'We must confront this historic injustice' - growing calls for National Memorial for Britain's 'Lost Souls'
MPs, politicians, charities and high profile names respond to our investigation into the fate of Britain's Asylum graves
MPs, politicians, charities and mental health campaigners from across the UK are urging action to be taken following our Lost Souls investigation.
Earlier this year, Senior Correspondent Mick Coyle uncovered what's been described as a national scandal - the neglect of up to a quarter of a million graves belonging to people who lived in Victorian mental asylums.
The investigation found:
- Europe's largest asylum graveyard has been sold to a private landowner
- Thousands of graves lying unmarked, anonymous, and with records lost
- Families unable to pay their respects to loved ones because graves are inaccessible
- Scores of graveyards overgrown, abandoned and neglected
A petition has now been launched calling for a national memorial to be created to return dignity to these so-called "pauper lunatic" sites.
Calls for action from high profile names
Since the investigation's findings were revealed on our radio station and in the Lost Souls documentary, campaigners from the world of mental health, MPs, MSPs and members of the Welsh Parliament have come forward to demand action.
Many are backing calls for a national UK memorial, similar to that of the Unknown Soldier, to honour those whose stories are lost
Let's meet some of the names who are calling for action:
Lib Dem Mental Health Spokesperson Danny Chambers MP
Danny Chambers was the first politician to respond to the investigation. He is backing the idea for a national memorial:
He told us: "I think that's staggering, isn't it? It's not a tiny niche issue. A quarter of a million people who were admitted to Victorian asylums and then buried in pauper graves, That's a huge number of people. And they should be recognised and they should be remembered.
"I think a National Memorial is a really nice idea because we won't know the names of all these people and for some of them we'll never be able to find that now because they have been erased from the historical records.
"In the military we do this, and rightly so. The Unknown Soldier represents all those who fall serving our country, and we don't have the records or their details, but we still respect their sacrifice and want to remember them specifically. And I, and I think that a National Memorial could do that for these ‘pauper lunatics’.
"And I think if we have locations where we know people are buried and they're still there then people should better access it. And if they can trace their loved ones, they should be able to visit them and pay their respects."
LISTEN: The Lost Souls documentary
Mark Winstanley, Chief Executive: Rethink Mental Illness
Mark is CEO of a major national mental health organisation he told us: “There is an adage that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, and there is a sense of being forgotten among those living with mental illness to this very day.
"While societal attitudes and treatment have improved over time, people severely affected by mental illness continue to struggle to access the high-quality care they need and face stigma and discrimination at every turn.
"This project sheds light on a forgotten chapter of our past and makes a compelling case to remember and return dignity to those who lived in a different, even more challenging era to experience mental illness.”
Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray
Neil Gray responded to our investigation while speaking to our reporter at Hartwood Cemetery in Scotland, which was overgrown and abandoned, before being taken over by the local community.
He said: “I think it is a very worthy cause, I understand the importance of people having somewhere to go to think of, pay tribute to, recognise and pay their respects to loved ones. Where we haven’t been able to recognise where people are buried I think it’s an idea worth consideration – where we can give families the opportunity to pay their respects to their ancestors."
Asylum researcher, and petition creator Kevin McDonnell
After the findings of our investigation were published, asylum researcher Kevin McDonnell (pictured on the right) created an online petition calling for a national memorial to be created.
Kevin, who dedicates his time to painstakingly review and recover asylum records told Mick Coyle (pictured left): "It's a huge wrong, no one knows about it, it's wrong on every level and it needs to be brought out into the public to build a true picture who lived and died there - and where they were buried.
"Once these people were in the ground, they were not given a name, they were given a marker with a number on it. That's an absolute disgrace.
"Most of those gravemarkers have now been lost, which is why you can walk over the ground and not realise what's happening.
"It's a shame. A shame in every sense of shame. We're trying to let the world know these people existed."
Jake Mills, Chasing the Stigma CEO and Hub of Hope
Jake is one of the UK's most prominent mental health voices, and travels across the country sharing his own story and promoting the Hub of Hope support database that he set up in the years following his own mental health struggles.
He told our Senior Correspondent Mick Coyle: “The extent of the nameless graves uncovered by the Lost Souls investigation is staggering. That so many people were buried without recognition, hidden from history, is a stark reminder of the stigma that has surrounded mental health for generations — a stigma that, tragically, still exists today.
"These individuals were marginalised, shamed, and pushed aside at their most vulnerable. They were denied dignity not only in life, but also in death. The shame associated with mental illness was so deep-rooted that it followed them to the grave — and kept them there, unseen and unheard.
