figures include all babies, whether born to married or single mothers. The IMR in Ireland improved with every passing decade. By 1950 the rate was down to 4.7%, and medical science and upgraded hospitals have slowly brought the rate down to its present 0.033%, making Ireland one of the safest countries in which to give birth today. This is the baseline set of figures since 1922, against which all infant mortality rates from Mother and Baby Home must be compared.
However, when we look more closely at the 1920s and separate the legitimate and illegitimate mortality rates, a completely different picture emerges. Here are some of the national figures for Ireland – after 1922 – which speak for themselves:
| Year | Infant mortality rate* | Illegitimate infant mortality rate |
| 1923 | 6.6% | 34.4% |
| 1924 | 7.2% | 31.5% |
| 1925 | 6.8% | 28.7% |
| 1926 | 7.4% | 32.3% |
| 1927 | 7.1% | 28.8% |
| 1928 | 6.8% | 30.7% |
| 1929 | 7.0% | 29.5% |
| 1930 | 6.8% | 25.1% |
| * The national IMR includes legitimate and illegitimate babies and would be lower if the births and deaths of illegitimate babies were removed. |
The national statistics show that in Ireland after 1922, illegitimate babies were dying at four and five times the rate of legitimate babies throughout the 1920s. Many of the illegitimate babies were born and died in the five Mother and Baby Homes, including Pelletstown/St. Patrick’s (1900), Bethany (1921), Kilrush (1922), Bessboro (1924) and Tuam (1926). (Opening years in brackets).
Below is an extract taken from the LGR of 1930/31. This report, documenting the discrepancy between mortality rates of legitimate and illegitimate babies in Ireland, was available to the public and media of the time.
Mortality of Illegitimate Children
The decline noted in the year 1930 in the death rate of infants generally was reflected to an enhanced degree in the corresponding rate for children born out of wedlock, the figure being 251 per 1,000 births in comparison with 295 for 1929, a decrease of 15%, and the lowest rate recorded by the Registrar-General since such mortality was classified separately in 1923. The margin for improvement regarding the mortality incidence in this class is, however, greater than in the case of legitimate children, seeing that even with this more favourable record one out of every four illegitimate infants died during 1930 in the first year of life, or in other terms, their mortality rate was more than four times greater than that of the children of married parents. The death-rate of illegitimate children in the Saorstát [Independent Ireland] is markedly more than the corresponding rates of the same year in Northern Ireland (140 per 1,000 births) and in England and Wales (105 per 1,000 births). There was an increase of ten in the number of illegitimate births in this country in 1930 as compared with the preceding year and a reduction of 79 in the number of deaths of such infants.
The comparison with Britain’s figures for the same time is illuminating. In 1930, Ireland’s illegitimate babies were dying at the rate of 25.1%, while just across the border in Northern Ireland the rate was 14%. In England and Wales, it was down to 10.5% and falling. The civil servants and religious who were actively involved with single mothers and their babies were also undoubtedly aware that Britain was closing its large institutions in favour of smaller, more compassionate orphanages and foster homes. This had already resulted in lower mortality rates and an increase in social skills and training for the young adults leaving the homes. The mortality rates in Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes were higher than the national mortality rate for illegitimate babies and remained very high until the late 1940s. Despite the good intentions and best efforts of certain civil servants, Catholic and Protestant, and some caring politicians, the system in Ireland carried on regardless of the indisputable proof that babies were dying in their thousands in the Mother and Baby Homes and workhouses/county homes.
| Year | Children in the Institution | Number of Deaths | Mortality Rate |
| 1924 | 259 | 96 | 37% |
| 1925 | 240 | 119* | 50% |
| 1926 | 271 | 94 | 35% |
| 1927 | 263 | 111 | 42% |
| 1928 | 294 | 95 | 32% |
| 1929 | 330 | 81 | 25% |
| 1930 | 336 | 66 | 20% |
| *Measles epidemic |
Armed with this information, a closer inspection of exact mortality rates in Pelletstown in the 1920s is revealing. The precise figures for the number of children in institutions, and the number of deaths for Ireland’s first Mother and Baby Home, were reproduced in the LGR for 1929/30. However, the ‘mortality rate’ (rounded to the nearest full number), as added below, did not appear in the original LRG and does not represent the precise infant mortality rate as defined above. Some of the deaths were of children aged over one year and most of the children and babies who died were in the large wards for unaccompanied babies in Pelletstown/St. Patrick’s, including many whose mothers were never in Pelletstown. Even with these caveats, the mortality rates were excessive by any civilised standard. The total numbers given for the deaths in Pelletstown are 622 children out of 1,993, over seven years: an average IMR of over 31% for the seven years, peaking at 50% in 1925. Babies and children in Pelletstown were dying at the rate of almost two per week over those seven years. The LGR for 1925/27 at Pelletstown produced a rare negative reaction from the office of Local Government, as shown below.
Deaths of Illegitimate Infants
The Annual Reports of the Registrar-General for the years 1925 and 1926 disclose that the mortality rate amongst infants born out of wedlock was about five times greater than that of legitimate infants, and that one out of every three of the first-mentioned class died before the completion of the first year of life.
It is recognised that illegitimate infants are handicapped by constitutional and environmental disadvantages which tend to a heavy incidence of infant mortality, but even when allowance has been made for these adverse factors, the death-rate of such infants is still disproportionately high in view of the experience of other countries.
From an analysis of the statistics it is evident that this excessive mortality is accentuated at the age period from fourteen days up to three months and in point of causation is associated with Diarrhoea and Enteritis. It may, therefore, be inferred that the unfavourable results are traceable to the early separation of mother and infant and to the influence of unsuitable artificial feeding.
The supervision of the illegitimate child is partly a matter of Poor Law (e.g., maintenance and liability), of Police (inquests and proceedings for neglect) and of Child Welfare (general protective arrangements).
The deplorable loss of life amongst these children shows the necessity for more efficient administration by local authorities of the powers conferred by the Children Act, 1908, the Notification of Birth Acts, 1907 and 1915, and the Midwives Act, 1918.
For those children who were placed with families, the future was little better, as this LGR excerpt shows:
Nurse children: The provisions of part I of the Children Act, 1908, relating to undertaking the care of infants for gain was actively administered during the year in the Dublin union, the area where the need for supervision of nurse children is greatest. There has been a steady increase in recent years in the number of registrations, while the death rate though higher than in 1927–28, compares favourably with earlier years. The number of nurse children within the cognisance of the Dublin union authorities on the 1 March 1929 was 1,261. The following are comparative figures for five years for Dublin union:
| 1924–5 | 1925–6 | 1926–7 | 1927–8 | 1928–9 | |
| Children registered | 523 | 527 | 591 | 489 | 620 |
| Deaths of infants | 83 | 85 | 111 | 49 | 66 |
| Homes condemned | 46 | 87 | 138 | 162 | 161 |
| Prosecutions | 11 | 15 | 26 | 25 | 26 |
Mortality
