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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
Records of London burials can be difficult to trace. Surviving parish and cemetery burial registers are held in different locations and there is no central index. Some records are online, many are not.
The guide is divided into the following sections
CIVIL REGISTRATION AND CHURCH OF ENGLAND PARISHES (PAGE 1)
ANGLICAN CHURCH BURIAL REGISTERS BACKGROUND INFORMATION (PAGE 1)
ANGLICAN CHURCH BURIAL REGISTERS DEPOSITED IN RECORD OFFICES (PAGE 1)
UNDEPOSITED ANGLICAN REGISTERS (PAGE 1)
ONLINE SOURCES FOR ANGLICAN CHURCH BURIAL REGISTERS (PAGE 1)
INDIVIDUAL PARISH CHURCH BURIALS ONLINE (PAGE 1)
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS ONLINE (PAGE 1)
OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES (PAGE 1)
FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES AND PUBLICATIONS (PAGE 2)
NON-CONFORMIST BURIAL GROUND REGISTERS HELD AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND ONLINE (PAGE 2)
NONCONFORMIST BURIAL REGISTERS DEPOSITED IN LOCAL ARCHIVES (PAGE 2)
ROMAN CATHOLIC REGISTERS (PAGE 2)
JEWISH CEMETERY REGISTERS (PAGE 2)
CIVIC CEMETERIES BACKGROUND INFORMATION (PAGE 2)
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LONDON - LOCAL AUTHORITY ADMINISTRATION IN LONDON (PAGE 2)
CIVIC CEMETERIES LISTED BY LONDON BOROUGHS (PAGE 2-4)
WHO MIGHT BE MISSING FROM CHURCH OF ENGLAND BURIAL REGISTERS (PAGE 4)
Click on any of the blue underlined hyperlinks in the guide to view the information you are interested in.
CIVIL REGISTRATION AND CHURCH OF ENGLAND PARISHES
Civil registration commenced on 1st July 1837. Over the years with the growth and movement of the population the civil registration districts have altered. TOWER HAMLETS (http://www.thbmd.co.uk/history.php) local registrar’s office illustrates this point by showing a timeline of the changes to registration districts and sub-districts now within its area.
REGISTRATION DISTRICTS IN LONDON (http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/lnd.html) up to 1965 and from 1965–1974 (http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/gtl.html) on the Genuki website tracks the changes made up to 31st March 1974 and also has a very useful downloadable place name index which includes the registration district each place was registered in.
ENGLAND JURISDICTIONS FOR 1851 (http://maps.familysearch.org/) is a map of the counties of England produced by Family Search. The map shows various levels of county division including parish and civil registration districts. The parish map shows all the ecclesiastical parishes (Church of England) in each county.
As London grew it absorbed areas of the surrounding counties. Between 1889 and 1965 practically all of Middlesex, parts of north Kent and Surrey and west Essex became part of the County of London and later Greater London.
FAMILY SEARCH (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/England) aims to have information on each Church of England (or Anglican) Church and its parish (the information is still being added to) in each historic county.
CITY OF LONDON (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/London_Parishes)
COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Middlesex_Parishes)
COUNTY OF ESSEX (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Essex_Parishes)
COUNTY OF KENT (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Kent_Parishes)
COUNTY OF SURREY (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Surrey_Parishes)
GENUKI (http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/index.html) is also a useful website for information about individual parishes.
Civil registration districts should not to be confused with church parishes of the same name since all registration districts covered wider areas and contained many churches and places. LONDON/SURREY REGISTRATION DISTRICTS/CHURCHES (http://www.sjfisher.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Def-London(Surrey)-Registration-Districts.htm#RANGE) attempts to detail the Anglican churches (only) found in 36 London Registration Districts.
Westminster Archives GUIDE (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/Info-Sheet-05-Reg-Districts-1276253985.pdf) on Anglican Churches and which civil registration districts of Westminster they were in.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
ANGLICAN CHURCH BURIAL REGISTERS BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Before the 1850s most burials took place in churchyards though some institutions had their own burial grounds. Every inhabitant of a parish had a right to be buried in their parish churchyard or burial ground. Before the 1840s most people were buried in Anglican (Church of England) churchyards, though some non-conformist churches also had burial grounds. During larger epidemics further burial sites would be set aside for the duration of the deaths. By the late C18th as London churchyards increasingly became overcrowded private speculators offering cheaper burials bought burial grounds from non-conformist chapels. Though the survival of Anglican Church registers is relatively good many of these other burial grounds have no surviving records.
By the 1840s city churchyards and burial grounds were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of bodies needing to be buried. They were considered major health risks and were increasingly closed to new burials. By the early 1850s following the Burial Act of 1852, the majority of churchyards in the areas nearest the City of London were closed or would be closed within the next few years. THE TIMES (http://www.agfhs.org/site/index.php/articles/76-article-1819-closing-of-burial-groundsl) newspaper listed some of the closures as they took place.
Some examples of C19th descriptions of London churchyards
St Anne Soho Westminster a churchyard of half an acre.
It is estimated that in this small ground and the vaults under the church 110,240 bodies were interred during 160 years.
The ground is very full, and is considerably raised above its original level; it is overlooked by houses thickly inhabited. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood have frequently complained of the past and present condition of this place.
St Giles in the Fields
It is full of coffins, up to the surface. Coffins are broken up before they are decayed, and bodies are removed to the "bone house" before they are sufficiently decayed to make their removal decent. The effect upon the atmosphere, in that very densely populated spot, must be very injurious.
St Mary Whitechapel
It appears almost impossible to dig a grave in this ground without coming into contact with some recent interment, and the grave digger's pick is often forced through the lid of a coffin when least expected, from which so dreadful an effluvium is emitted, as to occasion immediate annoyance; most of the graves are very shallow, - some entire coffins, indeed, are to be found within a foot and a half of the surface.
By 1895 Isabella Holmes for the London County Council had found the location of nearly 500 burial grounds, churchyards and civic cemeteries in the city and suburbs of London, of which 364 still existed at least in part, 90 of which were public gardens. In 1895 only 41, largely civic cemeteries were still in use. The county of London in 1895 was around 119 square miles in size and Isabella didn’t count in her list any just beyond its boundaries. Greater London formed in 1965 is just over 300 square miles in size.
There is a short video on YOU TUBE (http://www.youtube.com/user/crossboneskatie) about London’s Lost Burial Grounds
Detailed information about London churchyards and burial grounds by geographic region and parish is given at LONDON BURIAL GROUNDS (http://www.londonburials.co.uk/) which has background information and modern photographs (though not of individual gravestones). Many London churchyards and burial grounds have been lost mainly through redevelopment or some from bombing during World War Two. The London Burial Grounds website gives present and past information on each churchyard and burial ground.
LONDON GARDENS ONLINE (http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/index.html) includes information on some surviving churchyards.
When churchyards and crypts were cleared the remains were reburied in mass graves in civic cemeteries. A more modern example is the crypt of ST MARYLEBONE (http://www.brookwoodcemetery.com/st-marylebone-reburials.htm)
As the population of London continued to grow throughout the nineteenth century, beginning largely in the 1840s, large non-denominational civic cemeteries were created and further churchyards in increasingly urbanised areas were closed to new burials. Throughout the twentieth and twenty first centuries further civic cemeteries and crematoriums were established. The records for these civic cemeteries and crematoriums are usually held by the London boroughs that now manage them or by companies where the cemetery and crematorium is privately owned.
Churches where burials have ceased in churchyards may still continue to maintain registers of burial services where the service is held at the church with the interment taking place at the cemetery, though this is not always clearly stated in the registers themselves. Increasingly in urban areas most services were held at the cemetery chapels.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
ANGLICAN CHURCH BURIAL REGISTERS DEPOSITED IN RECORD OFFICES
The GUILDHALL LIBRARY and the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES jointly hold a large proportion of the deposited church registers for the City of London and the historic county of Middlesex (excluding Westminster). The LMA also hold registers for areas of Surrey and Kent which became part of the newly formed county of London in 1889 (Battersea, Bermondsey, Camberwell, Deptford, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, Wandsworth and Woolwich), but not the areas of Essex, Kent and Surrey which became part of Greater London in 1965.
LONDON GENERATIONS (http://217.154.230.218/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/london_generations.htm) is the London Metropolitan Archives online index for parish registers and also includes a guide to which areas are in which present day Greater London Boroughs.
The London Metropolitan Archives GUIDE (http://217.154.230.218/londonGenerations/download/Places%20in%20London%20Boroughs.pdf) to parish registers and the Guildhall Library LIST (http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/parrec.htm) of parishes in the City of London
WESTMINSTER ARCHIVES GUIDE (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/Info-Sheet-01-Anglican-Regs-1271422893.pdf) lists the parish registers deposited at this archive. These church registers (excluding Bishops Transcripts held at the London Metropolitan Archives) are not at present online.
These county archives hold the deposited registers for areas of their counties which became part of Greater London in 1965.
ESSEX RECORD OFFICE holds most of the deposited registers for present day London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge. The exception is the London borough of WALTHAM FOREST (http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/pages/services/archives-general-information.aspx?l1=100009&l2=200111) where registers are deposited with the local borough archives. For a subscription Essex Record Office has unindexed images of parish registers online. SEAX (http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/EssexAncestors.aspx) Essex Record Office online index
SURREY HISTORY CENTRE GUIDE (http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Guide+to+parish+registers+held+at+Surrey+History+Centre?opendocument) lists the parish registers deposited at this archive. These church registers (excluding Bishops Transcripts held at the London Metropolitan Archives) are not at present online, but will be online by 2013 on the subscription website ANCESTRY (http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/recreation-heritage-and-culture/archives-and-history/surrey-history-centre/surrey-records).
THE CENTRE FOR KENTISH STUDIES holds copies of parish registers in the London boroughs of Bexley and Bromley. The deposited registers are held by the local archives of the London boroughs of BEXLEY (http://www.bexley.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2563) and BROMLEY (http://www.bromley.gov.uk/info/200111/records_and_archives/382/bromley_archives/3). The county record office has produced a GUIDE (https://shareweb.kent.gov.uk/Documents/leisure-and-culture/archives-and-local-history/Archives%20Parish%20Registers%20Guide.pdf) to parish registers which lists the whereabouts of deposited registers.
LOCAL LONDON BOROUGH ARCHIVES
The local archives and history centres in the present day thirty two London boroughs may have produced transcriptions and indexes of the parish registers and monumental inscriptions and will have microfilmed copies of the parish registers for their areas and in some cases the actual original deposited registers. Some examples of historic parish registers deposited in local London Archives include
All Saints Isleworth - Hounslow Local Studies Library
St Luke Charlton – Greenwich Heritage Centre
St Margaret Lee – Lewisham Local History and Archives Centre
St Paul Hammersmith – Hammersmith and Fulham Archives and Local History Centre
The GUIDE (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,403309.0.html) on the Rootschat London and Middlesex boards to London Archives and useful information leaflets, lists all the London borough archives and gives the link to their websites. Many though not all have either online indexes or lists of the parish registers and indexes they hold.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
UNDEPOSITED ANGLICAN REGISTERS
Not all churches have deposited their records. This is a short list of only some of the oldest and most important London Anglican churches where historical registers still remain with the church.
ALL HALLOWS BARKING BY THE TOWER (http://www.ahbtt.org.uk/)
Guildhall Library has microfilm copies or the registers 1558-1899 (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=15627&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=). The church’s burial registers are indexed on the National Burial Index 1813-1861
DULWICH COLLEGE CHAPEL (http://newdcsite.dulwich.org.uk/college/about/history/the-archives)
LINCOLN’S INN CHAPEL HOLBORN (http://www.lincolnsinn.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=189&Itemid=192)
ST GILES IN THE FIELDS (http://www.stgilesonline.org/heritage-resources/genealogy.php)
The London Metropolitan Archives holds copies of the registers on microfilm.
