Orphanage survivor’s mission to find image of father

ADundee woman sent to an orphanage at the heart of a child abuse scandal is on a mission to find out more about her family’s past.

Jane McHugh became an orphan at three years old when her father was killed in battle during the Spanish Civil War. Her mother had died when she was a baby.

She was sent to the notorious Smyllum Park Orphanage in Lanark, 90 miles from her home in Lochee.

Over a decade, Jane witnessed untold cruelty. Deprived of food, she survived by stealing bags of sugar.

Scarred to the point where she could not bear to speak about her experiences until she was 78 years old, Jane is seeking more information about her preSmyllum childhood.

Now 87, she is desperate to find a photograph of her father, James McHugh, described as a “forgotten war hero”.

The Dundee-born merchant seaman was killed at the Battle of Gandesa in April 1938.

An error on a memorial plaque erected in Dundee’s Albert Square in February 1975 wrongly listed James’s brother John.

In 2008, when the family expressed their distress at the lack of recognition, a “supplementary” plaque was erected beside it.

After James died, Jane – known to her friends and family as Jean – was cared for by her grandmother until she was seven years old.

Jane’s daughter Karen said other relatives then wanted to take her on but social services were unhappy she would not have a room of her own and she was sent to Smyllum Park Orphanage.

Opened in 1864 at Smyllum Park in Lanark, the institution was run by a Catholic order of nuns and housed 11,600 children aged between one and 14 years old, until it closed in 1981.

“Her memories are very vivid and she talks about her experience there, often, these days,” said Karen, an art therapist who lives in the East Neuk.

“When mum arrived at the orphanage, she was read a letter by one of the nuns. “It said that she was ‘never to be adopted’, which had a profound effect on her and she didn’t understand why this would be the case.

“I’ve often said it was perhaps because the family were trying to get her back.”

The orphanage was at the centre of an inquiry in 2017 into historical allegations of child abuse.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry found many children were sexually abused and beaten by priests, nuns, members of staff and volunteers. Lady Smith, who chaired the inquiry, concluded it was a place of fear, threat and excessive discipline.

In 2003, hundreds of children’s bodies from the orphanage were discovered in a mass, unmarked grave at nearby St Mary’s Cemetery in Lanark, just a three-minute drive from the orphanage.

An investigation revealed at least 400 children were buried in the plot.

A third of those who died were aged five or under. Just 24 in total were aged over 15, and most of the deaths occurred between 1870 and 1930.

While Jane is reluctant to go into details, Karen said her mum spent years suffering nightmares about Smyllum, and reading about the case made her “hugely upset” and ill.

“She had nightmares about the children that were beaten at night and felt guilty she hadn’t managed to ‘save them’.

“She would find out that they had died, some just not appearing in the morning.

“She survived at the orphanage by stealing handfuls of sugar, as they were deprived of food.

“Sometimes a kind younger nun put some chocolate under her door.

“But otherwise, it was a dreadful and cruel environment.

“Mum only ever wanted an apology from them.” Aged 17, Jane enrolled to become a nurse at Dundee Royal Infirmary where she worked until she was 55.

She was also a nurse and nursing sister at Adamson Hospital in Cupar.

She married Douglas William Johnston in Dundee in 1959 and the couple were together for 60 years until Douglas died on February 3 2019.

Jane has only one photo of her mother, Rosie, and one of herself as a child but has never seen a photo of her father.

“It would be amazing if someone could help locate a picture of my grandfather James McHugh for my dear mum,” said Karen. “My sisters Lesley and Elaine have been very proactive in looking too but to no avail.”

The bronze memorial plaque for 16 volunteers, all members of the British Battalion, who died during the Spanish Civil War was unveiled on February 23 1975 in a small garden to the east of McManus Galleries in Dundee’s Albert Square.

Karen discovered her grandfather James died at the age of 26 in April 1938 in Gandesa, in the province of Tarragona, Catalonia.

James was a seaman in the Dundee branch of the National Union of Seamen and an organiser for the National Unemployed Workers Movement in Dundee.

He arrived in Spain on December 10 1937, fought at Hijar and Calaceite and was reported as “missing in the Aragon retreats”.

The British Battalion, having been involved in fighting to hold the city of Teruel, retreated from Aragon to the coast. By April 2, only 80 volunteers were left and they made their way to Gandesa, where James was likely killed.

Do you have any information about James McHugh – or a photograph of him? Get in touch at gritchie@dctmedia.co.uk

LOST TIME: Jane McHugh is seeking to fill in gaps from her early childhood history.

The former Smyllum Park Orphanage was described as a place of fear and threat.