Red Room

Anne Devlin was a woman long remembered as a loyal housekeeper to an infamous revolutionary, when she was really a courier, conspirator and trusted rebel operative. In this episode, we look at Anne’s role in Robert Emmet’s uprising, the women who helped keep the revolution moving in secret, and the brutal price she paid for refusing to talk.

Written and hosted by Jenny Claffey. Researched by Karl O’Reilly.

Sources
Anne Devlin - Infinite Women
Marriage, Decline and Death - Anne Devlin
The Rebellion of 1803.
NGA.ie - Graves - 1803 - Anne Devlin
Anne Devlin: The Woman Behind the Myth
Regency History Guide to the History of Ireland
Devlin, Anne | Dictionary of Irish Biography
Michael Collins’s women: spies, couriers and mothers – The Irish Times
On This Day: Irish patriot Robert Emmet executed in Dublin in 1803
Is this the face of Ireland’s lost patriot Robert Emmet? – The Irish Times
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25-year-old Honour Bright was found shot and killed in Ticknock in June 1925. Despite multiple eyewitnesses placing her in a car with a Doctor and a Garda Superintendent, the two men who would be charged and tried for her murder were acquitted by a Dublin jury in 1926.

Honour was a single mother, and likely turned to sex work to support herself and pay for her son's foster care. After the trial, the media used her story as a way to scare young women who were prone to becoming "wayward", rather than focusing on the fact that her killer roamed free.

Links

On a quiet South Dublin road, a plaque serves as a reminder of a long unsolved murderDeath, Danger, and Decadence in 1920s Dublin: The Murder of Honor BrightAn Honour Killing
Clodagh Finn: Restoring some honour to Honour Bright, 100 years onThe Murder of Lily O'Neill, known as Honor Bright, in 1925 – The Wild Geese
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Today we’re looking at the case of Annie Walsh, the last woman ever executed in Ireland. Convicted of murdering her husband in 1925, her story is often reduced to a scandalous love triangle, but there’s far more going on beneath the surface.

Annie wasn’t the only woman sentenced to death in Ireland, she was just one of the very few who wasn’t spared. So in this episode, we’re breaking down the murder, the trial, and the bigger question of why Annie Walsh was hanged, when so many other women weren’t.

Episode written & narrated by me, researched by Karl O'Reilly

https://archive.is/EYYc7#selection-4643.110-4647.148
Women and the death penalty in Ireland
Annie Walsh and Michael Talbot for the Murder of Annie’s Husband – Capital Punishment UK
Limerick woman and alleged poisoner was the last woman in Ireland sentenced to burning
Full article: Crime in the nineteenth-century Irish home
When loss of liberty is extended long after leaving a prison cell
Gender and Punishment in Ireland: Women, Murder and the Death Penalty, 1922-1964 – Estudios Irlandeses
Limerick woman and alleged poisoner was the last woman in Ireland sentenced to burning
Prison mugshot of Elizabeth Buchanan on transfer to Grangegorman Female... | Download Scientific Diagram
Donnybrook
When loss of liberty is extended long after leaving a prison cell
The very strange tale of the O'Leary family murder | Southern Star
Full article: Crime in the nineteenth-century Irish home
Gender and Punishment in Ireland: Women, Murder and the Death Penalty, 1922-1964 – Estudios Irlandeses
To access bonus weekly episodes of Red Room join Patreon HERE
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Burke and Hare are two of the most infamous serial killers in history, but they weren’t typical murderers. In 1828, Edinburgh, they killed at least 16 people and sold their bodies to medical schools in a booming underground body trade. This episode explores the real story behind the murders, the anatomy trade, and how they were finally caught.

This episode was written & hosted by me, Jenny Claffey. Researched by Karl O’Reilly.

Links

Fever & Famine 1817-18 – In The News | Co. Tyrone People From The Past.
21 May 1947 - GRIM MURDER PARTNERSHIP HELPED MAKE EDINBURGH'S MEDICAL FAME - Trove
The Burke and Hare murders
Life in Ulster in the 1800s
The Perpetrators, Burke and Hare
The Story of Burke and Hare - Edinburgh.
The William Burke Museum | The Cadies & Witchery Tours
Bodies and bureaucracy: The demise of the body snatchers in 19th century Britain - Philp - 2022 - The Anatomical Record - Wiley Online Library
Burke and Hare: The body snatchers - BBC Bitesize
Procuring Corpses: The English Anatomy Inspectorate, 1842 to 1858 - PMC
The gruesome true story of the bodysnatchers who robbed graves and resorted to murder in 18th-century Britain
The untold story of serial killer William Burke's wife and her mysterious disappearance from Glasgow
Pull factors affecting immigrants - Immigration to Scotland 1830s-1939 - National 5 History Revision - BBC Bitesize
Irish immigration to Scotland
An immigrant Irish contingent in the crowd at the execution of William Burke in Edinburgh in 1829 - Ken Donaldson, Christopher Henry, 2025
Who were Burke & Hare? Edinburgh’s Infamous “Body Snatchers"
Burke and Hare: Two Edinburgh Murderers - geriwalton.com
Body Snatchers | The London Dungeon
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An Irish Fenian bombing in Victorian London led to mass panic, a controversial trial, and the execution of Michael Barrett., who would become the last man hanged in Britain.

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Further Reading / Sources
"The Irish invasion": how the Irish Famine changed Scotland
Irish immigration to Scotland
t18680406-412 | The Proceedings of the Old Bailey
https://www.theirishstory.com/category/history/irish-history/
https://www.irishdemocrat.co.uk/features/michael-barrett/
Executed men remembered in London | An Phoblacht
Michael Barrett (1841-1868) - The forgotten Fenian from Fermanagh: By Fr Joe McVeigh | An Phoblacht
Irish Republicanism in Scotland, 1858–1916: Fenians in exile – History Ireland
Michael Barrett: a Fenian remembered
Barrett, Michael | Dictionary of Irish Biography
On This Day: The Clerkenwell Outrage, 13th December, 1867 – Turbulent Isles
150 years ago today, a Fenian became the last person to be publicly executed in England
Burke, Ricard O'Sullivan | Dictionary of Irish Biography
The Times Report of the Last Public Hanging in England

To access bonus weekly episodes of Red Room join Patreon HERE
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.