Wikipedia

Draft:Bad Bridget

  • Comment: The subject is probably notable enough, I've tidied a lot up but it still reads like a PR blurb or a fan site. -Bogger (talk) 00:47, 28 January 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: It still appears that most of the citations on this page are either primary sources or not actually about this project. WikiDan61ChatMe!ReadMe!! 15:32, 13 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Comment: Still much of this is unsourced and some of the sources were written by Farrell and McCormick or are interviews so primary and not independent so should only be used sparingly and does not contribute to notability. Other sources are not reliable (magicmum) so should not be used. If the draft is resubmitted without without substantial improvement, it is likely to be rejected meaning it will no longer be considered. I suggest reading WP:Your first article along with all the linked information in the gray box above. At this time, nothing suggests this can meet the notability guidelines. S0091 (talk) 19:49, 3 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Comment: The article currently has multiple unreferenced sections, some of which may contain WP:OR. Please add inline citations to reliable sources and remove any unverifiable information. InterstellarGamer12321 (talk | contribs) 16:32, 2 November 2023
    (UTC)

Bad Bridget is a term coined by two historians based in Belfast, Queen's University Belfast's Dr. Elaine Farrell,[1] and Ulster University's Dr. Leanne McCormick,[2][3] to describe the women from the island of Ireland who were convicted of crimes abroad between 1838 and 1918.

The "bridgets" have been the subject of a podcast, exhibition and non-fiction book by Farrell and McCormick.

Background edit

Originally, both scholars were undergoing relatively similar different research regarding the same type of person (19th century Irish women in America). After the two of them got into a conversation, they realised that they were both doing similar research, eventually deciding to join forces.

Eventually they came up with the idea of the project Bad Bridget which looks at the criminal activity of Irish women in the 19th century. They are specifically looking at criminal Irish women in Boston, New York and Toronto.[4] They chose the name Bridget because at the time it was a very common name for Irish women in the 19th century[5]. It was also the derogatory term for Irish women who worked as servants in American homes . Contemporary newspaper cartoons frequently depicted Bridgets as sub-human, apish and inferior.[6]. Under Irish culture, the name Bridget, derived from that of St Brigid evoked purity and virtue.[7]. While under Northern American mass culture of 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the stereotype of the "blundering, drunken, quick-tempered and uncivilised 'Bridget'".[7]

History edit

The project started when both researchers discovered 19th and early 20th century records suggesting Irish women outnumbered Irish men in prison in sertain regions.[8]

Many of the Irish emigrants hoped for a fresh start and a happy life, but unfortunately for many of the women this was not the case. Being a sex worker was tied a lot with this too, a lot of the women when arriving in America had no money or no family. Some may have been planning to meet family when they arrived but due to the long journey and lack of communication it was often that they never got to. This led people to having no choice but to become prostitutes and work in brothels to have somewhere to sleep and get paid.[9][10][11][12][13]

Notable women such as Lizzie Halliday have been featured by the project.[14]

Timeline edit

2020, Podcast edit

This is a five-episode podcast channel that tells the story of Irish immigrant woman whose American dream turned into a nightmare. Each episode takes around 22-34 minutes. The channel was released in December 2020, and can be accessed on Apple podcast and Spotify.[15][16]

  • Episode 1: Poverity[17]

This episode tells us how many young Irish girls and women, travelled unaccompanied to North America with a hope of raising their standard of living, and anticipations from parents especially mothers that obtain emigrant remittances back home.[9][11]

  • Episode 2: The sex workers[18]

Many Irish girls crossing Atlantic working as prostitutes and sent money back home. However, their families probably do not know their immoral lifestyle may pose some hazard to their family reputation.

  • Episode 3: The unmarried mothers[19]

Tragic stories happen to those emigrant girls and women unmarried and pregnant, after they were tricked and find themselves helpless. As Luddy noted in 'An agenda for women's history in Ireland, 1500–1900', 'Abortion, infanticide and abandonment were the methods most commonly used by women to get rid of unwanted children.[20]

  • Episode 4: The demon drink[21]

The Irish have a long story with alcohol. This episode will introduce women who had broken the law being drunk.

