953. He was given doctrates from both University College, Dublin, and Columbia University, and he was awarded the Gregory Medal of the Irish Academy of Letters. He published a biography of Arthur Griffith and in collaboration with his wife Mary, Our Friend James Joyce. He was given a grant by the American-Irish Foundation and he was President of the United Arts Club. He died in Connecticut and is buried in Sutton, County Dublin.
Columbanus was born in Leinster and studied under Comgall in the monastery at Bangor, County Down. He went to Britain and then to France as a missionary and founded monasteries at Annegray, Luxeuil and Fontaine. He drew up a Rule for his monks which was approved by the Council of Macon in 627 but it was superseded by the Benedictine Rule. He was expelled from Gaul by Theodoric II of Burgundy because Columbanus had criticised the immorality of his court. He travelled through Switzerland and founded a monastery at Bobbio in Italy, where he died. His writings including his Rule, letters, poems and sermons, are in Latin. His feast-day is celebrated on 21st November. Alexander Colvill was born in Newtownards, County Down, and was educated at Edinburgh. He was installed at Dromore, County Down in 1725 as a Presbyterian clergyman. During this period he published many controversial works and in 1745 commanded a volunteer corps.
Comgall was born in Magheramorne, County Antrim, to a distinguished Dalriada family. In his youth he relinquished the life of a soldier and travelled to St Fintan at Clonenagh, though he disliked the rigours of monastic life. He was ordained a priest at Clonmacnoise and retreated to an island in Lough Erne. Before retiring to Bangor, County Down, where he founded a monastery and established a Rule, he had already founded several ecclesaistical houses, including that of Camus, near Coleraine. Pilgrims were attracted to the monastery, and it is said that Cormac, King of Ui Cheinnsealaigh, retired there. With St Brendan, Comgall visited St Colmcille in the western isles of Scotland. He died in Bangor, and his feast-day is on the 10th of May. Conall Cearnach was a Red Branch Ulster Knight. He is continually mentioned in legend as one of those who avenged the death of Cuchulainn and is said to have received his military training from Fergus MacRoigh at Emain Macha.
Helena Concannon was born in Maghera, County Londonderry, and was educated at Maghera, Loretto College, Coleraine, County Londonderry, and at Dublin, Berlin, Rome and Paris. She was fluent in Irish. She was a member of Dail Eireann for the National University of Ireland from 1933 to 1937, and became a senator in 1938. She wrote many books, among which are Daughters of Banba; Irish Nuns in Penal Days; The Blessed Oliver Plunkett and Women of Ninety-Eight. Claon Congal was a King of Ulster who raised an army of mercenaries to fight against the High King, Domhnall mac Aedo. He was killed at the Battle of Moira, County Down, in 637 and his army was destroyed. Billy Conn was educated at the Ulster Provincial School, which is now Friends' School, Lisburn, County Antrim. In 1921 he was employed as a commercial artist by W. & G. Baird Ltd. He was appointed staff artist to the Belfast Telegraph in 1946 and contributed cartoons to Ireland's Saturday Night, among which was his regular cartoon, 'The Doings of Larry O'Hooligan'. He exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy and contributed black and white drawings to the Dublin Opinion and other magazines. He was a member of the Ulster Arts Club and the Royal Ulster Academy. James Connolly was born in Edinburgh of County Monaghan parents and was self-educated. When he was twenty-seven he moved to Ireland, where he became a leading member of the Irish trade union movement. He was resident in Belfast from 1910 to 1914 as organiser for the Irish Transport Workers' Union. Although much of his writing was historical and political such as Erin's Hope; The End and the Means and Labour in Irish History, he wrote a play Under Which Flag? and a number of poems. He also established trade union journals: The Harp; The Irish Worker and The Worker's Republic and was renowned as both a journalist and a public speaker. In 1896 he founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party and during a seven-year stay in America he was an organiser for the Industrial Workers of the World. In 1912 and 1913 he was involved, with James Larkin, in establishing an Irish Labour Party: the Congress Party. During the lock-out of 1913 to 1914, he joined Larkin in Dublin and in 1914 organised the Citizen Army. He was appointed military commander of the republican forces in Dublin, took a leading role in the 1916 Easter Rising, and was subsequently executed. [Biography by Samuel Levenson]. Joseph Connolly was born in Belfast and educated at St Malachy's College, Belfast. From 1921 to 1922 he represented the Irish Free State as Consul-General in America, from 1928 to 1936 he was Fianna Fail member of the Irish Senate, and in 1932 he deputised for de Valera at the Council of the League of Nations. He became Chairman of the Board of Public Works in 1936. William Conolly was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal. He became a barrister and Speaker of the Irish House of Commons from 1715 to 1729. He was a Commisioner of Revenue and a Lord Justice, and served both Donegal, from 1692 to 1699 and County Londonderry from 1703 to 1729 as a member of parliament. Linen scarves were first worn at his funeral to encourage the linen trade.
