Ida Margaret Graves Poore
Ida Margaret Graves Poore, Lady Poore (28 December 1859 – 5 February 1941) was an Anglo-Irish autobiographer and poet.
She was born in Dublin to Rt Rev Charles Graves and Selina Cheyne. Her father was a church leader who later became Bishop of Limerick. Ida grew up in Dublin and at Parknasilla in Kerry. She was the sister of Alfred Perceval Graves and the aunt of the poet Robert Graves. She attended a girls’ prep school in Fulham, and then was educated at home by a governess in Blarney, Cork, followed by schooling at Fanny Metcalfe’s in Highfield.
After the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, she helped her father as his secretary. The family welcomed guests such as William Le Fanu. Ida traveled with her father across Europe and Algeria, and she visited Egypt, where she met her future husband.
On 14 September 1885 she married Sir Richard Poore, 4th Baronet. They had one son, Roger, who joined the Navy and was killed in action in 1915. Richard Poore rose to the rank of Admiral.
Ida Poore wrote two autobiographies about life as a woman and as the wife of an admiral. Sailors called her “Flag Mother.” From 1908 to 1911 the couple lived in Sydney, Australia, where she was the first president of the Bush Book Club; Phoebe Ellen Wesché was the vice-president.
She died on 5 February 1941 in Switzerland at the age of 81.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 03:23 (CET).