Smyly, Ellen (1814–1901), philanthropist, was born 14 November 1814, third daughter among seven children of Mathew Franks (1768–1853) of Jerpoint, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, and 28 Merrion Square, Dublin, and Mary Franks (née Fergusson; d. 1856). Ellen began her charity work in Dublin at the age of seventeen when, accompanied by a chaperone, she visited children in hospital and in their homes. She soon decided to establish a school where they could receive a rudimentary education, particularly about the Bible. Her original schoolroom in a hired stable-loft expanded quickly to an unused forge in Harmony Row, near Grand Canal St.
In 1852 she began a long-term alliance with the evangelical clergyman Alexander Dallas (qv), founder of the Irish Church Missions. They opened their first ragged school in Townsend St. that year, which was followed by additional schools in Grand Canal St., Luke St., and elsewhere, where children received two hot meals a day in addition to their basic education and study of scripture. In 1859, following the tragic death of one of her students who was living on the streets, Ellen further expanded her work to provide a place for children to live and opened the Bird's Nest Home in Mounttown, Co. Dublin. Of a proselytising bent, this home favoured children of mixed marriages or of catholic parentage; a contemporary observer, Fanny Taylor, noted that its ‘dismal playground shut in by high walls and locked dormitory, denote its true character – a prison for catholic children’ (Taylor, 94). Nonetheless, Ellen's work was highly regarded, and additional homes were opened over the next few years: the Grand Canal Street Boys’ Home (1861), a dormitory for girls at Luke St. (1861), the Elliott Home (1872), the Coombe Boys’ Home (1872), and the Home for Big Lads (1883). All of the Smyly homes and schools were primarily concerned with evangelisation, and education consisted primarily of knowledge of the Bible, basic reading and writing skills, and domestic skills for the girls. Although the teachers were supplied by the Irish Church Missions, the running of the homes was independently overseen by Ellen with assistance from committees of women. She was particularly regarded as a practical businesswoman who successfully raised funds to maintain the homes.
Ellen married Josiah Smyly (qv), MD, surgeon and vice-president of the RCSI, of Merrion Square, Dublin. They had eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. Two of her sons, Sir Philip Crampton Smyly (qv) and Sir William Smyly (1850–1941), distinguished themselves in the field of medicine. All five of her daughters helped with the charities and Ellen Smyly (1846–1912) and Annie Dallas Smyly (1855–1933) actively took over running the homes after their mother's death. Another daughter, Louisa, was killed along with her husband, the Rev. Robert Stewart, and six children while on the missions in China in 1895. They had established over one hundred schools based on the Smyly day-schools in the Fukien province, and after their death Ellen inaugurated the Stewart Memorial Fund which raised enough money to establish another one hundred schools there.
After a brief illness she died 16 May 1901 at her home, 35 Upper Fitzwilliam St., aged 86. She was buried 21 May 1901 at Mount Jerome cemetery, Dublin. By this time, there were seven homes and four day schools, which, due to her fund-raising abilities and business sense, were, as her granddaughter Vivienne Smyly later noted, ‘free of debt but filled with children’ (Smyly, 9). Mrs Smyly's Homes are still an active philanthropic organisation with continued family involvement. Family papers are held at the library of the Representative Body of the Church of Ireland, Braemor Park, Rathgar, Dublin.