Clodagh Finn: The life and extraordinary death of Arabella Denny

She set up the country's first Magdalen Asylum in 1765 as a refuge 'of assistance and reward' after campaigning for infant healthcare and introducing carpet weaving to Ireland. Kerry woman Arabella Denny was the product of an eccentric father and a cultivated mother

There is no shortage of colourful details when summing up the singular life of Kerry philanthropist Lady Arabella Denny.

She campaigned for healthcare for infants, set up an almshouse for the poor, introduced carpet weaving to Ireland, bred silkworms at her home and, rather incongruously, took shooting lessons to stop her brother-in-law bullying her (it worked!).

There is no shortage of colourful details when summing up the singular life of Kerry philanthropist Lady Arabella Denny, and yet the temptation is to start with the extraordinary orders she left for dealing with her death, at the age of 85 in 1792.