Concanen studied law in Ireland but travelled to London as a young man, and began writing political pamphlets in support of the Whig government.
He wrote a dramatic comedy, Wexford Wells, staged at Dublin's Smock Alley Theatre.
His skills attracted the attention of the Whig statesman Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle.
There is also well-known letter about him written by William Warburton, who comments on how Concanen helped him.
"[7] With regard the Bard's grasp of history, the Essay related that Shakespeare "not being a scholar" employed a "chuckle-pated historian" who gave him a set of notes to save the trouble of research.