Dr Nancy de Paor (Ann ‘Nancy’ Power Wyse) was born in Dublin in 1889 to Jennie Wyse Power (née O’Toole) and John Wyse Power. Her mother, Jennie, was a nationalist and founder of the Ladies Land League, and was later vice-president of Cumann na mBan and member of Sinn Féin. Her father, John, was a journalist, civil servant and founding member of the Gaelic Athletics Association (GAA).
A member of Árd Craobh Branch (Central Branch) of Cumann na mBan since 1915, Nancy Wyse Power was instructed by Padraig H. Pearse to deliver dispatches to Borris, County Carlow on Easter Monday and Kilkenny the following day, Tuesday. Upon her return to Dublin Nancy carried dispatches for the O’Rahilly and James Connolly, and organised food supplies with her mother Jennie to be brought to the GPO. She also accompanied Hanna Sheehy Skeffington from the GPO to the College of Surgeons with provisions.
Following the Rising Nancy de Paor returned to the University of Bonn in Germany to complete her PhD programme in 1920. Nancy was able to receive a passport through her recruitment to Dáil Éireann’s Foreign Service, and in 1921 she was instructed by Robert Brennan to travel to Berlin in order to establish a propaganda bureau for Dáil Éireann. She remained in Berlin until the office’s closure in 1922.
Upon her return to Ireland, Nancy de Paor joined the Department of Industry and Commerce in 1923 and at the request of Sean T. O’Kelly she was transferred to the Department of Local Government and Public Health to become his personal secretary. Nancy was one of the first women to rise to the position of principal officer in the Department of Local Government in the Irish civil service before her retirement in 1954.
In 1940 Nancy de Paor was appointed one of the governors of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, and between 1959 and 1962 she was president of the UCD Women Graduates Association.
Dr Nancy de Paor died in Dublin in December 1963 aged 74.
[Sources: Bureau of Military History (Military Archives), Dr Nancy Wyse-Power WS 541, WS 587, WS 732, Dictionary of Irish Biography (DIB), Jimmy Wren, The GPO Garrison, Easter Week 1916: A Biographical Dictionary (2015)].
