Registered a child’s death who had died in a Dublin mother and baby home that had over three thousand dead almost 87 years after she died.
Will forever be glad that she now has a death record.
#MotherAndBabyHomes #Genealogy
A hearty thank you to @adultadoptee.bsky.social for letting me speak to their members about the work we do at @projectinfant.ie in trying to restore the names of those who died in mother and baby homes, industrial schools & Magdalene Laundries around Ireland… watch here! ⬇️
youtu.be/eJJ9TjeauJU?...
In a period of Ireland’s history where its impact still rings through to the present day, affecting thousands of families (including my own), it’s important that all institutions are afforded the same respect when remembering those who lost their lives in the institutions. Since Project Infant began in July 2022, it had originally served as an online tribute to mothers and children who died in Mother and Baby Institutions, County Homes and Adoption Homes, so far collectively, eleven have been recorded to date - amounting to recording to just over 6,500 names. But things change, and Project Infant is no different. In August 2024: the first Industrial School was added. To date, we have recorded deaths in six of them, recording the names of 452 children. Now, in September 2025: we have added the first Magdalene Laundry to the website. This is the Magdalene Laundry which was located in Forster Street in Galway City. This new inclusion has resulted in the names of 128 women who died in the Forster Street Laundry being added to Project Infant. We endeavour to continue our work in restoring the names of the thousands who died in Ireland’s institutions. – Daniel Loftus, Project Infant Founder
I have a lot to say, but can't put it all into one post, so hopefully the image below will express it better than 280 characters could ever.
It's a big change for @projectinfant.ie but one that needed to be done.
Thank you all who support our work. 🩷🩵🤍
🔗: projectinfant.ie/forster
Browser window with tens of tabs trying to open for Project Infant's website.
Whenever this happens, it's a good sign...
#MotherandBabyHomes #ProjectInfant #NewAdditions
🩷🤍🩵
#ProjectInfant
The Good Shepherd Sisters have announced there’s work underway to update the gravesites of the High Park & Sean McDermott Street Laundries.
There’s 327 names due to be added.
3 newly-discovered graves belonging to the congregation have also been found.
goodshepherdsisters.ie/news-events/...
Honoured to be included alongside Ted Steede in (Below) this piece.
Cousins should have been included no matter the difficulty (for what the DCEDIY are claiming) — better to have the sample then do some good ol’ DNA research to find out how they’re related, right?
Catch it here. ⬇️
...the 1911 Census (projectinfant.ie/the-homes/ar...) have been uploaded too.
[The 1911 Census especially was in dire need of it as there was details not transcribed on the National Archive's census website for over 300 people in the Industrial School]
All can be viewed on links above.
St. Joseph's Industrial School on the our website has had some additions.
Full transcripts of every death cert of an Artane Industrial School death has been added. projectinfant.ie/the-homes/ar...
Improved transcripts of the 1901 Census (projectinfant.ie/the-homes/ar...) and...
Project Infant logo. Three silhouettes in an oval with a gradient going from white to pink to blue as the background.
3 years ago today, I took a chance.
Wasn’t sure how this would work out for me.
With the help of @projectinfant.ie volunteers, we’ve found 6,547 mother & baby home (adoption home etc.) children, 66 mothers and 367 Industrial School children — covering 17 institutions so far.
More to come!
In Memory Of: Bridget McCarthy - November 22nd 1927 - 23 years Michael Thompson - December 19th 1927 - 2 months Joseph Grace - May 28th 1928 - 1 month John Grace - June 22nd 1928 - 6 weeks John Swanton - June 26th 1928 - 2 months Catherine (Kate) O’Brien - July 27th 1929 - 25 years Eliza (Lizzie) McCarthy - September 23rd 1932 - 26 years Margaret Mahony - December 5th 1940 - 40 years Josephine Larkin - January 10th 1942 - 19 years Mary Cuddihy - December 30th 1942 - 39 years Nellie Grosse - September 18th 1943 - 58 years Mabel Jessie Huckvale - January 22nd 1953 - 82 years Elizabeth Susie Hope - September 21st 1957 - 47 years Joan Twomey - June 25th 1958 - 62 years Louise Bridget O’Leary - March 23rd 1974 - 81 years Julia O’Donoghue - May 17th 1984 - 81 years Ann Walsh - January 23rd 1985 - 85 years
The plot is poorly kept, with the only two 'monuments', a broken plaque for Julia O'Donoghue in May 1984 & a metal cross with the wrong name inscribed: Doris Walsh instead of Ann Walsh in January 1985.
