Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett PC,
KCVOThe Royal Victorian Order
is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognizing distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms,
any members of her family, or any of her...
,
FRSThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
,
DLIn the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord-Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
,
JPA justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice and deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
(24 October 1854 – 26 March 1932), was an
Anglo-IrishAnglo-Irish was a term used historically to describe a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until 1871, or to a lesser...
unionist, later Irish nationalist, agricultural reformer, pioneer of agricultural co-operation, politician and
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
, author and Irish patriot.
He was a member of the Congested Districts Board, Ireland, 1891-1918; Founder of Recess Committee and Irish Agricultural Organisational Society (IAOS); Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland from Oct. 1899 to May 1907; MP. for
South DublinSouth Dublin was a county constituency in Ireland from 1885 to 1922. It elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, using the first past the post voting system....
(1892-1900) in the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and IrelandThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927...
; Chairman of the
Irish ConventionThe Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on ...
, 1917-18 . An adherent of Home Rule, he founded 1914 (-1922) the Irish Dominion League to keep Ireland united, and in 1922 he became a member of the new
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
Senate,
Seanad EireannSeanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas of Ireland and its members are Seanadóirí . The House is also commonly known unofficially as the Seanad or Senate, and its members as senators....
.
Family and background
Horace was the third son of Admiral Edward Plunkett, 16th Baron of Dunsany, of Dunsany Castle in the
Irish PeerageThe Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those peers created by British monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. This practice ended with the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922...
of the
Barons of DunsanyThe title Baron of Dunsany or, more commonly, Lord Dunsany, is one of the oldest dignities in the Peerage of Ireland, one of just a handful of 13th to 14th century titles still extant, having had 20 holders to date...
, Dunsany, near
DunshaughlinDunshaughlin is a town in County Meath in Ireland.-History:It is named after Saint Seachnaill, a contemporary of Saint Patrick, who established a church there in the 5th century. Seachnaill gave his name to Mael Seachnaill. It was Máel Seachnaill II who became the first king of an all-Ireland...
,
County MeathCounty Meath is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Leinster. It was named after the historic kingdom and province of Mide....
,
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
and the Hon. Anne Constance Dutton (d.1858) (daughter of 2nd
Baron SherborneLord Sherborne, Baron of Sherborne, in the County of Gloucester, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1784 for James Dutton, who had earlier represented Gloucestershire in Parliament. The title became extinct upon the death of the eighth Baron in 1985.The Hon...
). He was of Protestant Irish unionist background, educated at
Eton CollegeEton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent boarding school for boys aged approx. 13 to 19. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and
University College, OxfordUniversity College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
of which college he became honorary fellow in 1909. His younger brother was John Plunkett, 17th Baron of Dunsany and his cousin Count
George Noble PlunkettGeorge Noble Plunkett or Count Plunkett was an Irish nationalist and father of Joseph Mary Plunkett, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916....
father of
Joseph Mary PlunkettJoseph Mary Plunkett was an Irish nationalist, poet, journalist, and leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. His father, George Noble Plunkett, was a papal count and curator of the National Museum...
.
Threatened by lung trouble in 1879, he sought health in ranching for ten years (1879-1889) in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where, together with a substantial fortune, he acquired experience that proved invaluable in the work of agricultural education, improvement and development, to which he devoted himself on his return to Ireland on the death of his father in 1889.
Never marrying, his tremendous energy poured into politics, sociology, public administration and economics. As visible testimony to his endeavours, he left the Irish co-operative movement and what is now known as the Republic of Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Pioneering co-operation
At first, Plunkett resolved to hold himself aloof from party politics, and he set himself to bring together men of all political views for the promotion of the material prosperity of the Irish people. In 1891 he was appointed to the Congested Districts Board and learned at first-hand of the wretched conditions of the rural population west of the
River ShannonThe River Shannon is, at 386 km , the longest river in Ireland. It divides the west of Ireland from the east and south . County Clare, being west of the Shannon but part of the province of Munster, is the major exception...
. The experience only hardened his conviction that the one remedy for social and economic ill was co-operative self-help. Around him he saw a troubled economy, racked with dissension, denuded by emigration, impoverished in its countryside and economically stagnant in its towns . He immediately took a leading part in developing agricultural co-operation, of which he had learned from isolated American farmers, and also took account of Scandinavian co-operation models and the invention of the steam-powered cream separator. Working with a few colleagues, including two members of the clergy, and advocating the value of self-reliance, he set his ideas into practise first amongst dairy farmers in the south, establishing Ireland’s first co-operative at
DoneraileDoneraile is a town in County Cork, Province of Munster, Ireland. It is located on the R581 regional road 8 km east of the N20 road which runs from Limerick to Cork. It is about 12 km north of Mallow town...
