William Ulick O'Connor Cuffe, 4th Earl of Desart (10 July 1845 – 15 September 1898). He succeeded to the title of 6th Baron Desart, 4th Viscount Desart and 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 1 April 1865.

Background

Earl of Desart Vanity Fair 31 January 1874

Desart was the son of

John Cuffe, 3rd Earl of Desart John Otway O'Conner Cuffe, 3rd Earl of Desart (12 October 1818 – 1 April 1865), styled Viscount Castlecuffe until 1820, was an Irish Conservative politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies between March an ...

, and Lady Elizabeth Lucy Campbell.thepeerage.com William Ulick O'Conner Cuffe, 4th Earl of Desart
/ref> He had an older sister and two younger brothers. One of his brothers,

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

, succeeded him as 5th Earl. The other,

Captain Otway Cuffe Captain Otway Cuffe (11 January 1853 – 3 January 1912) was twice mayor of Kilkenny and a notable person in Kilkenny, founding businesses and organisations to profit the local people. Background Born the Honourable Otway Frederick Seymour Cuffe ...

went on to be mayor of

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

and a notable person with the community.

Activities

Desert was also a literary man who wrote fifteen novels during his life. His most successful works were mystery thrillers. * ''Only a Woman's Love'' (1869), ''Herne Lodge'' (1888) and ''The Little Chatelaine'' (1889) * ''Beyond These Voices'' (1870) was set against the background of the

Fenian Rising The Fenian Rising of 1867 (, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 1865, disaffection among Irish radical n ...

. Other titles included: * ''Children of Nature: A Story of Modern London'' (1878) * ''The Honourable Ella'' (1879) * ''Lord and Lady Piccadilly'' (1887) * '' Mervyn O'Connor and other tales'' (1880) * ''Grandborough'' (1894) * ''The raid of the "Detrimental"'' (1897) * ''Kelverdale'' (1879) * ''Helen's vow'' (1891) * ''Love and pride on an iceberg and other tales'' (1887) He owned a total of 9,000 in Kilkenny and Tipperary.The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland
/ref>

Family

Lord Desart married Maria Emma Georgina Preston, daughter of Captain Thomas Henry Preston and Georgina Geneviève Louisa Campbell, on 1 June 1871. They had one daughter, Kathleen. They divorced in 1878. He then married

Ellen Cuffe, Countess of Desart Ellen Odette Cuffe, Countess of Desart (; 1 September 1857 – 29 June 1933) was a London-born Jewish woman who was best known as an Irish politician, company director, Gaelicist and philanthropist in Ireland. She has been called '"the most impo ...

, daughter of Henri Louis Bischoffsheim on 27 April 1881. Lord Desart died in 1898 at age 53 after a short illness on his yacht, and was succeeded in the earldom by his brother,

. The Countess of Desart went on to become a politician in her own right and died in June 1933, aged 75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desart, William Cuffe, 4th Earl of 1845 births 1898 deaths Writers from County Kilkenny Irish mystery writers 19th-century Irish writers Earls of Desart