[2] Her father was an MP and lieutenant-colonel of Waterford artillery militia, of Ballynastragh, Gorey, County Wexford, and her mother was the granddaughter of Henry Grattan.
The Pilkingtons lived in South Africa when her husband commanded the West Australian Mounted Infantry in the Second Boer War.
Pilkington arrived in County Donegal in December 1910, armed with a map and a thermos flask, whilst there she described emigration as a blight on rural Ireland.
[1] The 1911 pamphlet, The United Irishwomen: their work, place and ideals, was composed of three essays by Plunkett, Pilkington, and Russell, and a preface by Fr Thomas Finlay.
She was shown regularly by the Water Colour Society of Ireland between 1921 and 1936, serving as the group's secretary for a time.
Later in life, she was an active member of the Central Catholic Library Association, acting as its president of the ladies' committee for a number of years.