Mercedes Alicia Gallagher Ortiz de Villate (also Mercedes Gallagher de Park, 1883–1950) was a Peruvian writer and academic.

Biography

The daughter of Pedro Daniel Gallagher Robertson-Gibbs and Mercedes Ortíz de Villate y Laurent, she was born in Lima in 1883 and received a private education. Her father was the President of the

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

of Lima, the Club Nacional, the Bank of Peru and London, the Jockey Club of Peru. He was also a member of "," an organization of influential Peruvian oligarchs. She married Juan Francisco Bayly Caso (John Francis Bayly Caso) and the couple had two children: Jaime Francisco de Asís Bayly Gallagher (who became the father of the banker Walter Bayly Lllona) and Mariana Teresa Mercedes Bayly Gallagher. She was widowed in 1911 and then married American Henry James Parks Wilson. The couple had two children together, Hugo Pedro Parks Gallagher, who married the daughter of President

Manuel Prado Ugarteche Manuel Carlos Prado y Ugarteche (April 21, 1889 – August 15, 1967) was a banker who served twice as President of Peru. Son of former president Mariano Ignacio Prado, he was born in Lima and served as the nation's 43rd (1939 - 1945) and 46th (1 ...

, and Clara Beatriz Parks Gallagher.

Work

She became the vice-president of the Second Pan-American Conference of Women held in Lima in 1924 after the initial 1922 conference in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Gallagher was also involved in the

Pan American Union The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She was a member of the

International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation The International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, sometimes League of Nations Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, was an advisory organization for the League of Nations which aimed to promote international exchange between scientists, r ...

, part of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. She also served as the president of the National Council of Women of Peru. She was also a member of the Peruvian Philosophical Society, the Biblioteca Entre Nous in Lima, and several European philosophical societies. She possessed an important collection of colonial Peruvian statues of , a type of

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...

. Gallagher wrote the first study of these works, which was published in 1942. She also collected Peruvian paintings. She also wrote pieces of

art criticism Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of visual art. Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty. A goal of art criticism is the pursuit of a rational basis for art appreciation but it is quest ...

.Gallagher de Parks, Mercedes
"La exposición Sabogal en el Country Club."
Mercurio Peruano: Revista mensual de ciencias sociales y letras (Lima, Perú), vol. XXII, no. 162 (August 1940): 513–515. She was an important benefactor in the construction of the St. Philip the Apostle Parish church in

San Isidro District, Lima San Isidro is a district of the Lima Province in Peru. It is located in the west center of the city, it has a few meters of coastline. Officially created on April 24, 1931, San Isidro, along with Orrantia and Country Club districts, was separated ...

, and of a clinic for impoverished mothers. She received the cross ''

Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice ''Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice'' ("For Church and Pope" in Latin) is a decoration of the Holy See. It is currently conferred for distinguished service to the Catholic Church by lay people and clergy. History The medal was established by Leo XIII o ...

'' from the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

for her work. Gallagher died in 1950. There is a street in Lima named "Mercedes Gallagher de Parks" in her honor.

Works

Note: titles given in the language in which they were published, with translation in brackets. * with

Hermann von Keyserling Hermann Alexander Graf von Keyserling ( – 26 April 1946) was a Baltic German philosopher from the Keyserlingk family. His grandfather, Alexander von Keyserling, was a notable geologist of Imperial Russia. Life Keyserling was born to a wealth ...

, ''Problemas de la vida personal'', 1934. * ''Introduction to Keyserling: An Account of the Man and His Work'', London, Toronto: J. Cape

934 Year 934 ( CMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring and Summer – The Hungarians make an alliance with the Pecheneg ...

* ''Shadows on the Road,'' London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. 1935. * ''La realidad y el arte: Estudio de Estética Moderna eality and Art: Study of Modern Aesthetics', Lima: Imprenta Torres Aguirre, 1937. * ''Escultura populares y costumbristas en piedra de Huamanga opular and Traditional Sculpture in'' 1942. * ''A bird's eye view of Peruvian painting'', Lima: American Women's Club, 1944. * ''Mentira azul lue Lie', Lima: Tall. Gráf. de la Editorial Lumen, 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Mercedes 1883 births 1950 deaths Peruvian women writers 20th-century Peruvian writers People from Lima Women academics Peruvian Christians