Conor Mac Nessa was the son of Nessa, who married Fergus Mac Roigh, King of Ulster, on condition that Conor should reign for one year. He proved himself to be a wise and just king and was requested to continue to occupy the throne of Ulster. In a myth we are told that a magic ball of lime and human brains wounded him and became embedded in his forehead and that his physicians declared that if the ball were removed, his death would ensue. This happened when he was made aware by magical means, of the crucifixion, and he is thus reputed to have died in A.D.33. He established the Red Branch Knights and extended the boundaries of Ulster. His name is prominent as a hero in this period of Irish history. William Conor was born in Belfast and attended Cliftonpark Central National School and the Government School of Design, Belfast. After an apprenticeship as a poster designer at a printer's, and by painting in his spare time, he was able to fund himself for further study in Dublin and Paris. His first exhibition was in Belfast in 1914 and he was officially commisioned during the war to record soldiers and munition workers. He was elected to the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1947, and the Order of the British Empire was conferred on him in 1952. He was a member of the National Society of Painters and Sculptors, London, and of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, of which he was President in 1957. In the same year he received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Queen's University. He exhibited in London, Paris and New York, and his works have been sold to various public galleries throughout the world. William Conway was born in Belfast, and was educated at Barrack Street Christian Brothers' School and Queen's University, Belfast. He entered Maynooth, was ordained in 1937, and became a Doctor of Divinity in 1938. He attended the Gregorian University of Rome from 1938 to 1941. During the next two years he was a teacher of English and Latin at St Malachy's College, Belfast. He held the Chairs of Moral Theology and of Canon Law at Maynooth until 1958, and became Vice-President of the College in 1957. He edited the Irish Theological Quarterly and published a book, Problems of Canon Law, in 1950. After a term as administrator of St Mary's parish, Dundalk, and of acting as auxiliary to Cardinal D'Alton, William Conway was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland in 1963. In 1965 he was created cardinal. He chaired the first synod of bishops in Rome in 1967 and was a member of four Vatican congregations. He was instrumental in establishing Trocaire. He was a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of Canon Law. He died in Armagh. Henry Cooke was born at Grillagh, near Maghera, County Londonderry. He was educated locally and at the University of Glasgow. In 1808 he was ordained in the Presbyterian ministry and was given a parish in Duneane near Randalstown, later moving to Donegore, near Templepatrick, County Antrim. In 1815 he resumed his studies at Glasgow and in 1817 he entered Trinity College and attended medical classes, preaching to various Presbyterian congregations on Sundays. By 1818 he was pastor of Killyleagh, County Down. He was bitterly opposed to the Unitarian elements within the Irish Presbyterian Church, and ultimately brought about their separation. His followers built him a church in May Street, Belfast, where he preached until his death. He was Moderator of the Synod of Ulster in 1824, twice Moderator of the General Assembly in1841 and 1862. He abhorred the restricted use of the Scriptures in the new system of Irish National Education and by 1839 had urged the Synod of Ulster to establish a system of education of its own. He campaigned repeatedly against O'Connell's Irish policy, for example during the Protestant demonstration in Hillsborough in 1834 and at the anti-Repeal meeting in Belfast in 1841. Jefferson College in the United States conferred a doctorate upon him, and in 1837 Trinity College, Dublin did likewise. In 1839 he was given the freedom of Dublin by the corporation. He was instrumental in establishing the Free Church of Scotland. He devoted much time to an Analytical Concordance of Scripture, the manuscript of which was destroyed by fire in a London hotel. He edited a new edition of Brown's Family Bible. He was appointed President of Belfast Theological College, and in 1849 he became Dean of Residence for Presbyterian students in Belfast. As late as 1867, within a year of his death, he gave a public speech in Hillsborough opposing the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland. [Biography by J.L. Porter 1871] Thomas Cooley was born in England and came to Ireland as an architect. He designed the Royal Exchange as well as many other buildings in Dublin. In Armagh he designed the public library and the addition of a tower to Armagh Cathedral. Alan Daniel Coon was born in Buffalo, New York and was Attorney-at-Law in the United States. In 1902 he came to Ireland and opened a photographic studio in Derry where he produced posters and many picture postcards. He opened photographic businesses in Letterkenny, County Donegal and Moira, County Down. He owned cinemas in Letterkenny, Buncrana and Killybegs, County Donegal and one in Belfast. He travelled around in a caravan which contained a photographic studio and a dark room. He also gave cinematographic shows. He died in Moira and is buried there.
