Slipped through the cracks
Finding things in unexpected ways
It’s been over a year since Project Infant began looking into the Pelletstown / St. Patrick’s Mother and Baby Home. It’s taken countless hours of collective research throughout the year to get where we are. While we haven’t found everyone, we’ve found over 2.4K names. Now, I am quite aware that there were over 3.6K names in total, so we’ve found two-thirds of them but I’ve decided to upload and publish what we have found so far. We hope to find more in due course, but I felt we must make what we have available in the public domain as this hasn’t been done yet.
I thought you might like the progress update. So, as it stands, I’m uploading the names to the site and am about halfway done. I’m adding more information I didn’t record the first time around to the spreadsheet and have the displeasure of reading poor handwriting from the registrar in charge: Joseph Cullen.
Now, I’ve seen my fair share of handwriting and there are just some (rather crucial) bits of information that seem to be written badly. I noted this child had died and had an inquest carried out by Christopher F____? I consulted the newspaper archives and stuck in what I thought the name had looked like, initially, it looked like Christopher Freer but that didn’t work and after many failed attempts, I stuck in the info I did know: “Christopher Coroner” and looked for pieces that contained the word “Pelletstown” as I knew it would have to. (Turns out this would be Christopher Friery)
While I was searching, there was one piece that caught my eye. This was reported in the Evening Herald on Wednesday, May 18th, 1938. [Tap/click on the image below to enlarge]
Initially, this child had been given what was thought to be Jeyes fluid. (A cleaning agent) I was stunned when I read this and this had led me down a rabbit hole trying to find any more coverage on the incident.
The next piece that I could find on the incident was almost two months later on Tuesday, July 12th, 1938. [Again, click/tap to enlarge the image below]
According to the producers of Jeyes fluid in Ireland, it was not corrosive and therefore could not have been the fluid the infant had ingested resulting in her death. The mother of the child who had given her the fluid was quickly committed to an asylum.
But, now I knew this much. Her name was Patricia Brennan, she died at the age of 2 in the Pelletstown Mother and Baby home from shock, bronchitis and congestion of the lungs from being administered the harmful fluid on May 16th, 1938. I checked my spreadsheet, but Patricia was not on the list of names that I had.
But you may be wondering why I’m highlighting this infant in particular.
That’s because of Donagh McErlean, the coroner in charge of Patricia’s case. Unlike the other coroners I’ve seen who have registered the decedent’s death, McErlean did not. I conducted a whole variety of searches ranging from no first name, only surname then Brennan in 1938 and no matter what I tried — Patricia did not appear. I’ve not been able to establish where Patricia was buried either. [All I know, is that it doesn’t appear to be Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin]
It then occurred to me, that the only record of this child’s existence is through the inquest in the newspaper because the horrendous circumstances of her death warranted newspaper coverage. Otherwise, I fear she could’ve been lost to time. But don’t worry, Donagh McErlean’s death in 1965 at the age of 83 is registered.
I can’t do much research on her as I:
a) Don’t know the name of Patricia’s mother. All I know is she was committed to an asylum.
b) Don’t know if she was from Dublin (as I don’t have her origin from her death entry — which doesn’t even exist) leading me to be stuck with three potential Patricia Brennans. Two from Dublin, the other from Claremorris in Mayo.
There are just so many unknowns, it doesn’t help me. But one thing I do know is, I do have a record of Patricia, which means she can go on the Project Infant website. She is the first person I have ever uploaded that doesn’t have a death entry but does have a record of her death in some shape or form. Here’s what her page looks like.
So, if there’s anything that this has taught me is that there will be some things that do fall through the cracks, but they exist — we just have to exhaust every avenue.
[EDIT: On July 1st 2024, I made some headway with Patricia and trying to find more out about her, so I have added her birthday to the tribute below.]
In Memory of
Patricia Brennan
Now Gone, But Never Forgotten
September 5th 1936 - May 16th 1938
I’m always so impressed with your persistence and passion!
Very thoughtful! May she never be forgotten!