Angela Byrne, "Finding Mary: The untold story of an Inishowen murder, 1844" (Four Courts Press, 2025)

About this episode

Dr. Angela Byrne discusses her book on the murder of Mary Doherty and the local community's response in 1844 Donegal.

During a robbery on 10 March 1844, 14-year-old servant Mary Doherty was murdered in a farmhouse near Culdaff, Co. Donegal. There was no doubt locally about the perpetrator’s identity, but there was insufficient evidence against Daniel McKeeny, and he was eventually transported for a separate offence of sheep-stealing. Based on original research, Finding Mary: The untold story of an Inishowen murder, 1844 (Four Courts Press, 2025) by Dr. Angela Byrne reconstructs the world of a north Donegal village on the eve of the Great Famine to explore the approaches to justice taken by the local community and agents of the state, and examines the survival of the murder in local folklore to reflect on memory, remembrance and whose stories get to be told. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Miranda Melcher

Guest: Angela Byrne

Topics covered

• murder
• local justice
• Irish history
• folklore
• Great Famine
• community memory

Keywords

• Mary Doherty
• Daniel McKeeny
• Inishowen murder
• Irish folklore
• Great Famine
• local justice
• historical research

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Four Courts Press

Books & works: Finding Mary: The untold story of an Inishowen murder, 1844

Places: Inishowen, Culdaff, Co. Donegal

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