  • Episode 5: The murderers[22]

There are three most fascinating and interesting cases in this audio. A neighbor was murdered by a girl and then stole the house. A wife who suspects her husband sexually active with another woman. An Irish serial killer, Lizzie Halliday who was the first woman to be sentenced to death by electric chair in the United States.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]

2022, Exhibition edit

The Bad Bridget Exhibition opened at the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh on 15 April 2022.[31]

Elaine and Leanne have been developing ideas for the exhibition since 2019 and in 2021, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Follow-on-Funding was secured to implement the project.[32][33]

The project, displaying over 150 objects, words, images, objects, smells and sounds,[34][35] involved National Museums NI staff and objects and some from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

2023, Book edit

After nearly 10 years of researching and writing, Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women was published by Penguin Sandycove on 26 January, 2023.[36][37]

Impact edit

The project has been praised by historians Jennifer Redmond,[38] Mary McAuliffe[39][40] and has been described as "fascinating" by reviews in both the Sunday Independent and The Irish Times.[41][42] Clodagh Finn of the Irish Examiner described it as "important",[43] and broadcaster Ryan Tubridy felt that it would enrich any bookshelf.[43]

References edit

  1. ^ "Elaine Farrell". Queen's University Belfast. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  2. ^ "Leanne McCormick". www.ulster.ac.uk. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  3. ^ Bad Bridget (2023) Bad Bridget: Criminal and deviant Irish women in North America, 1838-1918 [medium]. Available at: https://badbridget.wordpress.com (accessed 6 November 2023
  4. ^ "Finding Bad Bridget | Ulster American Folk Park". www.ulsteramericanfolkpark.org. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  5. ^ "What's in a name? Why are girls not called Brigid any more?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  6. ^ "Irish maids in New York were subject to a racist slur in the 19th century". IrishCentral.com. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  7. ^ a b Farrell, E. & McCormick, L. 2023, Bad Bridget: crime, mayhem and the lives of Irish emigrant women, Sandycove, Dublin
  8. ^ McCormick, Leanne (4 April 2023). "'Irish women made up 86pc of the prison population in New York in 1862 – they actually outnumbered Irish men'". Independent.ie. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  9. ^ a b Inglis, T (1987). Moral monopoly: the Catholic Church in modern Irish society. Gill and Macmillan.
  10. ^ Lynch-Brennan, M (2009). The Irish Bridget: Irish immigrant women in domestic service in America, 1840-1930, 1st edn. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press.
  11. ^ a b Ryan, L. (January 2003). "Moving spaces and changing places: Irish women's memories of emigration to Britain in the 1930s". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 29 (1): 67–82. doi:10.1080/1369183032000076722. S2CID 144454081.
  12. ^ Travers, P. (1995). O'Sullivan, P (ed.). Irish Women and Irish Migration. Leicester: Leicester University Press. 'There was nothing there for me": Irish female emigration, 1922–71 pages 146–67.
  13. ^ Katzman, David M. (1978). Seven Days a Week: Women and Domestic Service in Industrializing America. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  14. ^ "Bridget Uncovering the secret lives of Ireland's emigrant women". TheJournal.ie. 30 January 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  15. ^ Queen's University Belfast (December 2020) BRIDGET PODCAST [medium]. Available at: https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/podcasts/bad-bridget/ (accessed 2 November 2023).
  16. ^ Queen's University Belfast (December 2020) BRIDGET PODCAST [medium]. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/show/3no7maP7QJzM0buVOzRL3k (accessed 11 November 2023).
  17. ^ Queen's University Belfast (December 2020) BRIDGET PODCAST [medium]. Available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/bad-bridget-episode-1-poverty/id1542804827?i=1000532948146 (accessed 11 November 2023)
  18. ^ Queen's University Belfast (December 2020) BRIDGET PODCAST [medium]. Available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/bad-bridget-episode-2-the-sex-workers/id1542804827?i=1000532948367 (accessed 11 November 2023)
