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OonahKeoghA Celebration

Oonah Keogh – A Celebration 1

Oonah KeoghA Celebration


IntrOduCtIOn tO tHE IrIsH stOCK ExCHAngE And OOnAH KEOgH“... tHE HIstOry Of tHE IrIsH stOCK ExCHAngE HAs bEEn IntErtwInEd wItH bOtH tHE pOlItICAl And ECOnOmIC lIfE Of IrElAnd frOm tHE tImE Of wOlfE tOnE tO tHE prEsEnt dAy...”1

These words appear in the Foreword of W.A. Thomas’ The Stock Exchanges of Ireland and were written by Angus McDonnell, the then President of the Irish Stock Exchange in 1986. It could be argued that at times, the Irish Stock Exchange was in fact some steps ahead of the political and economic life in Ireland, most notably with regards to the membership of Oonah Keogh. Oonah Mary Irene Keogh, at just twenty-two years of age made her application for full membership to the Stock Exchange on May 4th, 1925. She was the daughter of Joseph Keogh, a long established member of the Dublin Stock Exchange. At that time, applications had to be posted in full view for a requisite ten days. When Oonah’s application was posted, it caused “a tremendous sensation”.2

Oonah Keogh – A Celebration4

Members of the Exchange then debated the application for three weeks. Many of the gentlemen members at the time proposed that no vote should in fact take place, but following a “delicate hint” from the office of the Chief Justice, “the Body were not legally entitled to refuse to admit the membership of a lady applicant on the grounds that she is a woman”.3 Other stock exchanges were commercial enterprises, but the Dublin Stock Exchange was answerable to the government, and the Free State Constitution did not allow for discrimination on the basis of sex. Oonah was interviewed by the Committee. Her only knowledge of the stockbroking world prior to her entering it was conversations she engaged in with her father. Joseph Keogh believed that women had excellent judgement and a certain pragmatism when it came to business and investments and his own Head Clerk was a woman.4

Having interviewed her, the Committee was satisfied as to her ‘fitness and means’. Historically, the stockbroking world has demanded a certain social class and wealth in its brokers. This was an extremely privileged world, impenetrable to those who had other business interests, were merchants or sat on boards as company directors. There were also monitory demands; one had to pay, and pay dearly, to be a member of this elite establishment. It was necessary for those who applied to show evidence of their healthy financial well-being. In addition to presenting an assurance of “two thousand pounds in personal securities”, they also had to produce referees, or sureties who also had substantial financial

resources. On top of that, there was an entrance fee of seven hundred guineas (which had risen from five hundred guineas, in the wake of Oonah’s application, as a deterrent so that the Stock Exchange would not be inundated with applications from other women).5 As well as that, there was a hefty annual subscription.6 Furthermore, under Rule 24 of the Stock Exchange’s Laws, Rules and Regulations, the Committee could request knowledge of a spouse’s occupation and presumably reject the applicant if that occupation was not deemed appropriate. One of Oonah’s referees or sureties was the then Minister of Agriculture, Patrick Hogan (1891 – 1936). Given that Joseph Keogh was an established stockbroker and a very wealthy man, it can be assumed he was well connected in both political and social circles. Oonah’s license, when issued would have been one of the newer Saorstát na hÉireann licenses printed in the Irish language. Uncharacteristically, in a bastion of such privileged, male exclusivity, they elected her by a majority and even sanctioned a word change in their precious Laws, Rules and Regulations; “any words which import the masculine gender shall be understood also to indicate the feminine gender wherever the context so permits.”7

Comparatively speaking; the first full female member of the New York Stock Exchange was not until 1967, and the first woman in London was 1973. In light of these dates, Oonah Keogh’s achievement was truly remarkable. The Dublin Stock Exchange and Ireland were almost half a century ahead of two of the most powerful countries in the world.


In order to fully realise the unusual and extraordinary circumstances surrounding the Stock Exchange’s acceptance of Oonah’s application, and Oonah’s membership in itself, it is necessary to contextualise Oonah’s story with the backdrop of the politics, values and attitudes of 1920s and 1930s Irish society.

sOCIAl And pOlItICAl COntExt Of tHE 1920s And 1930s

IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN... The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally...8

These few words are an extract from the Proclamation of Independence that was drafted and signed off on by seven idealists; a mix of poets, playwrights, musicians, teachers, journalists, soldiers and activists. Though the Easter Rising was a military disaster, consequently, it sparked the War of Independence or the Anglo-Irish War from 1919 to 1921, culminating in the formation of the Irish Free

State in 1922, with an Irish Free State or Saorstát na hÉireann Constitution. Throughout these turbulent years and for what was about to unfold during the Irish Civil War (1922-1923), Irish women played an integral role alongside Irish men. Article 3 in Saorstát na hÉireann’s Constitution recognised this fact in its wording.

Every person, without distinction of sex, domiciled in the area of the jurisdiction of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) at the time of the coming into operation of this Constitution, who was born in Ireland or either of whose parents was born in Ireland or who has been ordinarily resident in the area of the jurisdiction of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) for not less than seven years, is a citizen of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann)...9

The definition of citizenship in this article concentrates much more on geographical jurisdictions than it does in any way on gender. Therefore, following what had happened in the tumultuous years of the first two decades of the twentieth century, Irish women had every reason to believe that they would play an influential, full, active and public part in the life, society and economy of the Irish Free State. How disappointed they must have felt when they realised that in fact, the government and Roman Catholic church leaders conspired together to ensure that this would not be the case. There was “ongoing debate between political and ecclesiastical authorities on the one hand, and


middle-class feminists on the other, over women’s relationship to, and role in the new state”.10

Despite the protections enshrined for ‘Every person, without distinction of sex...’, throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the State introduced various legislative Employment Acts to restrict the contribution of women, thereby indicating that the State’s vision, supported by the prelates, was a traditional one where women would once again return to the private sphere, leaving the business of government and the economy or the public sphere, to the men.

W.T. Cosgrave (1880-1965) was Prime Minister of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932. Éamon de Valera (1882-1975) was Prime Minister from 1932 to 1937 and Taoiseach (Prime Minister) from 1937 to 1948. Cosgrave and de Valera were two of the key Irish political leaders in the early years of the fledgling State. Both these men had a very clear definition

of what the ideal Irish woman was; passive, self-effacing, dependent or almost child-like and certainly not capable of any form of responsibility or making decisions. “She was first and foremost a mother who inculcated in her children, her sons in particular, a love of country, of Gaelic culture and tradition, of freedom for Ireland”.11 It was in every sense an Irish version of nineteenth century middle-class Victorian ideals. Cosgrave wanted to accomplish a state based on the virtues of propriety, temperance, hard work, frugality and sexual morality. Similar to a Victorian mentality of middle-class social status defined by the presence of the ‘angel of the house’, the Cosgrave government sought to remove Irish women from the public sphere thus demonstrating that the embryonic State lived by a higher code of ethics.12 The irony here is that just as the British had defined the Irish (as well as various parts of the Empire) as ‘Other’, as the foil against which they could define themselves, so too did the Cosgrave government (and it could be argued that all governments since) staked their claim to male superiority by characterising women as physically, mentally and morally weak and in need of male protection.13

In 1924, Cosgrave’s government restricted women’s right to sit for higher examinations in the civil service. Until recent years, government cut-backs and moratoria, entering the civil service was always perceived as a safe, pensionable, permanent job for both men and women. By curtailing women’s right to apply for higher positions, the powers that be were consigning those women with better abilities to the lower levels of the civil service.


