Charlotte Grace O'Brien

Charlotte Grace O'Brien (23 November 1845 – 3 June 1909) was an Irish author and philanthropist and an activist in nationalist causes and the protection of female emigrants. She is known also as a plant collector.

Born on 23 November 1845 at Cahirmoyle, County Limerick, she was the younger daughter in a family of five sons and two daughters. Her Father was William Smith O'Brien, the Irish nationalist and her mother was Lucy Caroline, eldest daughter of Joseph Gabbett, of High Park, County Limerick. On her father's return in 1854 from the penal settlement in Tasmania, she rejoined him in Brussels, and stayed there until he came back to Cahirmoyle in 1856. On her mother's death in 1861, she moved with her father to Killiney, near Dublin, and was his constant companion till his death at Bangor, Wales in 1864.

From 1864, O'Brien lived at Cahirmoyle with her brother Edward, caring for his motherless children, Nelly, Dermod and Lucy, until his remarriage in 1880. By 1879, Charlotte, who had been hard of hearing since childhood, had become entirely deaf. She went to live at Ardanoir near Foynes on the River Shannon, and spent time writing. She became a staunch supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell.

A bad harvest in Ireland in 1879, combined with Irish political turmoil, caused many Irish people to emigrate to America. In articles and letters to newspapers and reviews, O'Brain exposed the awful conditions that existed in the Queenstown (Cobh) lodging houses, on board the emigrant ships, and in the dock slums of New York, where the Irish had to stay upon landing. A notable piece she wrote was the Horrors of the Immigrant Ship which appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette May 6, 1881.

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