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https://theconversation.com/1-in-7-babies-born-in-irelands-baby-homes-died-clair-wills-uncovers-the-hidden-history-of-her-cousin-who-survived-the-worst-one-223200>
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Review: Missing Persons, Or My Grandmother’s Secrets – Clair Wills (Allen
Lane)
In January 2021, Ireland’s Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby
Homes released its final report, the culmination of a five-year investigation
into the conditions and operation of these infamous homes.
It found that between Irish independence in 1922 and 1998, when the last
institution closed, 56,000 unmarried mothers and 57,000 children had been
housed within these institutions. About nine thousand babies born in them had
died. (Roughly one in seven – almost double the mortality rate of the
illegitimate babies in the general population.)
Cultural historian Clair Wills has a family connection with Bessborough Mother
and Baby Home in Cork, which by 1934 had the highest recorded infant mortality
rate among all of Ireland’s mother and baby homes. “During 1943, three out of
every four children born in Bessborough died – a mortality rate of 75%,”
reported the BBC.
Her cousin, Mary, who was born there in January 1955, was one of the lucky ones
who survived – but throughout her upbringing remained outcast from her entire
extended family. After growing up in an orphanage, Mary met her own tragic end
as an adult. The failures of past generations were reproduced in her
experiences.
Wills, who never met Mary, says she can’t remember when she first found out
about her. She didn’t start investigating Mary’s story until she was in her
mid-twenties, and a mother herself."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
