Countess of Fingall mixed shamrock and crown

A century ago in May 1922, as Ireland emerged from the War of Independence, and after a decade of turmoil in this country, Elizabeth, the Countess of Fingall, addressed the annual general meeting of the United Irishwomen, later to become the Irish Countrywomen's Association, saying that "she hoped to speak confidently of the future, and to assure members that their society, whose activities during the last troubled years had been almost at a standstill, had recovered from its state of suspended animation and was ready to take its share in the re-making of Ireland."

She had taken over from another hunting lady and the founding president of the United Irishwomen, Wexford’s Anita Lett, in 1913, and remained president until 1942, just two years before her death.

According to Aileen Heverin’s history of the ICA, she was totally different in style to her predecessor, content to let committees work through their agenda, rarely offering an opinion and invariably arriving late for meetings.

But she is reported to have had a stabilising effect on the organisation, which was not a bad thing after the War of Independence and Civil War that followed.

In 1882, having returned from being educated in France and London, Elizabeth 'Daisy' Burke, the daughterof a Galway magistrate, was presented at her first ball in Dublin, and it was on this visit, when she was staying with her mother in Buswells Hotel, that she was spotted on Kildare Street by Arthur James Fingall, who had only recently succeeded to the title, and apparently fell in love at first sight with the Galway girl.

Galway native Elizabeth 'Daisy' Burke was married to the 11th Earl Fingall, who still only in his 20s, was State Steward to Earl Spencer, the Lord Lieutenant to Ireland, at this time, living in a lodge at Dublin Castle, a hugely important position in Dublin and Irish society.

Through her husband’s role in Dublin, and his hunting connections in Meath, Daisy Burke, now the Countess of Fingall, became closely associated with many of the significant figures of the day. As well as encountering the representatives of the British administration at the time, she also had dealings with many of those fighting for Irish freedom, a cause with which she was sympathetic.

Through a hunting friendship with Mrs Willie Jameson of Athlumney, Navan, the Countess became very friendly with her brother, Douglas Haig, later to be Field Marshall and then, Earl Haig. When she knew him first, he had just joined the 7th Hussars, and spent his leave hunting from Athlumney. He wrote to her from the South African Wars, and from the French manoeuvres.

Daisy took Constance Gore Booth to parties. Constance went to Paris on a small legacy left her by an aunt, to study art and live in the Latin Quarter. There, she met Polish count, Casimir Markievicz, whom she married. She and Casimir came to Killeen on their honeymoon, and when they arrived, Daisy recalls Casimir sat down at the piano in the hall and thumped the keys and roared a song to his own accompaniment.

Daisy Fingall, through the Jamesons, and Lord and Lady Londonderry, who held the lord lieutenancy at Dublin Castle at one stage, became acquainted with King Edward. She was quite often invited on small shooting parties in England and Scotland, and often dined with the King. When he and Queen Alexandra paid a coronation visit to Ireland in 1903, the Plunketts were involved in entertaining him, and Horace Plunkett’s chauffeur had to fix the king’s car when it broke down in Connemara.

Her ability to mix with shamrock and crown was legendary. Through Horace Plunkett, of the Dunsany Castle family, and a very close friend of hers, she encountered many of those involved in the fight for Irish freedom.

She regularly played hostess at Horace’s home in Kilteragh, Dublin, which was to be burned down during the troubles.

"Do you think Sir Horace would like me to bring Michael Collins over to supper tonight?" Hazel Lavery asked one night.

She did, and the gathering in 1922 also included the Shaws, WT Cosgrave and John Dillon.

Days later, Collins was shot dead in Cork.

Other acquaintances of Lady Fingall’s included the writer, HG Wells, and Mrs Wells, whom she entertained over dinner in London, and WB Yeats, whom she often met through her Galway cousins, the Martyns. Art collector Hugh Lane carried out interior design of the castle at Killeen for her.

Following the death of her husband in 1929, Lady Fingall took up residence in a townhouse at Mespil Road, Dublin, where she entertained on Thursday afternoons. She published her own memoirs, 'Seventy Years Young, in 1937, with Pamela Hickson, daughter of writer Katherine Tynan.

When she died in 1944, her remains, arrived back at Killeen Abbey, following a Requiem Mass at University Church in Dublin.

The attendance at her funeral was led by Captain Manning, ADC to the President of Ireland, Dr Douglas Hyde, who accompanied the cortege to Killeen, and included M Goor, the Belgian Minister; Mr IRAW Weenick, Consul General for the Netherlands; Mr WT Dobrzynski, consul general for Poland; Mrs JD Kearney, representing the Canadian High Commissioner; Mr WT Cosgrave, the former President of the Irish Free State; his son, Liam Cosgrave TD, a future Taoiseach and the playwright, Lennox Robinson, was also present.

The Irish Countrywomen's Association representation at the funeral was headed up by Muriel Gahan, and Lucy Franks.

Daisy Fingall was involve din several other organisations, and was president of the National Camogie Association from 1911 to 1923.