Nora Connolly was born in 1892 to James Connolly, a socialist trade unionist, and Lillie Connolly (née Reynolds). The family moved to Belfast in 1911 and with her sister, Ina, the two joined the ‘Betsy Gray Sluagh’ of Fianna Éireann. Both sisters took part in the Howth gun-running in July 1914.
Together with her sister Ina Connolly-Heron, Nora travelled to Coalisland, Tyrone on Easter Saturday to convene with Volunteers wherein they received the news of the countermanding order issued by Eoin MacNeill. Following the order, the sisters return to Dublin where Ina and Nora were ordered by Padraig H. Pearse to return to Tyrone to inform Volunteers that the planned action was to proceed.
While Ina travelled to Sixmilecross and Clogher, Nora returned to Coalisland but few Volunteers turned out and no action took place in the area. On the Friday of Easter week Nora and Ina decided to make efforts to return to Dublin by train, but after only succeeding in reaching Dundalk they elected to walk the remainder of the journey to Dublin. When they made it back to the city centre the Rising had ended, and their father James Connolly was in critical condition from injuries sustained during the conflict.
Following the Rising and her father’s execution, Nora remained politically active. Nora and her husband, Seamus O’Brien, were both members of the Labour Party. She was elected to Seanad Éireann in 1957 by nomination of then Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, but opposed some government proposals including a church-promoted bill to consign female juvenile offenders to Magdalene Laundries in July 1960. Nora penned a number of books and was a member of the Kilmainham Gaol Restoration Society. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Law in 1966.
Nora Connolly-O’Brien died in Dublin in June 1981, aged 88. She was the last surviving child of James and Lillie Connolly.
[Sources: Bureau of Military History (Military Archives), Nora Connolly O’Brien WS 286, Dictionary of Irish Biography (DIB), Liz Gillies, Women of the Irish Revolution (2014), Uinseann MacEoin, Survivors (1980)].
