The work of local historian Catherine Corless into the Tuam mother and baby home led to a commission of investigation announcing that “significant” quantities of human remains had been discovered in structures designed to contain sewage.
The remains were buried under the site of a former institution for unmarried mothers run by the Sisters of the Bon Secours.
Between 2011 and 2013, Mrs Corless, the so-called “kitchen table historian” paid €4 each time to get the publicly available death certificates of 796 children who died at the home at a total cost of €3,184 to her.
The average number of deaths over the 36-year period was just over 22 a year.
The youngest children to die at the institution in Co Galway were Baby Walsh and Baby Haugh who lived only 10 minutes respectively.
The oldest child recorded among the 796 was Kathleen Cloran who died in 1932 aged 9½ years.
Often up to two children per day were recorded as dying at the home, while on some dates, such as April 22nd,1926, three deaths were recorded.
Just over a week later on April 30th four deaths were recorded.
The information recorded on these State-issued certificates shows the children are marked as having died variously of tuberculosis, convulsions, measles, whooping cough, influenza, bronchitis and meningitis, among other illnesses.
The above, compiled and provided by Catherine Corless, lists the 796 children who died at the Tuam mother and baby home between 1925 and and 1960.
