Born Lady Louisa Augusta Lennox, she was the third of the four
Lennox sisters portrayed in
Stella Tillyard's book
Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox and in the BBC television series based on it. The Lennox sisters were the daughters of
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and
Lady Sarah Cadogan. The 2nd duke's father,
the first duke, was an illegitimate son of King
Charles II of England. Louisa was still a child when her parents died within a year of each other in 1750 and 1751. After this, Lady Louisa was brought up by her much older sister
Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster, in
Kildare. In 1758, aged 15, she married
Thomas Conolly (1738–1803), grand-nephew of
William Conolly, Speaker of the
Irish House of Commons. Her husband, a wealthy land-owner and keen horseman, was also a successful politician who was elected to Parliament as early as 1759. The couple lived in the
Palladian mansion
Castletown House in
County Kildare, the decoration of which she directed throughout the 1760s and 1770s. The Conolly summer residence 'Cliff House' on the banks of the
River Erne between
Belleek, County Fermanagh and
Ballyshannon,
County Donegal was demolished as part of the Erne Hydroelectric scheme, which constructed the Cliff and
Cathaleen's Fall hydroelectric power stations. Cliff hydroelectric power station was constructed on the site of 'Cliff House' and was commissioned in 1950. in
County Kildare Themselves unhappily childless, at that point they took up the welfare of young children from disadvantaged backgrounds as a lifelong project, contributing both money and effort towards initiatives which would enable foundlings and vagabonds to acquire productive skills and support themselves. They developed one of the first Industrial Schools where boys learnt trades, and Lady Louisa took active personal interest in mentoring the students. In middle age, Lady Louisa also virtually adopted her niece Emily Napier (1783–1863), the daughter of her sister
Lady Sarah Lennox. Emily, who would spend long months with her aunt in Kildare, married
Sir Henry Bunbury, 7th Baronet, and moved to
Suffolk, although she remained close to her aunt until her death. Thomas Conolly died in 1803. Upon his death, the major part of his estates, which included
Wentworth Castle, passed to a distant relative, Frederick Vernon. Lady Louisa received the Castletown House and estate, as also certain liquid investments and valuable urban properties, which enabled her to live in comfort and continue her activities until her own death in 1821. She willed these substantial properties to a great-nephew,
Edward Michael Pakenham (grandson of Thomas' sister Harriet), later the MP for
Donegal, ==In media==