Catherine Corless 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.
36 Facts About Catherine Corless
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Catherine Corless spent her spare time searching records in libraries, churches and council offices, and uncovered that 796 children died in the home.
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Catherine Corless found death certificates but identified that there were no burial records.
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Catherine Corless has received a number of awards in recognition of her work, including a People of the Year Award in 2018.
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Catherine 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.
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Catherine Corless found that very little had been written concerning the mother and baby home and that extensive research would be required for her article.
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Catherine Corless 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.
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Catherine Corless next turned to Ordnance Survey maps of the area, which indicated the site of the grave to be a septic tank in 1890.
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Catherine Corless asked for information from the Bon Secours, but was not provided with anything of use.
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Catherine 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.
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The article did not gain the attention Catherine Corless expected from the authorities and so she did further research into the number of children who had died in the home.
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Catherine Corless initially approached the local media in 2013 concerning the results of her investigations, with the aim of raising funds for a larger memorial on the site, but only a small article was printed.
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Catherine Corless then found herself receiving many requests from the international media.
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Catherine Corless was reportedly upset by some of the speculative nature of the reports, such as the assumption all of the children who died at the home were buried in the septic tank.
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Catherine Corless appeared on The Late Late Show in March 2017 to talk about her research.
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Catherine Corless received a standing ovation from the audience at the conclusion of her interview.
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Catherine Corless was featured on the BBC Radio 4 programme Profile and then in 2018 on PM in a segment called The Home Babies.
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Catherine Corless appeared in the RTE documentary No Country for Women in 2018, presenting the story of Julia Carter Devaney who spent the first 45 years of her life in the Tuam mother and baby home.
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Catherine Corless has stated that many locals expressed that the matter should have been left alone.
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Catherine Corless claimed that she had been told to drop her research and regarding the bodies that she should "just leave them there".
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Catherine Corless's husband commented that he had not realised there was so much doubt surrounding the conclusions of Catherine Corless' research.
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Catherine Corless has several times made statements supporting the exhumation of the mass grave in Tuam.
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Catherine Corless raised the issue again in April 2018, after receipt of her Person of the Year Award.
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Catherine Corless turned down an invitation to a reception for Pope Francis's visit to Ireland, and attended a vigil that was held at the same time as the Papal Mass, stating that she was "taking a stand with the babies".
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In September 2024, Catherine Corless attended a leg of a 62km memorial walk to highlight the 796 missing children and babies at Tuam, with a guard of honour formed by the public.
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Catherine Corless is a beacon for these children, a huge light.
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Catherine Corless has received a number of awards in recognition of her investigation into the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home.
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Catherine Corless was made one of Galway's People of the Year in February 2018.
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Catherine Corless received a standing ovation at the ceremony and was widely praised on Twitter.
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The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, praised the work of Catherine Corless whilst speaking at the Galway International Arts Festival.
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In October 2018, Catherine Corless was awarded an honorary doctorate by NUI Galway.
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Catherine Corless's work is not just about a focus on those who died but those who continue to live with the pain, trauma and hurt in the present.
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Catherine Corless received an honorary degree from Trinity College Dublin in December 2018.
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Catherine Corless was born in Tuam and has lived in the area since then.
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Catherine Corless was a secretary in a textile factory before she gave up work outside the home to be a full-time mother to her four children.
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Catherine Corless discovered her own mother was illegitimate, with no father listed on her birth certificate, and had been raised by foster families.