But we were able to get the stillbirth certificate.” She said it was almost as though the birth was never acknowledged by anybody. She said: “Mum never had a birth certificate. “My sister who was sitting next to me at the time looked at me, and we thought: ‘Maybe it is possible that we could find where our big sister was buried.' We got in touch with charity Brief Lives – Remembered, and they did the research and said, ‘Yes, we’ve found the grave of your sister, it’s in Stockport.’”Īngela said that following the discovery, she had been able to apply for a stillbirth certificate in Laura's name, providing further closure on the traumatic event. They also mentioned it was illegal to incinerate stillborn babies. And she believed she would never find Laura’s remains until her daughters watched a programme on TV, which revealed that she might have a grave.Įx-Post Office worker Angela said: “On the programme, they found the graves of stillborn babies, and it just happened to be about where we live in Dukinfield. Marjorie, who went back to work as a secretary after her ordeal on September 3, 1946, later had two more children, with her next baby born roughly 16 months later. Laura's grave was found in Stockport (Image: SWNS) I was on my own and there was nobody to talk to or communicate with." I was taken to a room and just left there. I was then offered a cup of tea and told to wait a while. “When the baby did come out, the consultant said ‘Take it to the incinerator’, and that was it. But after three days, the matron decided to call the consultant who informed her that the baby was dead, and I would have to go to the hospital, which was then agreed. "Because we had been in the war, my husband was giving me a treat by going to a private nursing home. Marjorie said: “When the time came for labour, I just got on with it. She had married her husband, mechanic Charlie, three days after VE day, and he had arranged for her to go to the private centre as a “treat” following the war. So I’m relieved that the whole thing has come to a conclusion, and that I know where she is."Īngela, who went with Marjorie for the initial visit, added: “Seeing her face, it was like she was at peace at last.” Marjorie, from Dukinfield, Manchester, said she was 26 when she found out she had sadly lost her baby while in labour at a specialist nursing clinic. Nobody to my knowledge had confirmed that – that my baby had actually been buried. Marjorie, who visited the grave in July with her family, said: “It was a relief to know that she actually had a grave and a baby coffin had been placed in a proper burial ground. Laura had her own tiny coffin and was buried with five other babies and an adult in an unmarked plot.Īngela Rigby and her mother Marjorie Rigby (Image: Angela Rigby / SWNS) She then wrote to the charity Brief Lives Remembered, whose investigations found Laura was in fact buried with others in Stockport Cemetery. But decades later, her daughter Angela Rigby, 70, watched a TV programme that revealed it was “illegal” for babies to be treated in this way. She was never told what happened to her baby after the stillbirth. Read more: 'Inspirational' drummer 'made peace with death' before losing brain tumour battle aged 36 Marjorie was rushed to a hospital for the birth, where she told by staff that the deceased child would be taken to an “incinerator” for burial. Tragically, after spending three days in labour, she overheard her consultant doctor say that the baby had in fact passed away. The retired secretary, who had also worked in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, headed to a private nursing clinic to have the baby, named Laura, in September 1946. Marjorie Rigby found out she was having her first child after marrying her hero husband Charlie, who fought for five years in Italy and Africa during World War Two. A 102-year-old great-gran has spoken of her “relief” after discovering the grave of her stillborn baby – 76 years after she fell pregnant.
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