In 1904, Annie Dorey filed for separation from her husband Patrick Dorey, a farmer in county Meath, Ireland. The couple had married the previous year, after three weeks of courtship, and had one child. In her deposition, Annie detailed the…
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Employment of Time
To make a good use of time, each minute must be well spent. It is well said, by a celebrated author, that many persons lose two or three hours every day for the want of employing odd minutes. A certain…
Policing Marriage
From the early nineteenth century, newspapers began to report on the operation of the local police and magistrate courts. The reportage of such cases uncovered the daily operations of the local court, as well as providing insight into working-class life…
‘The Devil’s Milkmaid’: The Witch as a Woman in
In 1532, four years before Denmark officially became Lutheran, a woman suspected of witchcraft was brought to the manor court of Øster Horne in Jutland. The woman on trial was called Karen Hanskone, her name indicating that she was the…
Bristol Suffragette Project
The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Mrs Pankhurst in Manchester in 1903 with the aim of winning votes for women, became a national movement which gave birth to a new type of woman: the suffragette. She made…
Wicked Women of Eighteenth-century Aberdeen
The eighteenth century is generally characterised by a sense of improvement and need for politeness, both physically and mentally. Accordingly, major improvements to architecture and infrastructure marked eighteenth-century society. Local pride and an active sense of civic identity came to…
STRIKE!
This month we may see widespread strikes by public workers, but, this isn’t the first time workers have stood up for their rights, whether for better pay, better conditions or fairer treatment. Moreover, women have always been part of this…
Some Early Irish Feminism?
Taken from the Freeman’s Journal, 26 February 1841 Dublin Police- Henry Street Office CHARGE OF BIGAMY An interesting-looking young woman, named Anne Kirwan, applied to Mr. Duffy, the presiding magistrate, to have informations taken against John Kirwan, her husband, on…
Marital Advice from Parents to Children
During the early-eighteenth century, the passing of wisdom from parents to children was an expected part of their relationship and vital to the proper socialisation of children. Throughout their lives, parents offered children advice on their behaviour, passing on their…