[1] She had given an account of her troubles to a commission in London looking at the work of the league and its leader Charles Stewart Parnell.

She said that her pet donkey had its ears removed and 100 sheep belonging to a tenant who paid her were thrown off a cliff.

Some of the money required to transform the house into a hotel came from well-wishers and this included Prime Minister Balfour.

The commission found that Parnell was innocent of these crimes as he had not encouraged the bad behaviour but these were due to over-enthusiastic followers.

[3] Blake gained additional sympathy in the press that a noblewoman had to resort to commercial enterprise.