Sargent, Fay (1890/91–1967), singer, actress, and journalist, was born in Waterford in 1890 or 1891, an only child, and christened Mary Gertrude. Her father Terence Hannan died, aged 38, when she was an infant, and she and her mother went to England to live with her uncle, the Rev. Richard Hannan, who had a parish at Lamley Moor, near Durham. She was educated at a French school in England and by the Loreto nuns, and at a young age became involved with the Gaelic League in London, perhaps influenced by her cousin Richard Barry O'Brien (qv), author of a Life of Parnell. Through the movement she met her husband, Philip Armfield Sargent (d. 1957), a timber merchant, whom she married in London on 16 September 1908 at the age of 17. Though an English quaker, he had strong Irish nationalist sympathies and was later prominent in the fight for independence. After the Easter rising of 1916 he was probably held in Lewes naval prison in June, and was later transferred to Frongoch camp, north Wales.
The Sargents moved to Ireland some years after their marriage, and were living at 124 Leinster Road, Rathmines, Dublin, in 1915. Fay took to touring the country and singing traditional Irish songs on behalf of the Gaelic League. In 1918 she began acting, under the name ‘Dymphna Daly’, in the Abbey Theatre and around this time appeared in silent films with Jimmy O'Dea (qv) and Ria Mooney (qv). In 1921 she appeared, with O'Dea again, as Mrs Golder in John MacDonagh's (qv) ‘The Irish Jew’ at the Empire. Over the next few years she took part in a number of O'Dea's revues but did not seriously pursue acting as a career, claiming it was incompatible with family commitments. Although she described herself as ‘drifting’ into journalism, it was her regular column in the Evening Herald that won her most renown. Beginning 1920 and continuing for more than twenty years, her column featured the conversations of Mrs Casey, Mrs Byrne, and Mrs Win-the-war, all Dublin characters, whose speech she rendered phonetically. About 1928 she used these characters for radio sketches, which she performed with Joan Burke for 2RN (the forerunner of Radio Éireann). The characters eventually became celebrated in their own right and featured in fancy dress balls. Sargent did other broadcasting work, including reworking numerous classic children's stories for radio, and she performed in some of John MacDonagh's radio plays. About 1956 she returned briefly to the Abbey in the comedy ‘Boyd's shop’ by St John Ervine (qv), and in November 1958 she took a small part in the adaptation by Micheál MacLiammóir (qv) of ‘The informer’ at the Gate.
She died suddenly at home in 49 Mespil Road, Dublin, on 23 December 1967, and was buried at Mount Jerome cemetery. Her husband predeceased her; they had no children.