Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
1957-1971 · 14 years · show in timeline

Middletown 1957 to 1971: The director of the Catholic girls' school St Joseph's regularly beat the girls; the inquiry found this amounted to systemic physical abuse

St Joseph's in Middletown (County Armagh) was a home and training school for girls, run by the Sisters of St Louis and funded 100 percent by the state. The Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) found that the director, referred to in the inquiry as SR 237, regularly physically abused the girls from 1957 to 1971 and made them kneel as punishment. Not all punishments were recorded in the punishment book. Because she was the director, the girls could not complain about her to anyone. From 1968 to 1987 there were no formal state inspections. The inquiry did not find systemic sexual or emotional abuse at St Joseph's.

Period
1957-1971 (14 years)
Country
United Kingdom
Institutions
Sisters of St Louis
St Joseph's Training School Middletown
Category
Violence
Level of evidence
A Primary source · what does this mean?

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. A former resident described how, at about 13, the director beat her with a stick on her bare back and bottom because she mistook her first menstrual bleeding for bedwetting. The inquiry received consistent accounts that the director regularly physically abused the girls and made them kneel, and found that not all punishments or their extent were recorded in the punishment book.
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 80
    „She beat me until she was tired and it was the worst beating I ever had the whole time I was there.“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 80. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 160
    „We received consistent accounts of SR 237 being regularly physically abusive to girls and making them kneel as a punishment.“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 160. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 159
    „not all the punishments she applied, or the extent of them, were fully and/or accurately recorded in the punishment book“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 159. Original · Archive copy

What happened to those affected?

  1. The inquiry found that the director's conduct from 1957 to 1971 amounted to systemic physical abuse; because she was the director, the girls could not turn to anyone more senior. It found the lack of formal inspections from 1968 to 1987 to be a systemic failing of the state. It did not find systemic sexual or emotional abuse.
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 160
    „Therefore, we found SR 237’s behaviour amounted to systemic physical abuse during her period of directorship between 1957 and 1971.“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 160. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 160
    „That position meant that girls could not appeal to a more senior member of staff about SR 237’s behaviour“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 160. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 277
    „The lack of formal inspections in the period from 1968 to 1987 was a systemic failing by the MoHA, and then the NIO“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 277. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 193
    „These are the only allegations of sexual abuse in St Joseph’s that we are aware of and we do not find that they amount to evidence of systemic sexual abuse.“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 193. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 212
    „We concluded from all the evidence available to us that there was not systemic emotional abuse of girls in St Joseph’s.“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 212. Original · Archive copy

Background

Response of the Church

  1. The Sisters of St Louis opened a convent and an industrial school/orphanage in Middletown in 1881; from 1950 St Joseph's was a state-recognised training school. Because it met a statutory need, the Northern Ireland Ministry of Home Affairs met 100 percent of the running costs.
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 1
    „which was run by a Roman Catholic congregation, the Sisters of St Louis“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 1. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 13
    „A convent and an industrial school/orphanage were opened on 25 June 1881.“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 13. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland, Abs. 19
    „Since St Joseph’s was meeting a statutory need the MoHA agreed to meet 100% of the revenue expenditure for the school.“
    Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown, Abs. 19. Original · Archive copy

See also

Original documents to read

  1. Government report
    Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Nordirland: Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Band 5, Kapitel 18: Module 11, St Joseph’s Training School, Middletown. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 30 Oct 2026)
Change log (1)

The change log is kept in German only.

  • : Aufgenommen

Last changed on 30 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.