Nearly 70 babies which died at an unmarried mothers’ home were buried in unmarked graves.
A total of 67 infants who passed away while in the care of Hopedene Maternity Home in Newcastle were discovered buried in secret plots without their family’s knowledge.
Hopedene, which was operated by the Salvation Army between 1950 and 1973, was compared to a ‘prison’, ITV reported.
It was described by families as a ‘place of cruelty’ where mothers weren’t allowed to touch their own babies, while their cries went ignored.
Among babies buried together at Elswick Cemetery was that of Andrew, who lived just two days after being born at Hopedene in 1958.
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His family has only just been informed of his cause of death, listed as ‘due to multiple disabilities’ on his death certificate.
Lesley Carpenter, his sister, said she would not forget him, even though ‘others then thought he was not worthy of acknowledgment of his life’.
Thousands of women in Britain were taken to maternity homes between 1949 and the mid-1970s for having children outside of marriage.
Several relatives are still searching for missing people born at maternity homes.
Alan Straughton said he had ‘hit a brick wall’ in the search for his sister Ann, who was born at Hopedene in 1961.
His only record of her is her birth certificate, and he believes that either her name was changed or she was one of the many babies that died.
Carole McLarnon was born at Hopedene to her 21-year-old unmarried mother, Enid.
She was adopted by a local family six weeks later.
Her own family were told to tell people she had died, until she tracked down her mother years later.
Other pregnant women were allegedly forced to clean and scrub floors while staying at Hopedene.
Janice Smith’s biological mother cared for her at the home for three months.
Her only record of her time there is a black and white picture of a baby in a pram with a toy rabbit.
Experts also say that the high mortality rate at these maternity homes raises questions about the quality of care offered and that the latest findings could just be the tip of the iceberg in the adoption scandal.
Dr Michael Lambert, from Lancaster University said that testimonies of unmarried woman treated at the homes were ‘appalling’ even for the standards of the time.
The first memorial of its kind was erected in honour of mothers subject to Dickensian conditions in Cumbria.
Carmen Curran, was one of several babies deemed unlikely to be adopted, in this case because of her skin colour.
Her adoption files read: ‘You probably know that the child is very dark and the chances of adoption are almost negligible.’
‘It shows I was thought of as a problem, and they knew that I would very likely spend a long long time in an institution’, she said.
Gordon Brown apologised for the adoption scandal during his tenure as prime minister in the Commons.
He has now called on the current PM, Sir Keir Starmer to make another apology from the dispatch box in response to the latest findings.
He said: ‘It’s time to make the apology. While it wasn’t this government’s fault, I think it’s really important we admit something went wrong.’
The former Labour PM added that he believed ministers are ‘aware that this was something that should never have happened’.
A government spokesperson stopped short of apologising for the treatment of mothers and babies at the homes, but condemned the ‘abhorrent practice that should never have taken place’.
Newcastle City Council apologised to all families affecting, adding in a statement that some burial records were missed due to the’fragile condition and legibility of some registers’.
A spokersperson for the Salvation Army said: ‘We are deeply saddened to hear of the traumatic experiences that some people endured in the care of The Salvation Army decades ago.
‘We acknowledge that there are some who did not always receive the support they needed and deserved, for which we are deeply sorry.’
The charity added that its records showed that two thirds of mothers either went home with their children or to ‘other places such as welfare societies’.
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