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Forgotten Orphans of Smyllum
Forgotten orphans of Smyllum laid to rest by nuns in umarked graves
Mon, 2009-03-09 17:56 - Kerry
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SCORES of tiny mounds and indentations punctuate the grass of a forlorn corner of St Marys cemetery in Lanark.
They are the evidence of a dark episode in recent Scottish history
that saw children who had already been robbed of their lives then robbed
of their identities.
It is estimated that the bodies of as many as 100 children lie
unmarked and unmourned in St Marys - all of them former residents of
the towns notorious Smyllum orphanage. The Catholic nuns who ran the institution until it shut in the 1980s
already stand accused of terrorising the living in their care.
Now it has been revealed how children who died during Smyllums
century in existence were placed without ceremony in paupers graves
at nearby St Marys and no record kept of their final resting place.
Survivors of the home, many of them still struggling with their own
horrific experiences of abuse, are now determined to honour the children
who never left.
They are campaigning for the Catholic Church to fund a proper
memorial and properly examine records so the dead can finally be given
back their identities.
Frank Docherty, 59, survived two years of beating and humiliation at
Smyllum after his alcoholic parents decided they could no longer look
after him and his siblings and dumped them in the care of the Catholic
Church in 1954.
Docherty told Scotland on Sunday that when children died from
diseases none of the nuns would speak about it. He never recalls
attending a requiem mass for any of the orphans.
In stark contrast, he recollects vividly having to kiss the forehead
of a dead nun as she lay at the entrance to St Marys Church in Lanark
at the start of a requiem mass before burial at St Marys Cemetery.
The part of the cemetery reserved for nuns and priests contained rows
of crosses and headstones. Tiny mounds of earth are all that mark the
existence of the dead orphans.
There are few, if any, clues to when the children died, how they
died, and whether their deaths were investigated and recorded within the
requirements of the law.
"The nuns were a law unto themselves at Smyllum," said Docherty. "I
fear that years ago many of these children were buried without proper
records being kept of who they were."
Docherty said that on his first day at the orphanage a nun reacted to
his crying by beating him with a hairbrush and repeatedly kicking him.
Worse was to follow, but his main preoccupation was with those who
didnt survive.
He said: "Its nothing short of criminal to leave so many dead
children abandoned in this way. What hope is there of any relative
trying to find a loved one? What are they supposed to do? Pray beside
any old mound in the ground? Thats truly unholy and an insult to the
little ones memories."
At present, the only memorial to the children is a stone engraved
with the words: "Sweet Jesus have mercy on the souls of the children of
Smyllum."
Docherty and his fellow campaigners at In Care Abuse Survivors
(INCAS) claim the Church has obstructed their efforts to identify and
remember the children, by erecting a wall of red tape.
Church officials, according to Docherty, say it is now too difficult to research the identities.
INCAS secretary, Jim Kane, of Forth, Lanarkshire, said: "These
children had names, had friends, and some had relatives. No one knows
when they died or who they are because theyve been completely
forgotten.
"Its a pitifully sad sight to see so many little humps and
indentations in the grass that are the only indications of their last
resting places.
"Its bad enough that adults have come forward to tell of the cruel
regime at Smyllum. But to leave these childrens graves unmarked is
just as big a sin."
Kane says he is one of several orphans who were physically,
psychologically and spiritually abused at the hands of the nuns at
Smyllum.
He said he was facing an uphill struggle against Catholic Church
officials who hold records of the names of the orphans who died between
1864 until Smyllum closed in the 1980s.
Kane said there was no suggestion that any of the children had died other than from natural causes.
He added: "I estimate there are up to 100 orphaned childrens
graves in the cemetery. There are scores of indentations where burials
have obviously taken place over many years.
"I contacted the Sisters of Charity for help and was very
disappointed to be told by their principal archivist that they had
absolutely no record of the dead childrens names.
"I was told to contact officials at St Marys Church in Lanark, but
every time Ive tried to make an appointment to discuss this Ive
been fobbed off. I was originally told I would have to provide names and
dates of the children who died before parish records could be checked.
Thats impossible because I dont have their names.
"Now Ive been told Ill have to wait until someone at St
Marys has time to provide a list of orphans buried in the cemetery
then send those details to London where, hopefully, the information will
be sent to me."
Smyllum was sold off in the 1990s and the building and grounds used to build flats and houses. The profits the Catholic Church made in the sell-off only exacerbate the sense of injustice among the Smyllum survivors.
Kane, 62, said: "INCAS and many local people want the Church to pay for a new memorial.
"The Church could use some of the wealth it gained in selling Smyllum
itself for the development of flats, as well as selling off other land
in the town for housing."
A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Glasgow denied that it had
been "insensitive" about the childrens graveyard and requests for a
new memorial.
The spokesman added: "I will speak to the Motherwell diocese to find
out what can be done to speed up finding the childrens names, though I
expect it will be a difficult task.
"It may be that if they were not originally from the Lanark parish
their records may be elsewhere. I will also pass on the INCAS request
for funding for any future memorial."
Hundreds of former residents of childrens homes run by the
Catholic Church in Scotland, including Smyllum, are involved in an
ongoing legal case for compensation for the alleged abuse they suffered.
Last year, Scotland on Sunday revealed how a former resident of Nazareth House childrens home, Kilmarnock, claimed she was raped by a priest.
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Mon, 2009-05-25 10:46 Anonymous
Abuse At Smyllum
I was one of the victims of phsyical and sexual abuse by the sisters of
Charity and male and female staff at smyllum, my little brother, a baby,
died there and was buried in an unmarked grave. I hope that one day
this evil church is brought to book for it's evil crimes. Every day of
my life I think about the things that happened and would like to live my
life in the knowledge that I'll have closure.
Even although I live in australia I can't seem to be able to escape my past
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