Female Executioners in Irish History
While the office of executioner across the British Isles was almost exclusively a male trade, historical records and folklore confirm that Ireland permitted women to carry out judicial hangings under exceptional circumstances.
Two documented instances exist of women officiating on the Irish scaffold: the notorious career of “Lady Betty” at Roscommon Gaol in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the teenage assistant to North West Circuit executioner Tom Kellett in the late 1820s.
The Origins of “Lady Betty” at Roscommon
The most famous female executioner in Irish history was a woman known colloquially as “Lady Betty” (identified in various accounts as Elizabeth Dolan, Elizabeth McDermott, or Elizabeth Sugrue).
Originally hailing from County Kerry, she was convicted and sentenced to death at the Roscommon Assizes around 1780 for the murder of her son.
According to contemporary accounts, her son had emigrated to America to seek his fortune and returned years later as an affluent, unrecognizable traveller.
He lodged overnight at his mother’s cottage without disclosing his true identity, intending to surprise her in the morning.
Tempted by his visible wealth, Elizabeth murdered her sleeping guest during the night, only discovering after searching his possessions that she had slain her own son.
The Whiteboy Executions and Appointment
Elizabeth was lodged in Roscommon Gaol awaiting execution alongside twenty-four men condemned for agrarian rebellion as members of the “Whiteboys” (a militant rural protest movement).
On the appointed execution day, the county’s regular hangman failed to appear—either having fled out of fear of Whiteboy retaliation or fallen ill.
Under British and Irish common law, the high sheriff of the county was personally responsible for carrying out capital sentences; if no executioner could be procured, the sheriff had to perform the hangings himself.
Facing the prospect of the gallows, Elizabeth reportedly approached the sheriff and offered a grim bargain:
“Spare me, yer Honour, spare me and I’ll hang them all.”
Desperate to avoid hanging twenty-four men with his own hands, the sheriff accepted her proposal.
Elizabeth mounted the scaffold and executed her fellow condemned prisoners in succession.
In recognition of her services, her death sentence was stayed, and the county grand jury formally appointed her as Roscommon’s resident executioner.
Life Inside Roscommon Gaol
Elizabeth was provided with private quarters inside Roscommon Gaol, where she lived under official protection from about 1780 until her death in 1807.
Her formal royal pardon and remission of sentence were finalized in 1802.
During this era, execution sites across Ireland and Britain shifted from public commons outside town boundaries to the prison buildings themselves.
At Roscommon Gaol, situated in the town’s main square, a unique apparatus was constructed directly outside her third-floor window:
- An iron suspension beam was anchored into the masonry of the outer prison wall.
- Beneath it hung a hinged wooden trapdoor platform (a “lap board”) projecting out over the street.
- Once the condemned prisoners were hooded and noosed, the supporting bolt was withdrawn from inside the prison room, subjecting them to a short drop in view of the public square below.
Similar mural gallows arrangements were utilized in other Irish facilities, most notably at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin.
Folklore and the Macabre Artist
Over her decades on the scaffold, Elizabeth became universally feared and reviled across Connacht under the sobriquet “Lady Betty.”
Prison lore claimed that she drew charcoal sketches and portraits of her victims upon the whitewashed walls of her gaol quarters following their executions.
Her name became an enduring bogeyman in Irish folklore, with parents across the West of Ireland warning misbehaving children that “Lady Betty will get you.”
She died of natural causes inside Roscommon Gaol in 1807.
Tom Kellett’s Teenage Assistant (c. 1829)
A second, unusual recorded instance of a female executioner in Ireland occurred around 1829.
Tom Kellett served as the official hangman for the North West Assize Circuit of Ireland.
Kellett married a sixteen-year-old girl who regularly accompanied him on his judicial travels, acting as his official scaffold assistant to pinion prisoners, adjust nooses, and assist with the drop.
Irish execution history features several other notable departures from English practice, from the early adoption of the long drop under surgeon Samuel Haughton in the 1860s to the final Irish execution conducted by Robert Evans Anderson at Richmond Prison in 1883, and later commissions carried out by The Billingtons.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Lady Betty?
“Lady Betty” (believed to be Elizabeth Sugrue, Dolan, or McDermott) was a convicted murderer who served as the official county executioner at Roscommon Gaol in Ireland from approximately 1780 until her death in 1807.
How did a woman become the executioner of Roscommon?
When the town hangman failed to appear to execute twenty-five condemned prisoners (including members of the Whiteboys and Elizabeth herself), she offered to hang all the prisoners in exchange for her life. The sheriff accepted, and she was appointed the permanent county executioner.
How were executions conducted at Roscommon Gaol?
Executions were carried out from a hinged wooden platform projecting from a third-floor window outside Elizabeth’s living quarters in the prison. The release bolt was drawn from inside her room, dropping the prisoners outside the wall.
Did any other women serve as executioners in Ireland?
Yes. Around 1829, Tom Kellett, the hangman for the North West Circuit in Ireland, married a 16-year-old girl who worked as his official scaffold assistant at judicial hangings.
When did Lady Betty die?
Lady Betty lived the remainder of her life inside Roscommon Gaol and died of natural causes in 1807, having received a formal commutation of her death sentence in 1802.
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