Ellen Cuffe, Countess of Desart

Ellen Odette Cuffe, Countess of Desart, (1 September 1857 – 29 June 1933) was an Irish politician, company director and philanthropist who has been called '"the most important Jewish woman in Irish history". She was more commonly known as 'Lady Desart'. She married William Cuffe (1845–1898), the 4th Earl of Desart on the 29th of April 1881 at Christ Church in Down Street, Mayfair. She was the daughter of Henri Louis Bischoffsheim, a wealthy Jewish banker of German origin. He was responsible for founding three of the largest banks in the world; The Deutsche Bank, Paribas Bank, and Societe Generale.

After the death of her husband Lady Desart left the house in Cuffesgrange and moved to her home in Aut Even (a transcription of Áit Aoibhinn, the Irish for Beautiful Place) on the outskirts of Kilkenny city. She was interested in the Gaelic revival of the time and became a member of the Gaelic League and was elected its president, succeeding her brother-in-law, Capt. Otway Cuffe, who was mayor of Kilkenny.

She commissioned the village of Talbot's Inch to be built by the architect William Alphonsus Scott, along with several other projects she and Capt. Cuffe developed together. These included; Carnegie Library, Aut Even Hospital, Greenvale Woollen Mills, Kilkenny Woodworkers, Kilkenny Theatre, the Tobacco Growers Association, Desart Hall, Talbots Inch Handball Alley, Talbots Inch Tennis Court, and Talbots Inch Suspension Bridge.

In relation to her support of the Irish language, Lady Desart reminded the people that her own people, the Jews, had in their new Palestine colony revived a forgotten language and used it to re-unite the scattered remnants of their nation.

On 3 November 1910, Lady Desart formally opened the Carnegie Library for the very first time with a silver key supplied by P.T. Murphy, Jeweller, High St, Kilkenny.

She was appointed to the Irish Free State Seanad Éireann as an independent member in December 1922 by the President of the Executive Council and joined the Seanad aged 65. She was one of four women elected or appointed to the first Seanad in 1922. She was the first Jew in the world to serve as a Senator. She was appointed for 12 years in 1922 and served until her death in 1933.

Lady Desart as president of the Women's Committee from 1908–33, was directly involved in the rescue of approximately 300,000 women and children. She died on the 29th of June 1933 at Waterloo Rd, Dublin, aged 75. On her death her probate recorded a will of £1,500,000. All of this money was donated to the various charities that she was associated with.

She is commemorated in the Kilkenny City's 'Lady Desart Pedestrian Bridge', which was unveiled by Kilkenny City Borough Council in 2014 and was the first of two pedestrian bridges built in Kilkenny since her bridge, the Talbots Inch suspension bridge.

She is buried along with her Anglo-Irish husband William Cuffe (from Desart Cuffsgrange, County Kilkenny) in Falmouth, Cornwall. She died on the 29th of June 1933 at Waterloo Rd, Dublin, aged 75. On her death her probate recorded a will of £1,500,000. All of this money was donated to the various charities that she was associated with. A large statue sits upon their grave, but is clearly of a modest scale considering the wealth of Lady Desart. Carved out of Kilkenny Limestone, it depicts a kneeling lady who appears to be weeping. The grave would have once been surrounding by black-painted wrought iron bars but unmaintained, weathering took their tole on them and now the footings of the bars are all that remain.