Poor Forgiving Wretch: The Ordinary Brutality of 1808
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Poor Forgiving Wretch: The Ordinary Brutality of 1808
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About this listen
In July 1808, the Dublin Evening Post reported a short, startling case:
'A ruffian, named Patrick Curran, who split his wife’s ear, and cut her with a hammer, was sentenced to be imprisoned three months'.
Other papers repeated the story, adding that Mrs. Curran was a 'poor forgiving wretch'. She admitted her husband had 'often done so before'… but forgave him.
In this episode of The Forgotten, we delve into what that tiny article reveals: violence, law, silence, and survival in nineteenth-century Ireland. We’ll trace echoes into modern reporting, including a 2019 case where forgiveness again became the headline, and reflect on coercive control, forced resilience, and why so many court cases look like a Historical Hot Mess Express of injustice.
Because abuse is not new. But silence doesn’t have to continue.