Kitty Maher (aged 93)

Meeting Kitty Maher was indeed a great privilege. She began the recoding by recalling her days working for Major Kavanagh in the Big House. She entered domestic service at the age of 15, having grown up in a small country farmhouse near Graiguenamanagh. She describes the lifestyle of the Major and his wife, the butler, the maids, the cooks, the chauffeur, the nannies and the governesses. While looking at a photograph of the Major’s family, she told stories about each individual. She worked in Borris House for twenty-five years, and for twenty years continued to look after Mrs Kavanagh at Gowran, where she moved after the death of the Major. She recalled witnessing the sudden death of the Major as he arrived back home one day from hunting.