Quick Facts
Biography
Helena Concannon (née Walsh; 1878 – 27 February 1952) was an Irish historian, writer, language scholar and Fianna Fáil politician.
Born in Derry, she was Professor of History at University College Galway. Many of her writings were on the subject of Irish women, including Canon Sheehan's Woman Characters (1910), Women of Ninety Eight (1919), Daughters of Banba (1922), The Poor Clares in Ireland (1929), and Irish nuns in penal days (1931).
She was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) at the 1933 general election for the National University of Ireland constituency. At the 1938 general election, she was elected to Seanad Éireann for the National University of Ireland constituency. She was re-elected at each successive election and served in the Seanad until her death in 1952.
Her husband was the Irish scholar Thomas Concannon, Tomás Bán Ó Conceanainn, a national health inspector, and Helena authored several books as "Mrs Thomas Concannon".
Works
- The Queen of Ireland: An Historical Account of Ireland's Devotion to the Blessed Virgin (Dublin: M.H. Gill, 1938).