Katherine Plunket

Katherine Plunket

Honourable Katherine Plunket (22 November, 1820 – 14 October, 1932)cite web |url=http://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/odense/6/08.htm |title=Katherine Plunket: A Well Documented Super-Centenarian in 1930 |author=A.R. Thatcher |publisher= The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research |accessdate=2007-11-22] was an Irish aristocrat from County Louth, a prolific botanical artistcite web |url=http://www.botanicgardens.ie/herb/art.htm |title=Art Collections In The National Herbarium |publisher=Irish National Botanic Gardens |accessdate=2007-11-22] and the oldest person in Irish history.cite web |url=http://www.trivia-library.com/b/biography-of-centenarian-katherine-plunket.htm |title=Biography of Centenarian Katherine Plunket |publisher=trivia-library.com |accessdate=2007-11-22]

Family

Plunket was born at Kilsaran, near Castlebellingham in County Louth. The eldest of six children, one of whom died in infancy, she was a granddaughter of a William Plunket, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who became the first Baron Plunket. Her father Thomas Plunket (1792–1866), who was a junior Church of Ireland clergyman when she was born, later became the Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry. He also inherited his father's title, becoming the 2nd Baron Plunket.

Her mother Louise Jane Foster (married in 1819) was the daughter of John William Foster of Fanevalley, County Louth, MP for Dunleer [Burke's Peerage 1970, Plunket also Massereene and Ferrard] , and was related to the Earl of Clermont. Her first and second cousins included three titled members of the Irish aristocracy. She was baptised in Kilsaran Church on 13 December, 1820 as Catherine Plunket, though she spelled her name with a K for her entire life.

She inherited from her mother one of the family's ancestral homes, Ballymascanlon House near Dundalk,cite web |url=http://www.ballymascanlon.com/html/history.htm |title=History of Best Western Ballymascanlon House Hotel |publisher=Ballymascanlon House Hotel |accessdate=2007-11-22] and oversaw the upkeep of the home and gardens until she contracted bronchitis at the age of 102 (her only serious health problem). The house is now a hotel.

Botanical illustration

With her younger sister Gertrude (1841–1924), Plunket travelled widely and visited almost every capital in Europe.cite web |url=http://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/odense/6/08a.htm |title=Annex A: Katherine Plunket and her family |author=A.R. Thatcher |publisher= The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research |accessdate=2007-11-22] With her sister Frederica (1838–1886) she made many sketches of flowers in France, Italy, Spain and Germany, and Ireland. These were bound in a volume which was presented in 1903 to the Royal College of Science, and was later transferred to the Museum of Science and Art in the National Museum of Ireland. In 1970 it was part of the collections which were transferred to the Irish National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin. [The sources are inconsistent on these points. The "Art Collections In The National Herbarium" lists Katherine and Frederica as the artists, but notes Frederica as the donor of the paintings in 1903, although [http://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/odense/6/08a.htm Thatcher's article] lists Frederica as having died in 1886.]

Longevity

Although not known at the time, Plunket became the oldest recognized person in the world at 8:00 a.m. on 4 December, 1928, following the death of Delina Filkins, at the age of 108 years and 12 days, spanning a little over three years. As well as being the longest-lived Irish person, Plunket lived longer than anyone who died in the British Isles until 1970, when Ada Roe lived to be 12 days older. She was also the last living person who had met Sir Walter Scott, when he stayed at her grandfather's house in Bray while she was visiting.cite web |url=http://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/odense/6/08c.htm |title=Extract from "The Spectator", 27 December, 1930 |author=A.R. Thatcher |publisher= The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research |accessdate=2007-11-22] Plunket credited her longevity to a carefree aspect of life. She was included in the first ever Guinness Book of Records (published in 1955), and is the only alleged supercentenarian listed then to stand the burden of scrutiny in the years since. [According to Thatcher (op cit), her case was investigated by Julia Hynes of the [http://www.hpss.geog.cam.ac.uk/ Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure] .]

ee also

* National longevity recordholders
* Oldest people
* Supercentenarian

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • William Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket — William Conyngham Plunket, 1st Baron Plunket (1 July 1764 ndash; 5 January 1854) was an Irish politician and lawyer who eventually became Lord Chancellor of Ireland. .After the Act of Union was passed, Plunket lost his seat, but he subsequently… …   Wikipedia

  • Plunkett — Plunkett, a surname originating in Ireland, and of Norse or Norman origin, may be spelled Plunkett, Plunket, Plunkit, Plunkitt, Plonkit, Plonkitt, Plonket, Plonkett, or Plunceid, and may refer to, for example:* Baron Plunket, a title in the… …   Wikipedia

  • National longevity recordholders — are those individuals who have survived to the oldest age in a given country. Such records can only be determined to the extent that the given country s records are reliable. Comprehensive birth registration largely came into being in the 20th… …   Wikipedia

  • Oldest people — This is a list of tables of the verified oldest people in the world in ordinal rank, such as oldest person or oldest man. In these tables, a supercentenarian is considered verified if his or her claim has been validated by an international body… …   Wikipedia

  • Centenaire — Un centenaire est une personne qui a atteint un âge de 100 ans ou plus. Au delà de 110 ans, on parle de supercentenaire. Certains démographes utilisent le terme « semi supercentenaire » pour les personnes âgées de 105 à 109 ans [1]. On… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • List of Irish botanical illustrators — Botanical Art involves the painting, drawing and illustration of plants and ecosystems. Often meticulous observed, the botanical art tradition combines both science and art, and botanical artists throughout the centuries have been active in the… …   Wikipedia

  • Supercentenarian — A supercentenarian (sometimes hyphenated as super centenarian) is someone who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in a thousand centenarians.[citation needed] There are estimated to be 300 – 450 living… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Irish artists — This is a list of visual artists born or working mainly in Ireland along with a list of critics, collectors and curators who have had an influence on Irish visual arts. A C*Henry Allan (1865–1912) Irish painter *William Ashford (1746–1824)… …   Wikipedia

  • 1932 in Ireland — Events*January 29 Dáil Éireann is dissolved by the Governor General, James McNeill. It brings ten years of Cumann na nGaedhael rule to an end. *March 7 Dublin Corporation demands the return of the Hugh Lane pictures from the Tate Gallery in… …   Wikipedia

  • 1820 in Ireland — EventsBirths*31 May Timothy Burns, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1851 to 1853 (d.1853). *3 June Thomas William Moffett, scholar, educationalist and President of Queen s College Galway (d.1908). *4 June John Kean, businessman and… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/1450824 Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”