Age: 0
Sex: female
Date: 20 Oct 1911
Place: Midland Railway Station, Luton
The body of a female baby was found in a brown paper parcel in the gardens of the Midland Railway Station in Luton in October 1911.
It was thought to have been about six hours old and to have had a separate existence.
The body was found by two men who had been walking up the private road leading to the station at 7.50am. It was in a parcel just over the iron railings which bordered the station. Curiosity aroused one of the men who put his hands through the railings and secured the parcel which they then opened to find the dead baby.
Debate focussed around whether the person who had disposed of the parcel had come from Luton or by train. It was thought that the proximity of the parcel to the station would indicate that they had come by train but it was also considered that it was hardly likely as they would have had to have come in the early hours of the morning and run the risk of being recognised by the railway authorities.
It was said that the parcel had been dropped from the road as it would not have been possible for it to have been thrown from a passing train.
It was also said that it could not have been there for long as if it had been there all night it would have been wet from dew. The body was quite cold and the wrappings completely dry.
The body was wrapped in some unbleached calico, two linen dusters and brown paper around, all carefully tied up with string.
The autopsy showed that the lungs had been fully expanded by air, demonstrating that it had had a separate existence. The doctor said that he thought the child had been born about six hours earlier and that all the organs were healthy and that there was no reason why it would not have lived if properly looked after.
It was thought that due to the age of the child that it was probable that two people had been involved.
The doctor was not certain but said that it looked like the child had been alive when placed inside the parcel and had some compression marks around its chest and that death was due to suffocation.
see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
see Luton Times and Advertiser - Friday 20 October 1911, page 7
see Luton Times and Advertiser - Friday 06 October 1911