Born Helen Mary Sybil Staunton in Herbert Street,
Dublin to Dorothy Eleanor Redington and Peter Maurice Staunton. Her father was barrister who later became a solicitor. Though he moved to Aram Lodge,
Castlerea,
County Roscommon where he practised law, le Brocquy grew up in Dublin and
Howth, going to secondary school in Loreto Abbey,
Rathfarnham, and later at Loreto Convent,
St. Stephen’s Green. She went on to study German and singing in
Coblenz. She married Albert le Brocquy on 30 December 1915 and settled in Dublin. They had three children,
Louis, Noel and
Melanie. le Brocquy became involved in various women's movements helping to organise the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in July, 1926. She was involved with the
League of Nations Association as well as helping to establish Irish Civil Rights,
PEN, and
Amnesty in Ireland. She was an active member of
Old Dublin Society and for a time president of the Irish Women Writers’ Society. She acted with the Drama League appearing as Helen Staunton. She wrote plays and dramatic pieces which were staged by the Drama League at the
Abbey Theatre and broadcast by
Radio Éireann. Her writings and work were often historically investigative, finding
Yeats’s birthplace and arguing that
Swift had a child by Vanessa. She was involved in the Swift Tercentenary celebrations with
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh. As a result of her work, including with
Trinity College Dublin Library and representing the Library on the
Royal Irish Academy’s National Committee for Anglo-Irish Literature, she was co-opted to the Cultural Committee of the Department of External Affairs and appointed a Trustee of the
National Library of Ireland. le Brocquy was an excellent organiser and fundraiser and was heavily responsible for securing money for the
Gate Theatre, Dublin in 1970. She also initiated the literary prize, the Book of the Year award. However le Brocquy became ill with an undiagnosed illness and died on 4 September 1973 at the
Meath Hospital, Dublin. ==Bibliography==