,
County CorkCounty Cork is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster, and was named after the city of Cork...
and opening the first creamery in Dromcollogher,
County LimerickCounty Limerick is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Munster. It was named after the city of Limerick ....
.
In the setting up of creameries the co-operative movement experienced its greatest success. Plunkett got farmers to join together and establish these in order to process and market their own butter, milk and cheese to standards suitable for the British market, rather than producing unhygienic poor quality output in their homes, for local traders. This enabled farmers to deal directly with companies established by themselves, who could guarantee fair prices without middlemen absorbing the profits. He believed that the industrial revolution needed to be redressed by an agricultural revolution through co-operation and promulgated his ideals under the slogan "Better farming, better business, better living" (President
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
adopted the slogan for his conservation and country life policy).
Success and opposition
Expressed public opinion, initially lukewarm, grew hostile as the movement developed and shopkeepers, butter-buyers and sections of the press led a campaign of virulent opposition. Co-operatives and Plunkett were denounced as ruining the dairy industry. But the movement caught hold and with his colleague
George William RussellNot to be confused with George William Erskine Russell .George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter...
(AE), Plunkett made a good working team, writing widely on economic and cultural development and the role of labour. As early as 1894, when his campaign reached a stage too big to be directed by a few individuals, Plunkett founded the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS), which rapidly became the powerhouse of co-operation, with 33 affiliated dairy co-operative societies and
co-operative banksCooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis.Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world....
, introducing co-operation among Irish farmers by proving the benefits obtainable through more economical and efficient management, publishing the following year its journal
The Irish Homestead, to disperse information on farming generally. Four years later there were 243 affiliated societies. Within a decade 800 societies were in existence, with a trade turnover of three million pounds sterling.
Plunkett’s task was frustrating. He was a pioneer of the concept of systematic rural development, who, in spite of his role in Irish affairs being often overlooked, influenced many international reformers, and can be credited as one of the few who had a long-term vision for the development of rural Ireland. He was apt to remind audiences that even if full peasant proprietorship was achieved and Home Rule implemented, rural underdevelopment would still have to be faced. But class conflict between farmers and shopkeepers intervened to frustrate much of what he aimed to do.
Expanding co-operation
Already in 1892 he had felt compelled to abandon his non-political attitude, and he entered parliament as
Unionist PartyThe Irish Unionist Alliance was a Unionist party founded in Ireland in 1891 to oppose plans for Gladstonian and Parnellite Home Rule for Ireland. The party was led for much of its life by Colonel Edward James Saunderson and later by the William St John Brodrick, Earl of Midleton...
member for
South DublinSouth Dublin is a county in Ireland, one of the three administrative counties formed from County Dublin in 1994. With its county seat located in Tallaght, it has a population of a quarter of a million.-History and naming:...
(county). Continuing, however, his policy of conciliation, Plunkett suggested in August 1895 that a few prominent persons of various political opinions both nationalist and unionist should meet to discuss and frame a scheme of practical legislation in pursuing national development and to make recommendations on the Agriculture and Industries (Ireland) Bill of 1897. The outcome of this proposal was the formation of the Recess Committee with Plunkett as chairman, which included men of such divergent views as the
Earl of MayoEarl of the County of Mayo, usually known simply as Earl of Mayo, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1785 for John Bourke, 1st Viscount Mayo, for many years First Commissioner of Revenue in Ireland...
,
John RedmondJohn Edward Redmond M.P. was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, MP. in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918...
,
The O'Conor DonDenis O'Conor of Clonalis, County Roscommon, was an Irish nobleman, the O'Conor Don and member of the British House of Commons....
and Thomas Sinclair.
In July 1896, the Recess Committee issued a report, of which Plunkett was the author, containing valuable accounts of the systems of state aid to agriculture and of technical instruction in foreign countries. This report, and the growing influence of Plunkett, who became a member of the Irish Privy Council in 1897, led to the passing of an Act in 1899 which established a Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (DATI) for Ireland, of which the
Chief Secretary for IrelandThe Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key office-holder of state in the British administration in Ireland. Towards the end of Crown rule in Ireland, he operated in a manner similar to that of the Prime Minister in the English and later British Parliament...
was to be president
ex officio. Plunkett was appointed vice-president, a position of de facto leadership which gave him control of the department's operations. He guided the policy and administration of the department in its first seven critical years.
The DATI worked :
- To improve the quality of crops and livestock
- To deal with animal and plant disease
- To encourage fishing and planting of forests
- To collect statistics on many aspects of Irish life.
By 1914 the Department had 138 instructors travelling the country, informing farmers of new methods in agriculture, horticulture and poultry keeping.
The turn of the century was a high water-mark in Plunket’s achievements. The IAOS was flourishing and vigorous. In 1903 there were 370 dairy societies, 201 co-operative banks and 146 agricultural societies under the auspices of thee IAOS, and by 1914 there were over 1,000 societies and nearly 90,000 members.
