Stillborn babies buried in mass graves to be commemorated

Oldham Council will create memorials to stillborn babies buried in mass graves in cemeteries across the borough, the council boss has announced. Arooj Shah said she hoped the decision would ‘bring some peace and solace’ to relatives.

The decision came after it was discovered a mass grave in Royton contained almost 300 stillborn babies and very young children last week.

Historically it became standard procedure across the UK for hospitals to bury stillborn children in communal burial sites. Many parents were kept in the dark about the practice and often went decades without knowing the final resting place of their loved ones.
 

Read more: ‘Heartbreaking revelation’ as mass grave found in Royton cemeteryPublished: 06 September 2024

At a full council meeting on Wednesday, Councillor Shah said: “Our hearts go out to the family members who have discovered their relatives were buried in unmarked graves.

“Sadly, the burying of people, including babies and children, in unmarked graves happened in graveyards all across the country. Thankfully this practice no longer happens, but it is wrong there is no acknowledgement of this in our cemeteries.

“I hope this news will bring some peace and solace to those surviving relatives who have loved ones buried in our cemeteries. it is right to face the mistakes of the past and, more importantly, remember those precious lives.”

The memorials will be funded from Councillor Shah’s designated leader’s budget.

The announcement came during a motion by Royton councillor Maggie Hughes calling for the recognition of the pain caused by the practice. She also requested for the process of tracking down missing loved ones to be made easier by digitalising all death records and providing support to family members.

Councillor Hughes said: “People are angry. Angry they’ve been lied to. We cannot rewrite history, Sadly what has happened cannot be undone. But as an authority, we can lead the way in uniting those families.”

The motion was unanimously passed.

The heartbreaking discovery of the mass grave was made after a Royton woman set out to find the final resting place of her baby brother, who was stillborn in 1962.

Another mother, Anne Ryan, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service about the ‘horrible feeling’ of finding out her baby had been buried in another communal grave in Oldham. Unbeknownst to her parents for 55 years, Joyce, who lived for two days, was buried in another communal grave in Greenacres Cemetery.

She told the LDRS it would be ‘wonderful’ to have something to commemorate the little ones individually.

Oldham families looking for lost loved ones can contact the cemetery office at Hollinwood on 0161 681 1312 or via env.cemeteries@oldham.gov.uk where the records are held in written burial books.

Charlotte Hall, Local Democracy Reporter