Herbert Cooper was born in Hammersmith, London, and came to Strabane, County Tyrone, where he bought the photographic business of J. A. Burrows in 1913. The Cooper Collection, which was given to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland by his son, Mr H. D. H. Cooper, is the largest single collection of photographs in Ireland. Among the 200,000 plate glass negatives, some of J. A. Burrows's work is included. Clara Copley came from a circus family and lived in a Romany caravan, which was sold after her death to a farmer who lived in it in preference to his own house. She had a boxing booth, and later a wooden hall on Chapel Fields in Belfast where boxing tournaments took place. Ma Copley (as she was popularly known) began her career in the 1930s when there was no work and young men were willing to fight for the chance of winning money. One of these was Rinty Monaghan, who became fly-weight champion of the world when he knocked out Jackie Patterson at the King's Hall in 1948. Others were Bunty Doran, who became Irish champion; Tommy Armour, who knocked out the British champion Eric Boon; and Jimmy Warnock, who beat the world fly-weight champion, Benny Lynch. It was said of Clara Copley, 'she was a woman in a man's world - the world of prize fighting'. William Coppin was born in Kinsale, County Cork. As a boy he saved six customs men from drowning when their boat overturned on the river Shannon. He went to St John, New Brunswick and in 1825, designed a boat which could run on the frozen rivers. In 1829 he produced his first ship. While in the West Indies studying navigation he met merchants from Londonderry who ordered a boat, the `Edward Reid', which arrived in Derry in 1831 after only a nineteen day voyage. William Coppin came to live in Derry and built many boats and captained the `Robert Napier' which he had built and which ran between Derry and Liverpool. In 1839 he launched his first ship `City of Derry'. Londonderry Corporation presented Captain Coppin with an inscribed silver service. In 1841 his ship `Great Northern' was driven by an Archimedean screw propeller and in 1843 it was berthed at the East India Inner Dock and an article and drawings appeared in the Illustrated London News. William Coppin next turned to salvage work and was elected a town councillor. In the 1880s he designed and built a triple-hulled iron ship, the `Tripod Express' which sailed the Atlantic. He also invented the artificial light fish-catching apparatus in 1886. In the mid-nineteenth century he employed five hundred men. Corbreus was the first Bishop of Coleraine, where he presided over a priory of Canons Regular, which continued to flourish until 930, when its abbot was killed by the Danes. It is said that Corbreus was kidnapped from Ireland as a boy and educated in Galloway. Joe Cordner was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, and opened a cycle shop in Derry in 1900. He built his own aeroplane and flew at Buncrana in 1910. He invented and patented the slotted wing.
Cormacan 'the Learned' was chief poet to Muirchertach, King of Ulster. He wrote a poem celebrating the king's tour of Ireland in 941/42. Isaac Corry was born in Newry, County Down, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was member of parliament for Newry from 1776 to 1800, and served as Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer in 1798 and Surveyor of Crown Lands in 1799. He fought a duel with Grattan in 1800. From 1802 to 1806 he stood in the Westminster parliament for Newry, but was defeated in elections in 1806 and 1807. John Coulter was born in Belfast and emigrated to Canada in 1936, where he became an important playwright and producer, with plays such as Rich; Family Portrait; Holy Manhattan; God's Ulsterman and The Drums are Out. He also wrote a biography of Sir Winston Churchill; a novel, Turf Smoke, and a volume of poetry, The Blossoming Thorn.
James Cousins was born in Belfast, where he was educated. He was private secretary to the Lord Mayor of Belfast until he moved to Dublin. The first play produced by the Irish Dramatic Company in 1902 was his play The Sleep of the King, and in the same year The Racing Lug was first performed. He taught English in the High School, Harcourt Street, Dublin and in 1908 joined the Theosophical Society. After a short period in Liverpool he went to Madras as literary sub-editor of New India, published by the leading Theosophist, Annie Besant. For the next twenty-two years he was involved with the Theosophical College at Madanapalle, where he served as principal. From 1938 he worked for the Indian government in various capacities, advising on the arts. He published several volumes of poetry in Ireland: Ben Madigan and other poems; The Voice of One; The Quest and Etain the Beloved and Other Poems, but the bulk of his work, over a hundred books, was published in India. These included Sea-Change; Collected Poems 1894-1940; Heathen Essays and an autobiography, We Two Together, written with Margaret Cousins. In Mysore and Travancore he established the first public Art Galleries in India.
