UK government apologises for past burials of stillborn babies in mass graves

A plot at Landican cemetery in the Wirral. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianView image in fullscreenA plot at Landican cemetery in the Wirral. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianUK government apologises for past burials of stillborn babies in mass gravesYvette Cooper acknowledges ‘unthinkable pain’ caused by practice between 1930s and 1980s after campaign by Wirral woman and others

The health secretary, Yvette Cooper, has issued a “profound apology” for the “unthinkable pain” caused to parents whose stillborn babies were buried in mass graves.

Parents spent decades not knowing where their babies were buried, owing to a practice in which stillborn babies taken away from mothers at hospital and buried in communal graves.

Over several decades between the 1930s and the early 1980s, many bereaved parents who lost babies in NHS hospitals were given no say in what would happen to their remains and no information about where they had been taken.

More than 1,000 stillborn babies were interred in the Wirral, at Frankby, Plymyard and Landican cemeteries, between 1935 and 1981. Another mass burial ground in Royton, Oldham, is believed to hold more than 270 babies.

Gina Jacobs, from the Wirral, whose son Robert was stillborn in 1969, did not know where he had been buried for 53 years. She has been among those campaigning for recognition from the government.

Speaking in the House of Commons during a baby loss awareness debate, Cooper said: “On behalf of the government, I want to issue a profound apology to them.”

She added: “I have issued that apology to Gina today, but to so many more like Gina who have sought answers over many years, I’m sorry for the unthinkable pain caused by those historic practices, because what happened to those parents should never have happened and we need to ensure it can never happen again.”

Jacobs told ITV News: “It didn’t kind of sink in at first. I’ve wanted this, I’ve campaigned for this, I’ve begged for this, anyone who would listen, for four years now, and to actually have it said to me by the minister herself.

“To me it’s like a lottery win because I have wanted this,” she added. “This brings dignity and respect to these babies, because they never got it at the time. And it brings it even to our missing babies.”

View image in fullscreenGina Jacobs at Landican cemetery in 2024. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianIn July, Liverpool city council passed a motion calling on the government to apologise in parliament to families affected by the practice.

The motion, which was passed unanimously by all parties, said: “The historical handling of stillborn babies by public authorities was a cruel violation of human dignity that has caused decades of unresolved trauma, grief and anger for families across Liverpool.”

In response to the government apology, the Liverpool councillor Kris Brown, who put forward the motion, said: “The government’s words of apology will go a long way. For many, just acknowledging that it happened will bring a sense of closure and justice.

“However, this can’t just be words simply etched into Hansard. I hope that the secretary of state, along with the prime minister, issues a written apology and sets out a national framework on how families affected by the scandal can get support.”

The council has urged the government to set aside national funding to retrieve burial records, and has called for a comprehensive review into the mass burials, which took place under many successive governments.

Brown welcomed the apology but said: “There is still far more to do for full justice.”