ST JOHN THE BAPTIST ELTHAM (http://www.elthamchurch.org.uk/)
Indexes and transcripts are held at Greenwich Heritage Centre
ST MARY ABBOTS KENSINGTON (http://www.stmaryabbotschurch.org/Geneology.htm)
Details of TRANSCRIPTS (http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX/Kensington/churches.htm) held elsewhere
ST NICHOLAS CHISWICK (http://www.stnicholaschiswick.org/heritage/Archives.shtml)
Microfilm copies 1678-1900 are held at Hounslow Local Studies Library
ST PETER AD VINCULA (http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/ChapelofStPeteradVinculaArchives.aspx) (Chapel Royal of the Tower of London)
Westminster Archives GUIDE (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/Info-Sheet-04-Regs-not-at-COWAC-1276253561.pdf) for a full list of registers in the Westminster area that are not deposited.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
ONLINE SOURCES FOR ANGLICAN CHURCH BURIAL REGISTERS
FAMILY SEARCH (https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/England_Deaths_and_Burials_(FamilySearch_Historical_Records)) England Deaths and Burials 1538-1991 is a free index from The Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS), also known as Mormons.
The LDS has many family history centres around the world. You can order and use their microfilms for a small charge. A list of their CENTRES (http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhc/frameset_fhc.asp)
It is worth checking their catalogue to see which parish and cemetery registers they hold on microfilm in their FILM CATALOGUE (http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp)
The National Burial Index 3 (NBI) CD was released March 2010 has relatively poor coverage of the London area. See the FEDERATION OF FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES (http://www.ffhs.org.uk/projects/nbi/nbi-coverage.php) website for coverage.
Some of the indexes from the NBI are also on FINDMY PAST (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/home.jsp) though not all Family History Societies have allowed their indexes from the NBI to be transferred to this website.
Findmypast Parish Records Collection 1538-2005 includes the following indexes
WESTMINSTER PARISH REGISTERS (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/westminster-collection/parish-registers) 1539-1945 Findmypast aims to index and put images onto the internet of parish registers deposited at Westminster Archives.
MIDDLESEX PARISH REGISTERS (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/middlesex-sept12) 1538-1890
Most if not all of these parish registers are held by the London Metropolitan Archives which is in partnership with Ancestry, so these can only be indexes or transcripts
BOYD'S LONDON BURIALS (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/sog/london-burials) 1538-1872 on Findmypast is an index largely of adult male burials. The index was completed in 1934 and is by no means comprehensive (only 243,000 entries).
ST LEONARD'S SHOREDITCH (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/sog/st-leonard.html) Burials 1805-1858 and Workhouse Deaths 1820-1828
The records are held at the London Metropolitan Archives which is in partnership with Ancestry, so these can only be indexes or transcripts
Findmypast CITY OF LONDON (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/helpadvice/knowledge-base/parish-records/index.jsp#city) burial registers index (excluding St Peter Ad Vincula) also includes five in Southwark across the river Thames from the City and some non-conformist burial grounds. Work is on-going to extend the index back to 1754.
The CITY OF LONDON (http://www.britishorigins.com/help/aboutbo-clb.aspx) burial index can also be found on British Origins
Ancestry's THE LONDON DIGITALISATION PROGRAMME (http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/lma/default.aspx) aims to index and put images onto the internet of parish registers deposited at the Guildhall Library and the London Metropolitan Archives. Parish registers include those for the City of London, now known as the square mile and the parishes included in the County of London established in 1889 and the whole of the County of Middlesex. Other Anglican parishes are included in the project where the London Metropolitan Archives hold Bishops Transcripts for that parish such as registers held at Westminster Archives. . Bishops' Transcripts were the annual returns of baptisms, marriages and burials submitted by the parish to the bishop. The survival rate of BTs is far less comprehensive. Some parishes have no BTs or a surviving run of only a few years which may be intermittent. As BTs are copies of the registers they are not without errors and omissions though occasionally they may contain more information than found in the register.
The London Metropolitan Archives Guide for Ancestry users A TO Z (http://c.mfcreative.com/offer/UK/Search/MoreHelp/LMA-AtoZ-of-London-Parishes.pdf) of London parishes (those on Ancestry that are deposited at the LMA and those that are not in the areas of the County of London formed in 1889). London parishes arranged by current LONDON BOROUGH (http://c.mfcreative.com/offer/UK/Search/MoreHelp/London-Parishes-arranged-by-borough.pdf)
LONDON EXTRACTED PARISH RECORDS (http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=5901) is a miscellaneous collection of records on Ancestry that includes some burials. SURREY EXTRACTED PARISH RECORDS (http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=5937) includes some parish registers in Greater London and formerly historic Surrey.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
INDIVIDUAL PARISH CHURCH BURIALS ONLINE
If anyone knows of any others please send me a pm
City of London parish registers (there were well over a 100 churches just in the ‘square mile’ of the City)
ALL HALLOWS BREAD STREET (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofallha00allh) 1538-1851 and ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST FRIDAY STREET 1653-1822 published 1913
CHRIST CHURCH NEWGATE (http://www.archive.org/details/registerschrist00englgoog) 1538-1754 published 1895
DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH AUSTIN FRIARS (http://www.archive.org/details/marriagebaptism00moengoog) 1571-1874 includes monumental inscriptions published 1884
ST ANTHOLIN BUDGE ROW (http://www.archive.org/details/parishregisters02pargoog) 1538-1754 and ST JOHN THE BAPTIST ON WALLBROOK 1682-1754 published 1883
ST BENET (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofstben38stbe) 1619-1837 and ST PETER PAUL’S WHARF 1607-1837 published 1909
ST BOTOLPH BISHOPGATE (http://www.archive.org/details/registersstboto00hallgoog) 1628-1752 published 1889
ST DIONIS BACKCHURCH (http://www.archive.org/details/reiesterbookesa00socigoog) 1538-1758 published 1878
ST HELEN’S BISHOPGATE (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofsthel31sthe) 1575-1853 published 1904
ST MARTIN OUTWICH (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofstmar32stma) 1670-1852 published 1905
ST MARY THE VIRGIN ALDERMARY (http://www.archive.org/details/parishregisterso05stma) 1558-1754 published 1880
ST MARY LE BOWE CHEAPSIDE (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofstmar44stma) 1538-1697 united with the other two parishes 1627-1812 and alone 1813-1852, ALL HALLOWS HONEY LANE 1538-1851 and ST PANCRAS SOPER LANE 1538-1849 published 1914
ST MARY WOOLNOTH (http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029785478) and ST MARY WOOLCHURCH HAW 1538-1760 published 1886
ST MICHAEL CORNHILL (http://www.archive.org/details/parishregisterso07stmi) 1546-1754 published 1882
ST MILDRED BREAD STREET (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofstmil42stmi) 1670-1858 and ST MARGARET MOSES FRIDAY STREET 1558-1850 published 1912
ST NICHOLAS ACONS (http://www.archive.org/details/registerbookpar00pargoog) 1539-1812 published 1890
ST OLAVE HART STREET (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofstola46stol) 1563-1700 published 1916
ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL (http://www.archive.org/details/publicationshar12socigoog) 1766-1899 published 1899
ST PETER’S UPON CORNHILL (http://www.archive.org/details/registerofallchr01stpe) 1538-1774 published 1877
ST STEPHEN’S WALBROOK (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofstste49stst) 1557-1716 united with ST BENET SHEREHOG 1716-1860 published 1919
ST THOMAS THE APOSTLE (http://www.archive.org/details/parishregisterso06stth) 1558-1754 published 1881
ST VEDAST FOSTER LANE (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofstved02lond) 1558-1836 and ST MICHAEL LE QUERN 1685-1836 published 1902
TEMPLE CHURCH (http://www.ancestorsatrest.com/cemetery_records/temple_church_cemetery.shtml) 1628-1825
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
INDIVIDUAL PARISH CHURCH BURIALS ONLINE
If anyone knows of any others please send me a pm
Registers from parishes formerly in the county of Middlesex which became part of London either in 1889 or 1965
CHARTERHOUSE CHAPEL (http://www.archive.org/details/registersandmon00collgoog) 1695-1812 includes monumental inscriptions published 1892
ST JAMES CLERKENWELL (http://www.archive.org/details/trueregisterofal19stja) 1551-1754 published 1884
ST JAMES HAMPTON HILL (http://www.stjames-hamptonhill.org.uk/) 1864-2000 includes monumental inscriptions
ST JOHN HAMPSTEAD (http://thevirtualtourofhampstead.co.uk/familyhistory.htm) 1813-1816 (so far)
ST MARY ABBOTS KENSINGTON (http://www.archive.org/details/parishregisterof16kens) 1539-1675 published 1890
ST LEONARDS SHOREDITCH 1558-1640 A-M (http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~ahnelson/PARISH/burialsA_M.html) and N-Z (http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~ahnelson/PARISH/burialsN_Z.html)
SOMERSET HOUSE CHAPEL (http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924102088774) 1714-1776 published 1862
ST MARGARET’S WESTMINSTER (http://www.archive.org/details/memorialsofstmar00westrich) 1539-1660 published 1914
ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS (http://www.archive.org/details/registerofbaptis00stma) 1550-1619 published 1898
ST PAUL’S COVENT GARDEN 1653-1752 (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofstpau36stpa) and 1753-1853 (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofstpau37stpa) published 1908 and 1909
WESTMINSTER ABBEY (http://www.archive.org/details/publicationsofha10harluoft) (ST PETER’S) 1606-1875 published 1876
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
INDIVIDUAL PARISH CHURCH BURIALS ONLINE
If anyone knows of any others please send me a pm
Registers from parishes formerly in the county of Kent which became part of London either in 1889 or 1965
ST MARGARET LEE (http://www.archive.org/details/registerofallmar00chur) 1579-1754 published 1888
ALL SAINTS ORPINGTON (http://www.archive.org/details/registermarriag00unkngoog) 1560-1754 published 1895
Registers from parishes formerly in the county of Surrey which became part of London either in 1889 or 1965
ST MARY THE BLESSED VIRGIN ADDINGTON (http://www.archive.org/details/publicationssur01socigoog) 1559-1812 online transcription published in 1907 (in a volume with other parish transcriptions)
ALL SAINTS KINGSTON UPON THAMES (http://localhistory.kingston.ac.uk/database/LocalHistoryForm.asp) 1850-1901
ST LAWRENCE MORDEN (http://www.archive.org/details/registersofmorde37mord) 1634-1812 online transcription published in 1901 (includes monumental inscriptions)
ST MARY’S RICHMOND UPON THAMES 1583-1720 (http://www.archive.org/details/publications61socigoog) and 1720-1780 (http://www.archive.org/details/publicationssur03socigoog) online transcription published in 1903 and 1905
ALL SAINTS SANDERSTEAD (http://www.archive.org/details/publications34socigoog) 1567-1812 online transcription published in 1908 (in a volume with other parish transcriptions)
ST NICHOLAS SUTTON (http://www.archive.org/details/parishregisterso74sutt) 1636-1812 online transcription published in 1915
ALL SAINTS WANDSWORTH (http://www.archive.org/details/registersparish00squigoog) 1603-1787 online transcription published in 1889
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS
Westminster Archives GUIDE (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/Info-Sheet-08-Monumental-Inscript-1278423843.pdf) to monumental inscription transcriptions held for Westminster churches.
