In 1889, Pilcher married Kathleen Mary Gonne, daughter of Colonel Thomas Gonne of the 17th Lancers;[REF] her sister, Maude Gonne, later became a prominent Irish nationalist and mother of the politician and Nobel laureate Seán MacBride, as well as a close associate and muse of W. B. Yeats [REF].
Pilcher's marriage was not a happy one; a gambler and womaniser, he expected his independently wealthy wife to bail out his debts and turn a blind eye to his mistresses.