Grace Ramsay (Kathleen O'Meara)

Kathleen O'Meara, also known under her pen name Grace Ramsay (1839 - 10 November 1888), was an Irish-French Catholic writer and biographer during the late Victorian era. She was the Paris correspondent of The Tablet, a leading British Catholic magazine. Irish Monthly also published many of her serialized and biographical works. O' Meara also wrote works of fiction where she explored a variety of topics from women's suffrage to eastern European revolutions. The majority of her novels contained Catholic themes and social reform issues. O'Meara was born in Dublin in 1839. Her father was Dennis O'Meara of Tipperary, while her grandfather, Barry Edward O'Meara, had been Napoleon's physician on St. Helena from the years 1815-1818. He later denounced Britain's treatment of the ex-emperor in his exile. This was quite the sensation in 1822. For this reason, Kathleen O'Meara's mother had a pension from the French state. Kathleen immigrated to France soon after she was born with her family, who never returned to Ireland. After leaving Ireland, she lived in Paris for the majority of her life. As she was entirely devoted to her writing career, O'Meara never married, or had any children. At the age of 49, O'Meara died of pneumonia in her home 15 Rue Washington, Paris on November 10, 1888. Her sister Geraldine Mary, who had been living with her in Paris was sole executrix of O'Meara's will, probate date 8 March 1889, which provided instructions for dispensing her posthumous estate of £3,110. 17s. 4d.