A woman looking for the grave of her twin brothers who died in the early 1960s has discovered a mass grave at Royton Cemetery in Oldham in the UK.
The unmarked grave is said to hold more than 300 bodies including those of babies, children, and still-borns. There are 145 still-born children’s bodies, 128 babies and toddlers, and 29 adults in the grave, according to the local council (municipal government).
The grave is about 12 feet by 12 feet. Local council members Jade Hughes and Maggie Hurley said the find was a “heartbreaking revelation,” and they want a permanent memorial built to honor the dead contained in the grave.
The woman who found the grave (she has not been publicly identified) said her parents had not been able to give their dead twin boys a proper goodbye. The first twin was still-born while the second died five hours after birth.
In the UK prior to the 1980s, it was routine to take still-born babies away from mothers and whisk the bodies away to anonymous graves. Hospital staff would merely tell the parents that the baby would be buried next to “a nice person,” but the families were not given the opportunity to hold a funeral or burial service, and they weren’t even told exactly where their dead were laid to rest.
The “nice person”-adjacent grave was actually an unmarked mass grave.
A group called the Royton Independents put out a statement with words from councilors Hurley and Hughes saying they were “profoundly affected” by the discovery of the grave, and wanted the local government to “recognize the injustice.” They want the Oldham Council to take action to mark the grave and honor the dead.
The statement asks how many dead babies are in mass graves in Royton cemeteries, and how many families have no idea where their dead are buried. They said that parents were denied a “fundamental right” to grieve their dead and honor them with a memorial.
There is a motion before the council to build a memorial to the children, and it is set to be debated at the next meeting on September 11.
Though it is not certain, it is assumed that the 29 adult dead in the grave had a “pauper’s burial” as the families were likely too poor to pay for a private grave.
