The women of 98
Part 2
Molly Weston
On 26 May Molly and her brother of Worganstown, County Meath,
having recruited and organised the United Irishmen in the Fingal
area, rode on horseback into Tara, County Meath. She was
described as ``handsome and vivacious, quick in mind, active in
body...a daring and accomplished horse-woman''.
``Arrayed in green... mounted on a white horse, [she] rode hither
and thither upon the field with drawn sword in hand, rallying the
pikemen and leading them in successive charges with the utmost
fearlessness'' (Patrick Archer, ``Fingal in 1798'').
``She wore a green riding costume, with gold braid in the manner
of a uniform and a green cocked hat with a white plume. She was
armed with sword and pistols and was accompanied by her four
brothers when she rode into battle. Weston rallied and regrouped
the stricken pikemen; she placed herself at their head and led
repeated charges against the Reagh Fencibles.''
She fired a big gun captured from the Fencibles during the course
of the battle, killing eleven of their number. Molly died along
with her four brothers at the Battle of Tara. Her side-saddle was
recovered from the battlefield
Mary Doyle
Mary Doyle of the Battle of New Ross fame came from Castleboro
and lived ``a charmed life, moving from point to point where the
fighting was heaviest''. A single woman of 30 years who was
engaged to the famous Kelly of Killanne (hanged in Wexford), ``she
bore herself as gallantly as the most courageous man...[and] made
herself useful by cutting with a bill-hook the cross belts of the
fallen dragoons, and handing them, together with the cartouche
boxes, to her comrades''.
When the United Irish army were leaving the field of battle
despondent at not having captured the town she sat on a cannon,
refusing to move unless they took it with them. Thus she
embarrassed them into taking with them the last of the six pieces
of artillery they had captured.
other Mary Doyle was the County Wicklow woman who eloped with
the rebel leader Michael O'Dwyer during that turbulent year. She
operated against the crown forces with Michael and the remnants
of the United Irish army in their stronghold of County Wicklow
for five years following the collapse of the 1798 rising. Despite
being captured and being wooed by a loyalist, Lord Huntley, she
refused to reveal Michael's whereabouts and managed to trick
Huntley into meeting her by a stream at night. Michael turned up
disguised as his wife and Lord Huntley was found dead shortly
afterwards.
Mary followed her partner to Australia after his transportation
there in 1803 after five years on the run. They had seven
children before Michael died in 1825. Mary survived him by 35
years, dying in 1861.
Bridget `Croppy Biddy' Dolan
active participant in the rebellion in South Wicklow, Bridget
`Croppy Biddy' Dolan turned and her evidence convicted many of
her former comrades in arms. She was an ideal witness as she knew
many of the personalities in South Wicklow. She had attended many
of the outdoor meetings held by them prior to the Rising, by
which time the United Irish in the area, Shillelagh, boasted
1,080 members.
Born in the County Wicklow village of Carnew in 1777, she came
from a poor family and was illiterate. She was a useful horse
rider and learnt the skill of shodding them. Those skills made
her a valuable asset for the United Irish army. She was, though,
according to Luke Cullen, at the age of 13 ``an avowed and
proclaimed harlot, steeped in every crime that her age would
admit of; and her precocity to vice was singular''.
In January 1798 she lost her position in the household of Captain
Thomas Swan of the Carnew Yeomanry. It could have been at this
stage that Croppy Biddy became a sworn member of the United
Irishmen.
When the Rising began she said she joined the army at
Tubberneering on 4 June and remained in the field with the
Wicklow rebels until August, having travelled as far as Meath,
but she is thought to have spent much of her time in the mountain
base camps of the Wicklow United Irishmen under General Holt. It
was stated afterwards that she had an affair with Holt before his
wife Hester Long joined them.
Biddy left the United Irish camp in August, when she could see
that they no longer had a chance of victory, and returned to
Carnew. She was not immediately suspected of United Irish
activities, but on 16 September she was arrested by Captain
William Wainright of the Shillelagh Yeomanry in Coolkenna. She
immediately agreed to turn state's evidence and to direct the
crown forces to the haunts of the United Irish fugitives. She was
also willing to swear anything ``that she thought would please the
Orange party, who supplied her with money and whiskey''. Much of
her evidence to the Rathdrum court cases against United Irish
suspects was fabricated.
She was paid for her services until 1803 at least. She continued
to live in Carnew until her death in 1827 at the age of 50. She
was regularly stoned and abuse was showered on her by local
nationalist youths for her treachery.
Matilda Tone
Martha `Matilda' Witherington was 29 when her husband died in
mysterious circumstances after his trial in the Provost Jail in
Dublin on 19 November 1798. Similar to many of the leaders'
partners she endured much hardship, worry and disruption in her
life with her husband's constant travel for the United Irish
cause. When she was ``not 16 years of age'', she eloped with
Theobald Wolfe Tone, then 21, and stayed in Maynooth till her
parents' anger abated. She remained estranged from her family and
came to regard the Tones as her family.
Of her three children only William lived beyond his teens. He
joined Napoleon's army and later accompanied Matilda to the
United States after she married Thomas Wilson in Paris in 1816.
Along with William she ensured that her husband's memory and
ideals lived on in the biography they published in 1826. Matilda
died in 1849, aged 80 having survived all three of her children
ne Flood
ne Flood had a farmhouse at Garrystackle, not many miles from
the hill of Bree in County Wexford. Her family's sympathies lay
with the United Irishmen, but they were not directly involved in
the fighting. When an abusive Hessian captain invaded her home a
few days after the United Irish defeat at New Ross she took the
opportunity presented. When he bent over to relight his pipe she
struck him a mortal blow with a lump of timber and concealed the
body in a shallow grave with the help of a maid who returned that
evening.
Susan O'Toole
Hester Long (Holt's wife) and the wounded Ann Byrne (shot in a
crown forces raid on the camp) were among the ``several women in
the camp'' which General Joseph Holt of the people's army in
County Wicklow referred to. Another was Susan O'Toole who would
visit them regularly. Holt referred to her in his memoirs as `The
Moving Magazine' as she would move weaponry and ammunition around
the county for the rebels under her skirt.
She was a daughter of the blacksmith, Phelim O'Toole from
Annamoe. An only child she was equal to all the tasks in the
forge. At the age of 30 she was around five foot eight and went
about the county and amongst the English and loyalist troops
selling delicacies as a cover for her clandestine activities. She
would bribe them for weapons, which she would then bring to the
camp.
``She had an extraordinary ability to change her whole appearance.
With her dirty pepper and salt coloured frieze cloak, her stoop
and drooped jaw, she could appear a decrepit miserable baccagh
(cripple) scarcely able to crawl, but when it was necessary to
act with vigour, her powerful muscles and brawny limbs made her
more than a match for any man. A blow from her clenched fist was
like the kick of a horse,'' Holt said of her:
``A spy on the movements of the army, and a most useful ally I
found her. The slightest motion was instantly communicated by her
means to my outposts, and they speedily conveyed the intelligence
into headquarters; so we were tolerably safe against surprise. I
consider her my chiefest treasure and ordered her to be supplied
with the best my camp could afford.''
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