A WOMAN has discovered the grave of her twin sister who died at birth, after its location remained a mystery for decades.

Diann Ruston, age 80, of Tavistock, has finally traced the burial site of her sister in a graveyard — a sister she did not even know about until some time in her early life.

Her sister only lived 36 hours when she was born in 1941 in Bidford-on-Avon and the background to the sad loss and the location of the grave remained unknown to Diann, until a former Tavistock librarian turned family historian helped.

Diann said: ‘I’m so pleased to know where the grave is. It’s given me a sense of satisfaction and a kind of peace after all these years to have a conclusion. I don’t even remember when or how I discovered I actually had a sister, it must have been when I was very young. It seemed to me that when I was growing up it wasn’t the done thing to own up to having a baby that died. It certainly wasn’t talked about by my parents and that’s why I didn’t know for so long. But my father did give me money to look for the grave at some time when I was older.’

Sally Curtis, a keen family historian, who met Diann while leading her community sewing group, said: ‘I was asked by Diann to look for where her twin sister was buried who died not long after she was born in 1941. I looked through the records for the village church and cemeteries, but found nothing.

‘So, Diann suggested looking at Birmingham original sources because that’s where the family lived before moving to Bidford, but I still drew a blank. She recognised Bidford church, which made the possible link with a burial site and I contacted the vicar. He was very helpful and suggested the burial ground extension, but I had to contact the parish clerk and she soon traced the plot. The added complication was that having died soon after birth, she was buried in a multi-grave with other babies. This made the work of tracing an individual harder than normal.’