What ensued was the 1925 Civil Service (Amendment) Act and this legislation not only allowed the government to curtail examinations for positions in the civil service on the grounds of sex, but also entitled them to avoid exams entirely and make direct appointments when there were extenuating circumstances. All of these measures were carried out in the name of efficacy.14 Senate and Dáil debates of the time spoke of married women being suitable only for the lowest grades of the civil service. There was no point in promoting women into higher grades as taking the time to train them would be a waste both of resources and time.15 Statements reflecting similar attitudes were pronounced in the Senate; “... to the highest positions one nearly always appoints men, even though a woman in many respects be better...”16 Between 1922 and 1932, the number of women employed in the civil service increased from 940 to 2,260. However, these were the low paid ‘women only’ positions, such as typists, writing assistants or stenographers.17 Ernest Blythe (1885-1975) was Minister for Finance from 1923 to 1932. He made his views on gender equality very clear when he stated that “no doubt but in certain situations in the Civil Service you must discriminate with regard to sex”.18 Incidentally this was the same Ernest Blythe, Minister for Finance, who signed Oonah Keogh’s official license to practise stockbroking.

Next was the 1927 Jury’s Bill. This time the government suggested completely removing women from jury service. Again, reasons for this

were that it was more cost effective and in the long run would be more efficient. Regional newspapers of the time mirrored the same opinion, avowing that true Irish women did not want to serve on juries or be wrenched from “the bosoms of their families, from their cherished household duties, from the preparation of their husbands’ dinners”.19 The significance of these two pieces of legislation is that they were to set a precedent for the Free State government, one in which women were excluded from public service and it was women alone that were targeted by this type of legislation.20 Kevin O’Higgins (1892-1927) was Minister for Justice from 1922 to 1927 and in 1927 stated that: “A few words in a Constitution do not wipe out the difference between the sexes, either physical or mental or temperament or emotional”.21 There is an irony here in the fact that any Minister for Justice could make a statement about ‘a few words in a Constitution’ dismissing them, regardless of the misogynistic bunkum that followed. (The ‘few words’ of the Proclamation of Independence in 1916 continues to inspire a nation. Furthermore, is not the First Amendment just ‘a few words in a Constitution’ that protects the freedom of speech, religion, etc. for US citizens originating from the first United States Congress dating back to 1787?)

O’Higgins also stated: “It is the normal and natural function of women to have children. It is the normal and natural function of women to have charge of households.”22


By defining women exclusively in domestic terms, by declaring the subordinate status of women to their husbands, the government was articulating to Irish society that there was a ‘natural’ hierarchical order in the world.23 The implication here is clear. Women who did not fulfil their ‘normal and natural duty’ of bearing children and of being the ‘angel of the house’ were somehow abnormal. The Catholic authorities were close by to lend a helping hand morally sanctioning this image of Irish women. From the pulpits and in Catholic publications came portrayals of the ideal Irish woman. The Reverend Fr. Edward Cahill (1868-1941) was an Irish Jesuit priest and academic. His contributions to the Irish Monthly, a Catholic publication of the time, included passages depicting this ‘ideal’ woman: “Her natural qualities fit her more for the activities and life of the home... [she is] the principal source of brightness and sympathy and love... in the domestic circle.”24 Historically, women have always been the guardians of morality, and Cahill exemplifies this when he writes: “It is the woman’s special function, too, to maintain a high ideal of purity and goodness among the members of the family; and to impart in the home that element of aestheticism and beauty which does so much to brighten and elevate human life.”25 There was more than an allusion to the collapse of the family, as well as society in general, if married women left the confines of the domestic sphere to work in the public sphere. Cahill patently declares that: “The woman’s duties in this regard especially that of bringing up the children, are of such far-reaching importance for the nation and the race,

that the need of safeguarding them must outweigh almost every other consideration”.26 It was a time when women were told by the bishops “[not to] forget that you are Irish mothers; do not forget your glorious traditions... Appear seldom on the promenade, and sit oftener by the cradles; come down from the platform and attend to the cot; talk less with your gossipers, pray more with your children.”27

Throughout the 1930s, there were particular restrictions on the employment of married women, first in the introduction of the Civil Service Marriage Bar in 1932, then with similar forced retirements for married national school teachers in 1934.28 However, the prevalent attitudes in Ireland at the time regarding women’s employment in public service jobs, such as teaching or the civil service, were only part of a wider conservative governance sweeping through Europe, particularly in the aftermath of the Depression of the 1930s, and also specifically in more Catholic countries.29 Italy, for example, in the inter-war period, defined women first and foremost as mothers adhering to Catholic doctrine.30 Despite restrictive legislation outlined here, there were also real gains made by Irish women in the area of employment outside the home in the 1930s. According to the 1926 census, although there were low employment rates for both single and married women, the census did not account for farmers’ wives who were actively involved in the family businesses.31


While, in 1926, under half of single women aged fourteen and over are employed, this compares relatively better than other countries in Europe where the unemployment rate for single women was over sixty per cent.

Given the mores of the day, for a twenty-two year old woman to walk into any working environment must have been a daunting prospect. Oonah Keogh’s first walk into the “sacred precinct” of the Dublin Stock Exchange required immense personal courage. However, despite initial grumblings that the boys’ circle had been infiltrated, Oonah, who was “nearly sick with fright”, was treated with the utmost respect on her first day.32 “She was courteously introduced to every member”, many of them having asked for an introduction and it would seem that “All – even former opponents – treated her with consideration.”33

EArly lIfE And fAmIly bACKgrOund

Born at Dunbur in Wicklow, to Thomas and Maria Keogh (née Chapman) into a farming family, Joseph Keogh was baptised on December 8th 1862 and by the mid to late 1880s, he had not only pursued a career in banking, but had risen to become the youngest ever Bank Manager in Ireland, managing the Hibernian Bank’s branch

on Main Street, Swinford, Co. Mayo, a position he held until 1902 when he resigned to move on to the next period of his life. Having achieved the elevated position accorded to Bank Managers in that era, Joseph Keogh married Annie Doyne of Mullingar, Westmeath’s County Town. Her father, a successful business man who had owned a drapery/millinery and wholesale business, was a Justice of the Peace and a Town Commissioner - a good marriage indeed. The wedding took place in the Roman Catholic University Church on St. Stephen’s Green Dublin on January 29th 1896. It is apposite to note that throughout Joseph Keogh’s life, as recorded in official documents, his age varied up and down by several years from birth to death, an apparently not uncommon practice in Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Interestingly, the 1901 Census records the name of the ‘Landholder’ of the Bank’s building as a William Keogh, possibly a relative and this might explain how Joseph made the move from a farm in Wicklow to the relative backwater of Swinford in the wilds of Mayo. Swinford, at the time spelt Swineford, the name means literally, the place where the swine forded a water course.


