A 102-year-old great-grandmother has shared the moment she felt relieved after discovering the unmarked grave of her stillborn baby who was born 76 years ago.
Marjorie Rigby found out that she was expecting her first child after tying the knot with her husband Charlie Rigby, who fought for years in Africa and Italy during WWII.
She went to a private nursing clinic to give birth to her baby girl named Laura in September 1946. But after three long days in labor, a consultant doctor said that the baby had died.
Marjorie, who was 26 at that time, was told by staff that the lifeless body of the baby would be incinerated for burial but she never knew what happened to her child after the stillbirth.
More than 70 years later, her daughter Angela Rigby, 70, saw a TV program that revealed it was ‘illegal’ for babies to receive such treatment.
She then wrote a letter to the charity Brief Lives Remembered and it was later discovered that Laura was buried with other babies in Stockport Cemetery.
Laura had her own small coffin and was buried with other five children and an adult in an unnamed plot.
“It was a relief to know that she actually had a grave and a baby coffin had been placed in a proper burial ground,” Marjorie expressed.
“Nobody to my knowledge had confirmed that – that my baby had actually been buried.
“So I’m relieved that the whole thing has come to a conclusion, and that I know where she is.”
Angela also said that her mother “was at peace at last” after the first visit. She also said that after the discovery, she had been able to get a stillbirth certificate in Laura’s name.
“Mum never had a birth certificate. She said it was almost as though the birth was never acknowledged by anybody. But we were able to get the stillbirth certificate,” she added.
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