Genealogy Chat

My sis had a stillborn in 1957 & she never saw it, She asked a nurse later what had happened to the baby & was told it had been taken away for burial!. She learnt later from another nurse what that meant. I cant remember now if the child was ever registerd,but months later after she & her hubby recovered a little from the trauma she enquired from the hospital what had happened to her baby & was met with a blank wall. they said they didnt have any record as to where the child had gone

Thankyou very much everyone. x

Information on stillbirths register here: www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/stillbirths/ I don't know what arrangements for burial would have been made. I suppose you could check burial registers and cemetery records. nell

Even up to the sixties stillborn would have been whisked away & parenst told dont worry we will arrange everything!!. The kiddies would often been buried in with an unrelated adult who was being collected that day from the hospital for burial. Unless the parents had the presence of mind to say NO we want to bury the child ourselves. There is still ongoing the scandal of children bodies that were retained by the hospitals for research purposes without the parents permission. Guess if you didnt know better then the child may never have been registered

Some people have asked about stillbirth. Registrars regard this as a registration of birth not death (I think the legal position is that the child never lived, so it cannot have died – it was however born, even though it was born dead) The doctor completes a form that gives the details of the stillborn child. The registrar copies the information to a register of stillbirths rather than the births register. The registrar does not give a certificate to the informant. I do not know if copies of this information are available (maybe not, as no certificate is issued) Stillbirth registration began in 1927 from http://www.paul_smith.doctors.org.uk/UKDeathCertificates.htm

Hi, For children who were born still born in the 1930's, and were not registered would the parents just have buried them, them selves? or would somebody else have maybe taken them away. I thought it was supposed to be law but i know of at least two that are not registered. Thanks.