At that time, it was common practice for banks to provide accommodation for their Managers, probably because of their requirement to move to achieve promotion. Following their marriage, Joseph and Annie Keogh set up home in the relatively commodious 11 room accommodation occupying the upper two floors of the Bank’s substantial Main Street property.

Joseph Keogh’s presence is recorded there in the 1901 Census together with 3 young daughters, Wanda, Mildred and Eta (Ita) and 2 servants, one of whom was provided by the Bank to tend the fires, for which the coal was also provided by the Bank. Annie Keogh was not present on the Census day, possibly having returned to Mullingar, because her father had died just two months previously. In 1902, probably financed by Annie Keogh’s inheritance, the family moved from Swinford to ‘Rossbegh’, a property

on Dublin’s exclusive Shrewsbury Road, from where Joseph Keogh embarked on a new career, stockbroking. Such a transition from small town bank manager to Shrewsbury Road stockbroker would be a significant achievement even today; at the turn of the century in Ireland, it must have been unprecedented. In the 1911 Census House and Building Return, ‘Rossbeg’ is recorded as a first class house with 8 windows to the front of the house and twelve rooms utilised by a household of fourteen. It was in this house that Una/Oonah was born on 2nd May 1903, to be followed by several other siblings in successive years. The 1911 Census records 7 children, namely Wanda, Mildred, Eta, Una now 7 and Genevieve, Evelyn and Doyne (Arthur), aged 6, 2, and 1 respectively. This census contained additional entries; ‘Total Children born alive’ and ‘Children still living’. It is here that we learn that a younger brother James Dermot Doyne Keogh was born between the births of Genevieve and Evelyn but died when he was just five months old. Also recorded as members of the household were a Lancastrian governess, a nurse maid, a servant, a cook from Dublin, and a chauffeur from Hampshire, the only non Roman Catholic (CofE) member of the household, who had been brought from England. It is interesting to note that despite Shrewsbury Road’s exclusivity, by 1911, its occupants represented a good cross section of the various faiths present in Ireland, with the Church of Ireland, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Society of Friends and Christian Securists (Calvanists) all recorded in the Census.


Some ten years after they moved into Shrewsbury Road, circa 1912/13, the family moved to an estate called ‘Trentham’ on the Stillorgan Road. The distance from the original front to back entrances of ‘Trentham’ was one mile, although a goodly portion of this property had been sold off by the time the Keogh’s moved there. Joseph Keogh was becoming a very successful and wealthy stockbroker and the attending lifestyle, it appears, demanded a bigger home with bigger grounds. While living at Trentham, when aged between 11 and 13 Oonah, followed her elder sisters to St. Mary’s Priory, Warwickshire, an exclusive English Roman Catholic Convent boarding school for girls, founded in 1792 by French Benedictine nuns escaping from Montargis during the French Revolution. It is now known as Princethorpe College. In addition to their scholastic studies, the girls played hockey, cricket, composed songs and performed in various productions. Mildred and Wanda Keogh are named in the programmes for productions of ‘Macbeth’ and ‘A Roman Drama’. Oonah though not specifically named in the School Records; was definitely there between 1914 and 1916. (This means at least three of the Keogh girls were away from Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916.)

From January 1917 to December 1918, Oonah again followed her elder sisters Mildred and Eta, this time to another exclusive private fee paying school Alexandra College, where the General Records show 2 years’ school fees having been paid on behalf of ‘Úna Mary Irene Keogh’. (The College then on Earlsfort Terrace close to St. Stephen’s

Green, still today retains its exclusive reputation and is now located in Milltown, Dublin 6.) Alexandra College followed a Church of Ireland ethos, an interesting departure for a practicing Roman Catholic family in Ireland at that time. On leaving, Oonah would have been fifteen or sixteen.

Despite the family tragedies that were subsequently to blight the family, before and during the 1920s, the Keoghs and in particular Annie enjoyed the Dublin social scene. She had been presented in Dublin Castle. Joseph Keogh ran an autocratic household, and particularly in later years, was renowned for being a ‘street angel’ and a ‘house devil’. Oonah may have been enjoying the social scene in Dublin during these years, however, given the years in question and activities during the War of Independence and a father renowned for strictness, it is unlikely.


Though the years between school and the early 1920s remain largely a mystery, in January 1922, ‘Úna’ Mary Irene Keogh of ‘Trentham’, Stillorgan is recorded as having paid £1, 12 shillings and 6 pence for a term in the Metropolitan School of Art which is now the National College of Art and Design (NCAD). (Approximately a decade later, a handsome, charming, Russian would come to the door of a farmhouse in Crofton in the UK selling chickens. Her time in Art College could well have influenced her later decision to marry a bohemian Russian artist, recognising in him a kindred spirit.)

Later in 1922, accompanied by a governess, Oonah spent two years travelling in Europe and North Africa. The greater proportion of time was spent in Bayonne, a city in the South West of France. She also travelled extensively through Dalmatia, later to become Yugoslavia, and more recently Croatia. She visited the Maghreb countries

(North West Africa), and spent time in Morocco. Oonah had a love or travel, different nationalities, customs and cultures. What would the Catholic Bishops who were professing the “sanctification of the cult of domesticity” have thought of her wanderings?34 There were paroxysmal sermons from the pulpit about the “...lure of exotic dances, extravagance and immodesty in dress...”35 No doubt, in the heat of the south of France or North Africa, Oonah Keogh enjoyed the traditional dances, music and style of dress, regardless of modesty or immodesty. During these years she attained a fluency in French.

Prior to the advent of antibiotics, the medical profession was unable to cure many diseases such as tuberculosis/consumption which was to blight the Keogh family’s existence from the 1920s through to the 1940s. Having already lost their first born son in 1905, in 1922 tragedy struck again. The Irish Times of January 14th, 1922 printed a death notice. It read: “January 13, 1922 at London, suddenly, Mildred M. G. Keogh, aged 2[7] years, dearly loved and loving daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Keogh, Trentham, Stillorgan. R.I.P.”36; at the age of nineteen Oonah had lost the first of her elder sisters. Sadly, Oonah was to lose five of her siblings by the time she herself was in her early thirties. In 1926 Genevieve, at the age of only 21, one year her junior, died in a tragic shooting accident at Crofton. In 1932, Evelyn, at the age of just 24 and five years her junior, died of tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Hastings.


