Elizabeth Sugrue

Elizabeth "Liz" Sugrue Irish: Éilis Uí Shiochrú; (c. 1740/1750 – 1807), also known as Lady Betty, was an Irish executioner.[1] A minor historical character, she remains a well-known figure in popular culture.

For the United States Navy patrol vessel, see USS Lady Betty (SP-661).
Elizabeth Sugrue, aka Lady Betty
Born1740/1750
County Kerry, Ireland
Died1807
Roscommon, County Roscommon, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Other namesLady Betty
Occupationhangwoman
Years active1789–1802

Life

Born around 1750, Sugrue was left destitute after the death of her farmer husband; evicted from her home, she set off with her two children on the long walk to the town of Roscommon. On the way, her younger child died of starvation and exposure, leaving only her eldest, Pádraig.[1]

According to William Wilde (1815–1876), who collected stories about her from locals, Elizabeth had a “violent temper” and Pádraig often threatened to leave home. Elizabeth begged him to stay, but in April 1775, following particularly harsh treatment, he departed; some sources claim he enlisted in the British Army, others he emigrated to British North America and joined the Continental Army. She became a recluse, taking in lodgers for a few pennies a night but hearing less and less from her son as time passed, she became increasingly bitter.[1]

Supposedly, a man came to stay at her house in 1789 and she murdered him, before discovering he was in fact her long-lost son; arrested, convicted and sentenced to death, she was held in what is now known as the 'Old Gaol'.[2] Twenty-five others were also due to be hanged, including sheep and cattle thieves and ‘Whiteboys’, young men who tore down fences and hedges surrounding what had once been common land.[1] On the day of her hanging, the hangman was ill; Betty volunteered to take his place, allegedly after three others refused. She lived in the prison thereafter, carrying out executions and floggings, including a number of rebels executed during the 1798 Rebellion. She was known to draw portraits of the men and women she hanged on the wall of her lodgings with charcoal.[1]

In 1802, her own sentence was commuted, in recognition of her service to “the safety of the public” and when she died in 1807, she was buried in an unmarked grave inside the walls of Roscommon Jail.[3] The account held in the National Folklore Collection claims she was murdered by a prisoner.[4]

Legacy

In 1884, an article on her written by Charlotte O'Conor Eccles appeared in the Weekly Irish Times.[5] She is the centrepiece of a narrative poem by Áine Miller, titled Betty Sugrue- Hangwoman; The Woman From Hell,[6] and the main character in Declan Donnellan's 1989 play Lady Betty.[7]

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gollark: https://git.osmarks.tk/osmarks/potatOS/src/branch/master/src/main.lua#L654
gollark: Oh, hmm, this is quite big and requires my entire non-erroring JSON serializer.
gollark: It even has autoreconnect.

References
Notes
  1. "How Ireland's only female executioner got the job". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  2. "The Old Gaol". Roscommon Town Heritage. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  3. Broderick 2001, pp. 71-72.
  4. "Lady Betty - Famous Hangwoman of Roscommon". Duchas.ie. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  5. Weekly Irish Times, Saturday, February 9, 1884.
  6. Miller 2001.
  7. "Lady Betty". Check by Jowl. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
Sources
  • Broderick, Marian (2001). Wild Irish Women: Extraordinary Lives from History. The O'Brien Press. ISBN 978-0862787035.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Miller, Aine (2001). Touchwood (Salmon Poetry). Salmon Poetry. ISBN 978-1903392065.
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