Margaret Cousins was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, and was educated at the local National and Intermediate Schools and the Victoria High School for Girls, Derry and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. At the Royal University of Ireland she took a degree in music. She became a teacher of music and later taught in a kindergarten. In 1908, along with Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, she founded the radical and militant Irish Women's Franchise League, of which she became the treasurer. She organised Sylvia Pankhurst's visit to Derry in 1910 and in the same year represented Ireland at the Parliament of Women in London, where she was arrested and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. In 1915 she went to India with James Cousins, her husband, and by 1916 had become the first non-Indian member of the Indian Women's University at Poona. In 1917 she was one of the founder members of the Indian Women's Association and from 1919 to 1920 was headmistress of the National Girls' School in Bangalore. She was the first woman magistrate in India. She was a Theosophist and was awarded the Founder's Silver Medal of the Theosophical Society in 1928. She was imprisoned for a year in 1932 because she addressed a public meeting in Madras to object to alterations to the penal code. Among her publications were books and pamphlets on art, philosophy and education. The joint autobiography, written with her husband, We Two Together was published in 1950. She was presented several times with generous amounts of money from the Indian government and the Prime Minister, Nehru in appreciation of her services to the country. From 1943 she was paralysed, and she died at Adyar.
Edward Porter was a whiskey distiller. In the early 1880s he was appointed Mayor of Belfast, and in 1881 he was knighted. He was Lord Lieutenant of Antrim and Custos Rotulorum for the county, responsible for the appointment of magistrates. He was Chairman of the Board of the Ulster Bank, Director of the Great Northern Railway and Director of the Belfast Steamship Company. He was actively opposed to Home Rule. He died of typhoid fever.
Samuel Cowan was born in Lisburn, County Antrim, and was educated at Trinity College,Dublin. He was a prolific writer of verses for Christmas cards. Many of his poems were set to music by composers including Sir Arthur Sullivan. He published Sung by Six: Collected Poems of Six Poets; Poems; Victoria the Good; and From Ulster's Hills. He served as a major in the militia. Kathleen Coyle was born in Derry. She suffered an accident at the age of three, when her foot caught in the spokes of a pram. A delay in treatment resulted in her having to wear a built-up shoe. She had a tutor and did not attend school. She wrote her first short story when she was nine, and when it was lost swore she would never write again. In her youth the family house burnt down. She and her mother and a brother went to live in Liverpool, where she worked in a library. She later worked in an editor's office in London and then moved to Dublin, where she became involved in both the Labour movement and the Suffragettes. She began to write as a means of supporting her two small children. Her first book was published when she was living in London before she travelled abroad to Belgium and Paris, where she knew Nora and James Joyce. She wrote nineteen books, thirteen of which are novels; one, The French Husband, was written under economic pressure in eleven days. She published two autobiographies, A Flock of Birds and The Magical Realm, which deals with her childhood in Derry: 'It is absurd to think that life begins for us at birth. The pattern is set far back, we merely step into the process.'
Joseph Coyne was born in Birr, County Offaly and was educated in Dungannon and Dublin. He contributed to the Comet and wrote several farces, some of which were staged at the Theatre Royal, Dublin. In 1837 he went to London and during his stay there wrote over sixty dramatic pieces, some of which were translated into French and German. He was a co-founder of Punch. James Craig was born in Castlecatt, near Bushmills, County Antrim. He was educated at Coleraine Academical Institution and Trinity College, Dublin. He became President of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, and was physician to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. James Craig was born in Belfast and was educated in Edinburgh. Before serving with the Royal Irish Rifles in the South African War, he was a stockbroker in Belfast. In 1906 he was elected member of parliament for East Down and continued to represent the constituency until 1918, when he transferred to Mid Down. He supported Carson in the anti-Home Rule lobby and was Ulster representative at the Buckingham Palace Conference on the Third Home Rule Bill in 1914. He organised the Ulster Volunteer Force and during the First World War he was Quartermaster-General in France, of the 36th (Ulster) Division, which consisted largely of Ulster Volunteers. Before being knighted in 1918 he held office as a parliamentary secretary in the British government, led by Lloyd George. In 1920 he was appointed First Lord of Admiralty. He participated in the drafting of the Government of Ireland Act which led to the establishment of the parliament of Northern Ireland. He was elected member of parliament for North Down and in 1921 he became the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, a position he held until his death. He was insrumental in abolishing the proportional representation voting system. He was created Viscount Craigavon of Stormont in 1927, and was buried at Stormont.
