Oonagh Guinness (22 February 1910 – 2 August 1995) was an Anglo-Irish socialite, society hostess and art collector, and the second wife of Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne.
Oonagh Guinness | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait by Philip de László, 1931 | |
| Born | 22 February 1910 |
| Died | 2 August 1995 (aged 85) |
| Known for | Socialite, society hostess and art collector; one of the Golden Guinness Girls |
| Spouses | Hon. Philip Kindersley
(m. 1929–1936)Miguel Ferreras
(m. 1957–1965) |
| Children | 5, including Gay Kindersley, Garech Browne and Tara Browne |
| Parent(s) | Ernest Guinness Marie Clothilde Russell |
| Relatives | Aileen Guinness (sister) Maureen Constance Guinness (sister) Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (grandfather) Sir George Russell, 4th Baronet (grandfather) |
| Family | Guinness |
Early life
editShe was born on 22 February 1910, the youngest of the three daughters of Ernest Guinness (1876–1949) and Marie Clothilde Russell (1880–1953), daughter of Sir George Russell, 4th Baronet. Ernest Guinness was the second son of Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847–1927).[1] She believed that she was "the favourite of her father's three blonde and blue-eyed daughters".[2] Along with her two sisters, Aileen and Maureen, the Guinness sisters were celebrated as the Golden Guinness Girls of 1920s British society.[2]
Public life
editOonagh was a prominent hostess, particularly after her second divorce in 1950, when the Luggala Estate became a centre of Irish social life. "Oonagh somehow imbued Luggala with enchantment. Nobody could keep away: Dublin intelligentsia, literati, painters, actors, scholars, hangers-on, toffs, punters, poets, social hang-gliders were attracted to Luggala as to nowhere else in Ireland — perhaps even in Europe, from where many would come. And the still centre of this exultant, exuberant chaos was Oonagh."[2]
Personal life
editAt age 19, Oonagh was engaged to the Hon. Philip Kindersley, the second son of the banker Robert Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley.[2]In 1929, she married the Hon. Philip Kindersley, and they had two children,[2] though only one lived to reach adulthood as her daughter Teresa died as a teenager and is buried on the shores of Lough Tay near Luggala. Gay Kindersley (1930–2011), National Hunt jockey and Jockey Club steward was her son .[1] Their marriage was dissolved in 1936.[2]
In 1936, she married Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne,and her father gave her Luggala, an 18th-century hunting lodge in County Wicklow, an hour south of Dublin. They had three children:[2] Garech Domnagh Browne (1939–2018), an unnamed son (1943-1943)(who is buried beside Teresa at Luggala), and Tara Browne (1945–1966), who died in a car accident.[1] Oonagh and Dominick divorced in 1950.[1]
From 1957 to 1965, she was married to Miguel Ferreras Aciro (1927–1999), a New York dress designer.[1][2]
She died at Luggala on 2 August 1995.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Wilson, Derek (2004). "Oonagh Guinness (1910–1995)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). OUP. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/72210. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Luke, Michael (11 August 1995). "OBITUARY: Oonagh Oranmore". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2017.