Betty Corrigall

Corrigall lived in Greengairs Cottage near Rysa on Hoy on Orkney in the 1770s.{{Cite web |title=betty_corrigall |url=http://www.cantickhead.com/betty_corrigall.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307220827/http://www.cantickhead.com/betty_corrigall.htm |archive-date=7 March 2016 |access-date=8 December 2016 |website=www.cantickhead.com}} At the age of 27, she had a short romance and became pregnant.{{Cite web |title=Geograph:: Hoy: the grave of Betty Corrigall (C) Chris Downer |url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2608287 |access-date=9 December 2016 |website=www.geograph.org.uk}} Her boyfriend, a whaler by trade, abandoned her and returned to the sea. Betty had little in the way of support. She attempted suicide, but was rescued by local residents. A few days later, a second suicide attempt by hanging was successful.

Due to the laws at the time, the Lairds of Hoy and Melsetter would not allow her to be buried on their property.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thegranthams.co.uk/paul/graves/corrigall.html|title=Betty Corrigall's grave - unconsecrated burials in Britain|website=www.thegranthams.co.uk|access-date=8 December 2016}} She was laid to rest outside their boundary in an unmarked grave.

File:Betty Corrigal - RIP - geograph.org.uk - 1479977.jpg

Her body was discovered in either 1933 or 1936 by peat diggers who came across her wooden coffin.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=The Sad Tale of Betty Corrigall - The Wronged Lady of Hoy |url=http://www.catherinecavendish.com/2013/05/the-sad-tale-of-betty-corrigall-wronged.html |access-date=8 December 2016 |website=www.scapaflow.co |publisher=}} Her remains were well preserved in the peat. The procurator fiscal requested that she be buried in the same spot. In 1941, a group of soldiers dug up her body and referred to her as the Lady of Hoy. After this, she was regularly dug up and quickly began to decompose. A concrete slab was therefore placed over the grave.{{Cite web|url=http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/historicalfigures/bettycorrigall/|title=Orkneyjar - Betty Corrigall's Grave|website=www.orkneyjar.com|access-date=8 December 2016}}

In 1949, the American minister Reverend Kenwood Bryant visited Hoy and was so moved that he asked Mr. Harry Berry, a customs officer, to create a proper headstone. This eventually happened 27 years later, after Mr. Berry's retirement. However, due to the boggy ground, a stone headstone was unsuitable, and a fibreglass one was erected instead. It reads, "Here lies Betty Corrigall."{{Cite news |title=Betty Corrigall's Grave - Hoy Orkney |language=en-GB |newspaper=Hoy Orkney |url=http://www.hoyorkney.com/attractions/hoy-history/betty-corrigalls-grave/ |access-date=8 December 2016}}{{Cite web |title=Betty Corrigall {{!}} People of note {{!}} Culture and tradition {{!}} Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme |url=http://www.scapaflow.co/index.php/culture_and_tradition/people_of_note/betty_corrigall |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021214834/http://www.scapaflow.co/index.php/culture_and_tradition/people_of_note/betty_corrigall/ |archive-date=21 October 2014 |access-date=8 December 2016 |website=www.scapaflow.co}}

Betty's grave is now a popular tourist site.

In 2013, The Magnetic North released their debut album, Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North. Founder member Erland Cooper stated that the inspiration for the making of the album was a dream he had, wherein Corrigall insisted he wrote an album about his home.{{Cite news|url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/music/music-news/simon-tong-reveals-how-orkneys-2065306|title=Simon Tong reveals how Orkney's rugged landscape inspired his new band to create haunting debut album|last=Fulton|first=Rick|date=19 July 2013|newspaper=dailyrecord|access-date=9 December 2016}}

The Scottish band The Knowe O'Deil (of which Ivan Drever was a member) released an album called Orkney Anthem, which includes the track "Betty Corrigall".{{Cite web|url=https://ivandrever.bandcamp.com/track/betty-corrigall|title=Betty Corrigall, by The Knowe O'Deil|website=Ivan Drever|access-date=9 December 2016}}

English folk singer-songwriter Reg Meuross wrote a song about Betty Corrigall called "The Dreamed and the Drowned", which is the title track of his 2011 album.

Scottish singer-songwriter [https://www.malcolmmacwatt.com/ Malcolm MacWatt] has a song about Betty Corrigall entitled "The Lady Of Hoy" on his 2024 EP 'Stubble And Straw: The Dark Harvest Gleanings'

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Category:Suicides by hanging in Scotland

Category:18th-century suicides

Category:18th-century Scottish women