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS ONLINE
If anyone knows of any others please send me a pm
City of London
CHURCHYARD INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CITY OF LONDON (http://www.archive.org/details/churchyardinscri00rush) published 1910
ST OLAVE’S JEWRY (http://www.archive.org/details/monumentalinscri00lond) published 1887
Churchyards formerly in the county of Middlesex which became part of London either in 1889 or 1965
A Collection of Curious and Interesting Epitaphs, Copied from the Monuments of Distinguished and Noted Characters in the Churches and Churchyards of EDMONTON (http://www.archive.org/details/acollectioncuri00cansgoog), ENFIELD, FRIERN BARNET, HADLEY, HORNSEY and TOTTENHAM published 1875
A collection of curious and interesting epitaphs copied from the Monuments of Distinguished and Noted Characters in the ANCIENT CHURCH AND BURIAL GROUNDS OF ST PANCRAS (http://www.archive.org/details/acollectioncuri04cansgoog) published 1869
A Collection of Curious and Interesting Epitaphs, Copied from the Monuments of Distinguished and Noted Characters in the Cemeteries and CHURCHES OF ST PANCRAS (http://www.archive.org/details/acollectioncuri02cansgoog) published 1872
ALL HALLOWS TOTTENHAM (http://www.mickbruff.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/highroad/allhallows/mis/churchyardmis.html)
Churchyards formerly in the county of Kent which became part of London either in 1889 or 1965
CHARLTON: NEAR WOOLWICH (http://www.archive.org/details/charltonnearwool00mayl) full and complete copies of all the inscriptions in the old parish church and churchyard, together with notes on the history of the manor and of the families connected with the place published 1908
KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MIslist.htm) has some churchyard monumental inscriptions online which were transcribed mostly between the 1760s and 1923. They do not purport to be full transcriptions of all the gravestones found in each churchyard.
They include St Mary’s Bexley (?), St George’s Beckenham (1922), St Peter & St Paul Bromley (1914), St Luke’s Charlton (1908), St Nicholas Chislehurst (1890), St Nicholas Deptford (pre 1880), St John the Baptist Erith (1885), St Margaret’s Lee (1830), St Mary’s Lewisham (1889?), All Saints’ Orpington (1919), St Mary Cray (1921), St Paul Cray (1921), St Bartholomew’s Sydenham (1974), St John the Baptist West Wickham (1891), St Mary’s Woolwich (1893)
Churchyards formerly in the county of Surrey which became part of London either in 1889 or 1965
ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CROYDON (http://www.archive.org/details/historyandantiq00garrgoog) parish church online transcription published in 1818
CROYDON (http://www.archive.org/details/croydoninpasthis00croy) online transcription published 1883 and includes ADDINGTON, BEDDINGTON and SHIRLEY
ST MARY LAMBETH (http://www.archive.org/details/historyandantiq00allegoog) online transcription published in 1826
ST MARY NEWINGTON PART 1 A-I (http://www.archive.org/details/monumentalinscr00englgoog) online transcription published in 1880
LOOKUPS OFFERED
Churches formerly in the county of Essex which became part of London in 1965
ST THOMAS NOAK HILL (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,387766.0.html) burials 1841-1920 and monumental inscriptions
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES (for both churchyards and cemeteries)
FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WAR MILITARY GRAVES
COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION (http://www.cwgc.org/) has an online database for those who died in the two World Wars some of whom have gravestones in the country.
THE WAR GRAVES PHOTOGRAPHIC PROJECT (http://twgpp.org/) works in association with the CWGC photographing gravestones.
LEST WE FORGET (http://www.roll-of-honour.com/) also has photographs and transcriptions of some war memorials.
VOLUNTEER WEBSITES
FREEREG (http://www.freereg.org.uk/parishes/index.shtml) where volunteers transcribe registers and place them online. Coverage of Anglican registers for the London area is sparse.
A number of gravestones in churchyards and cemeteries within the London area have been photographed and indexed on GRAVESTONE PHOTOGRAPHIC RESOURCE (http://www.gravestonephotos.com/countries/england.php)
Find a Grave coverage for GREATER LONDON (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=csr&CScn=&CScntry=5&CSst=4220) though some entries for churchyards and cemeteries in areas of ESSEX (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=csr&CScn=&CScntry=5&CSst=4218), KENT (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=csr&CScn=&CScntry=5&CSst=4227) and SURREY (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=csr&CScn=&CScntry=5&CSst=4243) that became part of the county of London either in 1889 or more particularly in 1965 might be listed under those counties headings. Find a Grave is a worldwide website with coverage for the whole of England now above 9,000 entries.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES AND PUBLICATIONS
HILLINGDON FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~enghfhs/publish.html) has published indexes of burial registers and monumental inscriptions on CD and microfiche
LONDON WESTMINSTER AND MIDDLESEX FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.lwmfhs.org.uk/sales/lwmfhs?start=20) has published some indexes of burial registers and monumental inscriptions on CD and microfiche
WEST MIDDLESEX FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.west-middlesex-fhs.org.uk/content/indexes_general.aspx) offers searches in their monumental inscription index and some individual parish church indexes (Feltham, Hammersmith, Hampton Wick, Harlington, Harmondsworth, Hayes, Hillingdon, Isleworth, Norwood Green and Stanwell).
THE EAST OF LONDON FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.eolfhs.org.uk/) has published some indexes – follow the link for store. The area of interest link gives further details on parishes and cemeteries in east London.
WALTHAM FOREST FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.wffhs.org.uk/about.php)
Information on the privately held ESSEX BURIAL INDEX (http://www.sturnidae.com/Essex/Burials.htm) 1813-1865
NORTH WEST KENT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.nwkfhs.org.uk/publicns.htm) has published indexes and transcripts of burial registers and monumental inscriptions on CD.
WOOLWICH AND DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.woolwichfhs.org.uk/)
EAST SURREY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.eastsurreyfhs.org.uk/publications/publics1.htm) has published indexes and transcripts of burial registers and monumental inscriptions on CDs and microfiches.
WEST SURREY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY has published transcripts of church registers and monumental inscriptions (including some cemeteries) and offer searches in their monumental inscriptions index. Surrey burials on CD (http://www.wsfhs.co.uk/pages/cds.php) and MICROFICHE (http://www.wsfhs.co.uk/pages/microfichems.php) (includes City of London burial registers) PARISH REGISTER PUBLICATIONS (http://www.wsfhs.co.uk/pages/microfichemp.php) on microfiche MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTION (http://www.wsfhs.co.uk/pages/monumental.php) search and MICROFICHES (http://www.wsfhs.co.uk/pages/microfichemi.php) of monumental inscriptions published by the society.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
NONCONFORMIST BURIAL REGISTERS AND BURIAL GROUNDS
The word non-conformist refers to any group that does not conform to the state church established in the sixteenth century, the Church of England sometimes known as the Anglican Church.
At the start of civil registration in 1837 the government reached an agreement with most nonconformist churches. If the churches deposited their registers, in return they would be recognised as legal documents. Most Christian churches except the Catholics deposited their records, with the Quakers (the Society of Friends) first making copies. The few Huguenot (French Protestant) and Lutheran (German Protestant) churches which had churchyards deposited their registers. Jewish synagogues kept their own records. The deposited non-conformist records are held in series RG4 (Registrar General) at The National Archives. A second smaller deposit of records was made in 1855. These records are held in series RG8. This explains why many earlier nonconformist records are held at The National Archives with only microfilmed copies of nonconformist registers at local record offices. Most of these records have been indexed on the IGI (International Genealogical Index/Family Search) the index created by the Church of the Latter Day Saints. The registers not indexed on the IGI, were the burials and the Quaker records.
Indexes and the images for all the registers are now online at BMD REGISTERS (http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk/) and THE GENEALOGIST (http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/)
The National Archives GUIDE (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/nonconformists.htm) to nonconformist records.
Full list of church registers and separate non-conformist burial grounds in RG4 (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Collection/Display?uri=C13329) and RG8
NON-CONFORMIST BURIAL GROUND REGISTERS HELD AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND ONLINE
See the previously given link to RG4 and RG8 for the full list of surviving non-conformist churchyard registers held at The National Archives. Listed here are only some of the larger burial grounds.
Bethnal Green Protestant Dissenters' Burying Ground, (Gibraltar Row) Bethnal Green E2 (1793-1837)
Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, City Road, Islington, EC1 (1713-1853)
Findmypast has an INDEX (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/helpadvice/knowledge-base/parish-records/index.jsp#city) for Bunhill Fields Burial Ground 1788-1853
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Environment_and_planning/Parks_and_open_spaces/City_Gardens/bunhill.htm#records) for Bunhill Fields Burial Ground in 1869 and interment order books 1789-1854 are held at the Guildhall Library
Bunhill Fields Burial Ground: proceedings in reference to its preservation, with inscriptions on the tombs published 1867 ONLINE (http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031427382)
History of the Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, with some of the Principal Inscriptions published 1902 ONLINE (http://www.archive.org/details/historybunhillf00commgoog)
Golden Lane Burial Ground, (The City Bunhill Burial Ground), Golden Lane, Islington, EC1 (1833-1853)
Findmypast has an INDEX (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/helpadvice/knowledge-base/parish-records/index.jsp#city) for Golden Lane Burial Ground 1833-1853
New Gravel Pit Burial Ground, Chatham Place, Hackney, E9 (1812-1908?)
Monumental inscriptions (1801-1850) are held by HACKNEY ARCHIVES (http://www.hackney.gov.uk/ca-archives.htm)
South London Burial Ground, East Street, Walworth, SE17 (1819-1837)
Southwark New Burial Ground, New Street, St John’s Horsleydown, Southwark SE1 (1821-1854)
Spa Fields Burial Ground, Northampton Road, Clerkenwell, EC1 (1778-1849)
The National Burial Index 1795-1849 and Findmypast has an INDEX (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/helpadvice/knowledge-base/parish-records/index.jsp#city) for Spa Fields Burial Ground 1778-1849
St Thomas Square Burial Ground, Mare Street, Hackney, E8 (1787-1876)
Monumental inscriptions (1787-1850) are held by HACKNEY ARCHIVES (http://www.hackney.gov.uk/ca-archives.htm)
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
NONCONFORMIST BURIAL REGISTERS AND BURIAL GROUNDS
Some non-conformist churches had churchyards. Non-conformists were either buried in their churchyard if that was possible, the local Anglican churchyard or in a larger separate non-conformist burial ground like Bunhill Fields. The records for non-conformist churches and non-conformist burial grounds do not always have a good rate of survival. Once the large civic cemeteries began to be built, largely from the 1840s onwards, most non-conformist burials were increasingly in those cemeteries. The upkeep of the older non-conformist burial grounds in central London was often beyond the resources of their chapels and they were either sold to private speculators, fell into disrepair and disappeared, or as in the case of larger burial grounds like Spa Fields had become parks by the end of the C19th.
By the late 18th century the London churchyards were becoming overcrowded. New cemeteries were established as private speculations generally offering slightly lower charges for burials than the churchyards. Some of these burial grounds were originally connected to chapels adjoining them, but were subsequently bought by private individuals. By 1835 there were at least fourteen such burial grounds in London including Spa Fields, Clerkenwell, opposite London Metropolitan Archives where about 80,000 people were buried. An enquiry in 1843 discovered that about 40 burials were taking place each day. The bodies were exhumed at night and burned in a bone house to make space for more burials. Similar conditions existed at Globe Fields Burial Ground, Mile End.
Quoted from the London Metropolitan GUIDE (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/archives-and-city-history/london-metropolitan-archives/Documents/visitor-information/05-cemetery-records.pdff) to Cemetery Records
East Hill later known as Mount Nod burial ground (1680-1854) East Hill, Wandsworth SW18
No registers seem to have survive but monumental inscriptions were copied in 1886 and printed in the Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London volume 1
THE HUGUENOT SOCIETY (http://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/)
This burial ground was not established by Huguenots though historically it has become associated with them. Many none Huguenot burials also took place there as well as Huguenot burials.
NONCONFORMIST BURIAL REGISTERS IN LOCAL ARCHIVES
There are some non-conformist burial registers deposited at the London Metropolitan Archives. These registers 1694-1921 can be found on ANCESTRY (http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1906)
A GUIDE (http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/76387CE1-E58B-4971-9C31-A8DE5B7ABEE2/0/3RECORDSOFNONCONFORMISTSINLONDON.pdf) to non-conformist records at the London Metropolitan Archives and NON-ANGLICAN REGISTER TRANSCRIPTS (http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/41DFA87F-8ACD-484A-999A-7EBBE720EBB1/0/60NONANGLICANREGISTERTRANSCRIPTS.pdf)
Registers at the LMA include for example
NEW OR LITTLE BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=13495&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=basic), Church Street, Islington N1 (1831-1853)
Previously the graveyard of the Upper Street Independent Chapel, by the 1850s it was managed by a private company.
