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The last thing that Philippa and her husband Peter were expecting was that they would have to arrange a funeral. The couple, in their early forties and from Wimbledon, were eagerly anticipating the birth of their first child, but a heart defect meant their son was stillborn and Philippa was inconsolable.
“We were paralysed with grief,” recalls Philippa. “When St George's Hospital offered to arrange the funeral for us on the NHS, we accepted. And when their chaplain told us there may be more than one baby in the grave', we thought good, two together, we don't want our son buried alone.”
But Philippa, an office administrator, had no idea how many babies would be interred in that pitiful communal grave at Battersea New Cemetery, run by Wandsworth. She certainly had no inkling that their son — laid to rest in a little white box — would be the first of 14 babies buried in a pit that would be left open for months. Nor could she imagine that a baby later buried in a paupers' grave within 50 yards of her son would be dragged away by a fox.
“The first time we realised something was wrong was when we visited the grave a few weeks later and it was still open with some loose planks over the hole,” she said. “Two months later it was still open so we collared a grave digger who told us, Oh, they usually wait until there are about 12 babies in there before they cover it up.' We were horrified. That's a mass grave. Our immediate reaction was to ask for our son to be exhumed and buried privately on his own.
“We felt completely misled. In the end, we left it because it seemed too complicated to pull him up and disturb all the other babies, but it was four months before our son's grave was closed.”
The burial of Philippa's son in early 2007 was one of more than 1,000 communal burials that have taken place in London in the last three years. In the past year alone 359 adults, children and babies were buried in paupers' graves, of whom 70 per cent were children under 12, babies or those who died at birth.
These extraordinary figures have been brought to light by an Evening Standard special investigation of all 32 London boroughs.
We can reveal that in 2010, babies are still being buried in Dickensian mass graves of up to 30 per pit. Those responsible would prefer that you did not know these facts — and there is certainly no mention of it on council, NHS trust or even cemetery websites. But the shocking truth is that in Southwark, they bury up to 30 babies in a single grave, in wealthy Kensington and Chelsea, 20 and in Hillingdon, 15.
In some cases these graves are kept open — covered by planks — for two years. Not only does this make it difficult for parents like Philippa and Peter to move on with their lives, but the risk of disturbance by animals is real.
A police spokesman said: “You do not expect something like this to happen in modern-day London but we can confirm that a fox took the baby from the paupers' grave and that no human being was involved. It was extremely traumatic for the parents who were beside themselves. Wandsworth council was told to urgently review their procedures for maintaining and securing these open' paupers' graves.”
A Wandsworth council spokesman said: “A council officer met the family at Wimbledon police station and offered our heartfelt apologies for this terrible, terrible tragedy.
“The [Conservative] leader of the council, Edward Lister, also wrote to the family to offer his personal regrets. These poor parents had buried their son weeks before; now they had to deal with him being taken by a fox. The police said the remains were never found. We have to assume that the fox ate the baby. It's your worst nightmare. We have since instructed our cemeteries to use metal covers to lock down paupers' graves that are not yet full to prevent this happening again.”
In neighbouring Merton, where they bury 12 babies to a grave, cemetery manager Mark Robinson said: “We are aware of what happened in Wandsworth and want no repeat of that here. After each funeral, our graves are completely back-filled so that they are not accessible to foxes.”
Asked the difference between their communal graves and what in Victorian times were called paupers' graves, Mr Robinson said bluntly: “There is no difference. These are mass paupers' graves. My job is to keep them secure.” Yet as we revealed in our series on The Dispossessed this month, many councils — including Islington and Camden — still use loose planking to cover communal graves. A grave digger at Islington and St Pancras Cemetery said: “A coffin goes in, then a layer of bark, then the next coffin, then more bark. The rule is four babies per grave; with adults we stack them six deep. We cover the top with planks but we don't fill it in until the grave is full.”
It's a shameful subject that has remained in the shadows for decades. Even John Foster, the £210,000-a-year chief executive of Islington council, had no idea paupers' burials took place in his borough. When I interviewed him recently, he turned to his press officer and asked: “Have we got communal graves? I don't believe we do.”
