Bridget Barrett

Bridget Barrett (died 10 September 1845) was an Irish murder victim.

Overview

Bridget Barrett was the victim in murder case that attracted great notoriety at the time, and was "the subject of the first Coroner's inquest held in Connemara proper and led to two men being charged with wilful murder on the high seas."

Barrett had a sexual relationship with James Mannion of Letterard, which resulted in the birth of their child in July 1845. His aunt put pressure upon him to fulfill his promise of marriage to Barrett, and so Mannion arranged with Barrett on the evening of 10 September, after which they would proceed to Roundstone to get married. The couple met a man named Thomas Cosgriff from where they took a boat from a place called Ruananule, all the time observed by a witness, until they were lost to sight.

The body of Bridget Barrett was washed up on the shore at Roundstone on 16 November 1845. Her hands and feet were missing. It was later found that she had been weighted down with an anchor, decomposition separating the body parts. Mannion had been seen in Galway some days later buying clothes; he was met on his way home by Barrett's sister, who obtained no good answer as to the whereabouts of her sister.

James Mannion was aged twenty-two when convicted of murder on 5 August 1846, his death sentence reduced to transportation for life. He died in prison, awaiting transportation, on 30 September 1847.

Thomas Cosgriff was later found guilty of murder, and transported to Australia on the ship Bangalore. The Convict Resister records that an order was given for his discharge on 4 June 1854.

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References

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