But hard-line Unionists considered him too conciliatory and cost him his seat in the
general election of 1900The United Kingdom general election of 1900 was held from 25 September to 24 October 1900. Also known as the khaki election , it was held in the midst of the return of soldiers from the Second Boer War...
by putting up a candidate to split the vote .
It had been intended that the vice-president should be responsible for the department in the House of Commons, but an extensively signed memorial, supported by the Agricultural Council, prayed that he might not be removed from office, and at the government's request he continued to direct the policy of the department without a seat in parliament. He was created
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian OrderThe Royal Victorian Order
is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognizing distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms,
any members of her family, or any of her...
in 1903.
Efforts obstructed
He pressed ahead with agricultural co-operation, its future seemingly assured. But the next years told otherwise. Having sat in the House of Commons as a Unionist, Plunkett had incurred the hostility of the Nationalist party, whose resentment had been further excited by the bold statement of certain controversial truths in his book,
Ireland in the New Century (1904), in which he described the economic condition and needs of the country and the nature of the agricultural improvement schemes he had inaugurated, stating that the Irish cause was more a question of economics than of politics, and for making comments on the power of the Catholic priesthood. On the accession of the
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the mid 19th century until the rise of the Labour Party in the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which would become...
to power in 1906, Plunkett was requested by
James BryceJames Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce of Dechmont, OM, GCVO, FRS, PC, FBA was a British jurist, historian and politician.- History :...
, the new chief secretary, to remain at the head of the department he had created.
But
John RedmondJohn Edward Redmond M.P. was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, MP. in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918...
, leader of the
Irish Parliamentary PartyThe Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
turned against him for suggesting that anything but Home Rule might be the answer to Ireland’s problems. And other mainstream nationalists, lead by
John DillonJohn Dillon was an Irish land reform agitator, Irish Home Rule activist, nationalist politician, Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.-Early life:John Dillon was born in Blackrock, Dublin...
, rejected economic development, whether Plunkett’s agricultural co-operatives,
William O'BrienWilliam O'Brien was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
’s tenant land purchase or D.D. Sheehan’s housing of rural labourers, in advance of "national development".
Ultimately the DATI ceased to work harmoniously with the IAOS, wrecking Plunkett’s highest hopes. A determined effort was therefore made by the Nationalists to drive from office the man who by his immense efforts had probably done more than any one else of his generation to benefit the ordinary Irish people; and in moving a resolution in the House of Commons with this object in 1907, a Nationalist declared that his party took their stand on the principle that the industrial revival could only go hand in hand with the national movement.
The government gave way, and although re-elected president of the IAOS in the summer of 1907, Sir Horace Plunkett retired from office in the DATI. Since the year 1900 a grant of about 4,000 had been made annually by the Department of Agriculture to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society but the new vice-president, T. W. Russell, who had been himself previously a member of the Unionist administration, withdrew in 1907 this modest support of an association with which Plunkett was so closely identified, and of which he continued to be the guiding spirit. Nonetheless, many were inspired by his vision and established creamery cooperatives around the country, such as the Lee Strand Co-operative, still thriving in 2007, and which was established by
Denis O'DonnellDenis O'Donnell was a well-known entrepreneur in County Kerry, Ireland, in the early 1900s.-Background:He was born in Tubrid, Ardfert, County Kerry, to Patrick O'Donnell of Tubridmore, and Bridget of Lerrig...
in 1920 in
TraleeTralee is the county town of County Kerry, in the southwest corner of Ireland. The town is situated on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula. Tralee is the largest town in Kerry...
.
Political re-orientation
In the following year, 1908, public appreciation of his service was marked by the purchase and gift to himself of 64 Merrion Square, Dublin, which became the headquarters of the agricultural co-operative movement's Plunkett Foundation, the industry body for farmer co-operatives, under the name Plunkett House .
The Irish Homestead frequently drew attention to the status of women in rural Ireland, which lead to the formation of the United Irishwomen organisation in 1910, to improve their domestic economy, welfare and education. Having previously focused his attention pragmatically on economic factors, Plunkett’s political attitude began to change. The failure of the Irish Council Bill in 1908 made him realise the critical importance of self-government and by 1912 he was a convinced Home Ruler. He spent the first half of 1914 in negotiations that would prevent partition and the exclusion of
UlsterUlster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island.Ulster is composed of nine counties: Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone are part of Northern Ireland; while Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan are part of the Republic of Ireland.-Terminology:The...
, to no avail.