Below are 13 women & 4 children from Bessborough that are buried in the plot.
A poorly kept gravesite.
Broken shield style plaque in two pieces.
Black Metal Cross with the name 'Doris Walsh' inscribed.
In November of 1927, the Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary purchased three graves, combined into one plot in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Cork.
This is what the grave looks like now.
@timbre-breda.bsky.social & I finished looking at the cemetery registers for this plot.
17 people are buried here.
Had the legislation for this been better thought out & way more inclusive than it currently is, that number would be much higher.
Not to mention, how many of the 796 missing children have family that know about them?
#MotherAndBabyHomes
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/soci...
It shouldn't require an exhumation for archives from religious orders who ran mother and baby homes to be made available.
Just sayin'.
#MotherAndBabyHomes
A week today, this will begin.
Let there be answers.
#MotherAndBabyHomes
news.sky.com/story/intern...
Promo for In Plain Sight by Noelle Brown and Camille O'Sullivan. It is taking place from July 8th to 12th 2025 at the Sacred Heart of Mary Convent.
Looking forward to attending the premiere of "In Plain Sight" by @nollieb.bsky.social & Camille O'Sullivan with @sharonloftus.bsky.social tomorrow.
Please do try and make this if you can!
Tickets are available here: www.thesourceartscentre.ie/whats-on/eve...
In memory of the 923 children & 32 mothers who died between 1922 and 1994 in / connected with Bessborough House. See next post for ALT-text.
[Note: We only have 890 children & 25 mothers, but we're working hard at @projectinfant.ie to try and find the remaining names.]
#MotherAndBabyHomes
[1/2]
❤️
Me speaking to Taoiseach, Micheál Martin.
Will do more tweeting about the #Bessborough commemoration but feel this in itself deserves a separate post.
Got to speak to the Taoiseach about my #MotherAndBabyHomes research.
A surreal moment nonetheless but I’m glad I got to convey the importance (and necessity) of investigating Bessborough.
While there is a large focus on Tuam at the moment, we can't let #Bessborough or any other #MotherAndBabyHomes with hundreds of missing burials slip by either. We need investigations. Into Bessborough, Sean Ross Abbey, and more, then we do memorialisation.
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/soci...
The fact I'm still being asked "How do you get information from being in a mother and baby home?" or "How do I go about getting redress?" makes me frustrated.
Not at them, but at the very campaigns that were supposed to do this.
For help on getting your birth information, see: projectinfant.ie/faq
11 years it took to get to this point.
May the remains of those buried here be reinterred somewhere more respectful.
24 months this is envisioned to take, and that starts now.
#MotherAndBabyHomes
By coincidence I was passing Tuam today as the hoarding went up around the Mother & Baby Home site. A discreet and respectful veil.
It’s 11 years since I took this photo of Catherine Corless at her kitchen table. I rang her today just to say hi.
🧵
After 11 years, the Tuam exhumation finally has a date.
June 16th, 2025. This is less than a week away! At long last, the journey for proper answers will begin.
#MotherAndBabyHomes
An unusual favour. I have a chance of potentially making money from TikTok to help pay costs incurred when doing @projectinfant.ie.
If you want to help, share this post, then watch the video & interact with it & follow along with me. Every little helps! vm.tiktok.com/ZNdSaqCLS/
As I am unable to add ALT-Text / if you have trouble reading the images, I have uploaded an accessible file with all the names in the images above. See: projectinfant.ie/the-homes/tu... to download / view the file.
With the Tuam exhumation due to begin in mid-June, these are the over 800 most important people at the centre of this.
Found by Catherine Corless and shared with the world in 2014, it's taken 11 years to get to this stage.
#MotherAndBabyHomes
(Red = mothers)
[Accessible file version, see post 2]
The latest from us at @projectinfant.ie. Want to be a part of what we do, unearthing the names?
Consider volunteering with us: projectinfant.ie/volunteer
#Genealogy
A photo of the St. Patrick's Mother and Baby Home names.
A close up of some of the St. Patrick's Mother and Baby Home names in sharp focus with a slightly blurred background.
A close up of some of the St. Patrick's Mother and Baby Home names in sharp focus with a slightly blurred background.
I try to visualise the work that my volunteers & I do at @projectinfant.ie, but sometimes I need it in front of me.
These are the 2,452 names [mothers & children] we've found, continuing to work to the total: 3,658.
It really hammers it home seeing it all there in black & white.
