Annie Walsh and The Women Sent To The Gallows

About this episode

This episode explores the case of Annie Walsh, the last woman executed in Ireland, and the broader implications of women's sentencing in capital punishment.

Today we’re looking at the case of Annie Walsh, the last woman ever executed in Ireland. Convicted of murdering her husband in 1925, her story is often reduced to a scandalous love triangle, but there’s far more going on beneath the surface. Annie wasn’t the only woman sentenced to death in Ireland, she was just one of the very few who wasn’t spared. So in this episode, we’re breaking down the murder, the trial, and the bigger question of why Annie Walsh was hanged, when so many other women weren’t. Episode written & narrated by me, researched by Karl O'Reilly https://archive.is/EYYc7#selection-4643.110-4647.148 Women and the death penalty in Ireland Annie Walsh and Michael Talbot for the Murder of Annie’s Husband – Capital Punishment UK Limerick woman and alleged poisoner was the last woman in Ireland sentenced to burning Full article: Crime in the nineteenth-century Irish home When loss of liberty is extended long after leaving a prison cell Gender and Punishment in Ireland: Women, Murder and the Death Penalty, 1922-1964 – Estudios Irlandeses Limerick woman and alleged poisoner was the last woman in Ireland sentenced to burning Prison mugshot of Elizabeth Buchanan on…

People in this episode

Host: Jenny Claffey

Topics covered

• true crime
• women in history
• capital punishment
• Irish history
• gender studies

Keywords

• Annie Walsh
• execution
• Ireland
• murder trial
• women and death penalty

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Crime in the nineteenth-century Irish home, Gender and Punishment in Ireland: Women, Murder and the Death Penalty, 1922-1964

Places: Ireland

More episodes of Red Room

• Buried Secrets: The Truth Behind Tina Satchwell’s Murder with Barry Cummins · May 13, 2026 · 1h 5m
• The Murder of Moll McCarthy · May 11, 2026 · 34 min
• Anne Devlin and The Women Behind The Rising · May 4, 2026 · 32 min
• Honour Bright: Murder in The Free State · April 27, 2026 · 35 min
• The Irish Serial Killers Who Sold Their Victims’ Bodies · April 13, 2026 · 33 min
• Michael Barrett: The Last Man Hanged in Britain · April 7, 2026 · 30 min