Doreen Geraldine Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne,
DStJ (née Lady Doreen Geraldine Browne; 29 May 1896 – 28 August 1979) was an
Anglo-Irish aristocrat and
socialite. She died as a result of her injuries following an attack by the
Provisional IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
in August 1979, when a boat was bombed off the coast of County Sligo. The bomb targeted
Lord Louis Mountbatten
Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...
, who was also killed in the explosion.
Family life
She was the third daughter of
The Most Hon. George Browne, 6th Marquess of Sligo
{{Infobox noble, type
, name = George Browne
, title = Marquess of Sligo
, image = George Ulick Browne and Agatha Stewart Hodgson, circa 1910s.jpg
, caption = George Ulick Browne and his wife, Aga ...
, and his wife, Agatha (née Hodgson), granddaughter of
William Forsyth, QC. On 22 January 1919, she married
Hon. Michael Knatchbull, a son of
Cecil, 4th Baron Brabourne, and his eventual successor.
They had two children:
*
Hon. Norton Cecil Michael Knatchbull, later 6th
Baron Brabourne
Baron Brabourne, of Brabourne in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1880 for the Liberal politician Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, the second son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet, of Mers ...
(1922–1943)
*
Hon. John Ulick Knatchbull, later 7th Baron Brabourne (1924–2005)
On 15 February 1933, her husband succeeded his father as 5th Baron Brabourne and Doreen became The Lady Brabourne. Her husband, Lord Brabourne, served as
Governor of Bombay
Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...
from 1933 until 1937, and then as
Governor of Bengal from 1937 until his death.
Death
On 27 August 1979, the Dowager Lady Brabourne was seriously injured in an explosion which killed
Lord Mountbatten (the father of her younger son's wife), their teenage grandson Nicholas, and local boy Paul Maxwell, on
Donegal Bay
Donegal Bay (''Bá Dhún na nGall'' in Irish) is an inlet (or bay) in the northwest of Ireland. Three counties – Donegal to the north and west, Leitrim and Sligo to the south – have shorelines on the bay, which is bounded on the w ...
,
County Sligo
County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...
. A bomb had been planted in Lord Mountbatten's fishing boat by a member of the
Provisional IRA
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
. Lady Brabourne died in hospital from her injuries the next day.
Commemoration
Her name is commemorated by the eponymous
Lady Brabourne College, which was established in 1939 as the first women's college for Muslim women in Calcutta, India. She took the initiative in establishing this institution following complaints from Muslim girls that they were discriminated against by the Hindu establishment at the elite
Bethune College, which is incidentally the first women's college in India.
References
lordmountbattenofburma.com - Tribute & Memorial web-site to Louis, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knatchbull, Doreen the Baroness of Brabourne
1896 births
Mass murder victims
1979 deaths
Brabourne
Brabourne is a village and civil parish in the Ashford district of Kent, England. The village centre is east of Ashford town centre.
Geography
The village originated around the village church and this area is now usually referred to as Eas ...
Companions of the Order of the Crown of India
Dames of Grace of the Order of St John
People killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Deaths by improvised explosive device in the Republic of Ireland
British terrorism victims
Daughters of British marquesses
People murdered in the Republic of Ireland
British people murdered abroad
Terrorism deaths in the Republic of Ireland
Founders of Indian schools and colleges
1979 murders in the Republic of Ireland