Kathleen Courtney

Dame Kathleen D'Olier Courtney, DBE ( – ) was a leader in the suffragist movement in the United Kingdom.

Upon the outbreak of World War I in 1914, she abandoned her active campaigning for women's suffrage and devoted her life to studying international politics and trying to build bridges towards international cooperation.

In April 1915, Aletta Jacobs, a suffragist in the Netherlands, invited suffrage members from around the world to an International Congress of Women in The Hague. The attendees included Mary Sheepshanks, Jane Addams, Grace Abbott, Lida Gustava Heymann, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Emily Hobhouse, Chrystal Macmillan and Rosika Schwimmer. At the conference the women formed the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WIL).

Courtney ultimately was elected as chair of the British section.

In March 1977, as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titled Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews, the historian, Brian Harrison, conducted an interview about Courtney with Elisabeth Furlong, who was Courtney's first cousin once removed, (related to the Mann's on her mother's side). She spoke about Courtney's family and schooling, time at Lady Margaret Hall, and her attitudes and experiences in old age.