Some of Connie Somerset lace collection on display at The Kinsale Lace Festival 2022
ITEMS FROM THE COLLECTION OF ETHEL FITZSIMONS (1887-1973)
Kathleen Ethel Dowman was born in Glenbrook in 1887, the daughter of John Edward Lombard Dowman (a Cork Solicitor) and Kathleen Alice Marks. She was orphaned at the age of two and raised by her aunt, Kathleen Chamney Dowman (Born in Kinsale in 1856) from whom she got her lifelong interest in lace and lacemaking. In her early 20s she worked as a teacher of the deaf in the School for the Deaf and Dumb in Preston, Lancashire. Here she began her own lace collection. In September 1914 she married Donald Barrington FitzSimons, a bank clerk with the Provincial Bank of Ireland and in 1919 they moved to Bantry. She continued to collect and in 1927 she inherited her aunt’s collection. After her husband died in 1958 she moved to Dublin taking her lace collection with her. She and her lace returned to Cork where she died in November of 1973 This display is a selection of some of the best pieces from her collection. It is being made available to showcase examples of different methods and types of lace and to share her passion with others.
Some recent photos from Kinsale Lace festival.
Crawford Art Gallery, 'Made in Cork' exhibition
Kinsale Week 2016
Fota House Exhibition - 2015
Come Fly with Me - Exhibition of Irish Lace at Kiskunhalas Lace House
Flavour of the Lace Cruise October 2012
Mountmellick Wall Hanging Depicting the Titanic Leaving Cobh Harbour
Cobh Lace Class 25th Birthday Antique and Vintage Lace and Fashion Show 2011
TLI Perpetual Trophy awarded at the RDS National Crafts Competitions
Summer School, Gougane Barra, May 2010
TLI and Lace Guild of Northern Ireland April 2009
Gougane Barra Lace Summer School May 2009
RDS National Craft Competition 2008 - TLI Prizewinners
Gold Medal - XII Biennale Internazionale del Merletto Sansepolcro 2006