Following the death of Josephine Bird (née Doyne) in Scotland in 1917, Annie Keogh’s sister, her nephews Southerly and Francis Bird were brought into the Keogh family. Their father, Col. Godfrey Bird had remarried an Anglican London socialite and perhaps for this reason and the fact that the War did not finish until 1918, must have convinced Annie that she ought to give the boys a stable home. Another young man named Gildart Jackson, who lost his parents at a young age, spent time with the Keogh family in their Blackrock home, Bellosquardo. Gildart Jackson married Wanda Keogh, Oonah’s older sister. At the time he was a District Commissioner with the Colonial Services and they were stationed in West Africa. Unfortunately, Wanda became ill in Africa, and when they returned to Surrey in England in circa 1935-1940, she also died from cancer. She was in her mid to late 30s.37

wOrKIng In tHE stOCK ExCHAngE

According to the articles in the Irish and London Times, Oonah was studying in London just prior to her application to the Dublin Stock Exchange. She was developing a keen interest in politics and may have been an Anne Widdecombe or Hilary Clinton of her time, had not the invite to the stockbroking world come from her father in Dublin. Considering what she achieved in stockbroking, it can only be

imagined what heights she might have achieved had she followed a career in politics. In 1925, Oonah Keogh joined Joseph Keogh & Co. Stockbroking firm. In those days, on the Dublin Stock Exchange trading floor, “brokers [sat] round in two concentric circles, with one chair for each firm, and deal[t] from their seats.”38 Members were not permitted to move around the room as it interfered with business, and “to preserve the formality of the call over procedure the members were periodically admonished...”39 At first, she stood behind her father’s chair, “keeping the book”, however, just six months after she began at the exchange her father became ill and remained ill for a number of months.40 Consequently, she was thrust into the “hurly burly” of dealing and trading.41 Self admittedly “brought up in a glass case and wrapped in cotton wool”, Oonah played the stockbroking game very well.42 Two of her contemporaries, Eugene and James Davy (antecedents of today’s Davy Stockbrokers) dealt for her, but she also dealt herself. In the London Times article in 1956, in relation to a Mrs. Nellie Neale’s application to the Birmingham Stock Exchange, she was “adamant... that no one should be considered a stockbroker unless he (or, of course, she) has full right to go the stock exchange and deal...”43 It was a continuous arduous battle of wits that required a good poker face and an air of arrogance, although the Times was quick to point out that there was nothing of these traits in Oonah’s natural demeanour, claiming she saved the performance of said characteristics for her professional life.


There were constant phone calls and dispatches (in code) that came from the London Stock Exchange many times during any given day that could determine how the market may change.44 She readily conceded that “sometimes I’d sit at my desk weeping” from the overpowering responsibility of managing “fantastically large sums” of other people’s money and at such a young age.45 With an endearing modesty however she acknowledged that she “had excellent clerical staff in the office...otherwise I could never have managed it.”46 Despite her fears, letters from clients were sent to Joseph Keogh & Co., expressing ignorance of Joseph Keogh’s illness and gratitude that “business had gone on as well as ever”.47 She is even mentioned in other newspaper articles that do not directly relate to her,

but because she was the first woman stockbroker. In 1928, Oonah Keogh was specifically named in an Irish Times article covering the jubilee celebration lunch for Mr. Jonathan Goodbody and Mr. Wilfred Fitzgerald.48 Oonah was also named as the first woman stockbroker in an article published when Miss Violet Henrietta Condon was made a member of a Provincial Brokers’ Stock Exchange and was then the only female stockbroker in Ireland in 1942.49

When Joseph Keogh returned to the firm, Oonah and he had a falling out. His colleagues, it appeared, would have preferred if Oonah had continued to manage the business, but whether he was threatened by how well his daughter was doing in his absence, or felt insecure about his future within his own firm, he returned to work despite concerns about his health known to have been expressed by colleagues at the time. In the coming years, as happens in many families, this schism became somewhat wider with other issues compounding the initial disagreement and adding to it. In the 1920s, Joseph Keogh & Co. was doing a roaring trade, however in the wake of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the consequent financial depression of the 1930s, the firm began to struggle. Oonah’s “father was a very difficult, self-opinionated man” and she claimed that “she was never consulted, and that her father wanted his own way in business [constantly].”50 Her partnership with Joseph Keogh & Co. lasted from 1926 to 1933. She was entitled to half the profits the firm accumulated, however this never happened,


despite her taking the reins when Joseph Keogh was ill.51 There were other frustrations affecting Oonah in her latter years as a stockbroker, aside from disagreements over profit sharing or management styles. She may have penetrated the male enclave that was the Dublin Stock Exchange, but there were many other ‘male only’ spaces that remained elusive and these were the places where deals were done, such as the golf course or the Gentleman’s Clubs, or even hotel bars. Speaking to a journalist in 1971 she stated: “One of the disadvantages in those days was that women did not socialise with men in lounges of pubs. When the men retired to Jury’s to relax after transacting business I could not accompany them. And even when I went to the races with my father it was the same. He would go to the bar for a drink, I would have to slip off for afternoon tea. Nowadays it is so very different.”52 Almost forty years after leaving her profession, there is still a sense of annoyance of the separate spheres that existed in the 20s and 30s, and in her last sentence there is almost a feeling of yearning; ‘if only I could practise now!’

By late 1930s, she was not going to the office very often and around this time she went to visit her sisters, Eta and Genevieve, who lived at Crofton Farm in Hampshire in England.53 She had become frustrated with working life in Dublin and the patriarchal nature of stockbroking. No doubt ‘Trentham’ provided no more comfort necessitating the trip to visit her sisters. Annie Keogh had bought Crofton Farm for Eta and Genevieve in

October 1923, although it is not clear when they actually moved in. A substantial double-gabled Elizabethan farmhouse dating back six centuries, the property included a second house, and numerous outbuildings, a coach house and stables together with several large commercial greenhouses. There were maids to tend to fires and other domestic duties, a cook and possibly a gardener, although the staff of the farm and Market Garden could also have been responsible for the gardens. Annie Keogh would have visited quite regularly as her sister, Josephine, married to a Royal Marine Major lived just two miles away at Lee-on-Solent, however Joseph Keogh is not known to have ever visited Crofton. Having escaped from the constraints of her Irish home, for it must have been a sad and tense house, her visits to Crofton would have been a welcome break from Trentham and must have been a very happy time for Oonah. As well as the house, gardens, the beautiful English countryside, being taken care of by staff, the sisters had a car at their disposal. It was an idyllic lifestyle, led by the more privileged of society during the inter-war period. This was the period that Evelyn Waugh largely based Brideshead Revisited and there is an impression of ladies of leisure, left to their own devices, free from a dictatorial father; to play games, compose songs, or write and perform plays as they had done at Princethorpe, although the Keoghs were not as wealthy as the aristocratic Marchmains of the novel.


rEsIgnAtIOn frOm tHE stOCK ExCHAngE, mArrIAgE tO bAyAn gIltsOff And CHIldrEn

It was during this timeframe that a handsome Russian selling chickens door-to-door came to Crofton Farm. Bayan Giltsoff must have appeared a very romantic figure with his tale of escaping the Bolsheviks as a child with his parents. He was very charming and if he spoke to her of sculpting, art or architecture, it may have ignited interesting exchanges where she could have discussed her own studies and travels. Described as “that delightful paradoxical personality of a practical dreamer... He was born in Archangel, but when he was only ten years old he was forced to flee with his parents from the Bolsheviks. They reached England through Norway and came to live in London.”54 From there, he turned his hand to farming, which brought him to Oonah’s door.

