'The Doctor's Wife is Dead' in Nenagh

The April Ormond Historical Society lecture will feature the story behind the new book by local man Andrew Tierney, 'The Doctor's Wife is Dead'.

 

On Monday next, April 3rd, Andrew will deliver a talk on the death of Ellen Langley, the subject of the book. This will be followed by a reception and formal local launch of the book.

 

In 1849, a woman called Ellen Langley died in Nenagh. She was the wife of a prosperous local doctor. So why was she buried in a pauper's coffin? Why had she been confined to the grim attic of the house she shared with her husband, and then exiled to a rented dwelling-room in an impoverished part of the famine-ravaged town? And why was her husband charged with murder?

 

Following every twist and turn of the inquest into Ellen Langley's death, and the trial of her husband, 'The Doctor's Wife is Dead' tells the story of an unhappy marriage, of a man's confidence that he could get away with abusing his wife, and of the brave efforts of a number of ordinary citizens to hold him to account.

 

Andrew Tierney has produced a tour de force of narrative non fiction that shines a light on the double standards of Victorian law and morality and illuminates the weave of money, sex, ambition and respectability that defined the possibilities and limitations of married life. It is a gripping portrait of a marriage, a society and a shocking lie.

 

Andrew Tierney, a native of Portroe, is a distant descendant of Ellen Langley. Trained as an archaeologist, he is working on the inaugural Pevsner Architectural Guide to the Irish midlands. 'The Doctor's Wife is Dead' is his first book.

 

The lecture will take place at the Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh, at 8.30pm. Non-members: €5. All welcome.