Helena Molony
226, North Circular Road, Dublin.
Helena Molony was born in Dublin in 1884. She was an actress and a journalist. She joined Maud Gonne’s Inghinidhe na hÉireann in 1903 and was Honorary Secretary 1907-1914. Helena was the editor of the organisation’s newspaper Bean na hÉireann which advocated militancy, separatism and feminism.
There is no census report for Helena in either the 1901 or 1911 censuses. In 1911 she was arrested and became the first Irish female political prisoner of her generation when she smashed a portrait of George V during the monarch’s visit to Ireland. It is possible that she was in Ireland on Census night in 1911 but refused to fill out the Census form because she was a suffragette.
Helena Molony introduced Dr. Kathleen Lynn and Countess Markievicz to the Labour Movement. In 1913 she assisted with the soup kitchen in Liberty hall and addressed strike meetings. She spent time in France in 1914 with Maud Gonne. In 1915 she became Secretary of the Irish Women’s Workers Union and knew all the men who would later form the Military Council which planned the Rising. She was very involved in the preparations of the Military Council and was responsible for smuggling guns into Ireland before the rebellion. At one stage she took delivery of parcels which contained the printed copies of the Proclamation, which she then kept under her pillow, while she was armed with a revolver. At this point in her career she was an actress and was taking part in early productions in the Abbey Theatre. She acted in her last production two days before the Rising.
When Helena arrived at the GPO on 24th April, 1916 James Connolly assigned her to the City Hall Garrison with another famous revolutionary Dr. Kathleen Lynne. She was involved with nine other women in the raid on Dublin Castle which resulted in the death of an unarmed policeman. After the Rising she was imprisoned first in Ship Street Barracks and then in Kilmainham Gaol where she attempted to tunnel her way out, (unsuccessfully), with a spoon. She was then sent to Aylesbury in England before being released in 1917.
After her release she assisted Countess Markievicz who had been appointed to the Ministry of Labour in the new Dáil Éireann and she served as a District Justice in the Republican court in Rathmines. Helena visited Russia in 1929 as a guest of the Soviet Trade Union movement and on her return set up the Friends of Soviet Russia. In the 1930’s she became active in the Women’s Prisoners’ Defence League. In 1936 she became president of the Irish Trade Union Congress but was forced to retire due to ill health in 19461.
Helena Molony died in January 1967 and is buried in Glasnevin cemetery.
Sources:
1. http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/visit-glasnevin/interactive-map/helena-moloney/
2. Bureau of Military History Witness Statement: Helena Molony:
http://www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0391.pdf#page=13
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