Oonah Keogh resigned from Joseph Keogh & Co., in 1933. There is a letter dated November 6th, 1933 addressed to the Secretary of the Dublin

Stock Exchange from Oonah Keogh relating her resignation from Joseph Keogh & Co., but significantly, not from the Dublin Stock Exchange. She stated that she was due to be married on November 11th and would like her name change reflected on the Member’s List.55 There is also a letter signed by Oonah and Joseph Keogh, again stating her resignation and her upcoming marriage.56 A subsequent letter is dated November 15th, 1933, from the Secretary acknowledging receipt of Oonah’s resignation and relating that it was announced to the “room” by the President.57 The Secretary also requested that her Marriage Certificate be forwarded to the Stock Exchange and reminded Oonah, that under Rule 24, the Secretary enquired as to her future husband’s occupation. Finally, he offers his congratulations on the upcoming nuptials.58 (Oonah never forwarded on the Marriage Certificate or related Bayan’s occupation. There is the impression that the Stock Exchange would not have approved or perhaps would have investigated his business dealings.) As a member of the conservative upper-middle class, Joseph and Annie Keogh had moved to ‘Bellosquardo’, circa 1926 located in Newtownpark Avenue, Blackrock, with the attending lifestyle Joseph Keogh may have been disappointed with his daughter’s choice of husband. This could have caused further conflict between father and daughter. On November 11th in the Sacred Heart Church, Fareham, Hants, England, Oonah Keogh and Bayan Giltsoff were married. Joseph and Annie Keogh were not present. The wedding notice in the


Irish Independent describes the church as being “decorated with bronze and yellow chrysanthemums”. Oonah wore “a gown of ivory satin with long train falling from the waist and golden girdle.” Her bridesmaids were her sister Thais [sic] Keogh and a friend Sheila Kellaghan. Her train bearer was Alanna Anderson.59 Bayan and Oonah Giltsoff moved to Taunton, Somerset, England. While living in Somerset, Bayan “discovered two important things – one, that he had a natural talent for converting farmhouses into places at once functional and liveable-in; two, that the Russian and the Irish temperaments mixed quite sympathetically.”60 He was also a sculptor and made a business from carving. As a building partnership, Oonah and Bayan, simultaneously made ends meet by restoring Tudor houses and “designing fireplaces [that were] graceful [and] beautiful, [made] of wood and stone.”61 In the building business there were times Oonah joined in the physical work, but dealt mainly with suppliers, deliveries, clients or potential clients. Her strength was handling the administration and monetary details. Their first born, Tatiana arrived in 1935. 1937 saw the birth of Rurik and Nicholi followed in 1939. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the business declined and life became more difficult.

JOsEpH KEOgH “HAmmErEd” On ExCHAngE

Meanwhile, in Dublin, Joseph Keogh was in financial difficulty on the eve of the war. The entire month of July 1939 would have been arguably the most difficult month in Joseph Keogh’s life. Three separate meetings were called and adjourned between June 30th and July 3rd regarding a claim made by Messers C.A. McCaw in respect of a cheque to the value of £63-17-6 written by Joseph Keogh, but not paid by Hibernian Bank. There were two other parties, Dudgeon & Sons and Goodbody & Webb, who were also owed £98-15-7 and £146-2-6 respectively. Various meetings were called, interviews were held with Joseph Keogh, solicitors’ letters were sent back and forth, and Joseph Keogh’s resignation was deferred and then accepted, all throughout the month of July. The Stock Exchange was advised legally to remove his name from the Official List and London and Associated Exchanges were informed of this development. Those parties who were owed monies by Joseph Keogh “were willing to allow [a] reasonable time to pay”.62 On Tuesday August 1st, 1939, Joseph Keogh was declared a defaulter to the “room” and the Secretary applied to the Minister for Finance to have his stockbroking license annulled.63


It was all done very quietly, trying to afford a longstanding colleague, and to many a friend, a certain degree of dignity. There was much respect among the other stockbroking community for both Joseph and Oonah Keogh. When he heard, Eugene Davy called to Joseph Keogh & Co. offices near the Stock Exchange, also on Anglesea Street to commiserate with Joseph. The story relates that Joseph Keogh did not understand what was happening. Annie Keogh, who always had money of her own, left her husband and moved to Crofton Farm in Hampshire, where her daughters had lived.

Oonah testified that “[when] her father came to England, where she was then living, his physical condition [was] bad and his mind was more or less gone.”64 Oonah, by then, had three children under the age of four, the youngest being just a few months old. It would have been a big demand for Joseph Keogh to live with them. Instead, Joseph was cared for in Twyford Abbey, Park Royal in North London. This was a nursing home run by the Alexian Brothers for destitute ‘gentlemen’.

OOnAH gIltsOff vErsus HIbErnIAn bAnK

In 1943 and 1944, Oonah was involved in a court case with Hibernian Bank. Headlines such as “Bank

Fights Claim to Shares”, “Father was ‘Hammered’ on Exchange” and “Partner ‘Treated as a Schoolgirl’” appeared in Irish newspapers. Oonah claimed she had lodged shares in the Hibernian Bank against her own personal overdraft, which she had long paid off, and wanted them back or at least an injunction to prevent the bank from selling them. The bank contended that the shares were lodged as security against the debt of Messrs. Keogh & Co., and claimed liabilities in the region of £30,000, a truly ‘fantastical large’ sum of money in the 1940s. In one article her cross-examination is outlined. She was questioned about “an occasion when the bank sent her a letter complaining about her cashing a £20 cheque... and asked [her] why she did not then point out that her account was covered by the shares, she said that her father would not let her go to the bank...[and] ... that he would see the manager.”65 Hibernian Bank also made the claim that: “On December 31, 1933... there was a debit balance of £23,845. There was nothing in the ledger to show that Mrs. Giltsoff had ceased to be a partner. In the 1938 ledger, the names of the two partners still appeared as account holders. Apparently the Bank woke up to the fact sometime after 1938, when her name was struck out.”66 Mr. Justice Haugh gave judgment, with costs, in favour of the Hibernian Bank. The following year, on July 7th 1944, an appeal was dismissed. Again the court found in favour of the bank and Oonah had to pay the costs. This was a huge financial blow to Oonah and her family. We will never know why Joseph Keogh did not remove Oonah’s name from


the paper work of Joseph Keogh & Co. It may have been an oversight as the evidence would suggest that by the mid to late 1930s, Joseph Keogh was not a well man. The fact that Oonah appealed the case shows a certain level of tenacity, although it could also have been a last bid effort to allay the astronomical debt that she was now responsible for paying back. Perhaps she asked her mother Annie Keogh to come to the rescue. Perhaps Annie refused. In any case, this may account for Oonah’s incidents thereafter of writing cheques that she could not necessarily cover.