James Craig was born in Belfast and spent his childhood in Ballyholme, County Down. He was educated at a private school, and for a short period at the Belfast School of Art. He lived in Tornamona Cottage, Cushendun, County Antrim, and devoted himself to painting, although he had no formal training. He visited the continent on several occasions, and painted in Swtzerland, the south of France and northern Spain. In 1928 he was elected to the Royal Hibernian Academy and exhibited there. He was also a member of the Royal Ulster Academy. In 1928 he exhibited along with Paul Henry at the Fine Arts Society in London and he illustrated Richard Hayward's In Praise of Ulster in 1938. Among his principal works is 'The Road To Maam Cross, Connemara'. His work is in many collections, including the National Gallery of Ireland and the Ulster Museum. His widow Annie bequeathed a dozen paintings to Bangor Borough Council. Joe Craig was born in Ballymena, County Antrim. He was a successful motor cyclist and raced for the firm of Norton in the 1920s. From c.1937 to 1958 he became Engineering Director of Norton. He was killed in a car crash. Adair Crawford was born in Crumlin, County Antrim, and studied medicine at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities. He was Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and distinguished himself for his research in chemical physiology. His publication, Experiments and Observations on Animal Heat, and the Inflammation of Combustible Bodies, Being an Attempt to Resolve these Phenomena into a General Law of Nature, was of great importance. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and an eminent physician to St Thomas's Hospital. Ebenezer Crawford was born in Belfast and studied art at the Belfast School of Design, and later in London. From 1859 to 1873 he exhibited about a dozen pictures at the Royal Academy, which included 'The Smithy, Redbay Cave, County Antrim', painted in 1861. The Ulster Museum has a sketch drawn by him. Julia Crawford was born in County Cavan. She wrote several novels, but is remembered for her song, 'Kathleen Mavourneen', which was published in the Metropolitan Magazine, London 1830. She also published Irish Songs, set to music by F. M. Crouch in 1840. Thomas Crawford was born in County Down, and was educated in Edinburgh after which he entered the army medical service. He served in Burma and the Crimea with the 18th Royal Irish, and in India during the Mutiny. He was promoted to surgeon-general in 1876, and became director-general of the medical department of the army. He was knighted for his services.
Ernie Crawford was born in Belfast and a rugby international full-back. He played for Malone, Lansdowne Cardiff and the Barbarians. In 1920 he won the first of his thirty caps and he was captain of the side on fifteen occasions. He was an Irish selector and from 1957-1958 was President of the Irish Rugby Football Union. He was also a soccer player and played for Bohemians and Cliftonville.
William Sharman Crawford was born in County Down and became High Sheriff of that county in 1811. He was an advocate of emancipation and is known as the 'Father of Tenant Right'. In 1835 he became member of parliament for Dundalk. He had a chequered career in politics and was not in favour of Repeal, preferring a federal parliamentary system. He was elected member of parliament for Rochdale in 1841 and in 1846 formed the Ulster Tenant Right Association. He stood for election in County Down, in 1852, but was defeated. He died in Crawfordsburn, County Down.
William Crawford was born in Crumlin, County Antrim, and was educated in Glasgow. He was ordained Presbyterian minister of Strabane and established an academy there. He published Volunteer Sermons; Translations from Turretin and a History of Ireland (1783) which adopts an epistolary form ans is a valuable contemporary account of the 'Whiteboys' and the 'Oakboys'. He eventually moved to Holywood, County Down, where he died. Richard Creagh was born in Limerick and was educated in theology at Louvain, after his ordination returning to Limerick. In 1560 the papal nuncio invited him to Rome where he was consecrated Archbishop of Armagh by Pope Pius IV in 1564. While conducting a service he was arrested, sent to London and confined in the Tower. He escaped to Belgium and via Spain returned to Armagh in 1566. In Armagh Cathedral he preached to both O'Neill and O'Donnell. Once again he was imprisoned in the Tower, where he died after an internment of eighteen years. He wrote two works in Latin, Origin of the Irish Language and Controversies of Faith, as well as a catechism in Irish. William Creagh was born in Newry, County Down, and joined the Bombay Infantry in 1845. He served through the Indian Mutiny and the Second Afghan War. He became a major-general in 1879 and was renowned for his part in building two hundred miles of military roads in India.
