Doreen Geraldine Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne, DStJ (née Lady Doreen Geraldine Browne; 29 May 1896 – 28 August 1979) was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and socialite. She died as a result of her injuries following an attack by the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

in August 1979, when a boat was bombed off the coast of County Sligo. The bomb targeted

Lord Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...

, who was also killed in the explosion.

Family life

She was the third daughter of The Most Hon.

George Browne, 6th Marquess of Sligo {{Infobox noble, type , name = George Browne , title = Marquess of Sligo , image = George Ulick Browne and Agatha Stewart Hodgson, circa 1910s.jpg , caption = George Ulick Browne and his wife, Aga ...

, and his wife, Agatha (née Hodgson), granddaughter of William Forsyth, QC. On 22 January 1919, she married Hon. Michael Knatchbull, a son of Cecil, 4th Baron Brabourne, and his eventual successor. They had two children: * Hon. Norton Cecil Michael Knatchbull, later 6th Baron Brabourne (1922–1943) * Hon. John Ulick Knatchbull, later 7th Baron Brabourne (1924–2005) On 15 February 1933, her husband succeeded his father as 5th Baron Brabourne and Doreen became The Lady Brabourne. Her husband, Lord Brabourne, served as Governor of Bombay from 1933 until 1937, and then as Governor of Bengal from 1937 until his death.

Death

On 27 August 1979, the Dowager Lady Brabourne was seriously injured in an explosion which killed Lord Mountbatten (the father of her younger son's wife), their teenage grandson Nicholas, and local boy Paul Maxwell, on

Donegal Bay Donegal Bay (''Bá Dhún na nGall'' in Irish) is an inlet (or bay) in the northwest of Ireland. Three counties – Donegal to the north and west, Leitrim and Sligo to the south – have shorelines on the bay, which is bounded on the w ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...

. A bomb had been planted in Lord Mountbatten's fishing boat by a member of the

. Lady Brabourne died in hospital from her injuries the next day.

Commemoration

Her name is commemorated by the eponymous Lady Brabourne College, which was established in 1939 as the first women's college for Muslim women in Calcutta, India. She took the initiative in establishing this institution following complaints from Muslim girls that they were discriminated against by the Hindu establishment at the elite Bethune College, which is incidentally the first women's college in India.

References

lordmountbattenofburma.com - Tribute & Memorial web-site to Louis, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knatchbull, Doreen the Baroness of Brabourne 1896 births Mass murder victims 1979 deaths Brabourne Companions of the Order of the Crown of India Dames of Grace of the Order of St John People killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army Deaths by improvised explosive device in the Republic of Ireland British terrorism victims Daughters of British marquesses People murdered in the Republic of Ireland British people murdered abroad Terrorism deaths in the Republic of Ireland Founders of Indian schools and colleges 1979 murders in the Republic of Ireland