The ‘Bellosquardo’ estate was sold in an effort to accrue some fast capital. Even in 1940, a sale price of £400 for such a property was ridiculously low, and there is more than a hint of collusion amongst solicitors. The new owner was P.J. Ruttledge, a T.D., a founding member of Fianna Fáil, whose Government Ministries during his career were Lands and Fisheries, Justice, and Local Government and Public Health. (It is not for this researcher to suggest that politicians and the sales of properties in the 1940s were as corrupt as what was happening in the 1990s and into the 2000s.) Ruttledge and his wife renamed ‘Bellosquardo’ ‘Ardagh Park’ and lived there throughout the 1940s.67 It was circa 1944/45 that Eta Keogh died of tuberculosis.

In early 1944 whilst boarding a ferry, Joseph Keogh was taken seriously ill and died on February 10th; no doubt whilst trying to return to Ireland (presumably to die on home soil). He is buried in Amlwch (pronounced Am-Lock) on the island of

Anglesey, to the very north west of Wales and his grave is unmarked. There is a sad irony in the island’s name Anglesea where he was laid to rest, considering his offices and the Stock Exchange (the place of his successful career and eventual downfall) were both on Anglesea Street. Annie Keogh died two years later, at the Belle Vue Hotel, Lee-on-Solent on October 26th, 1946 and is buried in Crofton Old Church Cemetery in grave no. 431, close to their Hampshire house and where her daughters are buried, as were in later years her siblings Doyne (Arthur) and Deirdre.


tHE mOvE bACK tO IrElAnd And tHE russIAn vIllAgE

In 1947, Oonah and Bayan Giltsoff sold a house near Taunton in Somerset and moved back to Ireland with their, now, four children. Bayan Jr. was born in 1945. They moved to Kilquade in county Wicklow and with their meagre funds bought a thirty-five acre farm around a labourer’s cottage, which they soon set about renovating. Initially, they planned to raise a Jersey herd, however, Jerseys were expensive and their modest capital had been largely spent in the purchase of the cottage. “They reclaimed a bog... tore out gorse from another two or three acres... and renovat[ed] and extend[ed] the labourer’s cottage... [painting] it black and white on the outside. They modernized it with electric lights, water supply, even a telephone, but they kept the half-door and the open fires.”68 Oonah wanted to keep the half-doors, as they were “by no means uncommon in Somerset and Hampshire where she [had] lived.”69 The old farm labourer’s cottage, the byre, and the yard were transformed into “a beautiful home of cream walls low dark-beamed ceilings, broad open fireplaces, and diamond paned windows…”70 The story goes that people saw the cottage and liked it. They approached Bayan to design and build one for them. Although Bayan had renovated houses in a Tudor style in England, and was following that style in Kilquade,

because of his nationality, the area became known as the Russian Village and is still known by that name today. Sixteen houses sprang up on the thirty-five acre farm, all of them were “the same startling but attractive black and white, though some [were] small £1,700 models and others big £4,000-ers”.71 There was however, no planning permission for any of the original houses. The site of the Russian Village had, prior to the famine years (1845-1850), been a village and its little church “that once... served the abandoned village… was now the centre of worship for a new colony” and was to celebrate its 150th anniversary.72 Bayan decorated the church in the same black and white colours of the Village for the occasion, and ever the charmer, “as a personal gift, [he] carved for it a Holy Water Font of Bathstone.”73 In these years, it was Bayan’s turn to be mentioned in newspaper articles, usually in relation to the Russian Village. It is interesting to note that Oonah’s sister, Thais, also owned a house on the development for approximately ten years from 1951 to 1961. (Cearbhaill Ó Dáiligh or Carl Daly (1911 – 1978) was President of Ireland from 1974 to 1976. He went directly to his home in the Russian Village upon leaving the Áras an Úachtarán and there were journalists and photographers waiting for him.)

In 1952, the family packed up and brought the car and even the dog to Canada. They settled in Oakville, Southern Ontario, for a year or two. In Canada, Bayan resumed building houses; this time assisted by his son Rurik aged 15.


By now Tatiana was 17 and Nicholi and Bayan, 13 and 7 respectively, were attending school. At the end of 1953, they moved back to England. Cracks were beginning to appear in Oonah and Bayan’s marriage, although when interviewed and photographed together for the Times article in 1956, there is every outward appearance of a happy marriage. They were back living in Somerset and Bayan with his wife’s assistance re-established his renovation business.

spAIn And IrElAnd

However, by the late 1950s Oonah and Bayan went their separate ways, a brave decision to take by Oonah in those days. There was never a discussion of divorce. They were both Catholic and in the social climate of the time, these things were not done. In the early 60s, Bayan moved back to Ireland and moved to Ashford in Wicklow, where he lived until his death in 1977. In 1962, Thais Cargill (née Keogh) died. Two years later, Oonah made the bold step of moving to Madrid in Spain, along with Tatiana and her husband Ralph Nicholls, and Bayan Jr. Here, Oonah attained fluency in Spanish, and she taught English to children in an international primary school called Numont for approximately 6 years. She was well respected and loved by students and staff alike. In 1968, Bayan Jr. left Madrid. He got married and moved to Kuwait. He was very successful in various business ventures, as he was later in Dubai and in France.

1971 saw Tatiana’s turn to hit the headlines. Little did she realise a gift from her grandmother, Annie Keogh, would turn out to be a very rare and valuable antique, commissioned by Queen Anne of Austria, the wife of Louis XIII, and mother of Louis XIV, and designed by Pierre Boulle in the seventeenth century. The art historian Luis Feduchi confirmed its authenticity in 1969. Tatiana, who had taken the cabinet, “in casual ignorance from Dublin to Spain and then, very carefully back to Dublin, [and] shocked at its great value...”74 had great difficulty in finding either a private buyer for the cabinet or a museum willing to purchase it. Both Christies and Sotheby’s contacted her to offer their services and museums and galleries from both sides of the Atlantic came to look at it. They marvelled and wrote about it in the most complimentary hyperbole, but maintained “no funds, private or governmental [would suffice] for ‘a purchase of such magnitude’”.75


Tatiana showed her mixture of Russian and Irish temperament when she threatened to burn the cabinet on July 15th. Thankfully she did not fulfil her threat, as headlines two years later in 1973, read that she offered the cabinet to the Irish government for a fee the Irish government could not afford. Tatiana did manage to complete a private sale of the cabinet in 1976 or 1977; however, she did not get an outstanding sum. The figure of £30 million was suggested in an Irish Press article in 1973. But to whom it was sold, and where the seventeenth century Pierre Boulle cabinet is now, is unknown.

