May 4, 2026 · 32 min · 18 segments
Anne Devlin was a woman long remembered as a loyal housekeeper to an infamous revolutionary, when she was really a courier, conspirator and trusted rebel operative. In this episode, we look at Anne’s…
Anne Devlin was born in 1781 near Aughrim in County Wicklow, which is a small town tucked into a scenic valley in the Wicklow Mountains.
The Devlin family were farmers, and like many politically minded families at the time, they had connections to the Society of United Irishmen, a revolutionary organization that was founded in Belfast in 1791.
Anne's father, Brian, one of her brothers, and several of her cousins were members of the society, and the society's aim was to unite Catholics, Protestants, and dissenters under one shared Irish identity and push for Ireland to become self-governing.
In the 1790s, inspired by the revolutions in France and in America, the United Irishmen helped organize a major rebellion against British rule.
The rebellion was a complete failure, but in places like Wicklow, where Anne grew up, the violence was evident everywhere.
Fathers and sons suspected to be rebels were imprisoned, and actual rebels were forced to retreat and go into hiding deep into the Wicklow Mountains.
Anne was related to the famed insurgent leader, Michael Dwyer, one of the most important guerrilla commanders to emerge after the 1798 rebellion.
It's also said that her immediate family did not take an active role in the rebellion.
And the rebellion and its violence left a permanent mark on Anne Devlin, who at the time was only 17 years old.
After the rising was suppressed-She continued to support the rebel cause in whatever way she could.
In the aftermath of the 1798 rebellion, Wicklow was left in a state of complete dissolution.
Loyalist mobs and Crown forces were targeting anyone suspected of rebel sympathies, and in many cases, the bodies of dead rebels, or just suspected rebels, were left exposed and dishonored on the streets.
So dead bodies of these revolutionaries, or just innocent bystanders, assassinated and left on the street, and they were denied a decent burial because their families were too afraid of reprisals to bury them.
There was this intense fear that even if you showed some sympathy toward these people who were executed, you would then be executed yourself.
But Anne Devlin was one of a handful of local women who would go out at night and gather the bodies and give them a proper Christian burial.
Now, this was an incredibly brave act of resistance, even though it may seem like a small one.
If she was caught, she could have been seen as a rebel sympathizer and met with a similar fate, but this didn't scare young Anne, who was only 17, as I said.
And I think this action really encompasses Anne's tenacity that we will see throughout this episode.
After the rebellion was crushed, she continued to help the rebel cause by carrying messages and supplies to fugitives hiding in the Wicklow Mountains, including her cousins Michael Dwyer, Arthur Devlin, and Hugh O'Byrne.
Anne Devlin was born in 1781 near Aughrim in County Wicklow, which is a small town tucked into a scenic valley in the Wicklow Mountains.
The Devlin family were farmers, and like many politically minded families at the time, they had connections to the Society of United Irishmen, a revolutionary organization that was founded in Belfast in 1791.
Anne's father, Brian, one of her brothers, and several of her cousins were members of the society, and the society's aim was to unite Catholics, Protestants, and dissenters under one shared Irish identity and push for Ireland to become self-governing.
In the 1790s, inspired by the revolutions in France and in America, the United Irishmen helped organize a major rebellion against British rule.
The rebellion was a complete failure, but in places like Wicklow, where Anne grew up, the violence was evident everywhere.
Fathers and sons suspected to be rebels were imprisoned, and actual rebels were forced to retreat and go into hiding deep into the Wicklow Mountains.
Anne was related to the famed insurgent leader, Michael Dwyer, one of the most important guerrilla commanders to emerge after the 1798 rebellion.
It's also said that her immediate family did not take an active role in the rebellion.
And the rebellion and its violence left a permanent mark on Anne Devlin, who at the time was only 17 years old.
After the rising was suppressed-She continued to support the rebel cause in whatever way she could.
In the aftermath of the 1798 rebellion, Wicklow was left in a state of complete dissolution.
Loyalist mobs and Crown forces were targeting anyone suspected of rebel sympathies, and in many cases, the bodies of dead rebels, or just suspected rebels, were left exposed and dishonored on the streets.
So dead bodies of these revolutionaries, or just innocent bystanders, assassinated and left on the street, and they were denied a decent burial because their families were too afraid of reprisals to bury them.
There was this intense fear that even if you showed some sympathy toward these people who were executed, you would then be executed yourself.
But Anne Devlin was one of a handful of local women who would go out at night and gather the bodies and give them a proper Christian burial.
Now, this was an incredibly brave act of resistance, even though it may seem like a small one.
If she was caught, she could have been seen as a rebel sympathizer and met with a similar fate, but this didn't scare young Anne, who was only 17, as I said.
And I think this action really encompasses Anne's tenacity that we will see throughout this episode.
After the rebellion was crushed, she continued to help the rebel cause by carrying messages and supplies to fugitives hiding in the Wicklow Mountains, including her cousins Michael Dwyer, Arthur Devlin, and Hugh O'Byrne.
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