THE CHILDREN CRIED

This is a song I wrote:
A fire broke out in the early morning hours of February the 23th 1943 in the basement laundry of St Josephs Industrial school in Cavan town. It was not noticed until about two in the morning. The sight of smoke coming out of the building alerted people on Main Street. They went to the front entrance and tried to gain entry. Eventually they were let in by one of the girls (Rosemary Caffrey) but not knowing the layout of the convent, they were unable to find the girls.
By this time all of the girls had been moved into one Dormitory. It would have been possible to evacuate all of the children but instead the nuns persuaded the local people to attempt to put out the fire. It has been widely claimed that the reason the orphans were not evacuated was that the nuns did not think it "decent" for the girls to be seen in public in their nightgowns. Two men (John Kennedy and John McNally) went down to the laundry to try to put the fire out. The flames were now too intense for this to be possible and McNally only survived by being carried out by Kennedy.
Over concerns about the causes of the fire and the standard of care, a Public Inquiry was set up. The report's findings stated that the loss of life occurred due to faulty directions being given, lack of fire-fighting training, and an inadequate rescue and fire-fighting service. It also noted inadequate training of staff in fire safety and evacuation, both at the orphanage and local fire service. The subsequent investigation attributed it to a faulty flue.
“In Cavan there was a great fire,
Judge McCarthy was sent to inquire,
It would be a shame, if the nuns were to blame,
So it had to be caused by a wire.”
- Flann O'Brien & Tom O'Higgins
It was alleged that the nuns prevented firefighters entering the building in case they saw the girls inside in a state of undress. Also, the structure of the orphanage, with many locked and barred doors, has been compared to a "fortress", presumably intended to safeguard the chastity of the inmates.
Due to the nature of the fire, the remains of the dead girls were placed in 8 coffins and buried in Cullies cemetery in Cavan. A new memorial plaque was erected in 2010 just inside the convent gates at Main Street, Cavan. The plaque was anonymously donated to the Friends of the Cavan Orphanage Victims group.
The Children who perished were:
Mary and Nora Barrett (12-year-old twins from Dublin)
Mary Brady (7 years old from Ballinagh)
Josephine and Mary Carroll (10 and 12 years old, respectively, from Castlerahan)
Josephine and Mona Cassidy (15 and 11 years old, respectively, from Belfast)
Katherine and Margaret Chambers (9 and 7 years old, respectively, from Enniskillen)
Dorothy Daly (7 years old from Cootehill)
Bridget and Mary Galligan (17 and 18 years old, respectively, from Drumcassidy, Cavan)
Mary Harrison (15 years old from Dublin)
Elizabeth Heaphy (4 years old from Swords)
Mary Hughes (15 years old from Killeshandra)
Mary Ivers (12 years old from Kilcoole Wicklow)
Mary Kelly (10 years old from Ballinagh)
Frances and Kathleen Kiely (9 and 12 years old, respectively, from Virginia)
Mary Lowry (17 years old from Drumcrow, Cavan)
Margaret and Mary Lynch (10 years and 15 years, Cavan)
Ellen McHugh (15 years old from Blacklion)
Mary Elizabeth and Susan McKiernan (16 and 14 years old, respectively, from Dromard)
Ellen Morgan (10 years old from Virginia)
Mary O'Hara (7 years old from Kilnaleck)
Ellen and Harriet Payne (8 and 11 years old, respectively, from Dublin)
Philomena Regan (9 years old from Dublin)
Kathleen Reilly (14 years old from Butlersbridge)
Mary Roche (6 years old from Dublin)
Bernadette Serridge (5 years old from Dublin)
Teresa White (6 years old from Dublin)
Rose Wright (11 years old from Ballyjamesduff)
The one adult who died was 80-year-old Mary Smith, who was employed as a cook.
No nuns died.
copyright@padraig grimes 2019
all rights reserved.

[@carmelhegarty9829]

FROM-- CO. MAYO. Absolutely powerful lyrics , beautiful voice. Thank you Padrâig. R.I.P. to the beautiful, innocent deceased. 🙏🇮🇪🙏

[@PadraigGrimes]

Thank you so much. You could actually be the first person from my county to comment on my channel. So glad to hear you liked my song, its a terrible story, and the children should be remembered. There are many sad stories in this country of ours.....

[@veritasvincit2374]

What an outstanding, powerful song - and tribute to those unfortunate children! Thank you for writing and sharing it. I urge you to publish/record it as it will help preserve memory of those children, as well as of what those nuns did not do in such a terrible crisis.

[@PadraigGrimes]

Thank you so much for such a lovely comment. I'm so glad you liked my song. It's a terrible story, but it's just another shameful chapter in the book of this country. It was easy to write a song about something that makes me so angry. All the best wishes, P.

[@michaelhermiston]

kind of shocking !!! a beautiful song, and great addition to the canon of historical tragedy songs ... religious pseudo morality has caused much grief ....well done Padraig

[@PadraigGrimes]

Thank you so much Michael for your lovely comments today. I wrote this one after hearing the terrible story, so many shameful things to write about in this country....