Patrick Cremer was born at Greaghnafarna, County Cavan. He trained as a teacher at Marlborough Street, Dublin. He taught in Plymouth and then returned to Ireland to teach in Rockwell College, Cashel. There he met and became a close friend of de Valera. He invented a system of teaching handwriting, the 'Cremer unit system'. By the 1930s the system, in conjunction with 'Cremer Right-Line copy-books', was in use in schools all over Ireland. Mrs Crichton was born in Belfast and educated at a private school in Richmond. She travelled in Italy, Switzerland and Germany and published short stories, childrens books and novels, among which are The Soundless Tide (1911); Tinker's Hollow (1912) ans The Blind Side of the Heart. Freeman Crofts was born in Dublin and was educated at the Methodist and Campbell Colleges, Belfast. He was a civil engineer by profession, but was also an extremely successful detective story writer. His books have been translated into both Danish and Dutch, and also published in America. John Wilson Croker was born in Galway, though some sources say Waterford, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1807 he became a Tory member of parliament for Downpatrick, County Down, and was active in the literary and political circles of London, founding the Atheneum and co-founding and contributing to the Quarterly Review along with Scott, Canning and Southey. It is said that Disraeli, in his novel Coningsby, portrayed Croker as the character Rigby. He served as First Secretary to the Admiralty from 1809 to 1830. He published Stories for Children from English History; Boswell's Johnston; Military Events of the French Revolution and A Sketch of the State of Ireland, Past and Present, though he is perhaps best known for his savage review of John Keats's 'Endymion'. He also wrote a history of the guillotine and supposedly first applied the label 'Conservative' to the Tory party. He was responsible for erecting Nelson's column in Dublin. George Crolly was born in Downpatrick, County Down, and was educated at Maynooth. He became a parish priest in Belfast in 1837 and Professor of Theology at Maynooth in 1843. He assisted Gavan Duffy to establish the Vindicator newspaper, and he published three volumes on Moral Theology and a biography of Archbishop Crolly, who was his uncle. William Crolly was born at Ballykilbeg, County Down. He was educated at Maynooth and was ordained in 1806, and taught in the college for the next six years. In 1812 he was appointed to the parish of Belfast, in 1825 he was consecrated Bishop of Down and Conor, and in 1835 he became Archbishop of Armagh. He advocated integrated education, particularly in the form of the Queen's Colleges, one of which he thought should be established in Armagh. He is buried in the Catholic cathedral of Armagh. [Biography by George Crolly (1852)] George Cromer was appointed Archbishop of Armagh in 1522 and Lord Chancellor in 1532. He was active in denouncing Henry VIII's decrees against the Church and was subsequently removed from the chancellorship. He and his followers were fervent in their allegiance to the pope, but in 1539 he was suspended by the Holy See and once more was favoured by the king.
May Crommelin was born in County Down and educated at home. She was a descendant of Louis Crommelin. She spent her early life in Ireland, later lived in London, and travelled a great deal. She wrote more than thirty novels and many short stories. Her publications include Orange Lily and other stories; Black Abbey (1880)and The Golden Bow (1912). Louis Crommelin was born in Picardy, France. In 1685 the family moved to Amsterdam to escape religious persecution. On the invitation of William III he came to Lisburn, County Antrim,where there was already a colony of Huguenots, to investigate the linen industry. He established a factory at the foot of Bridge Street, on the River Lagan, in Lisburn, and in 1699, he was appointed 'Overseer of the Royal Linen Manufacture of Ireland'. In 1705 he opened a factory in Kilkenny and in the same year published Essay on the Improving of the Hempen and Flaxen Manufactures in the Kingdom of Ireland. He imported new skills and methods from Europe and revitalised the Irish linen industry. Anne Crone was born in Dublin. She was a teacher in County Fermanagh, and a novelist. She wrote Bridie Steen which was published in New York, and twice reprinted; This Pleasant Lea and My Heart and I. She died in Belfast. John Crone was born and educated in Belfast and practised medicine in London. He founded and edited the Irish Book Lover and wrote A Concise Dictionary of Irish Biography. He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy and was President of the Irish Literary Society in London from 1918 to 1925. He wrote Henry Bradshaw: His Life and Works, and collaborated with F. J. Bigger in editing Bigger's biography, In Remembrance. Thomas Croskery was born in Carrowdore, County Down, and was educated at Belfast Royal Academical Institution. He became a reporter and edited Banner of Ulster. He was ordained in 1860 and appointed Professor of Logic at Magee College, Derry, in 1875, and Professor of Theology in 1879. He wrote many articles and became Doctor of Divinity in 1883. He died in Derry. Eric Cross was born in Newry, County Down, though reared and educated in England. His career as a chemical engineer spanned the invention of synthetic marble and the making of knitting needles from bicycle spokes. He is known for a book of short stories, The Taylor and Ansty, which was published in 1942 and was banned by the Irish Censorship Board for twenty years after its publication. Another collection, Silence is Golden, was published in 1978. He wrote for RTE and BBC.