In 1980, Doyne Keogh, Úna’s only surviving brother died. This was the same year Úna and Tatiana moved back to Dublin. In her later years, Oonah reverted to the Irish spelling of her name ‘Úna’. They were living in ‘Ashurst’, Mount Merrion Avenue, not far from where Úna was born. Tatiana’s husband Ralph Nicholls died of a heart attack in

1981, so the two ladies had now only each other as companions. Úna’s sons did not live in Ireland. Nicholi was living in England, Rurik in France, and Bayan Jr. in the Middle East. Úna and Tatiana were largely financed by the three sons, although the stockbroking community in Dublin also assisted Úna in the 1980s. In 1988, they moved to an apartment in 26 Merrion Court, which is (still) on the corner of Merrion Road and Ailesbury Road. Sadly, Tatiana discovered she had ovarian cancer in 1989. She was very ill and spent four months in St. Vincent’s Private Hospital (paid for by her brothers), where she succumbed to the disease on July 10th, 1989. A further unhappy element of this tale is that just eight days later, still sharp as a whip in her mind, Úna Mary Irene Giltsoff (née Keogh) passed away. Perhaps, with the loss of so many siblings by her early 30s and now her beloved daughter and friend, she had seen too much sadness in her life and just decided it was her time to go. She was eighty-six years old.

A fEmInInE fEmInIst

Úna Mary Irene Keogh had a complex relationship with feminism. Although, in many ways, her life and work, was the embodiment of feminism, in other ways, she herself rejected the idea of feminism and even the word ‘equality’.


She believed there should be “masculine men and feminine women, but neither is superior to the other, and each should have equal opportunities of exercising their talents”.76 In an Evening Press article in 1971, she “vehemently denies being a feminist” and says “she hates words like ‘unisex’ and ‘equality’” posing the question, “who wants to be equal? ‘Complementary’” she declares, is a much better word.77 Úna Keogh was a woman of, and ahead of, her time.

When the clergy in the 1920s and 1930s spoke about the ideal Irish woman being a mother and homemaker, Úna Keogh could smile contentedly to herself, safe in the knowledge, that not only was she the first ever female member of a stock exchange and enjoyed a career prior to marriage, but that she also got married and had four children who adored her, maintained a home, albeit one that moved around a lot, as well as being in business as an equal partner with her husband. Becoming a wife and mother, she believed was a finer career than stockbroking. Having said that, although she was a Catholic until her dying day, like many Catholics she disliked the hypocrisy in the Church. Ultimately, it made little difference to Úna Giltsoff whether she was fulfilling what the prelates regarded as the ideal Irish woman. Úna marched to the beat of her own drum. She was politically conscious and voted, at a time when the Catholic Church did not believe that married women should have the right to vote, as it compromised the unity of marriage. She smoked all her life. She

enjoyed the odd glass of wine. Although, there was an element of the West-Brit about her and she loved England and respected British culture, Úna was very proud of her Irish heritage. She was delighted when her children (and grandchildren) who had been born or lived in England chose to carry an Irish passport.

In a Times article in 1956 and again an Evening Press article of 1971, words used to describe her appearance and demeanour recur. ‘Elegance’ stands out. Úna was described as tall, slender and elegant in one, and elegantly dressed in the other. She always dressed in skirt suits. Her personal style was silk blouses, silk neckerchiefs, and Ma Griffe perfume. Throughout her life, she had a distinctive hair style; it was always drawn back from her face in a loose bun.78 She did not approve of women wearing trousers or not wearing make-up. ‘Charming’ is re-iterated, in fact the phrase ‘charmed the birds from the trees’ was related to this researcher. Moreover from conversations with those who met and knew her, a portrait of an ebullient woman, who was very well respected and liked, emerges.


The Times described her thus: “a pretty girl, as early portraits show, with dark brown hair, soft regular features and blue eyes…a charming Dubliner, whose personality blends the gaiety of her race and the keen wits of her profession…”79 But perhaps the best way to end this biography, (although the story of someone’s life can never be ended as there is always another perspective, another story) is with the words of her son, Bayan Jr.:

Despite her extraordinary upbringing, there was a huge amount of personal sadness in her life; losing 5 siblings before her early ‘30s, she always saw the positive in life and was always ready with her good humour and practical attitude towards life in general and to fight on against all the odds. Believe me, at times, these were stacked against her. She tried to instil in us all (her children) to always look life right in the eye and amongst many gems of wisdom, ‘life takes you at your own valuation’ which is very true indeed; a maxim which has taken me through life quite well. She offered and bestowed upon her children great love, some criticism, great advice (not frequently listened to) great wisdom and memories.

ÚnA’s fAmIly:Deirdre Keogh was honoured with an MBE.

She died in 2005, outliving all her siblings.

Úna is survived by three sons; Rurik, Nicholi and Bayan Jr.. Rurik and Nicholi were involved in the Antiques trade. Rurik has two sons and two daughters; Nicholi has four daughters (two born in Dublin). Bayan Jr. is a successful business man. He has a son and a daughter.

Fortunately, aspects of Úna Keogh’s achievements have been reiterated in her descendents and successes in their various occupations have been her legacy; whether that be accomplishments in entrepreneurship, the military (including a CBE), the world of high finance and recruitment, project management, the medical profession, the classics, languages or the arts, her descendents have in their own ways followed her maxim of ‘life takes you at your own valuation’ and have made their own irrevocable impressions on the world.


ÚnA’s COntEmpOrArIEs: EntrEprEnEurs, ACAdEmICs And mEdICInE

Úna Keogh’s achievement as the first female member of a stock exchange in the world is a truly unique achievement. But were there other women in the 1920s and 1930s who could claim to be ‘firsts’ in business, or medicine, or other areas?

Muriel Gahan: was a formative member of the Irish Countrywoman’s Association. She established ‘The Country Shop’ at no. 23 St. Stephen’s Green in 1930. This was a retail outlet to showcase Irish crafts. Muriel Gahan was the first to popularise Aran Jumpers. It continued operating as a shop until the 1970s.

Ivy Hutton: opened an all female business on 24, South Anne Street called ‘The Modern Decorator’ in 1927. She only employed women painters and decorators.

Emily, Veronica and Pamela Wynn: the three sisters bought Avoca hand weaver’s mill in 1923. They did their own spinning, carding and weaving. The last sister died in 1960.

Margaret Hamilton-Reid: In the early 1950s she was the first female ‘chairman’, as opposed to ‘chair person’ of Switzers and the first woman to be a chairman of a publicly quoted Irish company. During her term, the Switzers Group included; Cashs of Cork, Todds of Limerick, Moons of Galway and for a short time Switzers of Henry Street.

