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Craicnet

Irish Industrial Schools

5 replies

chicairlandesa · 05/07/2021 22:16

Hello everyone! This may be a bit of a long shot but I am looking to speak to anyone who has a parent that was brought up in an Irish Industrial School.
I am wanting to write about the intergenerational trauma of the Industrial Schools, specifically experiences of those growing up with parents who were in these schools and how this impacted their lives/upbringing. My nan grew up in Goldenbridge Industrial School (St. Vincents) so this idea was inspired by my mother's experiences.

I am just wondering if anyone would be willing to speak to me about their experiences/what are people's general thoughts on this as a written piece?

I really appreciate any replies!

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FortunesFave · 06/07/2021 01:43

I don't have personal experience of a parent or Grandparent in an industrial school but I have been looking at the effects of intergenerational trauma related to Irish people for a few years now.

I'm a writer of Irish heritage but born in Wales to parents who were born in England but with Irish grandparents.

My grandparents all came to England and Wales to escape poverty.

The idea of intergenerational trauma has fascinated me ever since I realised I had an inate fear of institutions and that I'd probably 'learned' this from my Grandparents and parents.

This effects me in so many ways....I have long had an almost physical reaction to large, government run buildings and even fear the doctor, schools, churches and others.

I also caught myself many times repeating my Grandmother's words whenever times were tight "Oh well, there's no workhouses any more"

A slightly more random piece of information is that when I had my first child, I had to have an emergency c section due to narrow pelvis.

The consultant said it was so narrow it was almost like a man's.

Later, in looking up the history of Irish orphans arriving in Australia (like cargo...sent to populate the country and as maids and wives in the 1800s) I learned that when they settled and married, their diet improved so rapidly that once pregnant, their unborn babies grew to such a size due to a much improved diet, that many of these women could not physically give birth to them.

Their frames were too small...and these unborn babies had grown too large and many rough c sections were performed with varying success.

I always wondered if my experience was something related to that.

chicairlandesa · 06/07/2021 13:25

Thank you for sharing your experience, I really appreciate your reply! I’m really sorry that you have experienced a lot of fear with institutions, that must be really difficult. Although it sounds like you have made a lot of sense of where those feelings come from. I would love to read anything you have written on the subject as it sounds like we have very similar research interests/similar experiences. My grandparents also left Ireland for Birmingham due to poverty (and the experience in the industrial school in my nan’s case).

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PearlFriday · 06/07/2021 13:35

Sounds very interesting. I don't have experience of parents or grandparents in industrial schools but there was so much suffering in Ireland for so long. I know Prince Harry was mocked recently for talking about intergenerational trauma but it's really something I believe in. My own family is not the typical Irish family. Church of Ireland not Catholic and one side of the family had their home razed to the ground while the other side of the family experienced near starvation (wartime) in a boarding school. My parents hold their marriage up to me a model of respectability and disapprove of me going it alone and talking about emotions, but one of them is in deep denial and handles every 'challenge' with extreme defensiveness and the other is the institutionalised footsoldier /enabler.

So it has taken three generations to get back to a normal healthy sane place. I did the hard work to get there so I don't count myself. But my children are emotionally healthy. I hope.

Good luck with your writing, it sounds really interesting.

Wine
PearlFriday · 06/07/2021 13:38

It's so true, the stereotype of the cousins in America being half a foot taller than their parents and with great teeth.

IN ONE GENERATION.

I

chicairlandesa · 06/07/2021 20:52

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and your words of encouragement about my writing. You’re so right, there was so much suffering for so many Irish families, it’s definitely something so many of us have in common. I’m glad that you were able to break the cycle, it sounds like it was very difficult. After my grandmother left the industrial school she moved to England. Unfortunately, she married an alcoholic and there was domestic violence which my mother and her siblings witnessed. I definitely think it was linked to being in the home and all the issues that come with being institutionalised.

It’s so interesting to hear about all the physical effects as this is something I hadn’t thought about before!

Wishing you and your family all the best 💐

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