IRELAND
irish Central
Sheila Langan @SheiLangan June 17,2014
The names, ages, and causes of death of all 796 children who died at St. Mary’s Home, in Tuam, Co. Galway from 1925 to 1960 have been published in full, below.
The list is long, and reading it is a horrifying, heartbreaking experience – though nowhere near as horrifying as the short lives of the children who died, or as heartbreaking as the sheer number of lost little lives.
When she began her research, Catherine Corless, the local historian who set out to uncover the truth about the bones buried at the site of the former Mother and Baby Home, had no idea the number of deaths would be that high.
As she told IrishCentral’s Cahir O’Doherty, she was simply looking for records – something neither the Order of the Bon Secours nuns, who ran the home, nor the Western Health Board, were able to help her with.
“Eventually I had the idea to contact the registry office in Galway. I remembered a law was enacted in 1932 to register every death in the country. My contact said give me a few weeks and I’ll let you know,” she recalled.
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