Low profile: Brendan McNamara on the life and work of Isabella Honan, one of Cork’s most generous philanthropists

This year marks the bicentenary of the birth of a remarkable Cork woman, Isabella Honan. Though regarded as one of Cork’s greatest philanthropists, little information of substance about her has survived – even to the extent that no picture or portrait of her has come to light. Although her name is widely known, the woman herself remains largely forgotten.

A family that avoided the limelight, the Honans made their fortune from the butter trade at a time when Cork was at the centre of a global enterprise. Their name is associated with various projects at University College Cork (UCC), including the renowned chapel which houses some of Harry Clarke’s most celebrated work.

Completed in 1916, the Honan Chapel serves as a unique point of convergence for religious, artistic and social narratives, important in the history of UCC and, arguably, in a broader sense. All the UCC philanthropy we now know was due to Isabella’s generosity, though she was adamant that the family name be to the fore in attribution.

Isabella’s father, Robert, came from Limerick to Cork at the turn of the 19th century and established the family business in the city. His own father had built a successful trading enterprise in Limerick; their base of operations is still known as Honan’s Quay.

Of the eight Honan children in Cork who survived their parents, six did not marry or have families. Two sisters were married but left the city, and their families had little connection to their Cork cousins. Indeed, all of Isabella’s siblings predeceased her, some when they were relatively young.

When she died in 1913, this Honan lineage in Cork ended abruptly. The family home on Wellington Road, in Cork’s Victorian Quarter (and which still stands), was auctioned off along with all their goods and chattels.

In effect, there was no one left who could preserve family papers or portraits, no one who could curate a deeper memory of the family beyond their name as appended to projects they supported and buildings they endowed.

Isabella, particularly in her later years, was very active in providing support for church ornamentation and various charitable endeavours associated with education and health. She provided a substantial sum (£12,000 – today circa €1.8 million) for the building of a chapel at “St Patrick’s Hospital for Incurables”, not far from where she lived, and which is now the home of Griffith College.

She endowed an undergraduate scholarship at UCC that she hoped would assist Catholics of lesser means to access a university education, though she insisted the bursary be open to non-Catholics and to women.

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And she was a key donor to the North Infirmary Hospital, equipping an operating theatre there that was regarded as among the best in the country. In every building and renovation endeavour she supported she gave instructions that local labour and artisans be employed, and local businesses should benefit. If something could not be found of sufficient quality in her native city, she was not shy in seeking it from wherever it could be sourced.

Over time the entire family fortune devolved to Isabella, a sum which on her death amounted to more than €21 million in today’s money. In her will she disbursed it to charities, schools, hospitals and multiple individuals, many of whom were women.

Isabella instructed that provision for “individual women shall be for their sole and separate use and shall be free from the control of any husband”. Some relatives did benefit, but most of the family fortune went to her favoured causes.

It is only in her last will and testament, which stretches over 20 pages, that we hear Isabella’s voice. It is the only autobiographical or “life writing” she has left to posterity and is a fascinating expression of her interests and charitable orientation, a study in purposeful philanthropy.

Until very recently it was not known when Isabella was born; various records gave conflicting information as to her age. While seeking baptismal records for the older Honan children, it came to light that Bridget Isabella Honan (she went by Isabella throughout her life) was baptised on September 10th, 1826, in St Mary’s & Anne’s Cathedral, and so was well into her 80s when she passed away.

Though her actual birth date is nowhere recorded (and predated the civil registration of births), given the practice of the time it would have been close to that of her Baptism. Finding this record has been an important discovery and more accurately connects her history to the present.

More importantly, it allows us to acknowledge, for the first time, a significant event in her story – the bicentenary of her birth. To commemorate the occasion, the Honan Trust, which oversees the running of the Honan Chapel, has commissioned a musical composition in honour of Isabella. The piece will be performed at a concert in UCC in December.

It seems somewhat strange that it has taken so long to ascertain such a simple and important fact as when Isabella Honan was born. Perhaps stranger is how long it has taken us to ask the question.