Condell, Frances Pauline (1916–86), politician and journalist, was born 29 June 1916 at 8 Sexton St., Limerick, sixth child of James Eades , signal inspector, and Fanny Eades (née Sheppard). She had five older brothers. The family was protestant, and Frances attended St Michael's primary school and Villiers School, Limerick, and Coláiste Móibhí, Dublin (an Irish-speaking secondary school college under Church of Ireland control). She graduated BA (TCD), after attending the Church of Ireland teacher training college 1935–6. She taught for a time in her old school (Villiers), and elsewhere. She held a diploma in social science from TCD, and worked as a welfare officer at the Shannon industrial estate.
She was keenly interested in community affairs and local politics in Limerick, and was elected to the city council as a representative of the Ratepayers Association in 1960. Her election (29 June 1962) as mayor of Limerick, the first woman in the city's history to hold this position, brought her to national attention. She became still better known when her speech welcoming the American president John F. Kennedy to Limerick (June 1963) was described by Kennedy as the best speech he had heard during his tour in Europe. She was elected to a second term as mayor on 2 July 1963. In 1967 she retired from the council but continued to play an active role as a volunteer in various charities and public bodies.
She was for many years a brigade commandant of the local Red Cross unit (which she had helped found), and during the second world war was national organiser of the Red Cross; she also worked as a volunteer nurse at St Camillus Hospital, Limerick. A member of the Royal Society of Health and the Royal Society of Public Health and Hygiene, she was assistant organising secretary of the National Blood Transfusion Agency, and national chairman of the 1968 Conquer Cancer Campaign. For a number of years she was a freelance journalist, writing for the Limerick Echo, Farmers’ Journal, Church of Ireland Gazette, and Woman's Way. She published (1965) an educational booklet entitled Your local council, and some of her poems were published in newspapers.
She married (29 June 1937) Robert Condell, businessman; they had one son, Alan. The family lived at Rivercrest, North Circular Road, Limerick. She died 10 November 1986, after a long illness, in Barrington's Hospital, Limerick. Her body was donated to medical science. Her papers are in the University of Limerick.