Focusing on the grim reality of infanticide in Ireland between 1850 and 1900, this book analyzes 4,645 cases of infant murder, attempted infanticide, and concealment of birth. It uncovers societal attitudes towards these crimes and the women accused, utilizing a diverse range of sources to provide a comprehensive understanding of the cultural and legal implications surrounding infanticide during this period.
Ireland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was not a very good place to be a woman. Among the wave of emigrants from Ireland to North America were many, many young women who travelled on their own, hoping for a better life. Some lived lives of quiet industry and piety. Others quickly found themselves in trouble - bad trouble, and on an astonishing scale. Bad Bridget is a book about these women and the various kinds of trouble they got into. Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick have unearthed a world in which Irish women actually outnumbered Irish men in prison, in which you could get locked up for 'stubbornness', and in which an Irish serial killer called Lizzie Halliday was described by the New York Times as 'the worst woman on earth'. They reveal the social forces that bred this mayhem and dysfunction, through a succession of stories that are brilliantly strange, sometimes very funny, and often deeply moving. From sex workers and thieves to kidnappers and killers, their Bridgets are young women who have gone from the frying pan of their impoverished and ridden homeland to the fire of vast North American cities. Bad Bridget is a masterpiece of social history and true crime, showing us a fascinating and previously unexplored world.
This book examines the phenomenon of infanticide in Ireland from 1850 to 1900. It is based on a large sample of 4,645 individual cases of infant murder, attempted infanticide and concealment of birth. Through a variety of sources, attitudes towards the crime of infanticide and women accused of the offence are revealed. -- .