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

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-born

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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, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

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

Family

She was the daughter of Henri Louis Bischoffsheim, a wealthy Jewish banker of German origin. He was responsible for founding three of the largest banks in the world: the

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, the Paribas Bank, and

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. Her younger sister, Amélie Bischoffsheim, was married to Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 20th Knight of Kerry. She married William Cuffe, the 4th Earl of Desart on 29 April 1881 at Christ Church in Down Street,

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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. She was interested in the

Gaelic revival The Gaelic revival () was the late-nineteenth-century national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including folklore, mythology, sports, music, arts, etc.). Irish had diminished as a sp ...

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 eme ...

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 Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

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

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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 (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann ( ; ; "Senate of Ireland") is the senate of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (defined as the house of representatives). It is commonly called the Seanad or ...

as an

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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 women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

: 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 State rel ...

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

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. 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

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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 of 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 Politicians from London Businesspeople from London English emigrants to Ireland Politicians from County Kilkenny 20th-century Irish philanthropists Irish women philanthropists