Kathleen D'Olier Courtney was born the youngest of five daughters and the fifth of seven children of Lieutenant (later Major) David Charles Courtney (1845-1909) of the
Royal Engineers (a native of
Milltown,
County Dublin, Ireland), and his wife, Alice Margaret (née Mann) at 1 York Terrace, in
Gillingham, Kent on 11 March 1878. Upon the outbreak of
World War I in 1914, she abandoned her active campaigning for women's suffrage and devoted her life to studying
international politics and trying to build bridges towards international cooperation. In April 1915,
Aletta Jacobs, a suffragist in the
Netherlands, invited suffrage members from around the world to an International Congress of Women in
The Hague. The attendees included
Mary Sheepshanks,
Jane Addams,
Grace Abbott,
Lida Gustava Heymann,
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence,
Emily Hobhouse,
Chrystal Macmillan and
Rosika Schwimmer. At the conference the women formed the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WIL). Courtney ultimately was elected as
chair of the British section. In March 1977, as part of the Suffrage Interviews project, titled
Oral evidence on the suffragette and suffragist movements: the Brian Harrison interviews, the historian,
Brian Harrison, conducted an interview about Courtney with Elisabeth Furlong, who was Courtney's first cousin once removed, (related to the Mann's on her mother's side). She spoke about Courtney's family and schooling, time at Lady Margaret Hall, and her attitudes and experiences in old age. ==Death and legacy==