Dorcas “Darkey” Kelly’s early life remains wrapped in mystery—her birthdate and upbringing are undocumented. By the late 1750s, she had established herself as a well-known brothel madam in Dublin, running the notorious Maiden Tower on Copper Alley, just off Fishamble Street in the city’s southwest.

On St. Patrick’s Day, 17 March 1760, Dorcas Kelly was accused of murdering a shoemaker named John Dowling. Details of the crime itself are sparse in surviving records, but this accusation led to a swift legal response.

She was apprehended, tried, and condemned for Dowling’s murder. The punishment handed down was brutal which was partial hanging, followed by burning at the stake, a particularly severe sentence, especially for a woman and a sex worker.

On 7 January 1761, the sentence was carried out near St. Stephen’s Green on Gallows Road (modern-day Baggot Street) in Dublin. The execution was public and grisly, she was likely strung up on a chain to be throttled, then burned alive when the rope was set ablaze, a method noted in later comparisons to similar executions in London.

After her death, Kelly’s peers who were the women who worked for her held a wake on Copper Alley, mourning her in defiance. The authorities responded by arresting thirteen prostitutes for disorder, sending them to Newgate Prison.