During the
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
years, the co-operatives were severely hit as farmers avoided their high standards, supplying inferior produce directly to Britain, her food shortages a boom period for Irish agriculture. Much of Plunkett’s time was spent as an unofficial envoy between Britain and the United States, and after the
1916 RisingThe Easter Rising , was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic...
, he spent his energy seeking clemency for the leaders. From July 1917 to May 1918, he chaired the
Irish ConventionThe Irish Convention was an assembly which sat in Ireland from July 1917 until March 1918 to address the Irish Question and other constitutional problems relating to an early enactment of self-government for Ireland, to debate its wider future, discuss and come to an understanding on ...
which sought to find agreement on the implementation of the suspended Third Home Rule Act 1914. He may have lost an historic deal in January 1918 by diverting the debate to one on land purchase. In the years 1914-1922, he worked to keep Ireland united within the
British CommonwealthThe Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-three independent member states. Most of them were formerly part of the British Empire. They co-operate within a framework of common values...
, founding the Irish Dominion League and a weekly journal the
Irish Statesman to advance that aim, for which he was denounced by republicans. In the event, most republicans accepted dominion status when the
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
was established in 1921-22.
Recognition abroad
In the troubled years preceding 1922, the co-operative movement suffered much injury at the hands of British government forces, the creameries alleged to be centres of sedition. Factories were wrecked or burned, stocks destroyed, trade interrupted. Plunkett’s protests went unheeded, demands for compensation rejected. After the
Anglo-Irish TreatyThe Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the de facto Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence...
, he accepted membership in 1922 of the new
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
Senate,
Seanad ÉireannSeanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas of Ireland and its members are Seanadóirí . The House is also commonly known unofficially as the Seanad or Senate, and its members as senators....
. His work on co-operation took him abroad frequently, and when he was in the United States during the
Irish Civil WarThe Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
in 1923, his grand house Kilteragh, in
FoxrockFoxrock is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is located in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, in the postal district of Dublin 18.-History:The suburb of Foxrock was developed by William and John Bentley and Edward and Anthony Fox, who, in 1859, leased the lands of the Foxrock Estate from the...
, Co. Dublin was one of over 300 country houses burned down by the IRA, the fire taking with it many of the records of the wider Plunkett family, which he had gathered to prepare a work on the subject.
Departure from Ireland
The blow was bitter. "The healthiest house in the world" he wrote, "and the meeting place of a splendid body of Irishmen and friends of Ireland destroyed". It was the end. He moved to
WeybridgeNot to be confused with Wadebridge, Cornwall, or weighbridgeWeybridge is a town in the Elmbridge district of Surrey in South East England. It is bounded to the north by the River Thames at the mouth of the River Wey, from which it gets its name...
,
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where on the 21 December 1918, he had agreed to found the Plunkett Foundation (launched in 1919 with 5000 pounds sterling) and continued to promote and spread his gospel of agricultural co-operatives and rural sociology, with the slogan "Better Farming, Better Business, Better Living". The Foundation continues its work today.
In 1924, Plunkett presided over a conference in London on agricultural co-operation in the British Commonwealth, and in 1925 visited
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
to help the movement there.
Horace Plunkett died at Weybridge on 26 March 1932.
Personal life
While most of Horace Plunkett's efforts were devoted to his causes, he was also active in Dublin circles, and with family matters. He assisted for many years in the running of the Dunsany estate, and was for many years close to his nephew, the writer Lord Dunsany, who later donated a building in Dublin to the co-operative movement.
Horace Plunkett was also close to the Killeen Plunketts and he features in the famous account of aristocratic country life by the then Countess Fingall, Daisy, "Seventy Years Young".
Abroad, Plunkett remained in touch with friends in the USA, including Colonel House, Theodore Roosevelt and Charles McCarthy.
Horace Plunkett, who kept a diary from at least 1881, did not marry and left no children.
Writings
- Ireland in the New Century (1904), Sir Horace Plunkett
- Noblesse Oblige: An Irish Rendering (1908), Sir Horace Plunkett
- The Rural Life Problem of the United States, (1910), Sir Horace Plunkett
- as well as numerous pamphlets
Related Bibliography
- Seventy Years Young, Memoires of Elizabeth, Countess of Fingal
Fingal is a county in Ireland, one of the three administrative counties formed from County Dublin in 1994. With its county seat located in Swords, it has a population of a nearly quarter of a million.- Etymology :...
l, by Elizabeth Burke Plunkett, Lady Fingall. First published by Collins of London in 1937; 1991 edition published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, Ireland [ISBN 0 946640 74 2]. This Elizabeth, was a Burke from Moycullen in County Galway, who married the 11th Earl of Fingall, and should not be confused with Elizabeth O'Donnell, 1st Countess of FingalElizabeth O'Donnell was the 1st Countess of Fingal. She was the daughter of Prince Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and Lady Bridget FitzGerald, daughter of Henry FitzGerald, 12th Earl of Kildare. After her father's death in 1608, her mother married Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount...
l.
External links