Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share 14. Mary McKinnon
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
14. Mary McKinnon
In Lady Killers, Lucy Worsley investigates the crimes of 19th and early 20th century women from a contemporary, feminist perspective.
In this episode, Lucy is joined by Dr Anastacia Ryan, Founder of SISU, a Glasgow-based charity for women at risk and Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Glasgow, to explore the case of Mary McKinnon.
Mary lives in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1820s, and runs a tavern on South Bridge. Except her tavern, like many at the time, has another side to it – it’s also a brothel.
On 8th February 1823, Mary McKinnon is out having a drink with her friend, when she is called back to the inn as a group of men are causing trouble. She arrives to find a chaotic scene, and in the midst of the frenzy, one of the men is stabbed. He accuses Mary of stabbing him, yet she protests her innocence. Despite this, she’s arrested and put on trial.
She faces animosity and judgment every step of the way. The judge even directs the jury to pay more heed to the evidence of the men who visited her tavern that night, than to the evidence of her fellow workers and other women.
But did she do it? And did she face increased prejudice not only because she was a woman, but because she looked after sex workers?
Lucy Worsley is also joined by Professor Rosalind Crone from the Open University. Together, Anastacia and Rosalind visit the vaults under Edinburgh’s Old Town to see what Mary’s tavern would have been like in the 1820s.
Lucy asks if the way society treats sex workers has changed since Mary’s time.
Producer: Hannah Fisher
Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble, Hannah Fisher, Katy Duff, Jacob Smyth and Fraser Coutts
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Series Producer: Julia Hayball
A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4
View all episodes
By BBC Radio 4
4.7
499499 ratings
In Lady Killers, Lucy Worsley investigates the crimes of 19th and early 20th century women from a contemporary, feminist perspective.
In this episode, Lucy is joined by Dr Anastacia Ryan, Founder of SISU, a Glasgow-based charity for women at risk and Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Glasgow, to explore the case of Mary McKinnon.
Mary lives in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1820s, and runs a tavern on South Bridge. Except her tavern, like many at the time, has another side to it – it’s also a brothel.
On 8th February 1823, Mary McKinnon is out having a drink with her friend, when she is called back to the inn as a group of men are causing trouble. She arrives to find a chaotic scene, and in the midst of the frenzy, one of the men is stabbed. He accuses Mary of stabbing him, yet she protests her innocence. Despite this, she’s arrested and put on trial.
She faces animosity and judgment every step of the way. The judge even directs the jury to pay more heed to the evidence of the men who visited her tavern that night, than to the evidence of her fellow workers and other women.
But did she do it? And did she face increased prejudice not only because she was a woman, but because she looked after sex workers?
Lucy Worsley is also joined by Professor Rosalind Crone from the Open University. Together, Anastacia and Rosalind visit the vaults under Edinburgh’s Old Town to see what Mary’s tavern would have been like in the 1820s.
Lucy asks if the way society treats sex workers has changed since Mary’s time.
Producer: Hannah Fisher
Readers: Clare Corbett, Jonathan Keeble, Hannah Fisher, Katy Duff, Jacob Smyth and Fraser Coutts
Sound Design: Chris Maclean
Series Producer: Julia Hayball
A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4
More shows like Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley
View all
Global News Podcast
7,913 Listeners
Business Daily
523 Listeners
Newshour
1,067 Listeners
World Business Report
296 Listeners
In Our Time
5,576 Listeners
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
2,113 Listeners
The Life Scientific
227 Listeners
RedHanded
12,646 Listeners
Evil Genius with Russell Kane
346 Listeners
Talking Tudors
748 Listeners
Have You Heard George's Podcast?
235 Listeners
Historic Royal Palaces Podcast
470 Listeners
Elis James and John Robins
326 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
3,245 Listeners
British Scandal
2,591 Listeners
Gone Medieval
1,920 Listeners
Not Just the Tudors
2,060 Listeners
Sport's Strangest Crimes
73 Listeners
Uncanny
689 Listeners
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
1,395 Listeners
Believe in Magic
630 Listeners
History's Heroes
504 Listeners
After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
1,144 Listeners
Legacy
406 Listeners
The Global Story
394 Listeners
Miss Me?
239 Listeners
The History Podcast
54 Listeners
Crime Next Door
115 Listeners
Rory Stewart: The Long History of...
80 Listeners
The History Bureau
96 Listeners