Shane Crossagh was a notorious highwayman in the districts of Moyola and the Roe and Faughan valleys. One of his most secure hiding-places was at the Ness waterfall, where the Burntollet joins the Faughan. His exploits have become legendary.
Francis Crossley was born at Glenburn, County Antrim, and was educated at the Royal School, Dungannon. He served with the Tyrone militia. He became apprenticed in Sir William Armstrong's works, where he developed a gas engine. He established a large firm at Openshaw and subsequently manufactured Crossley motors and engines. He was renowned for his work as a philanthropist. [Biography by Rendel Harris (1899)]
William Crossley was born at Glenburn, County Antrim, and was educated at the Royal School, Dungannon. He joined his brother Francis in the manufacture of Crossley motors and engines. In 1906 he became a member of parliament for Altrincham and was made a baronet in 1909. He was appointed the first Director of the Manchester Canal Company.
Nicholas Crowley was born in Dublin and educated at Dublin Society's School. In 1832 he became a student at the Royal Hibernian Academy, and had a portrait in the annual exhibition. The next year, when he was fourteen, he contributed six portraits. He lived in Belfast from 1835 to 1836, and painted portraits. During this period he shoed forty-seven pictures at the Royal Academy. In 1836 he was one of the founder members of the Belfast Association of Artists and in 1837 became a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. In this year he left for London, though he made frequent visits to Belfast. Many of his pictures were owned by Sir Tyrone Guthrie, his great grandson, and the Ulster Museum has a self-portrait.
Francis Crozier was born in Banbridge, County Down. He entered the navy in Cork as a volunteer at the age of fourteen and rose through the ranks, passing his exams in 1817. He sailed with Captain Parry on three of his Arctic voyages, in 1821, 1824 and 1827, when he served as lieutenant. After a mission to find missing whalers, he was appointed commander in 1837. He commanded the Terror, under Captain Ross on a voyage to the Antarctic Ocean, and again in 1845 under Franklin, on an expedition to find the North-West Passage. This expedition did not return, and it was not until 1850 that the missing ships were discovered. In 1854, Dr Rae learned from the Inouit that the whole party had died of cold and starvation on Montreal Island. In 1857 Captain McClintock spent two years trying to locate traces, and discovered a document which verified that the ships had been deserted, along with other evidence. The extreme west point of King William's Island was named 'Cape Crozier', and it is generally acknowledged that Sir John Franklin, Captain Crozier and the crews were the first discoverers of the North-West Passage. As well as carrying out botanical research, he compiled books of data on tides and navigation and set up observatories. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and received a medal for Arctic discoveries. The forensic scientist, Dr Beatty recently examined the remains of some of those who had perished during the expedition, and these revealed a vitamin C deficiency and evidence of cannibalism. In comparison to Inouit bones, those of crew members also had huge doses of lead, which he suspects was contained in the pottery glaze and the table-ware on board, as well as in primitive canned foods. The symptoms of lead poisoning and scurvy are very similar: anorexia, weakness, anaemia, abdominal pains, poor decision-making and neurosis. Tests on hair showed acute lead poisoning from the first eight months of the voyage and decreased considerably as the crew ate less. Death rates among officers was higher because they always ate off pewter. Banbridge has erected a monument to Captain Crozier's memory.
John Crozier was born in Ballyhaise, County Cavan, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was ordained in 1876, and became Vicar of Holywood. In 1896 he was appointed Canon of St Patrick's, then Bishop of Ossory and later of Down and Connor. He was appointed Archbishop of Armagh in 1911, and died there. Cuchulaind was a Red Branch Knight. He was mythological figure, associated with South East Ulster and was a cousin of Conall Cearnach, and of the three sons of Uisliu. He was initiated into the military order at seven years of age and was educated in arms in Britain by Scathach, a female warrior. He died when he was twenty-seven years of age and there are contradictory accounts of how and where this happened. He is a major figure in Irish literature. It is said his head and right hand were buried at Tara. His home fort was Dun Dalgan near present day Dundalk. Paul Cullen was born in Prospect, County Kildare, and was educated in Rome and ordained as a priest in 1829. He later became the Vice-Rector and then Rector of the Irish College in Rome. He was appointed Archbishop of Armagh in 1849 and a year later presided over the Synod of Thurles which recommended the establishment of a Catholic university. Two years later he was translated to Dublin. He became the first Irish cardinal in 1866. Four years later at the Vatican Council, he formulated the definition of papal infallibility. He was also Apostolic Delegate. He opposed the Young Irelanders and the Fenians. He founded the Catholic University, Clonliffe seminary and the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Dublin, as well as churches, convents and schools. William Cumming was probably born in Ulster and earned renown as an artist, particularly for his female portraits. He was one of the founder members of the Royal Hibernian Academy and was President of this institution from 1829 to 1832.
