The Body of Mary Boyd
The Irish in Canada Podcast
English - April 06, 2023 05:00 - 23 minutes - 16.2 MBEducation history irish canada irish-canadian canadian Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: Episode 5 - The Execution of Thomas Scott
Next Episode: Episode 1 - Benjamin Lett: "The Rob Roy of Upper Canada"
To end our second season, Jane is revealing some of her exclusive research from the Gender, Migration & Madness Project: the mystery surrounding the death of Mary Boyd. Mary was an Irish Quebecer who found work as a young maid in a Toronto doctor’s household in 1868. But the circumstances surrounding her suicide only a few months later caused a major scandal in the city about sex, virginity, pregnancy, medical experimentation, mental illness, and the immense power men had over women’s bodies.
NB – This episode contains graphic discussions of mental illness, sexual assault, and suicide. Listener discretion is advised.