Phylis Ryan was wife of Sean T. O’Kelly, former President of Ireland. She was the first Public Analyst. When her husband became President in 1945, she resigned, and left the laboratory in the management of another woman.

Professor Margaret Hayden: was the first female professorship in Modern History in UCD in 1911.

Dr. Kathleen Lynn: graduated as a doctor in 1899. She was a Sinn Féin politician, activist, suffragette, a member of the Irish Citizen Army, and the Chief Medical Officer during the 1916 Rising, was imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol with others such as Countess Markievicz and played a role in the War of Independence. Her pioneering medical work highlighted the impoverished conditions of inner city women and their children. She established St. Ultan’s Hospital for Infants in 1919. It did not close until 1987.


nOtEs1 Thomas, W. A. The Stock Exchanges of Ireland.

Liverpool & New Hampshire: Francis Cairns

Publications, 1986. p. 1.

2 K.L. “Careers For Girls Vii: Portrait of Miss Oonagh

Keogh. The First Woman Stockbroker.” The Crystal, September 1926, p. 229.

3 Thomas, p. 86. The Crystal, September 1926, p. 229.

4 The Crystal, September 1926, p. 229.

5 The Crystal, p. 229.

6 The Crystal, p. 229.

7 Dublin Stock Exchange, May 18, 1925.

8 The Proclamation of Independence. 1916. [online]

http://www.firstdail.com

9 The Constitution of the Irish Free State. 1922.

[online] http://www.irishstatutebook.ie

10 Valiulis, M., ‘Neither Feminist nor Flapper: The

Ecclesiastical Construction of the Ideal Irish Woman.’,

in Chattel, Servant or Citizen. Women’s Status in Church, State and Society., ed. Wichert, M.O.D.S.

Belfast: The Institute of Irish Studies. Queen’s

University Belfast, 1995, p. 168.

11 Valiulis, M.G., ‘Power, Gender and Identity in the

Irish Free State’, in Journal of Women’s History

(Winter/Spring 1995), p. 117.

12 Valiulis, M.G., pp. 128-129.

13 Valiulis, M.G., p. 124.

14 Valiulis, M.G., p. 121.

15 Senate Debates, vol. 6. December 17, 1925, cols. 247-

248 & Dáil Debates, vol. 13, November 18, 1925, col.

504.

16 Senate Debates, vol. 6. December 17, 1925, col. 253.

17 Kiely, Elizabeth & Máire Leane. Irish Women at Work: An Oral History. Dublin: Irish Academic

Press, 2012, p. 56.

18 Senate Debates, vol. 6. December 17, 1925, col. 246.

19 Dundalk Democrat cited in the Irish Independent,

February 14, 1927. See also the Kilkenny People and

the Evening Herald.

20 Beaumont, C., ‘Women & Politics of Equality: The

Irish Women’s Movement 1930-1943’, in Women & Irish History. Essays in Honour of Margaret MacCurtain, ed. O’Dowd, M.V.M. Dublin &

Niwot, CO: Wolfhound Press & Irish American Book

Company, 1997. p, 176.


21 Dáil Debates, vol. 18, February 15, 1927, col. 489.

22 Dáil Debates, February 23, 1927, vol.18, col. 766.

23 Valiulis, M., p. 169.

24 Cahill, Edward. “Notes on Christian Sociology.” Irish Monthly (October 1924).

25 Irish Monthly, 1924.

26 Irish Monthly, 1924.

27 Irish Independent, 25 October, 1924.

28 Daly, Mary E. “Women in the Irish Free State, 1922-39:

The Interaction between Economics and Ideology.”

Journal of Women’s History 6/7, no. 4/1 (Winter/

Spring 1995): 99-116, p. 102.

29 Daly, Mary E., p. 102.


31 Daly, Mary E., p. 101.

32 “First on the Floor.” The London Times, September

17th, 1956.

33 The London Times, September 17th, 1956.


35 Editorial, The Irish Catholic, 5 March 1927.

36 The Irish Times, January 14th, 1922.

37 They lived at the Tithe Barn, Thames Ditton in

Surrey.

38 “First on the Floor.” The London Times, September

17. 1956.

39 Thomas, W. A., 1986, p. 58.

40 The London Times, September 17, 1956.




44 The London Times, September 17, 1956 &

O’Callaghan, Tanis. “The First and Only Female

Stock-Broker.” The Evening Press, May 15. 1971, p. 8.

45 The Evening Press, May 15. 1971, p. 8. & “Bank Fights

Claim to Shares.” The Irish Press, April 21. 1943, p. 3.

46 The Evening Press, May 15. 1971, p. 8.


48 ‘Dublin Stock Exchange. A Happy Luncheon Party’.

The Irish Times. March 2, 1928, p. 10.

49 ‘Only Woman Stockbroker’ The Irish Times, June 26,

1942, p. 3.


50 “Partner “Treated as Schoolgirl”.” The Irish Independent, April 23 1943, p. 4.

51 “Father Was “Hammered” On Exchange.” The Irish Press, April 22 1943, p. 4.


53 The Irish Press, April 22 1943, p. 4.

54 “Tatlers Leader Page Parade.” The Irish Independent,

February 16th. 1952, p. 6.

55 Dublin Stock Exchange Minute Book. 11th May 1932

to 27th April 1944, p. 28

56 Dublin Stock Exchange Minute Book, p. 28.



59 The Irish Independent, November 14, 1933.

60 QUIDNUNC. “An Irishman’s Diary.” The Irish Times, October 18. 1949, p. 5.

61 The Irish Independent, February 16th. 1952, p. 6.

62 Dublin Stock Exchange Minute Book, pp. 137-144.




66 The Irish Independent, April 23 1943, p. 4.

67 Smith, Cornelius F. Newtownpark Avenue: Its People and Their Houses. Dublin: Albany Press, 2001,

pp. 27-28.

68 O’Reilly, Marie. “I Sketch Your World.” The Irish Independent, October 3rd. 1952, p. 6.

69 The Irish Independent, October 3rd. 1952, p. 6.

70 The Irish Independent, February 16th. 1952, p. 6.




74 Williams, Gabrielle. “The Strange Case of the Pierre

Boulle Cabinet.” The Irish Times, July 9 1971, p. 10.

75 The Irish Times, July 9 1971, p. 10.





This book is under copyright and ownership of the Irish Stock Exchange. © The Irish Stock Exchange plc 2014.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted without the written permission of the Irish Stock Exchange.

Whilst every effort has been made to make the information in this publication as accurate as possible, the Irish Stock Exchange makes no claims, promises, or guarantees of any kind about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents, and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents.

We would like to thank everybody who contributed to this celebration, especially the Keogh and Giltsoff families and Bláthnaid Nolan who compiled this research on behalf of the Irish Stock Exchange.

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