Ellen Odette Cuffe, Countess of Desart (; 1 September 1857 – 29 June 1933) was a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-born

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

woman who was best known as an Irish politician, company director, Gaelicist and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. She has been called '"the most important Jewish woman in Irish history".

Family

She was the daughter of

Henri Louis Bischoffsheim Henri Louis Bischoffsheim (17 February 1829 – 11 March 1908) was a Dutch banker. He took over Bischoffsheim, Goldschmidt & Cie in London from his father Louis-Raphaël Bischoffsheim. He founded Deutsche Bank, Paribas, and Société Généra ...

, a wealthy Jewish banker of German origin. He was responsible for founding three of the largest banks in the world; The

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

, Paribas Bank, and Societe Generale. Her younger sister, Amélie Bischoffsheim, was married to

Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 20th Knight of Kerry There have been four baronetcies created for persons with the surname FitzGerald, one in the Baronetage of Ireland and three in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. The FitzGerald Baronetcy, of Clenlish in the County of Limerick, was created in ...

. She married William Cuffe (1845–1898), the 4th

Earl of Desart Earl of Desart was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1793 for Otway Cuffe, 1st Viscount Desart. He had already succeeded his elder brother as third Baron Desart in 1767 and been created Viscount Desart, in the County of Kilken ...

on 29 April 1881 at Christ Church in Down Street,

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

Life in Ireland

Interest in Gaelic Revival

After the death of her husband Lady Desart left the house in Cuffesgrange and moved to her home in Aut Even (a transcription of ''Áit Aoibhinn'', the Irish for ''Beautiful Place'') on the outskirts of

Kilkenny city Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilkenn ...

. She was interested in the

Gaelic revival The Gaelic revival ( ga, Athbheochan na Gaeilge) was the late-nineteenth-century Romantic nationalism, national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including Irish folklore, folklore, Iri ...

of the time and became a member of the

Gaelic League (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it emer ...

and was elected the president of the Kilkenny branch, succeeding her brother-in-law, Captain Otway Cuffe, who was mayor of Kilkenny. She commissioned the village of Talbot's Inch to be built by the architect William Alphonsus Scott. along with several other projects she and Capt. Cuffe developed together. These included Kilkenny Library, Aut Even Hospital, the Woollen Mills, Kilkenny Woodworkers, Kilkenny Theatre, the Tobacco Growers Association, Desart Hall, and Talbots Inch Suspension Bridge. In relation to her support of the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

, Lady Desart reminded the people that her own people, the Jews, had revived a forgotten language in

Mandate Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

and used it to re-unite the scattered remnants of their nation. On 3 November 1910, Lady Desart formally opened the Carnegie Library for the very first time with a silver key supplied by P.T. Murphy, Jeweller, High St., Kilkenny.

Irish Free State politics

She was appointed to the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

member in December 1922 by the President of the Executive Council. She was one of four women elected or appointed to the first Seanad in 1922. She was the first Jew to serve as a Senator in Ireland. She was appointed for 12 years in 1922 and served until her death in 1933. Desart's rise to the role of one of the first women ever to serve in a political role in Ireland is somewhat ironic given that she had previously actually opposed

Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

: It was noted in her 1933 obituary that she had played an "energetic part" in opposing women having a place in politics, and believed that "women should not compete against men at work or play". Lady Desart, as president of the Women's Committee from 1908 to 1933, was directly involved in the rescue of approximately 300,000 women and children. She is buried along with her

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

husband William Cuffe (from Desart Cuffsgrange, County Kilkenny) in

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; kw, Aberfala) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,797 (2011 census). Etymology The name Falmouth is of English or ...

. The tombstone reads "They were together in their lives, and in their deaths they shall not be divided". She died on 29 June 1933 at Waterloo Rd, Dublin, aged 75. On her death her

probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...

recorded a will of £1,500,000. All of this money was donated to the various charities that she was associated with. She is commemorated in the city of Kilkenny's Lady Desart pedestrian bridge, which was unveiled by Kilkenny City Borough Council in 2014. A biography on Lady Desart titled ''The Countess of Desart'' was published by Dun Emer Press (2021) by Gabriel Murray.

Gallery

File:Ellen-Countess-of-Desart.jpg, Portrait of Ellen Cuffe, Countess of Desart File:Ellen Cuffe with husband William.jpeg, Ellen Cuffe with husband William Cuffe File:Ellen Cuffe Grave 2.jpg, The grave of Ellen and William Cuffe File:Ellen Cuffe Grave 1.jpg, The inscription on the grave of Ellen and William Cuffe File:Desart Court.jpg, Desart Court

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuffe, Ellen 1857 births 1933 deaths 20th-century women members of Seanad Éireann English Ashkenazi Jews Independent members of Seanad Éireann Desart Irish Ashkenazi Jews Irish people of Dutch descent Irish people of German-Jewish descent 19th-century Irish philanthropists Jewish Irish politicians Members of the 1922 Seanad Members of the 1925 Seanad Members of the 1928 Seanad Members of the 1931 Seanad Irish people of Belgian descent English people of Belarusian-Jewish descent English people of German-Jewish descent English people of Dutch-Jewish descent People from London English emigrants to Ireland Politicians from County Kilkenny 20th-century Irish philanthropists