James Sleator Cummings was born in County Monaghan. He joined the army and was killed in action in the Khyber Pass, Afghanistan. His Six Years' Diary reflects his experience as a subaltern in India during that period. It was published posthumously, and a memorial tablet was erected to him in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.
Robert Cunningham was born in Scotland and was educated at Edinburgh University. He went on a scientific expedition and published his chief work, The Natural History of the Straits of Magellan, in 1871. He contributed papers to the Zoological Society and the Linnean Society, the latter based on his voyage to Patagonia. In 1871 he was appointed Professor of Natural History at Queen's College, Belfast, a position which he occupied for thirty-one years, during which time he had various degrees and a fellowship conferred upon him. He died in Devonshire. John Curld is known only for his architec-tural plans for Castle Coole, County Fermanagh, a country house which he de-signed for James Corry in 1709. His plans were skilled, which would lead to the conclusion that he was an experienced architect. Curld's house was later replaced by the current Castle Coole. John Curran was born at Trooperfield, near Lisburn, County Antrim. It is said that at the age of four he chose to become a vegetarian. He studied in Glasgow and Dublin and became a medical doctor in 1843. By 1846, after a study of Paris hospitals, he returned to Ireland to work at the King and Queen's College of Physicians. He was a gifted doctor, a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and contributed to medical literature. He died of typhus during the Famine when he was twenty-eight years old. Patrick Curtis was educated at Salamanca and was head of the Irish College there for forty years. Because of his knowledge of Spain, he was able to assist Wellington during the Peninsular War and was arrested as a spy by the French. He returned to Ireland in 1813 and was given a warm recommendation by Wellington. In 1819 he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh.
Margaret Cusack was born in Dublin and joined the Anglican sisterhood in London. In 1858 she became a Catholic, taking the religious name was Sister Mary Frances Clare. In 1860 she came to Newry to the Irish Poor Clares, who worked with young women. She went to Kenmare, County Kerry, to open a foundation, and from 1879 to 1880 she collected funds for the relief of the poor. In 1881 she left the order. She gained the approval of Pope Leo XIII in 1884 to found the Sisters of Peace. She went to America to guide and train immigrant Irish girls though she had to abandon the project when it received an indifferent reception. She published biographies of Saints Patrick, Columba and Brigid and of O'Connell and Father Mathew as well as pamphlets on women and works of fiction, for example Ned Rusheen (1871) and Tim O'Halloran's Choice (1877). She reverted to Anglicanism and bitterly attacked Catholicism. In 1889 she published her autobiography The Nun of Kenmare, and in the following year died in Warwickshire.
William Cusack Smith was born in Dublin and was educated at Eton and Oxford. In 1788 he was called to the Bar and seven years later was appointed King's Counsel. He was a member of parliament for Don-egal Borough. He was founder of The Flapper in 1796. In 1800 he was appointed Solici-tor-General and within a year became Baron of the Exchequer. In 1834 his con-duct as a judge was debated in parliament. Among his publications were poems and pamphlets. Wilbur Cush was born in Lurgan, County Armagh. He was a soccer international half-back, inside-forward and wing-half. He played for Shankill YMCA, Glenavon, Leeds United and Portadown. He was capped twenty-six times for Northern Ireland. He scored five international goals, and was a member of the World Cup Squad in 1958. He played in all five matches and scored the winning goal against Czechoslovakia. He also played for the Irish League.
William Cust was born at Magilligan, County Londonderry. He emigrated to Canada, where he engaged in ranching and mining. He was a pioneer, and 'Cust's House' was, at the turn of the century, the last outpost of civilisation.
William Cuthbert was born at Dungiven, County Londonderry, and emigrated to South Africa in October 1881. His father had been a tanner in Coleraine, and William built up a hugely successful leather business. He befriended and employed many young immigrants from Ulster.
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