She wrote up her article for the local journal, covering all aspects of the home, and asked the question at the end of her article: had the dead children been buried in the septic tanks? Corless next obtained death certificates for some of the children in the home and realized there was no indication of where the children had been buried. She asked for information from the Bon Secours, but was not provided with anything of use. Corless next turned to Ordnance Survey maps of the area, which indicated the site of the grave to be a septic tank in 1890. She started by asking locals on the estate that has been built on the site of the home and was shown the site of a mass grave believed by locals to be famine victims. Ĭorless found that very little had been written concerning the mother and baby home and that extensive research would be required for her article. Corless has related on a number of occasions how she feels guilty about a trick she once played on one of the children from the home, copying a classmate by wrapping up a stone in a sweet wrapper and offering it to a girl who grabbed it, thinking it was a treat. Her own memories of the children's home, and attending school with children from the home, sparked her interest in the topic. Investigation into the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home Initial research Īfter writing a piece for the local history journal on landlords, the editors of the journal were impressed by her work and asked if she would consider submitting another article. Following the 2020 government report on deaths and abuses at Mother and Baby homes, the Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin called Corless a “tireless crusader of dignity and truth”. She has received a number of awards in recognition of her work, including a People of the Year Award in 2018. She spent her spare time searching records in libraries, churches and council offices, after which she uncovered that 796 children died in the home and she identified that there were death certificates but there were no burial records. After gaining an interest in local history from attending an evening course, Corless decided to write an article about the mother and baby home inspired by her own childhood memories of the institution. Investigating the Bon Secours Mother and Baby HomeĬatherine Corless ( née Farrell born 1954) is an Irish historian, known for her work in compiling the information concerning the deaths of children at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Galway.
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