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Herstorical Tours

HERSTORY OF THE MONTH: Bridget Cleary



It’s November and November here in England is all about fire and explosions, both historically, and it seems, politically in current times!  So on the theme of fire, I present to you this month’s herstory. Buckle up though, it’s a grisly and tragic one.


The image above is my painting of the last ‘witch’ to be killed in Ireland, Bridget Cleary. Hers is a particularly horrific story, because she, unlike many victims of the witch hunts, wasn’t killed by the state or the church, but by her own loved ones, on the cusp of the 20th century, in 1895.


Born in 1869 in Tipperary, Bridget Boland was literate and relatively well off. She was an independent and capable woman, a dressmaker and a milliner and also had a sideline in selling eggs. Her husband, Michael Cleary, was a Cooper and also literate. The pair married in 1887 and lived in a stone cottage rather than a more humble thatched one. They also didn’t have children, which was most unusual at the time and, after marriage, Bridget continued her work rather than become a mother and housewife. To outside eyes it would’ve seemed a happy marriage, if an unusual and rather modern one.



Bridget and Michael Cleary (Bourke, The Burning of Bridget Cleary, 1999 Pimlico)


On March 4th 1895,  Bridget went out to do her usual home deliveries (she would visit clients) and passed on the way a local hill that was known as a ‘fairy fort’. Superstitions about fairies and other supernatural entities thrived in Ireland, particularly in more rural and less literate communities. Even at the end of the 19th century, the idea that there were fairy folk that lived in a hidden world and could cause damage as well as bestow gifts was common and widespread. The most fearful idea about them however, was that they could steal a person’s soul ( usually a child, or an attractive woman) and replace them with a ‘changeling’ - a demonic or evil inhuman entity that looked like a human, but had harmful intent.


So how would you know if your loved one had been replaced by a changeling? Usually the ‘changed’ person would fall unexpectedly sick or start behaving strangely, or might even look uncannily different.  And what was the remedy? The only way to undo the curse would be to burn the changeling, and then the ‘real’ person would return. This happened often in 19th century Ireland, many unfortunate children, most with disabilities or illnesses, were killed in this way.


Bridget, being an educated and independent modern woman, would likely not have given the fairy fort a second thought as she passed through it that day. But sadly, this disregard was to have tragic consequences. When Bridget returned home that day she fell sick with a headache and fever. Her father and husband sent for the local doctor, walking miles in the rain but he was unable to visit until 9 days later. (And we thought NHS waiting lists were bad today!)

By this point,  Bridget’s fever had worsened and she was diagnosed with bronchitis, and given some medicine. A priest also gave her the last rites, just in case it developed into pneumonia or worse.



The Changeling - Arthur Rackham


Michael Cleary, by this point a concerned husband (and no doubt frustrated by the delayed and sub-standard medical care from the doctor) started wondering if there was a supernatural cause. He was egged on in this by a local bard called Dunne, who started planting the idea in his head that the woman sick in the bed ‘was not his wife’. Michael started to believe this and notice apparent differences in his wife’s appearance. She was ‘two inches taller’ and ‘more beautiful’ than before, for example.  A local fairy doctor called Dennis Ganey was sent for. He prescribed a magical tincture, made of bitter herbs that were very unpleasant. Bridget couldn’t swallow it without throwing up. This was seen as further evidence that she was a changeling,  and so,  the violence began.


She was pinned down by her husband, father, Dunne and the fairy doctor, and forced to drink the concoction. Urine was thrown over her.  She was burned with a hot poker and interrogated by the men in the room, to see if she was a changeling or not.  She did seem to calm after this terrifying episode, and the men hoped she had been ‘exorcised’.


A few days later however, Bridget asked for milk with her breakfast.   Michael became paranoid. Fairies are said to crave fresh milk! She had deceived him! He forced her to eat some pieces of bread then began to beat her, throwing her to the ground and with a hot stick from the fire, setting her dress alight. The flames consumed her, and she was burned alive in front of several witnesses - members of her family and community who were present.    Michael and her father buried her in a shallow grave, and Michael then sat and waited at the fairy fort.  Now that he had killed the changeling, the real Bridget should return on a white horse and he would take her home. Michael waited for 3 nights, but no Bridget came.



The Cleary Cottage (Bourke, The Burning of Bridget Cleary, 1999 Pimlico)


On 20th March, Michael and 8 other members of the community including Bridget’s father were arrested and sent to trial for her murder. Michael was found guilty of manslaughter but not murder, on the grounds that he hadn’t intended to kill his wife but cure her. Six others received prison sentences. Michael received 20 years in prison and then was released after 15. He later emigrated to Canada and remarried.


The case attracted a lot of attention in the press. This was the height of the Home Rule question, and the English seized upon this story as evidence that the Irish were a bunch of illiterate savages that still believed in nonsense, therefore couldn't be fit to rule themselves.


It has been debated whether Michael really believed in fairies,  or whether there was another motivation behind the killing. He was educated and literate, and had originally sent for a medical doctor. These weren’t the usual actions of a supernaturally-minded illiterate person at that time. There were suggestions that Michael was a little irked by his wife’s independence. In a rural, semi literate and poor part of Ireland at that time, he would no doubt have felt the pressure to ‘tame’ his wife in line with more acceptable standards. Bridget would’ve stood out. She was said to have been attractive and wore fashionable clothes, often red in colour,  and there may have been many who harboured resentment against her for that reason. Also its worth noting that Michael did not act alone. There were many men in the community present in the house and influencing him. Maybe they also wanted to punish Bridget for her transgressive behaviour.


Bridget wasn’t killed as a ‘witch’ but as a fairy changeling, but the idea and the psychology behind it was similar.  Ireland’s unique history and catholicism meant that pagan mythology and folklore remained strong, seen as a part of Ireland’s heritage and identity.  Ireland remains the country in Europe that killed the least witches during the witch craze. Only 4 women are recorded as having been killed as witches throughout its history. Compare that number with approximately 6,000 in Scotland, and 900-1000 in England. Bridget’s case is an isolated and yet landmark event in many ways. Ireland was modernising and changing rapidly,  and this was at odds with traditional society and belief systems. As with the early modern witch trials, Bridget was an unfortunate scapegoat for the changing times and the anxieties that accompany them. And like the ‘witches’, she paid the ultimate price.


The painting I made of Bridget Cleary is inspired by her story, and depicts her as an empowered phoenix emerging from the flames, combined with Kali the Destroyer Goddess, with her belt of severed men’s heads! In Bridget’s case, these represent the men in her community who killed her. This painting is available for sale, so if you are interested, please get in touch.


Thanks for reading this month’s Herstory. Stay tuned for next month!

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