Westminster Archives GUIDE (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/Info-Sheet-03-Non-Conformist-Regs-1271423269.pdf) to non-conformist registers deposited at Westminster Archives.
Essex Record Office holds deposited non-conformist registers for the areas of Essex which became part of Greater London in 1965. You can search for these registers on SEAX (http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/EssexAncestors.aspx).
Online CATALOGUE (http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/) for Surrey archives
The GUIDE (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,403309.0.html) on the Rootschat London and Middlesex boards to London Archives and useful information leaflets lists all the 32 London borough archives and gives the link to their websites. Many though not all have either online indexes or lists of the registers and indexes they hold.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
NONCONFORMIST BURIAL REGISTERS AND BURIAL GROUNDS
ROMAN CATHOLIC REGISTERS
Catholic Church registers may remain with the church. The registers are not usually deposited with county record offices but in the relevant Catholic diocesan archives.
The National Archives guide to CATHOLIC (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/catholics.htm) records.
THE CATHOLIC FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.catholic-history.org.uk/cfhs/)
THE CATHOLIC NATIONAL LIBRARY (http://www.catholic-library.org.uk/registers.html) at Farnborough Abbey holds some transcripts of burial registers
The Catholic Westminster Diocesan ARCHIVIST (http://www.rcdow.org.uk/diocese/default.asp?library_ref=4&content_ref=517) and a list of deposited registers (Family history and the archives pdf file) for coverage of the City of London and Middlesex
The Westminster PARISH DIRECTORY (http://www.rcdow.org.uk/parishes/)
Copies of Catholic registers held at WESTMINSTER ARCHIVES (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/Info-Sheet-02-Catholic-Regs-1271423092.pdf)
The Catholic Southwark Diocesan ARCHIVIST (http://www.rcsouthwark.co.uk/contacts.html) for coverage of the London areas of former north Surrey and Kent. The Southwark PARISH DIRECTORY (http://directory.rcsouthwark.co.uk/)
The Catholic Brentwood Diocesan ARCHIVIST (http://dioceseofbrentwood.net/servicesandsupport/archives/Default.aspx) for coverage of the London areas of former west Essex. The Brentwood PARISH DIRECTORY (http://dioceseofbrentwood.net/parishes/Default.aspx)
Essex Record Office holds deposited Catholic Church registers which you can search for on SEAX (http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/EssexAncestors.aspx).
All Souls Roman Catholic Burial-ground, Cadogan Terrace, Chelsea SW3, burial records for 1845-1858 are indexed on the National Burial Index. A TRANSCRIPT (http://www.lwmfhs.org.uk/sales/lwmfhs?start=40) of the registers is published by the London Westminster and Middlesex Family History Society
See under the London borough listings for details of Catholic cemeteries in Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Richmond-upon-Thames and Waltham Forest.
JEWISH CEMETERY REGISTERS
THE INTERNATIONAL JEWISH CEMETERY PROJECT (http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/london/index.html) gives extremely thorough information about each Jewish cemetery and where records can be found. Consequently apart from those with an online database (see below) Jewish cemeteries are not listed in this guide.
An online DATABASE (http://www.jewishgen.org/JCR-uk/London.htm) for some Jewish cemeteries
Balls Pond Road Cemetery (Kingsbury Road Cemetery) Kingsbury Road, Balls Pond Road, Dalston, Hackney N1 (1842-1937)
Silver Street Cemetery (Cheshunt Cemetery), Silver Street, Goffs Oak, Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire EN7 (1964-1998)
Edgwarebury Cemetery, Edgwarebury Lane, Harrow HA8 (1976-2006)
Edmonton Cemetery, Montagu Road, Angel Road, Lower Edmonton, Enfield N18 (1927-1955)
Hoop Lane Cemetery, Hoop Lane, Golders Green, Barnet NW11 (1897-2006)
Mile End – Nuevo or Novo (New) Beth Chaim Cemetery, 320 Mile End Road, Tower Hamlets E1 (1733-1918)
Rainham Jewish Cemetery, Upminster Road North, Havering RM13 (1930-1946)
CEMETERY SCRIBES (http://www.cemeteryscribes.com/cemeteries.php) have photographs of headstone inscriptions from Jewish cemeteries.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Records for civic cemeteries interments are mostly held by the London boroughs or by a few private companies which manage these cemeteries.
A useful timeline on the HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CEMETERIES IN ENGLAND (http://beckettstreetcemetery.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=1) explains the context in which cemeteries and later crematoriums developed in this country.
With the closing of churchyards in urban areas many families could not afford the expense of a cemetery plot, let alone a gravestone. Such burials would be in common graves which contained other unrelated interments. Burial in a common grave was not synonymous with a pauper funeral. It did not mean the funeral itself was not paid for by the family. TYPES OF GRAVES IN THE CEMETERY (http://beckettstreetcemetery.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=1), though not from a cemetery in London, is very helpful in explaining the difference between the possible types of common, pauper and private graves.
Cemetery burial registers usually give the name of the deceased, age, abode and occupation, the date of death and of burial, and the position of the grave. These records are arranged chronologically, and are not indexed alphabetically, though some cemeteries may have some computerised indexes. If a private grave was purchased those records indicate who purchased the plot, their address, when it was purchased and whether a gravestone was erected (though not whether it survives). The records will also indicate who else was buried in the plot, when and at what depths. The plot number indicates where in the cemetery the grave is located, essential knowledge when trying to find a grave in a large cemetery.
Cremations became increasingly common after the Second World War when more crematoriums were opened. Cemeteries with crematoriums keep separate burial and cremation registers. Not all London boroughs manage crematoriums in their areas. A search for a burial or cremation may require a wider search which could include adjacent boroughs and counties.
In a large and growing metropolis like London people were not always buried in their local cemetery though there were often arrangements between specific cemeteries to bury those from certain agreed geographical areas. Cemeteries vied with each other for institutional burials since, though they were pauper burials, they represented a constant income for each cemetery.
Brookwood cemetery in Woking twenty-five miles from central London nevertheless had major contracts with London poor law unions and their workhouses. They buried paupers from Bermondsey, Chiswick, Bloomsbury, St Giles in the Fields, Chelsea, Deptford, Holborn, Soho, St John and St Margaret Westminster and St Saviours Southwark.
The cemetery was also popular choice for many families in London who chose to bury family members there travelling out to Woking on the cemetery’s own TRAIN SERVICE (http://www.brookwoodcemetery.com/cemetery_railway.htm).
Brookwood Cemetery (London Necropolis), Cemetery Pales, Woking GU24 (1854) presently owned by BROOKWOOD CEMETERY (http://www.brookwoodcemetery.com/)
The burial registers 1854-1976 and deed of grant books 1854-1971 are held at SURREY HISTORY CENTRE (http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHCOL_2935)
In 1917 BROOKWOOD MILITARY CEMETERY (http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/44400/BROOKWOOD%20MILITARY%20CEMETERY) was established at Brookwood Cemetery for armed service personnel who died in the London area from wounds received on the Western Front, of sickness or in training accidents. The cemetery was extended for the burial of Second World War casualties.
THE BROOKWOOD CEMETERY SOCIETY (http://www.tbcs.org.uk/index.htm)
Some of the older London cemeteries have been neglected over the years and the gravestones have been degraded by pollution, general age and the growth of trees and undergrowth. This neglect has meant some, or sections of some cemeteries are now designated nature reserves. NUNHEAD (http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/05/10/nunwood_cemetery_feature.shtml) cemetery in Southwark is one such example.
Descriptions of some individual London cemeteries can also be found at LONDON GARDENS ONLINE (http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/select-borough-gardens-online.html) with MAPS (http://www.parkexplorer.org.uk/map_london.htm) for some London boroughs showing their locations.
Photographs and information for some cemeteries at LONDON CEMETERIES (http://londoncemeteries.co.uk/list-of-cemeteries/). An internet search via a search engine like Google will often find further photographs and information on websites like Wikipedia.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LONDON - LOCAL AUTHORITY ADMINISTRATION IN LONDON
The present 32 London boroughs plus the City of London are the local administrations which manage the majority of London’s civic cemeteries. Greater London today is just over 300 square kilometres in size with a population of at least 7 million.
The establishment of a growing railway system in the 1830s allowed for the possibility of daily commuting and greatly accelerated the growth of the urban spread around the City of London (now often termed the square mile). In 1855 the unelected Metropolitan Board of Works was established to provide the basic infrastructure for services for the metropolitan area, excluding the City of London which the Corporation of London administered. The board operated in parts of the counties of east Middlesex, north Kent and Surrey which had been selected by the General Register Office as ‘the Metropolis’ for the purposes of mortality statistics. In 1889 these were the areas that became part of what were eventually the 28 metropolitan boroughs (formed in 1900) of the County of London. A MAP (http://www.maps.thehunthouse.com/Streets/Metropolitan_Boroughs.htm) of the 28 metropolitan boroughs
In 1965 further areas surrounding London, virtually the whole of Middlesex, larger areas of north Kent and Surrey and parts of east Essex and a smaller area of south Hertfordshire became part of the newly formed Greater London.
In 1965 Staines and Sunbury were transferred from Middlesex to Surrey. In 1974 these areas became part of the new Surrey borough of SPELTHORNE. A MAP (http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/londonfacts/londonlocalgovernment/londonmapandlinks/default.htm) of the present day 32 London boroughs
THE BRITISH TOWNS AND VILLAGES NETWORK (http://www.british-towns.net/en/level_2_display_ByL1.asp?GetL1=203) website is very useful in helping to navigate a map of modern day London, showing the individual places within each London borough.
The London Metropolitan Archives GUIDE (http://217.154.230.218/londonGenerations/download/Places%20in%20London%20Boroughs.pdf) to areas in Greater London Boroughs is useful in helping find where places are in which London borough today.
Use the website FUNERAL MAP (http://www.funeralmap.co.uk/) to help with locating present day cemeteries and crematoriums in the area and then use this guide for further information and contact details for the local authority or company which manages them.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LONDON - LOCAL AUTHORITY ADMINISTRATION IN LONDON
LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY IN MIDDLESEX
By 1900 the areas of historic Middlesex (north of the river Thames) now part of the County of London were the metropolitan boroughs of
BETHNAL GREEN
CHELSEA
FINSBURY
(Charterhouse, Clerkenwell, Glasshouse Yard, St Luke, St Sepulchre)
FULHAM
(Parsons Green, Sands End, Walham Green, West Kensington)
HACKNEY
(Clapton, Dalston, Homerton, Kingsland)
HAMMERSMITH
(Old Oak Common, Shepherd’s Bush, Wormwood Scrubs)
HAMPSTEAD
(Belsize Park, Hampstead Heath, Kilburn, Primrose Hill)
HOLBORN
(Bloomsbury, Ely Place and Rents, Hatton Gardens, Lincoln and Staples Inn Saffron Hill, St Giles in the Fields)
ISLINGTON
(Archway, Barnsbury, Canonbury, Highbury, Holloway, Pentonville, Tufnell Park)
KENSINGTON
(Brompton, Earls Court, Kensal Green, Notting Hill)
PADDINGTON
(Bayswater, Maida Hill and Vale, Westbourne Green, West Kilburn)
POPLAR
(Bow, Blackwall, Bromley by St Leonard, Isle of Dogs)
ST MARYLEBONE
(Lisson Grove, Regent’s Park, St John’s Wood)
ST PANCRAS
(Camden Town, Euston, Kentish Town, Kings Cross, Somers Town, Tottenham Court Road)
SHOREDITCH
(Haggerston, Hoxton)
STEPNEY
(Limehouse, Mile End Old and New Town, Norton Folgate, Old Artillery Ground, Ratcliff, St George in the East, Shadwell, Spitalfields, Tower of London, Wapping, Whitechapel)
STOKE NEWINGTON
(South Hornsey)
WESTMINSTER
(Belgravia, Clement Danes, Covent Garden, Hyde Park, Liberty of Rolls, Mayfair, Pimlico, St George Hanover Square, St James, St John and St Margaret, St Martin in the Fields, Savoy, Soho, The Strand)
In 1965 almost all areas of the county of Middlesex became part of Greater London forming the fifteen modern London boroughs of
BARNET
The urban districts and municipal boroughs of Finchley, Friern Barnet and Hendon from Middlesex and Barnet and East Barnet from Hertfordshire
BRENT
The municipal boroughs of Wembley and Willesden from Middlesex
CAMDEN
The metropolitan boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn and St Pancras
CITY OF WESTMINSTER
The metropolitan boroughs of Paddington, St Marylebone and Westminster
EALING
The municipal boroughs of Acton, Ealing and Southall from Middlesex
ENFIELD
The municipal boroughs of Edmonton, Enfield and Southgate from Middlesex
HACKNEY
The metropolitan boroughs of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington
HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM
The metropolitan boroughs of Fulham and Hammersmith
HARINGEY
The municipal boroughs of Hornsey, Tottenham and Wood Green from Middlesex
HARROW
The municipal borough of Harrow from Middlesex
HILLINGDON
The urban districts and municipal borough of Hayes and Harlington, Ruislip-Northwood, Yiewsley and West Drayton and Uxbridge from Middlesex
HOUNSLOW
The urban districts of Brentford and Chiswick, Feltham, Heston and Isleworth from Middlesex
ISLINGTON
The metropolitan boroughs of Finsbury and Islington
KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
The metropolitan boroughs of Chelsea and Kensington
TOWER HAMLETS
The metropolitan boroughs of Bethnal Green, Poplar and Stepney
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
THE GEOGRAPHY OF LONDON - LOCAL AUTHORITY ADMINISTRATION IN LONDON
LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY IN ESSEX
In 1965 areas of the county of Essex became part of Greater London forming five modern London boroughs.
