Ellice Pilkington

Ellice Pilkington (1 September 1869 – 24 August 1936) was an Irish women's activist and artist.

Early life Ellice Pilkington was born Louisa Ellice Benedicta Grattan Esmonde on 1 September 1869. She was the second daughter of John Esmonde and Louisa Esmonde (née Grattan). Her father was an MP and lieutenant-colonel of Waterford artillery militia, of Ballynastragh, Gorey, County Wexford, and her mother was the granddaughter of Henry Grattan. She had four brothers, Thomas, Laurence, Walter, John, and one sister, Annette. Educated in Paris, she also studied art in Rome. She married Capt. Henry Lionel Pilkington, of the 21st Hussars, from Tore, Tyrrellspass, County Westmeath, on 23 June 1896. The Pilkingtons lived in South Africa when her husband commanded the West Australian Mounted Infantry in the Second Boer War. While there she taught in refugee camps. They had two daughters, Ellice Moira and Annette. They lived for a time at Llys-y-Gwinit, Holyhead, Wales. Pilkington strongly believed in the need for women to work for the betterment of Ireland through their place in the home.

Artistic work Pilkington was actively interested in the arts in Ireland. In 1910, she wrote an article in the New Ireland Review, expressing regret that Irish artists and critics didn't find their own Irish expression through an Irish school, rather than imitating European schools. She held up George Russell as an example of an individual artist who also invoked an Irish national narrative. Pilkington did not articulate clearly her own vision of Irish national identity but believed it to be an important issue. As an artist, she painted scenes of Ireland and was exhibited by the Dublin Sketching Club in 1914 and 1915. She was shown regularly by the Water Colour Society of Ireland between 1921 and 1936, serving as the group's secretary for a time.

Later life Pilkington was widowed in 1914. Later in life, she was an active member of the Central Catholic Library Association, acting as its president of the ladies' committee for a number of years. She died at 38 Wellington Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin, on 24 August 1936. She is interred in the Pilkington family vault, Tyrrellspass, County Westmeath.