Emily Lawless

Emily Lawless was born at Lyons Demesne in County Kildare on 17 June 1845, the daughter of Edward Lawless, 3rd Baron Cloncurry. Her father died when she was a girl, plunging the family into financial difficulty and forcing her to rely on income from her books rather than family assets. She became a novelist, historian, entomologist, gardener, and poet whose work depicted both Anglo-Irish landholders and native Irish life with sympathy.