BARKING AND DAGENHAM
The municipal boroughs of Barking and Dagenham (most) from Essex
HAVERING
The urban district of Hornchurch and the municipal borough of Havering from Essex
NEWHAM
The county boroughs of East and West Ham, and a small area of the municipal borough of Barking from Essex and North Woolwich from the metropolitan borough of Woolwich formerly in Kent
REDBRIDGE
The municipal boroughs of Ilford, Wanstead and Woodford, a part of the municipal borough of Dagenham and a part of the urban district of Chigwell from Essex
WALTHAM FOREST
The municipal boroughs of Chingford, Leyton and Waltham from Essex
LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY IN KENT
By 1900 the areas of historic Kent (south of the river Thames) now part of the County of London were the metropolitan boroughs of
DEPTFORD (Brockley, New Cross)
GREENWICH (Charlton, Kidbrooke)
LEWISHAM (Lee)
WOOLWICH (Eltham, Plumstead)
In 1965 more areas of the county of Kent became part of Greater London forming four modern London boroughs.
BEXLEY
The municipal borough of Bexley and Erith and the urban districts of Chislehurst and Sidcup (part) and Cray from Kent
BROMLEY
The municipal boroughs of Beckenham and Bromley and the urban districts of Penge and Orpington as well as Chislehurst from Kent
GREENWICH
The metropolitan boroughs of Greenwich and Woolwich except for North Woolwich which became part of the London borough of Newham
LEWISHAM
The metropolitan boroughs of Deptford and Lewisham
LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY IN SURREY
By 1900 the areas of historic Surrey (south of the river Thames) now part of the County of London were the metropolitan boroughs of
BATTERSEA
BERMONDSEY (Rotherhithe, St John Horsleydown, St Olave and St Thomas)
CAMBERWELL (Dulwich, Nunhead, Peckham)
LAMBETH (Brixton, Herne Hill, Kennington, Norwood, Stockwell, Tulse Hill, Vauxhall)
SOUTHWARK (Christchurch, Newington)
WANDSWORTH (Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting Graveney)
In 1965 more areas of the county of Surrey became part of Greater London forming eight modern London boroughs
CROYDON
The urban district of Coulsdon and Purley and the county borough of Croydon from Surrey
KINGSTON UPON THAMES
The municipal boroughs of Kingston-upon-Thames, Malden and Coombe and Surbiton from Surrey
LAMBETH
The metropolitan borough of Lambeth and the areas of Clapham, Streatham and Tooting formerly in the metropolitan borough of Wandsworth
MERTON
The municipal boroughs and urban district of Merton and Morden, Mitcham and Wimbledon from Surrey
RICHMOND UPON THAMES
The municipal boroughs of Twickenham from Middlesex and Barnes and Richmond from Surrey
SOUTHWARK
The metropolitan boroughs of Bermondsey, Camberwell and Southwark
SUTTON
The municipal boroughs and urban district of Beddington and Wallington, Carshalton and Sutton and Cheam from Surrey
WANDSWORTH
The metropolitan boroughs of Battersea and Wandsworth
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES LISTED BY LONDON BOROUGHS
Land for burials is always at a premium in London so cemeteries managed by London boroughs and the City of London may not always be within their own areas. Inner London borough cemeteries, particularly those managed by London boroughs formerly in Middlesex, may be found actually situated in outer London boroughs.
The following is a list of civic (municipal) cemeteries and crematoriums in the London area with the date that each cemetery and crematorium opened and a link or address to the local authority, cemetery or crematorium board or independent company which administers the cemetery and/or crematorium. The list of over 150 cemeteries and crematoriums is given under the headings of each present day London borough that manages the cemetery/crematorium but reference is also made to each cemetery/crematorium in its actual geographical location within particular London boroughs.
CITY OF LONDON
LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY IN MIDDLESEX
LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY IN ESSEX
LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY IN KENT
LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY IN SURREY
CITY OF LONDON
CITY OF LONDON CEMETERY AND CREMATORIUM (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Community_and_living/Deaths_funerals_and_cremations/Cemetery_and_crematorium/index.htm)
City of London Cemetery, Aldersbrook Road, Manor Park E12 (1856 – crematorium 1904)
The City of London cemetery is situated in the London borough of Newham and was in Essex until 1965. Its official address is now Manor Park but previously it was part of Little Ilford.
Copies of registers 1856-1915 are held at the GUILDHALL LIBRARY (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Libraries/City_of_London_libraries/guildhall_lib.htm)
Further INFORMATION (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11432&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=basic) on the cemetery and records and the London Metropolitan Archives guide to CEMETERY RECORDS (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/0EA11147-00CB-4F00-8DB6-EEBDA39E5F22/0/5CEMETERYRECORDS.pdf)
IMAGES (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/burialRegisters/) of the registers for early burials at the City of London cemetery and an INDEX (http://haywain.net/family/burials.php) for the first few years
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CEMETERIES IN THE FIFTEEN LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC MIDDLESEX
BARNET (http://www.barnet.gov.uk/info/331/cost_information/216/cost_information)
Hendon Cemetery (formerly Hendon Park Cemetery) and Crematorium, Holders Hill Road, NW7 (1899 crematorium -1922)
This cemetery was founded originally by the Abney Park Cemetery Company.
Information on accessing cemetery burial and cremation registers at cemeteries and crematoriums in the BARNET (http://www.barnet.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/1415/cemeteries_in_barnet) area.
Bells Hill Cemetery sometimes known as Chipping Barnet Cemetery was actually the burial ground of St Stephen’s Church, Bell’s Hill Barnet. For searches of records contact the CHURCH (http://www.achurchnearyou.com/parish/320019/)
CEMETERIES AND CREMATORIUMS MANAGED BY OTHER LONDON BOROUGHS WITHIN THE BOROUGH OF BARNET
The London boroughs of Islington and Camden’s cemetery services (ICCS) jointly manage St Pancras and Islington Cemeteries (or Islington and St Pancras Cemeteries) and Islington Crematorium, High Road, East Finchley, N2 (1854 crematorium -1937) see the London boroughs of Camden and Islington for further information on this cemetery.
See the City of Westminster for further information on East Finchley Cemetery (formerly St Marylebone Cemetery) and St Marylebone Crematorium, East End Road, N2 (1855 crematorium - 1938) and Mill Hill Cemetery, (formerly Paddington New Cemetery), Milespit Hill, NW7 (1936)
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERY WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF BARNET
New Southgate Cemetery and Crematorium, (formerly Great Northern London Cemetery) Brunswick Park Road, N11 (1861 crematorium - 1957) present owners WESTERLEIGH GROUP (http://www.newsouthgatecemetery.co.uk/)
The Great Northern Railway Company opened the Great Northern Cemetery in 1861. Until the 1870s the cemetery had its own railway station, so that the dead could be brought directly to the cemetery from Kings Cross.
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CREMATORIUM WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF BARNET
Golders Green Crematorium, Hoop Lane, NW11 (1903) present owners the LONDON CREMATION COMPANY
ASYLUM CEMETERY WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF BARNET
Colney Hatch Asylum Cemetery, Friern Barnet Road? Barnet N11 1851-1873
Colney Hatch was a Middlesex County mental asylum. The asylum cemetery was closed in 1873 and patients from then on were buried in the Great Northern Cemetery. LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11805&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=advanced) hold the burial registers for the asylum.
BRENT (http://www.brent.gov.uk/cemetery.nsf/Cemeteries/LBB-10)
Alperton Cemetery, Clifford Road, Alperton, Wembley HA0 (1917)
Carpenders Park Lawn Cemetery, Oxhey Lane, Carpenders Park, Watford WD19 (1954)
This cemetery is situated in Watford Borough Council in the county of Hertfordshire.
Paddington Cemetery (formerly Paddington Old Cemetery or Willesden Lane Cemetery), Willesden Lane, Kilburn NW6 (1855)
This cemetery was purchased from Westminster council in 1986 by the London borough of Brent where the cemetery is situated. WESTMINSTER CITY ARCHIVES (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/Info-Sheet-07-Cemetery-Regs-1278423620.pdf) holds information on burial plots for this cemetery 1939-1950, the burial registers are held at Brent cemetery office.
Willesden New Cemetery, Franklyn Road, Willesden NW10 (1891)
Willesden Old Cemetery (St Marys), Neasden Lane, High Road, Willesden NW1 (1868)
Wembley Old Burial Ground (St Johns), High Road, Harrow Road, Wembley, HA9 (1887)
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations to which the London borough of Brent has contributed cemetery records. COVERAGE (http://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=Brent&lang=E) of Brent cemetery registers so far
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CEMETERIES IN THE FIFTEEN LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC MIDDLESEX
CAMDEN (http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/community-and-living/births--deaths-and-marriages/cemeteries/) AND ISLINGTON (http://www.islington.gov.uk/services/births-deaths-marriages/deaths/cemeteries/Pages/default.aspx)
The London boroughs of Islington and Camden’s CEMETRY SERVICES (ICCS) jointly manage Camden and Islington cemeteries.
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations to which the London boroughs of Islington and Camden have contributed cemetery records.
Hampstead Cemetery, Fortune Green Road, West Hampstead NW6 (1876)
This cemetery is situated in the London borough of Camden.
FRIENDS OF HAMPSTEAD CEMETERY (http://thefriendsofhampsteadcemetery.com/5101.html)
St Pancras and Islington Cemeteries (or Islington and St Pancras Cemeteries) and Islington Crematorium, High Road, East Finchley, N2 (1854 crematorium -1937)
This cemetery and crematorium is situated in the London borough of Barnet.
Trent Park Cemetery, Cockfosters Road, Cockfosters, Enfield EN4 (1960)
This cemetery is situated in the London borough of Enfield.