  19. ^ Queen's University Belfast (December 2020) BRIDGET PODCAST [medium]. Available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/episode-3-the-unmarried-mothers/id1542804827?i=1000532948449 (accessed 11 November 2023)
  20. ^ Margaret MacCurtain, Mary O'Dowd and Maria Luddy, 'An agenda for women's history in Ireland, 1500–1900' in I.H.S., xxviii, no. 109 (May 1992),pp1-3
  21. ^ Queen's University Belfast (December 2020) BRIDGET PODCAST [medium]. Available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/episode-4-the-demon-drink/id1542804827?i=1000532948427 (accessed 11 November 2023)
  22. ^ Queen's University Belfast (December 2020) BRIDGET PODCAST [medium]. Available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/bad-bridget-episode-5-the-murderers/id1542804827?i=1000532948487 (accessed 11 November 2023)
  23. ^ Harold Schechter, Psycho USA: Famous American Killers You Never Heard Of, Random House Publishing Group – 2012, page 58 (born 1859) ISBN 978-0345524478
  24. ^ Conway, John (August 11, 2014). "A Short History Of Serial Killer Lizzie Brown Halliday". newyorkhistoryblog.org.
  25. ^ Serial Killer Lizzie Halliday, (excerpts from several contemporaneous newspapers and publications) Archived September 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine unknownmisandry.blogspot.com
  26. ^ Telfer, Tori (2017). Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 62. ISBN 978-0062433732.
  27. ^ James D. Livingston, Arsenic and Clam Chowder: Murder in Gilded Age New York, SUNY Press – 2012, pg 64 ISBN 9781438431796
  28. ^ LIZZIE HALLIDAY, MURDERESS, DIES IN ASYLUM, Middletown Times-Press from Middletown, New York, Friday, June 28, 1918
  29. ^ Telfer, Tori (2017). Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 83.
  30. ^ Owen, Kevin - "Killing Time in the Catskills" (2019 - Moonlight Press) ISBN 9781071087497
  31. ^ Ulster American Folk Park, Bad Bridget [medium]. Available at: https://www.ulsteramericanfolkpark.org/whats-on/bad-bridget (accessed 11 November 2023).
  32. ^ Ulster American Folk Park, FINDING BAD BRIDGET [medium]. Available at: https://www.ulsteramericanfolkpark.org/stories/finding-bad-bridget (accessed 11 November 2023).
  33. ^ National Museums NI, BAD BRIDGET [medium]. Available at: https://www.nationalmuseumsni.org/postgraduate-research-bad-bridget (accessed 11 November 2023).
  34. ^ Ulster American Folk Park, REIMAGINING BAD BRIDGET [medium]. Available at: https://www.ulsteramericanfolkpark.org/stories/reimagining-bad-bridget (accessed 11 November 2023).
  35. ^ Ulster American Folk Park, STORYTELLING THROUGH SCENT [medium]. Available at: https://www.ulsteramericanfolkpark.org/stories/storytelling-through-scent (accessed 11 November 2023).
  36. ^ Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women. Penguin. 26 January 2023. ISBN 9781844885824.
  37. ^ "Sandycove | Penguin General". Penguin.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  38. ^ Redmond, J. (2018). Moving Histories Irish Women's Emigration to Britain from Independence to Republic. Liverpool University Press. Women's experiences remain peripheral or ignored completely in many general accounts of migration and the Irish diaspora ... 'the Irish' is still used to describe research that is solely focused on male migrants without it being explicitly acknowledged as such.
  39. ^ "University College Dublin Press". UCD Press. Retrieved 12 November 2023. We owe these women their histories back, we owe these women to lift the veil of silence that has lain upon their experiences and we owe these women a rewriting back into the history books
  40. ^ Farrell, E.; McCormick, L.; Redmond, J. (2022). "Exploring the ordinary: migration, sexuality and crime, and the progression of the 'Agenda'in Irish women's history, 1850s–1950s". Irish Historical Studies. 46 (170): 338–355. doi:10.1017/ihs.2022.47.
  41. ^ "Bad Bridget Authors To Give Dorothy Macardle Humanities Lecture". DkIT.ie.
  42. ^ "IrishCentral's Book of the Month: "Bad Bridget" by Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick". IrishCentral.com. 1 February 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  43. ^ a b McCabe, Donard. "Bad Bridget authors to give lecture on local heroine Dorothy Macardle at Dundalk IT". DundalkDemocrat.ie. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
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