"If we are truly committed to changing how we view and talk about mental health, we must confront this historic injustice. It is not enough to look forward. We must also look back and give these people the recognition they were denied.
"Creating a memorial for these lost souls is more than symbolic. It is a powerful act of validation. It says: your life mattered. Struggling with mental health does not make you lesser. It should not erase you from history.
"We must honour these individuals as part of our shared story. Because every life is meaningful. Every story deserves to be heard. And no one should be forgotten."
Mike McCarthy – Baton of Hope
Mike set up the Baton of Hope after losing his son Ross to suicide. In summer 2025, he toured the UK carrying an Olympic-style baton to raise awareness of mental health and promote suicide prevention.
He told Mick his reaction to the investigation's findings: "I am shocked. I think this is a national scandal. It's just such a crying shame.
"Having been drawn into this world of of suicide prevention, I've lost count of the people that I've spoken to who say that they've been treated, following a suicide, almost like collateral damage, and I think it's a reflection on how we treat mental health generally.
"Everybody's talking about mental health and we are making advances. But I think in a more enlightened time to come, we'll look back and we'll think ‘However, could we have done this?’ and if we could imagine for just one second all of those people just coming back for a minute, what would they say to? What would they try to tell us? And I think if that were possible, I think we'd wake up to the damage that we've done, and we continue to do, tragically."
Professor Alana Harris, Kings College London
Professor Harris has a longstanding interest in the Horton Cemetery site in Surrey, where 9000 graves sit on land which was sold off to a private landowner in the 1980s.
Following the publishing of the Lost Souls documentary she said: ""At last, finally, a national conversation can begin about the scandal of the hundreds and thousands of people forgotten and abandoned in unmarked and neglected asylum cemeteries across Britain.
"These unique graves in our midst demand respect, dignity and restoration into our community histories. I wholeheartedly back the calls for a new National Memorial. A collective memorial would be an act of public witness to those hundreds of thousands of people whose graves are currently unmarked and whose families have nowhere to mourn. It would be a symbol of our commitment to restorative justice and historical truth telling.
"More importantly though, if conceived as a living memorial, it would be an invitation to an ongoing conversation about how we treat those with mental health issues, neurodiversity or disability now."
Clarke Carlisle, footballer turned mental health campaigner
Clarke is backing the idea of a national memorial for Britain's Lost Souls - saying it would be a powerful part of the UK landscape as well as sending an important message about the need for more open mental health conversations.
He told us: "I would wholeheartedly, with all my energy and focus back a call for a National Memorial.
"It would give some kind of focal point for the families and loved ones, for the vast amount of people who have been buried in these sites. It would be impossible to unearth each individual story, but to be able to have that place, almost a a Mecca of sorts for these lost ones, where people and families could take their pilgrimage to, to pay homage to and remember and pray for those people who have been lost to this incredibly brutal system.
"Lost Souls has the opportunity to bring to consciousness that the depth and weight of the history of adverse mental health."
Lib Dem MP Helen Maguire
Helen is MP for Epsom and Ewell, the home of Horton Cemetery, Europe’s largest hospital plot, which was sold off in the 1980s.
She said: “It’s so important to realise that this is the start of a conversation that raises awareness of mental health. I think a memorial is a great idea, particularly because we’re aware so many graveyards have been built over, and these individuals have been forgotten and in many situations its not like Horton, where we might have the possibility of making it public one day.
"I think its really important that we recognise and we remember all these forgotten individuals and I think a memorial would be a great way to do that.
Senedd Member James Evans MS (Conservative)
James met us at the Talgarth Cemetery site in Wales. The site has fallen into disrepair and James would like to see an appropriate memorial placed there to recognise those who lie there: "It's about time that the people who were buried in these unmarked graves were given justice and some recognition for actually who they were."
"I'm sure a lot of people out there don't know who their loved ones are. And I think the government should do something to recognise the people who've been buried here."
"The site is dilapidated now and is falling to pieces.
"It is a huge issue and the Lost Souls campaign has been very important to highlight the issues around this. I hope the First Minister will be sympathetic to a memorial to the people who died and are buried here because I think it is right as a compassionate nation which Wales is that we actually do that and I hope the First Minister is responsive and accepting that we need to do something to recognise the people who are buried her.”
Listen to the Lost Souls documentary
Supporting the Lost Souls petition
You can read the petition calling for a national memorial on the official UK government petitions page.
It will be debated in Parliament if it reaches 100,000 signatures.
Read more about the Lost Souls investigation conducted by Senior Correspondent Mick Coyle.
You can contact Mick on mick.coyle@bauermedia.co.uk