Grangegorman Lives: Jennie Wyse Power

Jennie Wyse Power (1858-1941) was an Irish Nationalist and women’s rights activist. She was active in the Ladies' Land League and was a strong supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell. She was a co-founder of Inghinidhe na hÉireann and Cumann na mBan; a founder of the Irish Women’s Franchise League; as well as a founder and, from 1911, vice president of Sinn Féin. In 1920 she was elected Governor of the Richmond District Lunatic Asylum. In 1922 she was appointed as a Cumann na nGaedheal senator. She became an independent senator in 1925 and a Fianna Fáil senator in 1934.

Read more about Jennie Wyse Power's life in our Dictionary of Irish Biography.

Grangegorman Lives is a series of biographies of people whose lives influenced or were influenced by Grangegorman. The biographies are all sourced from Ireland’s Dictionary of Irish Biography: Ireland’s national biographical dictionary. Devised, researched, written and edited under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy, its online edition is freely available at www.dib.ie. 

Grangegorman Histories is a public history programme of research and shared discovery of the Grangegorman site and surrounding communities. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with our activities.

Image credit: Jennie Wyse Power in 1920, the year she was elected Governor of the Richmond District Lunatic Asylum. Irish Life, 30 July 1920; public domain.