Lennox, Emily (1731–1814)

Duchess of Leinster. Name variations: Lady Kildare; Emily Fitzgerald. Born Emilia Mary Lennox, Oct 1731, in London, England; died Mar 1814 in London; dau. of Charles Lennox, 2nd duke of Richmond, and Sarah Cadogan (d. 1751); sister of Caroline Lennox (1723–1774), Louisa Lennox (1743–1821), and Sarah Lennox (1745–1826); great-granddau. of Charles II, king of England, and Louise de Kéroüaille; m. James Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare and duke of Leinster, 1747; m. William Ogilvie (her children's tutor), 1774; children: (1st m.) George Fitzgerald (b. 1748); William (b. 1749), later duke of Leinster; Emily Fitzgerald (b. 1752); Charles Fitzgerald (b. 1756); Charlotte Fitzgerald (b. 1758); Henry Fitzgerald (b. 1761); Sophia Fitzgerald (b. 1762); Edward Fitzgerald (b. 1763); Robert Fitzgerald (b. 1765); Gerald Fitzgerald (b. 1766); Fanny Fitzgerald (b. 1768); Lucy Fitzgerald (b. 1770); George Fitzgerald (b. 1771); and 5 others who died young; (2nd m.) Cecilia Ogilvie (b. 1775); Mimi Ogilvie (b. 1778).

One of four aristocratic daughters of the duke and duchess of Richmond, renowned for their beauty and intelligence; by marriage, became one of the wealthy Fitzgeralds, Ireland's largest landholders and consequently important players in Irish politics; the most intellectual of the sisters, read widely and had strong interests in British politics, theology, and Enlightenment philosophies.

See also Brian Fitzgerald, Emily, Duchess of Leinster: A Study of Her Life and Times (Staples, 1949); Stella Tillyard, Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox (Farrar, 1994); and Women in World History.