Helena Molony was born in Dublin in 1883, and joined Inghinidhe na hÉireann sometime in 1903 after hearing an address made by Maud Gonne. She assisted Gonne in launching Ireland’s first women’s periodical, Bean na hÉireann, and it was through this periodical Molony became involved with trade union activism.

Molony began acting professionally in 1911, and was invited to join the Abbey Theatre where she as active until two or three months before the Rising. With the reorganisation of the Irish Women Workers’ Union as an affiliated branch of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union in 1915, Molony was elected general secretary.

On Easter Week, Molony was attached to the Irish Citizen Army and assisted in the establishing of first-aid stations and oversaw provisions in Liberty Hall. Molony took part in the attack on Dublin Castle and was arrested. She was held in Kilmainham and Mountjoy Jails in Dublin, and Lewes and Aylesbury Jails in England. She was released at Christmas in 1916.

Following the Rising, Helena Molony continued her trade union activism and was re-engaged with the Irish Women Workers’ Union. In 1920 she visited the Soviet Union (USSR) and was active in the Women’s Prisoners’ Defence League, the People’s Rights Association and the Anti-Partition League. In 1935 Helena opposed the Conditions of Employment Bill introduced by Fianna Fáil which was discriminatory towards women in the workplace. She was also elected president of the Irish Trade Union Congress in 1937, the second woman to achieve this position, and retired on health grounds in 1941.

Helena Molony died in the home she shared with Dr Evelyn O’Brien in Sutton, Dublin in January 1967 aged 84.

[Further Refs: Bureau of Military History, Helena Molony WS 391, Dictionary of Irish Biography (DIB), Liz Gillis, Women of the Irish Revolution (2014)].