Stillbirths

[sandyjose]

I was reading an article about stillbirths that said they had to be buried.
 My mother had a stillborn baby in April 1950,she was in Mill Road hospital.Were would the baby have been buried?

[horse000]

Hi

Maybe worth contacting..

Cambridgeshire Record Office - Archives Service

Can be found here..

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01nih/

Geoff

[rosie99]

Deceasedonline has records for Cambridge, it may be found on there

https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch

[KGarrad]

I am under the impression that stillbirths are simply buried in any convenient open grave, and don't have a grave of their own?

[louisa maud]

A cousin had a stillborn child and it was buried in with a female which I understood was the practice nowadays unless the parents decide on other arrangements

Louisa Maud

[LizzieW]

My mum had a stillborn boy in 1951 at home.  She was 7 months pregnant and as far as I know the baby was just taken away by the GP who came to see her.  I did contact GRO to see if he was on their stillbirth list, but there was no trace, despite the fact that, naturally, I knew my parents' names and our address as I was 10 years old at the time.  I also had to provide the dates of my parents' deaths before they would provide a certificate of stillbirth.  I am going to try again, as the letter I received back said there was no record of baby W (which is my married name) and the baby would have been baby B.

When I worked as a midwife 1970s onwards, stillborn babies were usually put in coffins with other patients who had died at the hospital at the same time.  It wasn't really the thing, as it is now, for the parents to take their baby and have a proper funeral and burial/cremation.

[LizzieW]

By the way, notes on the application form I had to fill in state:

A Still Birth is defined as a child born after the 24th week of pregnancy (or after the 28th week prior to 16th March 1992) that did not breathe or show any other signs of life.

If the period of gestation was less than 24 weeks (or less than 28 weeks prior to 16th March 1992) the event will not have been registered.

The General Register Office holds records of Still Births registered in England and Wales since 1st July 1927 only.

The cause of death has not always been recorded in Still Birth records.

The place of burial is not recorded in Still Birth records.

Forenames may have been included in entries from March 1983 onwards.

In the case of my stillborn brother, although I know my mother was 7 months pregnant, the GP could easily have decided that she was less than 28 weeks pregnant and, therefore, just not bothered to register the stillbirth and he may well just have disposed of the body along with the placenta.  I do know he told my mother just to get on with life and that "the best thing you can do is have another baby".  Not something any mother wants to be told when she's just lost a baby, especially someone of 40 years of age.  But I guess that's what things were like in those days.

[louisa maud]

There is a register of stillborn babies  at the ONS offices, you won't find it in the normal ledgers open for all to see

Louisa Maud

[sandyjose]

Thanks for all the help.What does ONS stand for?