A baby boy whose skeletal remains were found wrapped in newspaper dating back to 1910 and with twine around his neck may have been alive up to 300 years ago, an inquest has heard.
The child was listed as “Baby Auckland” for an inquest into his death that was opened at the coroner’s court in Crook, County Durham, on Tuesday.
A contractor discovered the remains in 2024. They were under floorboards in a Victorian house in Bishop Auckland. There was twine looped around the boy’s neck and he was wrapped in a newspaper from 1910.
It had been assumed that the baby was born around that year but the awful mystery deepened when the inquest heard that radiocarbon dating suggested he was most likely alive at some time between 1726 and 1812.
The senior coroner Jeremy Chipperfield formally released the remains of the baby so that a funeral could take place. He heard that a postmortem examination could not ascertain the cause of death.
Police were called to the house when the remains were found. They concluded that the baby had been “undisturbed for a number of years”. Because of the newspaper, officers said they would try to trace records for the property to find who lived there between 1900 and 1920.
DCI Mel Sutherland said at the time: “My focus is on finding out who the baby is, what happened and how it came to be under the floorboards of that house. As soon as we are able to, I am determined that this little baby is given an appropriate and dignified funeral.”
He told the BBC it was a challenging investigation that involved lots of research and a reliance on science. “It is my duty to be the voice of the child,” he said. Two years on, the inquest heard that a funeral would take place but the mystery of what happened remained.
The coroner’s officer Stephanie Clough told the inquest: “This unknown baby was found deceased on 29 July 2024. I understand the circumstances to be that on 29 July 2024 police were contacted as a contractor working on the building had found a small skeleton of a baby under the floorboards at the address. The baby appeared to have a thin twine-like material wrapped around its neck.”
After a forensic postmortem examination was conducted by Dr Louise Mulcahy, a pathologist, and Dr Micol Zuppello, a forensic anthropologist, the cause of death was given as unascertained, the inquest heard.
Clough said: “Carbon dating and DNA investigations have been undertaken by Durham constabulary. However, the remains of the baby have been unable to be identified. It has been confirmed via DNA analysis that the baby was male.”
The inquest heard that the twine was looped three times around the boy’s neck. The newspaper he was wrapped in was the 19 June 1910 edition of the Umpire, a popular Sunday newspaper founded in Manchester in 1884.
At the short inquest opening, Chipperfield heard that it was believed the skeleton was that of a full-term baby of about 40 weeks development. It was not possible to say if the baby was stillborn.
One type of radiocarbon dating revealed that the baby was born before the first atomic bomb tests in New Mexico on 16 June 1945. Another type of radiocarbon dating indicated the most likely date he was alive was between 1726 and 1812.
The baby will have a funeral on 27 April in Bishop Auckland. Chipperfield adjourned proceedings until 18 May when the inquest will be resumed and when, it is hoped, more light may be shone on the mystery of Baby Auckland.