Coverage of cemetery and crematorium registers so far at Deceased Online CAMDEN (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=CAMDEN&lang=E&sessionid=696432401) and ISLINGTON (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=ISLINGTON&lang=E&sessionid=42750036)
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERY WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF CAMDEN
Highgate & Kentish Town Cemetery, Swains Lane, Highgate N6 (1839)
Present owners FRIENDS OF HIGHGATE CEMETERY TRUST (http://www.highgate-cemetery.org/) (FoHCT)
Highgate cemetery burial registers 1839-1984 can be viewed at CAMDEN LOCAL STUDIES AND ARCHIVES CENTRE (http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/content/leisure/local-history/collections/deposited-archives.en?page=8)
Bishop Transcripts for Highgate cemetery (Anglican burials only) 1839-1871 held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/archives-and-city-history/london-metropolitan-archives/Pages/default.aspx) and at ANCESTRY (http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/lma/default.aspx)
Highgate is one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries established between 1832 and 1841.This is an informal term given to these cemeteries in 1981 by an architectural historian.
CITY OF WESTMINSTER (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/communityandliving/burials/)
East Finchley Cemetery (formerly St Marylebone Cemetery) and St Marylebone Crematorium, East End Road, N2 (1855 crematorium - 1938)
This cemetery is situated in the London borough of Barnet
Hanwell Cemetery (formerly City of Westminster Cemetery), 38 Uxbridge Road, Hanwell W7 (1854)
This cemetery is situated in the London borough of Ealing.
Burial registers 1867-1967 are held at Westminster Archives.
See Kensington and Chelsea for the adjacent confusingly named Hanwell Cemetery managed by Kensington and Chelsea.
Mill Hill Cemetery, (formerly Paddington New Cemetery), Milespit Hill, NW7 (1936)
This cemetery is situated in the London borough of Barnet.
These cemeteries have been owned by the City of Westminster since 1965 and were controversially sold in 1987 for 15 pence in an attempt to save costs. This resulted in the cemeteries being neglected and following a public outcry the Ombudsman ruled the council must buy them back which it did in 1992.
Paddington Cemetery (formerly Paddington Old Cemetery or Willesden Lane Cemetery), Willesden Lane, NW6 (1855) was purchased from Westminster council in 1986 by the London borough of Brent where the cemetery is situated. See the London borough of Brent for further information on this cemetery and Westminster City Archives guide.
Westminster City Archives GUIDE (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/workspace/assets/publications/Info-Sheet-07-Cemetery-Regs-1278423620.pdf) to cemeteries in Westminster, including some cemeteries in adjacent areas to Westminster, details where burial registers are held and for what dates. WESTMINSTER CITY ARCHIVES (http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/libraries/archives/)
The archives also hold the records for the undertakers William Tookey and Sons, Marylebone High Street; William Garstin and Sons, Wigmore Street; T Vigers and Co, 9 Eccleston Street; and J H Kenyon Ltd, 45/47 Edgware Road.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CEMETERIES IN THE FIFTEEN LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC MIDDLESEX
EALING (http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/200368/births_deaths_and_marriages/738/cemeteries)
Acton Cemetery, Park Royal Road, Acton W3 (1895)
Greenford Park Cemetery, Windmill Lane, Greenford UB6 (1901)
Havelock Cemetery, Havelock Road, Southall UB2 (1883)
Hortus Cemetery, Merrick Road, Southall UB2 (1944)
South Ealing Cemetery, South Ealing Road, Ealing W5 (1861)
See the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames for information on the jointly managed (with the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow and Richmond-upon-Thames), Mortlake Crematorium, Kew Meadow Path, Townmead Road, Richmond-upon-Thames TW9 (1939)
See the London borough of Hounslow for information on the jointly managed (with the London boroughs of Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Richmond-upon-Thames and the Surrey borough of Spelthorne), the South West Middlesex Crematorium (Hanworth Crematorium), Hounslow Road, Hanworth, Feltham TW13 (1954)
CEMETERIES MANAGED BY OTHER LONDON BOROUGHS WITHIN THE BOROUGH OF EALING
There are two adjacent cemeteries in Ealing both confusingly called Hanwell Cemetery each managed by a different London borough.
See the City of Westminster for further information on Hanwell Cemetery (formerly City of Westminster Cemetery), 38 Uxbridge Road, Hanwell W7 (1854)
See Kensington and Chelsea for further information on Gunnersbury Cemetery, Gunnersbury Avenue, Acton W3 (1929) and Hanwell Cemetery, 31 Uxbridge Road, Hanwell W7 (1855)
ASYLUM CEMETERY WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF EALING
Hanwell Asylum Cemetery, Uxbridge Road, Southall UB1
Hanwell was a Middlesex County mental asylum. Initially the asylum had its own cemetery. St Bernard Church (asylum chapel) burial registers 1832-1848 are held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11807&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=).
ENFIELD (http://www.enfield.gov.uk/info/329/death-funerals-burials/752/deaths-funerals)
Edmonton Cemetery, Church Street, Edmonton N9 (1884)
Hertford Road Cemetery, Hertford Road, Enfield EN3 (1881)
Lavender Hill Cemetery, Cedar Road, Enfield EN2 (1872)
Southgate Cemetery, Waterfall Road, Southgate N11 (1880)
Strayfield Road Cemetery, Cedar Road, Enfield EN2 (1997)
CEMETERIES AND CREMATORIUM MANAGED BY OTHER LONDON BOROUGHS WITHIN THE BOROUGH OF ENFIELD
The London boroughs of Camden and Islington’s cemetery services (ICCS) jointly manage Trent Park Cemetery, Cockfosters Road, Cockfosters, Enfield EN4 (1960). See the London boroughs of Camden and Islington for further information on this cemetery.
See the London borough of Haringey for further information on Enfield Cemetery and Crematorium, Great Cambridge Road, Enfield EN1 (1938 crematorium - 1938)
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERY WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF ENFIELD
Tottenham Park Cemetery, Dodsley Place off Montagu Road, Edmonton N9 (1912)
Present owners BADGEHURST LTD Fen Lane, Orsett, Grays RM16 3LT
HACKNEY (http://www.hackney.gov.uk/cp-abneypark.htm)
Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington High Street, N16 (1840)
This cemetery is owned and managed by Hackney Council and the ABNEY PARK TRUST (http://www.abney-park.org.uk/Abney_Park_Trust/Welcome.html).
Abney Park Cemetery online DATABASE (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~abneypark/abneyy.html) 1840-1978
HACKNEY ARCHIVES (http://www.hackney.gov.uk/ca-archives.htm) holds the burial registers 1840-1978 which are also on microfilm.
When Abney Park Cemetery was first established it had strong links to non-conformism particularly Congregationalism until it was bought by the General Cemetery Company in the early 1880s. Abney Park is one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries established between 1832 and 1841. This is an informal term given to these cemeteries in 1981 by an architectural historian.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CEMETERIES IN THE FIFTEEN LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC MIDDLESEX
HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM (http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/Community_and_Living/Birth_marriage_and_death/Burial_and_cremation/10968_Burial_and_cremation.asp)
Fulham Palace Road Cemetery (Fulham Old Cemetery), Fulham Palace Road, SW6 (1865)
Margravine Cemetery (Hammersmith Old Cemetery), Margravine Road, W6 (1869)
FRIENDS OF MARGRAVINE CEMETERY (http://www.margravinecemetery.org.uk/)
Mortlake Cemetery (Hammersmith New Cemetery), Clifford Avenue, SW14 (1926)
The cemetery is situated in the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames.
North Sheen Cemetery (Fulham New Cemetery), Lower Richmond Road, TW9 (1909)
The cemetery is situated in the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames.
HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM ARCHIVES AND LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE (http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/Leisure_and_Culture/Libraries/Archives/23432_Cemetery_Records.asp) hold registers of burials 1865-1908 (indexed up to 1899) and notices of internment 1865-1960 for Fulham Palace Road Cemetery, registers of burials, 1869-1952 for Margravine Cemetery, registers of burials 1926-1953 (indexed up to 1953) and registers of graves 1926-1952 for Mortlake Cemetery, notices of interments 1909-1964 and applications for purchase of private graves 1909-1962 for North Sheen Cemetery.
See the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames for information on the jointly managed (with the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow and Richmond-upon-Thames), Mortlake Crematorium, Kew Meadow Path, Townmead Road, Richmond-upon-Thames TW9 (1939)
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERY WITHIN THE BOROUGH OF HAMMERSMITH AND FULHAM
St Thomas’ Roman Catholic Cemetery, Rylston Road, SW6 (1849) actually the churchyard of ST THOMAS OF CANTERBURY RC CHURCH (http://stocf.wordpress.com/parish-history/)
HARINGEY (http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/community_and_leisure/bdm/crematoriums_and_cemetries/crematorium_and_cemetery_sites.htm)
Haringey Council cremation and burial service is provided by DIGNITY (http://www.dignityfunerals.co.uk/crematoria/index.asp?pageid=1)
Enfield Cemetery and Crematorium, Great Cambridge Road, Enfield EN1 (1938 crematorium - 1938)
This cemetery and crematorium is situated in the London borough of Enfield.
Tottenham Cemetery, White Hart Lane, Tottenham N17 (1856)
Wood Green Cemetery, Wolves Lane, Wood Green N22 (1996)
HARROW (http://www.harrow.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=481&pageNumber=3)
Eastcote Lane Cemetery, Eastcote Lane, South Harrow HA2 (1914)
Harrow Cemetery, Pinner Road, Harrow HA1 (1888)
Harrow Weald Cemetery, Clamp Hill, Stanmore HA7 (1937)
Paines Lane Cemetery, Paines Lane, Pinner HA5 (1860)
Pinner New Cemetery, Pinner Road, Pinner HA5 (1933)
Roxeth Hill Burial Ground, Roxeth Hill, Harrow HA2 (1922)
Wealdstone Cemetery, Byron Road, Wealdstone HA3 (1902)
See the London borough of Hillingdon for information on the Breakspear Crematorium, Breakspear Road, Ruislip HA4 which is managed on behalf of Harrow by the London borough of Hillingdon.
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations to which the London borough of Harrow has contributed cemetery records. COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=HARROW&lang=E&sessionid=1596750960) of Harrow cemetery registers so far
HILLINGDON (http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?articleid=7546&backid=9970)
Hillingdon Cemetery Office records are on a database though not online.
Breakspear Crematorium, Breakspear Road, Ruislip HA4 (1958) This CREMATORIUM (http://www.breakspearcrematorium.com/) is managed by the London borough of Hillingdon on behalf of the boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon.
Cherry Lane Cemetery, Shepiston Lane, Harlington, Hayes UB3 (1936)
Harlington Burial Ground, St Peter's Way, Harlington UB3 (1871)
Harmondsworth Burial Ground, High Street, Harmondsworth Village UB7 (1905)
Hillingdon & Uxbridge Cemeteries (Hillingdon Hill Cemetery), Hillingdon Hill, Hillingdon UB10 (1856)
HILLINGDON HERITAGE SERVICE (http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?articleid=9556) hold 12 volumes of burial orders, 1877-1928, 5 volumes of receipts, 1884-1925 and 6 volumes of grants of right of burial, 1867-1906. They are not indexed but are arranged in chronological order. Kept in store prior notice must be given to see them.
Northwood Cemetery, Chestnut Avenue, Northwood HA6 (1915)
Victoria Lane Burial Ground, Victoria Lane, Harlington UB3 (1871)
West Drayton Cemetery (Harmondsworth Cemetery), Harmondsworth Road, West Drayton UB7 (1939)
See London borough of Hounslow for information on the jointly managed (with the London boroughs of Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Richmond-upon-Thames and the Surrey borough of Spelthorne), the South West Middlesex Crematorium (Hanworth Crematorium), Hounslow Road, Hanworth, Feltham TW13 (1954)
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CEMETERIES IN THE FIFTEEN LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC MIDDLESEX
HOUNSLOW (http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/community_and_living/deaths_funerals_and_cremations.htm)
JOHN LAING (http://www.hounslow.info/parks-open-spaces/cemeteries/)manages nine cemeteries on behalf of the London borough of Hounslow.
