Una Troy Walsh (21 May 1910 – 27 September 1993) was an Irish novelist and playwright who wrote under the names Elizabeth Connor and Una Troy.

Early life

Troy was born in

Fermoy Fermoy () is a town on the Munster Blackwater, River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,700 people. It is located in the barony (Ir ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, the daughter of John S. Troy and Brigid Agnes Hayes. Her father was a lawyer and a judge. Her sister Gráinne (or Grania, 1913–1970) was a musician, and her sister Shevaun (1923–1993) was a poet.Butler, Ann M.
Collection List for Una Troy Papers
''

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ) is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland is "To collect, preserve, promote and make accessible the ...

. She was educated at the Loreto Convent in

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside (Dublin), southside suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Dublin. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16, 16. It is between the Lo ...

, Dublin.

Career

Before and during World War II

Writing under the pen name of "Elizabeth Connor", she began her career in 1936 with the publication of the novel ''Mount Prospect'', which was banned in the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

. Adapted as a play, it garnered the

Shaw Prize The Shaw Prize is a set of three annual awards presented by the Shaw Prize Foundation in the fields of astronomy, medicine and life sciences, and mathematical sciences. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, by Hong Kong entertainment mogul and p ...

for new playwrights and was performed on the

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

stage in 1940. Two subsequent plays by Troy ''Swans and Geese'' and ''An Apple a Day,'' were also performed at the Abbey in the early 1940s. In 1938, ''Dead Star's Light'' was published. The protagonist, John Davern, was based on the character of IRA revolutionary idealist

George Lennon George Lennon (25 May 1900 – 20 February 1991) was an Irish Republican Army leader during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. Background and early Republican activities George Gerard Lennon was born in Dungarvan, County W ...

of West

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

. While not banned, it did elicit censure from Troy's parish priest in Clonmel. ''Dead Star's Light'' was performed on the Abbey stage in 1947 as ''The Dark Road''.

After World War II

In the post-World War II period Troy wrote more fifteen novels, under her own name. ''Miss Maggie and the Doctor'' (1958) was considered "as Irish as the shamrock" with "a unique exuberance and charm". ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' described her 1959 novel ''The Other End of the Bridge'' as "Funny in its presentation but not in its intent," adding that Troy "points up universal problems in microcosm, and stirs its Irish stew with a sturdy ladle." Troy's 1955 novel, ''We Are Seven'', was adapted as a film, ''

She Didn't Say No! ''She Didn't Say No!'' is a 1958 British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Eileen Herlie, Perlita Neilson and Niall MacGinnis. It was written by T.J. Morrison based on the 1955 novel ''We Are Seven'' by Una Troy. An attractive yo ...

'' (1958), for which she was the co-writer. Because of its portrayal of illegitimacy, the film was not released in Ireland until a film copy was retrieved in 2001 at the

Irish Film Archive The Irish Film Archive is part of the Irish Film Institute (formed in 1943, incorporated in 1945) the body charged with the promotion and preservation of film culture in Ireland. The Archive collects, preserves and makes accessible Ireland's mo ...

. It was shown at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York in 2005, as part of an international film preservation festival. Thanks to the European initiative 'A Season of Classic Films' of the

Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) The Association of European Cinematheques (French: Association des Cinémathèques Européennes - ACE) is an affiliation of 49 European national and regional film archives founded in 1991. Its role is to safeguard the European film heritage and mak ...

, the film has been digitised in early 2021 and made possible to release online with an introduction on the film’s preservation and history.

Selected publications

* ''Mount Prospect'' (also known as ''No House of Peace'', 1936) * ''Dead Star's Light'' (1938) * ''We Are Seven'' (1955) * ''Miss Maggie'' ''and the Doctor'' (also known as ''Maggie'', 1958) * ''The Workhouse Graces'' (also known as ''The Graces of Ballykeen,'' 1959) * ''The Other End of the Bridge'' (1960) * ''Esmond'' (1962) * ''The Brimstone Halo'' (also known as ''The Prodigal Father'', 1965) * ''The Benefactors'' (1969) * ''The Castle Nobody Wanted'' (1970) * ''Tiger Puss'' (1970) * ''Doctor Go Home'' (1973) * ''Out of Everywhere'' (1976) * ''Caught in the Furze'' (1977) * ''A Sack of Gold'' (1979) * ''So True a Fool'' (1981)

Personal life

In 1931, Una Troy married Joseph C. Walsh of Bonmahon, who served as physician to the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

(IRA), and later as a coroner. Her sister-in-law May Walsh was married to Irish artist

Seán Keating Seán Keating (born John Keating, 28 September 1889 – 21 December 1977) was an Irish romantic-realist painter who painted some iconic images of the Irish War of Independence and of the early industrialization of Ireland. He spent two week ...

. The couple lived in

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

for most of their lives together, and had a daughter, Janet (1932–2002). Una Troy was widowed when Dr. Walsh died in 1969, and she died in 1993 in Bonmahon, County Waterford. Many of her papers are in the collection of the

References

External links

Una Troy
a website run by Troy biographer and archivist Ann M. Butler. * *Claire Connolly, "Scholarcast 19: Four Nations Feminism: Una Troy and

Menna Gallie Menna Patricia Humphreys Gallie (18 March 1919 – 17 June 1990) was a Welsh novelist and translator. She is best known for her novels in the English language, and as the translator of Caradog Prichard's ''Un Nos Ola Leuad'', under the title ''Ful ...

", an audio program from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

.
"Clonmel at Crossroads of Change"
(16 March 1967), an episode of the RTÉ series ''Discovery,'' featuring Una Troy. {{DEFAULTSORT:Troy, Una 1910 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Irish novelists 20th-century Irish women writers 20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights People from Fermoy Writers from County Cork Irish women novelists Irish women dramatists and playwrights Writers from County Waterford Writers from County Tipperary People from Clonmel