Sheila, Lady Killanin: Sheila, Lady Killanin died earlier this month in hospital in Dún Laoghaire in her 90th year.
She was born in the foothills of the Himalayas in the hill station of Mussori, where her father, Canon Douglas Dunlop, was chaplain to the forces. Educated in England, she moved to Galway when the canon was made rector of Oughterard in 1936. While she was living with her parents, she taught ballet classes in Galway.
At the outbreak of war she went to work in Hut 6 at Bletchley Park where operation Ultra eventually broke the German Enigma code and thereby contributed to the Allied success in defeating the U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic. The cryptanalysis of the German army and airforce ciphers was based in Hut 6, a wooden hut set in the grounds of the house. The Official Secrets Act forbade those who worked at Bletchley to speak about their work to anyone, including people who had been attached to other sections of the establishment. Even after 50 years when the ban was lifted, Lady Killanin did not talk about her work, except to say modestly that she was employed in the post room. She was actually the head of the registration room where the intercepted enemy radio messages, sent by the German army and airforce, were sorted and meticulously listed. A colleague remembers Lady Killanin as very efficient, coping calmly with every crisis; her desk was never untidy and despite the war shortages, she was "always so elegant". In 1946, she received the MBE (Member of the British Empire) for her services.
After the war she worked for a short time in the army and navy stores in London, but on a visit back to Ireland she had met Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin at the Galway Races whom she married in 1945 and went to live at the Morris house at Spiddal. This house was described by the writer Martin Ross in the early 1900s as having "the feeling of Russian magnificence in Siberia". The arrival of a huge bath that had been transported through the village on a cart had been the wonder of Spiddal. "Will yez all bathe in it together?"
Fifty years later, when Lady Killanin came as a bride, the house had become shabby and dilapidated. Lady Killanin restored it with efficiency and flair; visitors particularly remember the drawing room with its Chinese yellow walls and deep purple sofas.
During this period, she contracted brucellosis, a debilitating affliction that she suffered from for the rest of her life. In the late 1950s, the family moved to Dublin to Lansdowne Road and some years later to Mount Pleasant Avenue - Spiddal House was sold in 1960, but they continued to spend holidays in Galway in the Protestant church of St Anins which had been converted into a house.
In Dublin she became involved with the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children being elected vice-chairman in 1958, president in 1960-1966 and again in 1974-1978 and then was on the board of governors in 1981-1983. She was very much a hands-on president: she organised and ran a soup kitchen - or more accurately a caravan dispersing food behind the North Stand of the Lansdowne Road. Coincidentally, it was her grandfather, Henry Dunlop, who as a civil engineer had laid out the rugby ground at Lansdowne Road and then went on to create a multisports centre with an emphasis on athletics.
Her husband, Lord Killanin besides being the chairman of many Irish companies, was made president of the International Olympic Committee for an unprecedented two terms of four years each. There was a great deal of travelling and her administrative and social skills were an enormous asset to him. She is remembered as being a graceful and welcoming hostess.
Lady Killanin is survived by her sons, Redmond, the present Lord Killanin, Michael (Mouse Morris the racehorse trainer), John, her daughter Deborah and by 10 grandchildren.
Sheila Mary Cathcart, Lady Killanin: born November 25th, 1917; died March 2nd, 2007.