Katherine Conolly

Katherine Conolly (c.1662 – 1752) was an Irish political hostess, landowner, and philanthropist.

Life

Katherine Conolly was born Katherine Conyngham around 1662. Her parents were Sir Albert Conyngham and Margaret (née Leslie). She was the eldest of their 10 children, with one of her brothers being Henry Conyngham. Her maternal grandfather was Henry Leslie. She married William Conolly in 1694, a speaker of the Irish House of Commons and purported to be the wealthiest man in Ireland. The marriage was likely to have been a love match. The couple used her dowry of £2,300 to purchase their first estates in County Meath. Through her connections, her husband was able to ally himself with the influential protestant families such as the Gores, Montgomerys and Leslies. She became known as a political hostess, gaining a mention in a ballad detailing the 1723 Westmeath by-election.

Connolly died in Castletown House on 23 September 1752. A portrait of her by Charles Jervas still hangs there. Upon hearing of her death, Mary Delany noted: