CENTENARIAN'S DEATH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21315, 17 October 1932, Page 9

CENTENARIAN'S DEATH

HON. KATHARINE'PLUNKET OLDEST IRISH RESIDENT EPISODES IN LONG LIFE By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright LONDON. Oct. 14 The death is announced of the Hon. Katharine Plunket, in lier 112 th year. She was the daughter of the second Baron Plunket. She was believed to have been the oldest resident 61 Ireland and the oldest woman in the British Isles. The late Hon. Katharine Plunket was born as long ago as November 22, 1820. She was the eldest daughter of the second Lord Plunket and had five sisters, all of whom died before her—tho youngest in 1926 at the age of 85. Her father, who became Bishop of Tecam in 1839, was born in 1792, and in October, 1819, married Miss Louisa Jane Foster, who died in 1893. His brother becflmo the third baron, in 1866, and was succeeded in 1871 by his son, later Archbishop of Dublin, as fourth baron, whose son William Lee was fifth Lord Plunket, and from 1904 to 1910 was Governor-General of New Zealand. He died in 1920, and his son is the present peer. When the Hon. Katharine celebrated her 111 th birthday at Ballymascanlan, County Louth, she dined upon turkey and plum pudding. She was the. perfect Victorian, with strong Loyalist views to which she clung tenaciously, and with decided opinions of modern manners and habits.. As a girl she was carried about Dublin in a sedan chair, and remejnbered one occasion when Sir Walter Scott, the famous novelist, took her on his knee and talked to her. She disliked motor-cars, never visited a cinema, and took no pains in her conversation to conceal her disapproval of short skirts and the free and easy manner of modern young women. Miss Plunket believed firmly in the cloistral virtues of Victorian girlhood. She would not have a wireless set installed at her mansion at Ballymascanlan. When her doctor suggested it, Miss Plunket replied that in her young days she heard all the famous musicians and the finest music, and preferred her memories to melodies by wireless. , , . , Music was one of the Hon. Katharine s chief delights, her favourite singer being Dame Clara Butt. She heard opera in many countries, including Italy, Hungary, France and England. Her age brought with it a penalty of fame. Hundreds of people wrote to her every month for financial assistance. " The prevailing idea with the writers," said a member of the household, " is that Miss Plunket, because she has reached a wonderful age, should have unlimited cash to send to everv person who takes the trouble to write. The fact is that she has not." Sometimes Miss Plunket drove round her beautiful domain in a little closed carriage, but on most days she sat at her window. Every day she read aloud in the seclusion of her room a chapter of the Bible. . , ... The name of Plunket is famous in Irish historv. Miss Plunket's grandfather Win Convngham Plunket, had a brilliant career both at the Bar and in Parliament. He resisted the Act of Union and later advocated- Catholic emancipation Finally he became Lord Chancellor of Ire-and and was created first haron in 1827. jNliss Plunket's home at Ballymascanlan is one of the most picturesquely situated mansions in the district. Residents still recall the davs when she and her sister Gertrude used to drive about in a coach and four. Miss Plunket had lived in the reigns of five sovereigns and during the lifetime ol six holders of the Plunket title.