The Quartet: Care Lives of Irish Catholic Homeboys

ABOUT THIS BOOK The front cover shows the four ‘Homeboys’ who won the Brass Quartet competition at the 1934 Sligo Feis. ‘The Quartet’ spent their childhoods in care at a large boys’ home in Sligo, run by the Sisters of Nazareth. This book examines the individual lives of the boys - William McGowan, Patrick Baker, Michael Porter and William Walsh - as well as that of their fellow Homeboys, and explores:

1. Why they came into care and what contact they had with their families

2. How separation from family affected their sense of identity

3. How they were cared for by the Sisters and the difficulties their carers faced

4. The degree to which care shaped their character and later lives

5. How reliable and accurate is adult recall of childhood

The book is based on five years research that has uncovered and created extensive primary sources and, especially, the recollections of the sole survivor, Michael Porter now entering his 96th year.

The author is an historian and a qualified teacher and social worker with extensive experience of managing institutional abuse investigations in England, including those into religious organisations.