The Lostling Archive
An archive, cultural collection, and resource bank about baby loss before the 1980s
Madge Gill, Faces with Almond Eyes, undated. Crown Copyright,London Borough of Newham Heritage Service.
Madge Gill (1882-1961) was a self-taught artist. She had three sons and a stillborn daughter. This drawing is in the tradition of historical family portraits that included depictions of lost children, counting them in.
About the Lostling Archive
​The Lostling Archive is a collection of public testimony from mothers, fathers and siblings of babies stillborn between 1945 and 1985 which I created as a repository bringing together these scattered and sometimes hard to find stories. It also contains testimony from midwives, doctors and cemetery staff working during this period.
The paper version of the Lostling Archive (for my own private use as research for my book) was gathered in 2024-2025 and is now complete. It contains the written or spoken (and transcribed) words of 105 mothers, 15 fathers, 20 siblings and 33 professionals. The testimonies are from people writing publicly about their own experiences or being interviewed about them, for the media or for research studies. Some were sharing their experiences at the time and others were looking back from the present. The testimony was found in newspapers, magazines, books, research papers, theses, radio and television programmes, on film, and on news websites and charity websites. Many of the testimonies are from people in the UK and also includes several accounts from Ireland, other countries in Europe, the USA and Australia.
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The online version of the Lostling Archive will appear here on this website and is currently under development. It will have three parts.
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1) There will be an digital version of the archive of public testimony here, providing links to the sources of the public testimony so people can read, listen to or watch the original stories, interviews, research reports and documentaries themselves.
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2) The online archive will also contain a cultural collection which will provide links to novels, poetry, and visual art which address historical baby loss.
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3) A third part of the digital archive will be a resource bank with information on how to find the resting place of babies lost long ago and other relevant information. It will list organisations that can help such as:
Brief Lives - Remembered: a UK charity which researches and traces the resting places of babies stillborn or who died soon after birth before the early 1990s for parents and surviving twins and provides support during after the journey.
SANDS: the UK charity, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society which has a leaflet and online guidance about tracing a baby's grave and suggestions for how memorialise babies lost decades ago and has a general helpline to support anyone affected by baby loss however long ago.
Gina's Sleeping Babies Reunited: A UK-based public Facebook group set up by Gina Jacobs after she found the grave site of her son Robert stillborn in 1969. Through the Facebook group, Gina and group members support parents and siblings searching for lost babies and campaign for change.
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More will be added to this online Lostling Archive in due course ...
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