Yet Islington and Camden top the London borough league table with 318 communal burials in the past three years. Together with Hackney, Wandsworth, Brent, Southwark, Lewisham and Barnet, these eight boroughs account for 85 per cent of communal burials in London in the last year.
For these councils, subsidising parents who cannot afford a private plot is not a priority.
Paul Kyriacou, a Liberal Democrat councillor in Southwark, encapsulated this position when he said: “The thought of so-called communal burials in this day and age is a difficult one. But sadly it happens. In boroughs such as Southwark, it's something we deal with regularly. In an ideal world we'd cover the cost of a full burial for these adults and children, but unfortunately with tighter constraints on council budgets, it's one of countless difficult decisions we have to make.”
But not all boroughs adopt this stance. Enfield buries those who die without adequate financial means —adults, children and babies alike — in single private graves at the council's expense.
Michael Lavender, a Tory councillor in the borough, said: “We believe that affording a person, however poor, their own resting place in a single grave is the last act of respect we can offer our residents. There have been six communal burials in Enfield in the last three years, and those are all through choice or because a local hospital, not the council, arranged it.”
Of course, some parents, albeit a minority like Philippa, prefer their children to be buried alongside others. But as she discovered, councils and hospitals do not always offer informed choice. “The vague information we were given in those raw moments after our son died bore no resemblance to the reality of having 13 other babies in the grave,” said Philippa.
The hospital consent form that she signed, seen by the Standard, simply states: “I understand that the grave may include other babies.” There is no mention of precise numbers, or the length of time the grave could be held open.
A St George's Hospital chaplain admitted: “It's true that we don't spell out how many babies will be in the grave or how long it might be open. What we are offering is a mass grave —that's exactly what it is. It may be that we need to review our practice.”
What would it cost to end paupers' graves in London? With an average of 337 such burials a year, and a price differential between private and communal plots of about £1,000, it would collectively cost the councils and the NHS no more than £350,000. To limit the deal to children and babies would further cut the annual cost to £253,000, an average of £7,900 per council a year. In the context of their multi-billion- pound budgets, this is a truly risible amount.
There are around 560,000 deaths in England and Wales each year, of which 405,000 are cremated. But for those who, through religion or choice prefer to be buried, surely in London, in 2010, it is time to draw a line under this arcane and distasteful practice of mass pauper graves and bury children, irrespective of means, with due dignity.
Fox digs up baby in paupers' grave in London
Additional reporting: Miranda Bryant
Reader views (5)
I can sympathise to a point BUT it is not only children that are buried like this my grandfather's grave was at least 6 deep and left open with planks of wood over it for ages! That was over 30 years ago and he served in two wars and worked in the police force and local community all his life. He continued working right up to his late 70s, paid his taxes and everything else and had to live in a 3 bedroom maisonette with 10 children. He was told that the council didn't have accomodation with more than 3 bedrooms then! No million dollar mansions for him, no support and no benefits. I didn't hear anyone saying that he was dispossed and I never heard him complain.
- Ashleysmithson, st Albans, 19/03/2010 11:48
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You have stories in the paper such as an immigrant having a sex change operation funded, courtesy of the tax payer....to the tune of £60,000. Yet we have the burial of innocent children and poorer communities, of our own citizens, evaded for the sake of the "budget". this country disgusts me in so many ways.Who makes this decisions and still manages to sleep at night?
- Dee, Greenwich UK, 19/03/2010 11:27
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The public sector always amazes me. Nobody seems to see anything wrong in the stupid things that they do.
- Eastender, London, 18/03/2010 18:40
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I'm afraid we have to come to terms with the fact that we do not live in a rural idyll anymore. There is very little space for burial in our densely populated city. Places like Hong Kong and Japan basically force almost everybody to have loved ones cremated. It makes more sense and although I understand some peoples religious objections, if they can not afford to take care of this themselves I'm afraid needs must. Better than the disturbing fox story surely.
- Mark, London, 18/03/2010 16:19
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32 years ago my first born died and i was offered ,by lewisham hospital ,a burial with an old lady.This ladys family had agreed,so my michelle was placed in her arms.Four children on we all still visit the grave,and care for their final resting place.
- L Taylor, lewisham, 18/03/2010 16:09
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