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