Report commissioned by religious order suggests single burial site at Bessborough 

A REPORT commissioned by the order of nuns who ran the Bessborough mother and baby home suggests there was only one burial site on the grounds of the home.

The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who ran the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork, last year commissioned a report by archaeological contractors Eachtra Heritage.

“We conclude by favouring the hypothesis that [there] was only ever one burial ground in Bessborough and that it contains both children and nuns,” the report says.

It cites research by the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance, which uncovered a 1949/1950 Ordnance Survey map showing an area north of the nuns’ graveyard marked “children’s burial ground [sic]”, but says burial patterns in the nuns’ graveyard suggest children may have been buried there.

This conclusion will prove controversial to some survivors and relatives, who believe there were multiple unofficial burial sites on the grounds of the Bessborough home.

Bessborough operated as a mother and baby home between 1922 and 1998 and in that time 923 children died at the home or after being transferred from the home, according to the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation. 

Burial records exist for only 64 children who died in the care of the Bessborough home, meaning that the remains of 859 children are missing.

The General Register Office was informed of only 816 infant deaths in or associated with Bessborough, of whom 761 died at the home and all of whose deaths have been recorded in the GRO, and 55 at Cork District Hospital or St Finbarr’s Hospital. There is a discrepancy of 107 children between the total figure supplied to the GRO and that supplied to the Commission. No death certificates have been found for these children, and their names and details have never been published.

Correction: Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at Bessborough 

In an article published on echolive.ie on the 26th February 2022, it was stated that 'The General Records Office (GRO) was informed of only 816 infant deaths at the home (Bessborough), leaving a discrepancy of 107 children that the nuns claim died at Bessborough but for whom no death certificates exist.’ 

The Commission Report found that 761 babies died at the Bessborough facility itself, all of which have been recorded in the GRO. An additional 55 babies died in St Finbarr's Hospital after transfer from Bessborough. Notification of these deaths to the GRO was not the responsibility of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at Bessborough.

We are happy to correct the record.