Bedfont Cemetery, Bedfont Road, Bedfont TW13 (1941)
Borough Cemetery, Powder Mill Lane, Whitton TW2 (1942)
Situated in the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames
Chiswick Old Cemetery, Corney Road W4 (1888)
Chiswick New Cemetery, Staveley Road W4 (1933)
Feltham Cemetery, Sunbury Road, Feltham TW13 (1886)
Hatton Cemetery, Faggs Road, Feltham TW14 (1974)
Hounslow Cemetery, Hanworth Road, Hounslow TW3 (1869)
Isleworth Cemetery, Park Road, Isleworth TW7 (1880)
New Brentford Cemetery, Sutton Lane, Hounslow TW3 (1902)
South West Middlesex Crematorium (Hanworth Crematorium), Hounslow Road, Hanworth, Feltham TW13 (1954)
Hounslow with three other London boroughs is a joint member of the SOUTH WEST MIDDLESEX CREMATORIUM BOARD (http://www.swmcrematorium.gov.uk/)
This crematorium is jointly managed with the London boroughs of Ealing, Hillingdon, Richmond-upon-Thames and the Surrey borough of Spelthorne.
See the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames for information on the jointly managed (with the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow and Richmond-upon-Thames), Mortlake Crematorium, Kew Meadow Path, Townmead Road, Richmond-upon-Thames TW9 (1939)
ISLINGTON (http://www.islington.gov.uk/services/births-deaths-marriages/deaths/cemeteries/Pages/default.aspx)
The London boroughs of Islington and Camden’s Cemetery Services (ICCS) jointly manage Camden and Islington cemeteries. See Camden for details of Islington and Camden’s cemeteries.
Islington Local History Centre GUIDE (http://www.islington.gov.uk/DownloadableDocuments/LeisureandCulture/Pdf/LHC2011_02_Cemeteries_and_burial_grounds.pdf) to Cemeteries, burial grounds and crematoria
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CEMETERIES IN THE FIFTEEN LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC MIDDLESEX
KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA (http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/communityandlocallife/registerservices/deaths-registeringadeath/cemeteryservices.aspx)
Gunnersbury Cemetery, Gunnersbury Avenue, Acton W3 (1929)
This cemetery is situated in the London borough of Ealing.
Hanwell Cemetery, 31 Uxbridge Road, W7 (1855)
This cemetery is situated in the London borough of Ealing.
See also City of Westminster for the adjacent confusingly named Hanwell Cemetery managed by the City of Westminster.
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERIES AND CREMATORIUM WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
Brompton Cemetery (formerly the West of London and Westminster Cemetery), Fulham Road, SW10 (1840)
Present owners THE ROYAL PARKS (http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/brompton_cemetery/)
Registers are also held at THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Collection/Display?uri=C16622) (series WORK97)
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations to which The National Archives has contributed cemetery records. COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=LoggedIn&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=BROMPTON&lang=E&sessionid=1155751020) of Brompton cemetery registers so far
Brompton is one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries established between 1832 and 1841.This is an informal term given to these cemeteries in 1981 by an architectural historian. FRIENDS OF BROMPTON CEMETERY (http://www.brompton-cemetery.org/)
Kensal Green Cemetery (All Souls Cemetery) and West London Crematorium, Harrow Road, W10/NW10 (1833 crematorium -1939)
Present owners THE GENERAL CEMETERY COMPANY (http://www.kensalgreencemetery.com/)
Bishop Transcripts for Kensal Green (Anglican burials only) 1833-1872 held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=13506&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=basic) and also on ANCESTRY (http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/lma/default.aspx)
Kensal Green is one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries established between 1832 and 1841.This is an informal term given to these cemeteries in 1981 by an architectural historian. FRIENDS OF KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY (http://www.kensalgreen.co.uk/)
St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Harrow Road, NW10 (1858)
Present owners THE GENERAL CEMETERY COMPANY (https://sites.google.com/site/stmaryskensalgreen/) (burial records are held at the cemetery are on a computerised database)
London Westminster and Middlesex Family History Society have produced a TRANSCRIPT (http://www.lwmfhs.org.uk/sales/lwmfhs?start=40) of the cemetery registers 1858-1876 including some monumental inscriptions
ARMED FORCES CEMETERY WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
Royal Hospital Chelsea Burial Ground (Army), Royal Hospital Road, SW3 (1692)
The burial registers are held by THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/searchresults.asp?SearchInit=0&txtsearchterm=chelsea+hospital+burial&txtfirstdate=&txtlastdate=&txtrestriction=&hdnsorttype=Reference&image1.x=43&image1.y=11)(series RG4)
Bishop Transcripts for Royal Chelsea Burial Ground (Anglican burials only) 1813-1854 (two entries only after 1854 for generals) held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/archives-and-city-history/london-metropolitan-archives/Pages/default.aspx) and on ANCESTRY (http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/lma/default.aspx)
Since 1894 the Royal Chelsea Hospital has had its own burial area at Brookwood Cemetery, Cemetery Pales, Woking GU24 (1854)
Presently owned by BROOKWOOD CEMETERY (http://www.brookwoodcemetery.com/Royal-Hospital-Chelsea.htm)
THE ROYAL HOSPITAL CHELSEA (http://www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk/tracing-chelsea-pensioner-ancestors) has an archive of records of In-Pensioners from 1871 to the present date and in most cases hold the information for place of burial.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CEMETERIES IN THE FIFTEEN LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC MIDDLESEX
TOWER HAMLETS (http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgsl/451-500/461_parks/cemetery_park.aspx)
The London borough of Tower Hamlets does not hold the registers for the closed cemeteries in its area.
Tower Hamlets Cemetery (formerly Bow Cemetery), Southern Grove, E3 (1841)
FRIENDS OF TOWER HAMLETS CEMETERY PARK (http://www.towerhamletscemetery.org/) work in partnership with the borough council to promote Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.
Tower Hamlets is one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries established between 1832 and 1841.This is an informal term given to these cemeteries in 1981 by an architectural historian.
The registers for the cemetery are held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=12967&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=basic). Further INFORMATION (http://217.154.230.218/NR/rdonlyres/1B43A520-92A6-4A6C-B2EA-AB6DF905B7F7/0/infono5new.pdf) from the London Metropolitan Archives on the cemetery.
FINDMYPAST (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/helpadvice/knowledge-base/parish-records/index.jsp#other.) has an index for Tower Hamlets Cemetery 1841-1852 as does the National Burial Index
Victoria Park Cemetery (Meath Gardens), Bullards Place, Bethnal Green, E2 (1847)
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Home) holds the surviving burial registers for this cemetery 1853-1876 (series RG8/42-51)
The Registers can be seen online at BMD REGISTERS (http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk/) and THE GENEALOGIST (http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/)
Names and dates of death, 1847-1879 transcribed from tombstones in April 1893 with a plan showing the position of the graves is held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=13613&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=)
The East of London Family History Society has produced a CEMETERY BURIAL INDEX (http://www.genfair.co.uk/product_list.php?sid=224&page=69213) 1853-1856 on CD
SURREY BOROUGH COUNCIL
Spelthorne borough council in Surrey now includes the areas of Staines and Sunbury formerly in Middlesex.
SPELTHORNE BOROUGH COUNCIL (http://www.spelthorne.gov.uk/article/262/Cemeteries)
Ashford Burial Ground, London Road, Stanwell TW19 (1910)
Stanwell Burial Ground, Town Lane, Stanwell TW19 (1900)
Staines Cemetery, London Road, Staines TW15 (1913)
Sunbury Cemetery, Green Way, Sunbury on Thames TW16 (1900)
See the London borough of Hounslow for information on the jointly managed (with the London boroughs of Ealing, Hillingdon and Richmond-upon-Thames), the South West Middlesex Crematorium (Hanworth Crematorium), Hounslow Road, Hanworth, Feltham TW13 (1954)
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
CEMETERIES IN THE FIVE LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC ESSEX UNTIL 1965
BARKING AND DAGENHAM (http://www.lbbd.gov.uk/CommunityPeopleAndLiving/Registration/Pages/Cemeteries.aspx)
ONLINE DATABASE (http://cemweb.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/servlet/Telesearch) for all Barking and Dagenham cemetery records.
Chadwell Heath Cemetery, Whalebone Lane North, Dagenham RM6 (1914)
Eastbrook End Cemetery, (known as Becontree Cemetery) The Chase, Dagenham RM10 (1934)
Rippleside Cemetery, Ripple Road, Barking IG11 (1886)
BARKING AND DAGENHAM LOCAL STUDIES CENTRE (http://www.lbbd.gov.uk/MuseumsAndHeritage/BoroughArchivesandLocalStudies/Pages/home.aspx) holds a list of burials 1886-1902 searchable by surname
HAVERING (http://www.havering.gov.uk/Pages/Services/Death-historical-searches.aspx)
Hornchurch Cemetery, Upminster Road, Hornchurch RM11 (1932)
Rainham Cemetery, Upminster Road North, Rainham RM13 (1872)
Romford Cemetery, Crow Lane, Romford RM7 (1871)
East of London Family History Society CEMETERY BURIAL INDEX (http://www.genfair.co.uk/product_list.php?sid=224&page=69213) 1871-1953 on CD
Upminster Cemetery, Ockenden Road, Upminster (1902) and South Essex Crematorium RM14 (1957)
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations to which the London Borough of Havering has contributed cemetery records. COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=SOUTHESSEX&lang=E&sessionid=12582908) of Havering cemetery registers so far
NEWHAM (http://www.newham.gov.uk/BirthsDeathsAndMarriages/CemeteriesinNewham.htm)
West Ham Cemetery, Cemetery Road, E7 (1854)
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations to which the London Borough of Newham has contributed cemetery records. COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=NEWHAM&lang=E&sessionid=1589056543) of Newham Cemetery registers so far
CEMETERY AND CREMATORIUM MANAGED BY THE CITY OF LONDON WITHIN THE BOROUGH OF NEWHAM
See the City of London for further information on City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, Aldersbrook Road, Manor Park E12 (1856 – crematorium 1904)
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERIES WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF NEWHAM
East London Cemetery, Grange Road, Plaistow E13 (1872 – crematorium 1964)
Present owners DIGNITY (http://www.dignityfunerals.co.uk/crematoria/index.asp?pageid=26&fd=600)
Manor Park Cemetery, Serbert Road, E7 (1874)
Present owners MANOR PARK CEMETERY AND CREMATORIUM (http://www.mpark.co.uk/)
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations to which Manor Park Cemetery has contributed cemetery records. COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=MANORPARK&lang=E&sessionid=700764563) of Manor Park Cemetery registers so far
Woodgrange Park Cemetery, 540 Romford Road, E7 (1889)
Present owners BADGEHURST LTD Fen Lane, Orsett, Grays RM16 3LT
FRIENDS OF WOODGRANGE PARK CEMETERY (http://www.fowpc.co.uk/)
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
CEMETERIES IN THE FIVE LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC ESSEX UNTIL 1965
REDBRIDGE (http://www.redbridge.gov.uk/cms/community_and_life_events/births_deaths_and_marriages/deaths/bereavement.aspx)
The WESTERLEIGH GROUP (http://www.westerleighgroup.co.uk/) manage the council's cemeteries.
Barkingside Cemetery, Longwood Gardens, Barkingside IG5 (1923) Garden of Rest (1954)
Buckingham Road Cemetery (formerly Great Ilford Cemetery), Buckingham Road, Ilford IG1 (1881)
Roding Lane Cemetery, Roding Lane North, South Woodford, IG8 (1940)
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERIES WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF REDBRIDGE
Forest Park Cemetery & Crematorium Ltd Forest Road, Hainault IG6 (2005)
WESTERLEIGH GROUP (http://www.forestparkcrematorium.co.uk/)
Gardens of Peace Muslim Cemetery, Elmbridge Road, Hainault IG6 (2002) present owners GARDENS OF PEACE MUSLIM CEMETERY TRUST (http://www.gardens-of-peace.org.uk/)
WALTHAM FOREST (http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/Pages/Services/Death-funerals-burials.aspx)
Chingford Mount Cemetery, 121 Old Church Road, E4 (1884)
Registers 1884-1952 at WALTHAM FOREST ARCHIVES (http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/pages/services/archives-general-information.aspx) post 1953 are at the cemetery.
