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53°30′28″N 8°50′34″W / 53.50765°N 8.84291°W The Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, or simply The Home, was a maternity home for unmarried mothers and their children that operated between 1925 and 1961 in Tuam, Ireland. It was run by the Bon Secours religious order.
In May 2014, Catherine Corless, a local historian, announced that she had correlated the death records for 796 children, mostly toddlers and infants, with a previously identified mass grave on what had once been the location of the facility's septic tank.[1] The announcement and subsequent media attention sparked outrage and prompted calls for an investigation.[2][3] The Irish government called it a "deeply disturbing" revelation and immediately came under pressure from international groups such as Amnesty International to launch an investigation into whether the Catholic Church was involved.[4][5]
History
[edit]
Between 1925 and 1961 in Tuam, a town in western Ireland, the Bon Secours Sisters ran an institution called "The Home", a Magdalene asylum where thousands of unmarried pregnant women gave birth.[6] The institution had previously been based in Glenamaddy, but was criticised there by the Department of Local Government and Public Health as unsanitary and unsuitable for such a purpose. The move to Tuam was to improve conditions for the children.[7][8] The building had been constructed in 1841 as a workhouse under the Irish Poor Laws.[9] In April 1923, the workhouse, then an improvised military barracks, was the site of executions by the Irish Free State of six Old IRA Volunteers. The founder and head of the Home, Mother Hortense McNamara, would later build a shrine to the six executed Óglaigh, and she and her charges would offer regular prayers at the glass-encased shrine.[10]
After spending some time to repent for their pregnancies, mothers left the Home, in some instances leaving their children behind.[8] After the home closed in 1961, it was demolished, and a new housing estate was constructed on the site.[11]
Mass grave
[edit]Local residents had been aware of the grave's existence since 1975, when two boys smashed a concrete slab atop the mass grave and discovered bones.[4][12] Locals thought that the grave contained the remains of victims of the Great Famine or unbaptised babies.[7] It was resealed shortly afterwards, following prayers at the site by a priest. The number of bodies was then unknown, but was assumed to be small.[7][12] After this first discovery, a local couple looked after the burial site for 35 years.[7]
In early June 2014, a local historian, Catherine Corless, studied the state death records of 796 children who had died at the home from a range of ailments, including gastroenteritis, malnutrition, and disease. She then cross-referenced the names with those in local graveyards and found that only one (a child who had been interred in a family plot) had been buried in any of those cemeteries. Based on mapping of the former home and her findings, she concluded that the only possible location for the corpses was the site uncovered by the boys nearly four decades ago, which is located at the edge of the grounds of the former home. The remains of the victims were mostly within the septic tank.[4][12] Victims were placed in a grave without interment records being kept.[13] Corless is now campaigning for a grave marker to be placed at the site.[7]
Inquiry
[edit]Susan Lohan, co-founder of Adoption Rights Alliance, has called for an inquiry into mother and baby homes.[14] On 4 June 2014 the Irish government announced it was putting together a number of representatives from various government departments to investigate the deaths at the home and propose how to address the issue.[15] Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Charles Flanagan said that a government inquiry would not be confined to the home in Tuam and that officials would advise the Government on the best form of inquiry before the end of June 2014.[16]
See also
[edit]- Florida School for Boys, reform school in Florida where 55 bodies were found in unmarked graves
References
[edit]- ^ "796 Irish orphans buried in mass grave near Catholic orphanage: historian". CBC News. Associated Press. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
- ^ Smith-Spark, Laura (5 June 2014). "Anger grows over reported mass grave of children from Irish unwed mothers home". CNN.
- ^ "Ireland: 'Tuam babies' mass grave allegations must spark urgent investigation". Amnesty International. 5 June 2014.
- ^ a b c Dalby, Douglas (4 June 2014). "Inquiry Urged on Site Called Mass Grave of Irish Babies". The New York Times.
- ^ "Amnesty urges Ireland to launch probe into mass children's grave". Yahoo News. 5 June 2014.
- ^ "Mass baby grave in Tuam, Galway: Bon Secours nuns told to assist investigation". Belfast Telegraph. 5 June 2014.
- ^ a b c d e "'It's time to do something" – The forgotten mass grave of 800 babies in Galway". TheJournal.ie. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
- ^ a b McCoy, Terrence (5 June 2014). "Bodies of 800 babies, long-dead, found in septic tank at former Irish home for unwed mothers". The Washington Post.
- ^ Higginbotham, Peter. "The Workhouse in Tuam, Co. Galway". workhouses.org.uk/. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
- ^ Eleven Galway Martyrs (2 ed.). Tuam Herald. 1985. p. 54.
- ^ "Mass grave of 796 babies found in septic tank at Catholic orphanage in Tuam, Galway". Belfast Telegraph. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
- ^ a b c O'Toole, Emer (4 June 2014). "Tell us the truth about the children dumped in Galway's mass graves". The Guardian.
- ^ McGreevy, Ronan. "Tuam case 'reminder of a darker past in Ireland'". Irish Times. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
- ^ "Call for inquiry into mother-and-baby home deaths". Irish Examiner. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
- ^ "40 years after becoming common knowledge, Irish government to investigate mass graves". Irish Sun.com. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
- ^ McGarry, Patsy (5 June 2014). "Mother and baby inquiry to go beyond Tuam - Flanagan". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
External links
[edit]- BBC News, 6 June 2014, "Tuam babies: Amnesty International calls for investigation into deaths"
[[Category:2014 in Ireland]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Tuam]] [[Category:Current events from June 2014]] [[Category:Mass graves]] [[Category:Religion in Tuam]]