Women in the Chancery Pleadings

On International Women’s Day 2025, we’re delighted to spotlight our new blog Fighting for Justice in Chancery: the Untold Stories of Ireland’s Forgotten Women based on the 16^th and 17^th-century Chancery Pleadings which we hold. A hidden gem of historical significance, these records survived the Public Record Office fire of 1922 in significant numbers. Despite being overlooked for many decades, they’re probably the most complete collection of Irish court records from the early modern period and are an invaluable resource for studying women.

The VOICES Project based in Trinity College Dublin has redressed this historical neglect by digitising over 1,000 Chancery documents which feature women as plaintiffs or defendants. This initiative between the National Archives and VOICES to digitise and feature a sample of the records on the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) platform is the first step towards putting women’s stories front and centre, where they belong. The curated collection of records represent a rich tapestry of women’s stories and highlight the legal cases taken by women like Margaret Ní Dhonnchadha, Dame Margaret Butler known as the “Lady of Lackagh” and two sisters-in-law, Maud and Mary Lutrell who fought over a disputed inheritance.

Find out more about this wonderful new resource at Fighting for Justice in Chancery: the Untold Stories of Ireland’s Forgotten Women and VOICES while you can view high-quality images along with complete transcriptions of the stories of Margaret Ní Dhonnchadha, the Lady of Lackagh and the warring Luttrell sisters on the VRTI website. You can also learn more about the records we hold relating to women’s history in our dedicated guide to Sources for Women’s History.