Waltham Forest Family History Society has a MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTION (http://www.wffhs.org.uk/about.php) project on going for this cemetery
Walthamstow Cemetery, Queen's Road, E17 (1872)
Registers are held at Chingford Mount cemetery
Waltham Forest Family History Society has a MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTION (http://www.wffhs.org.uk/about.php) project on going for this cemetery
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERY WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF WALTHAM FOREST
St Patrick's Roman Catholic Leytonstone Cemetery, Langthorne Road, Leytonstone E11 4HL (1861)
Registers are at the cemetery with copies held by the CATHOLIC FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.catholic-history.org.uk/cfhs/) and the CATHOLIC NATIONAL LIBRARY (http://www.catholic-library.org.uk/registers.html) (including MIs)
The East of London Family History Society has produced a CEMETERY BURIAL INDEX (http://www.genfair.co.uk/product_list.php?sid=224&page=69213) 1861-1880 on CD
Further information on ESSEX (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,525692.0.html) burials can be found in the Rootschat guide on the relevant county board.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
Land for burials is always at a premium in London so cemeteries managed by London boroughs may not always be within their own areas.
CEMETERIES IN THE FOUR LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC KENT
BEXLEY (http://www.bexley.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3608)
Bexleyheath Cemetery, Banks Lane, Broadway, Bexleyheath DA6 (1879)
Burial Registers & indexes 1879-1943 on CD are published by NORTHWEST KENT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY (http://www.nwkfhs.org.uk/pub_pr.htm)
Erith Cemetery (formerly Brook Street Cemetery) Brook Street, Erith DA8 (1894)
Burial Registers 1894-1962 on CD are published by Northwest Kent Family History Society
Hillview Cemetery, Wickham Street, Welling DA16 (1995)
Sidcup Cemetery, Foots Cray Lane, Sidcup DA14 (1912)
Burial Registers 1912-1962 on CD are published by Northwest Kent Family History Society
BEXLEY LOCAL STUDIES AND ARCHIVE CENTRE (http://www.bexley.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2563) hold burial registers for Bexleyheath Cemetery 1879—1943 and index to burials 1879-1943, Erith Cemetery 1894-1962 and Sidcup Cemetery 1912-1962 and notices of internment 1960-1963.
See the London borough of Greenwich for information on the jointly managed Eltham Crematorium also known as, Falconwood, Crown Woods Way, Eltham SE9
BROMLEY (http://www.bromley.gov.uk/info/200032/deaths_funerals_and_cremations/324/bromleys_cemeteries_and_crematoria)
Biggin Hill Cemetery, Kingsmead Road, Biggin Hill TN16 (1930)
Bromley Hill Cemetery, Bromley Hill, Bromley BR1 (1907)
Chislehurst Cemetery, Beaverwood Road, Chislehurst BR7 (1912)
BROMLEY ARCHIVES (http://www.bromley.gov.uk/info/200111/records_and_archives/382/bromley_archives/3) hold Chislehurst Cemetery Interments 1961-1963 and Memorials 1960-1964.
London Road Cemetery, Warner Road, Bromley BR1 (1877)
Plaistow Cemetery, Burnt Ash Lane, Bromley BR1 (1892)
St Luke's Cemetery, Magpie Hall Lane, Bromley Common BR2 (1894)
St Mary Cray Cemetery, Star Lane, Orpington BR5 (1881)
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERY AND CREMATORIUM WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF BROMLEY
Beckenham Cemetery and Crematorium (formerly Crystal Palace Cemetery also known as Elmer’s End Cemetery and Crematorium), Elmers End Road, Beckenham BR3 (1876 - crematorium 1956)
Present owners DIGNITY (http://www.dignityfunerals.co.uk/crematoria/index.asp?pageid=26&fd=602)
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CEMETERIES IN THE FOUR LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC KENT
GREENWICH (http://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/info/200032/deaths_funerals_and_cremations)
Charlton Cemetery, Cemetery Lane, Charlton SE7 (1864)
Eltham Cemetery and Crematorium, Crown Woods Way, Eltham SE9 (1935 crematorium - 1956)
Eltham Crematorium or Falconwood is jointly managed by the London Borough of Bexley and the Kent Borough of Dartford. Greenwich is responsible for the main administration.
Greenwich Cemetery, (Shooter’s Hill) Well Hall Road, Eltham SE9 (1856)
Plumstead Cemetery, Cemetery Road, (off Wickham Lane) SE2 (1890)
Woolwich Cemetery (Old), Kings Highway SE18 (1856)
Woolwich Cemetery (New), Camdale Road SE18 (1885)
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations which the London borough of Greenwich has contributed records. COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=GREENWICH) of Greenwich cemetery registers and COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=ELTHAM&lang=E&sessionid=918777560) of Eltham Crematorium registers.
ARMED FORCES CEMETERY WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF GREENWICH
Royal Hospital Cemetery (Navy), Chevening Road, East Greenwich, SE10 (1705)
Surviving burial registers are held by THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C537579) (series ADM73)
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations which The National Archives has contributed cemetery records. COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=NATIONALARCHIVEMB&lang=E&sessionid=1311574451) of The Royal Hospital Cemetery registers.
Royal Garrison Church of St George (Army), Grand Depot Road, Woolwich SE18
Building began in 1863 to serve the Woolwich Garrison. It was hit by a V2 rocket in 1944.
Surviving burial registers are held by THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES (http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11294057) (series WO156)
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations which The National Archives has contributed burial records. COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=NATIONALARCHIVEMB&lang=E&sessionid=1311574451) of The Royal Garrison Church burial registers.
LEWISHAM (http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/birthsdeathsmarriagesCP/deaths/Pages/Cemeteries-and-crematoriums.aspx)
Brockley Cemetery, (formerly Deptford Cemetery) Brockley Road SE4 (1858)
Grove Park Cemetery, Marvels Road, SE12 (1935)
Hither Green Cemetery (formerly Lee Cemetery) and Lewisham Crematorium, Verdant Lane SE6 (1873 crematorium - 1956)
Ladywell Cemetery (formerly Lewisham Cemetery), Ladywell Road SE13 (1858)
An ONLINE (http://www.nwkfhs.org.uk/ladywell.htm) transcription of memorial inscriptions (incomplete) of Brockley and Ladywell cemeteries by Northwest Family History Society
FRIENDS OF BROCKLEY AND LADYWELL CEMETERIES (http://www.foblc.org.uk/)
LONDON ASYLUMS AND HOSPITAL CEMETERIES IN THE BOROUGH OF DARTFORD IN THE COUNTY OF KENT
DARTFORD BOROUGH COUNCIL
The Joyce Green Hospital Cemetery, Cornwall Road? Dartford, Kent, DA1 1902-1951
The cemetery served The Metropolitan Asylums Board (later London County Council) fever and small pox hospitals of Gore Farm, Joyce Green, Long Reach and The Orchard which replaced the hospital ships moored at Long Reach Dartford from 1883. The LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11779&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=advanced) hold the registers.
Southern Rest Cemetery 1878-1918, replaced by Darenth Rest Cemetery, Chapel Path?, Darenth, Kent DA2 1918-1995
The cemeteries of Darenth Park Hospital initially a Metropolitan Asylum Board later a London County Council institution for children with learning disabilities (formerly Darenth Asylum and Schools 1878-1913, Darenth Industrial Colony and Darenth Training Colony 1920-1937). The asylum contained adult patients.
The cemetery received burials from the isolation hospital ships moored at Dartford. A photocopy of the lost earlier adult register is held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/archives-and-city-history/london-metropolitan-archives/Pages/default.aspx)
Stone House Asylum Cemetery, Cotton Lane, Stone, Kent, DA2 1921-1968
The City of London mental asylum. The LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11494&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=advanced) hold surviving burial registers.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
Land for burials is always at a premium in London so cemeteries managed by London boroughs may not always be within their own areas.
CEMETERIES IN THE EIGHT LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC SURREY
CROYDON (http://www.croydon.gov.uk/community/deaths/cemeteries/index)
Bandon Hill Joint Cemetery, Plough Lane, Wallington SM6 (1900) is jointly managed with the London borough of Sutton and is situated in Sutton.
Croydon Cemetery and Crematorium, Mitcham Road, Croydon CR9 (1897 crematorium - 1937)
Croydon Crematorium on line BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE (http://sites.bookofremembrance.eu/index2.php?site=croydon)
Greenlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Chelsham Road, Warlingham CR6 (1938)
Queens Road Cemetery, Queen’s Road, Croydon CR0 (1861)
Copies of the burial registers 1861-1871 are held at CROYDON LOCAL STUDIES AND ARCHIVES (http://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/archives/)
West Surrey Family History Society has produced a BURIAL INDEX (http://www.wsfhs.co.uk/pages/cds.php) on CD which has coverage of Queens Road Cemetery between the years 1861-1865
ASYLUM CEMETERIES WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF CROYDON
Cane Hill Hospital, Portnalls Road, Coulsdon, Croydon CR5 1884-1950
This was first a Surrey and then later a London county mental asylum. Burial registers are held at CROYDON LOCAL STUDIES AND ARCHIVES (http://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/archives/)
Netherne Hospital, Woodplace Lane, Hooley, Coulsdon, Croydon CR5 1909-1960
This was a Surrey county mental asylum. Burial registers are held at SURREY HISTORY CENTRE (http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHCOL_3540)
KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES (http://www.kingston.gov.uk/bereavement_services)
Kingston Cemetery, Bonner Hill Road, Kingston-upon-Thames KT1 (1855 crematorium - 1952)
Online DATABASE (http://localhistory.kingston.ac.uk/database/LocalHistoryForm.asp) for Kingston Cemetery 1855-1911 at Kingston Life Cycles
Kingston Crematorium online BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE (http://217.37.28.57/kingston/index.html) password rbk
Surbiton Cemetery, Lower Marsh Lane, Kingston-upon-Thames KT1 (1915)
Online DATABASE (http://www2.kingston.gov.uk/GraveRecords/) for all Kingston-upon-Thames cemetery records
LAMBETH (http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/CommunityLiving/DeathsFuneralsCremations/Cemeteries.htm)
Lambeth Cemetery, Blackshaw Road, SW17 (1854 crematorium - 1958)
Streatham Cemetery, Garratt Lane, SW17 (1893)
West Norwood Cemetery (South Metropolitan), Norwood Road, SE27 (1837 crematorium - 1915)
A cemetery DATABASE (http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/cemetery/) holding details of all reused graves in West Norwood Cemetery (therefore by no means a complete database of burials in the cemetery)
Bishop Transcripts for West Norwood Cemetery (Anglican burials only) 1838-1918 held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll?patronlogin&application=LMA_ANONYM&language=144&file=[LMA) and also at ANCESTRY (http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/lma/default.aspx)
FRIENDS OF WEST NORWOOD CEMETERY (http://fownc.org/)
West Norwood is one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries established between 1832 and 1841.This is an informal term given to these cemeteries in 1981 by an architectural historian.
LAMBETH ARCHIVES (http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/LeisureCulture/LocalHistory/ArchiveGuide0505.htm) hold burial registers (on microfilm) for Lambeth Cemetery 1854-1978, Streatham Cemetery 1893-1955 and an index to burials at Streatham 1955-1981, West Norwood Cemetery 1837-1987, a common graves register 1838-1968 and an index to burials 1955-1981. The archives also hold a cremation register for West Norwood Crematorium 1893-1955 with an index and registers 1915-1984. They also hold a burial register for Greek burials at West Norwood Cemetery 1845-1962
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERY AND CREMATORIUM WITHIN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF LAMBETH
Streatham Park Cemetery and South London Crematorium, Rowan Road, Streatham SW16 (1908 crematorium - 1936)
Present owners DIGNITY (http://www.dignityfunerals.co.uk/crematoria/index.asp?pageid=26&fd=601)
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
CEMETERIES IN THE EIGHT LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC SURREY
MERTON (http://www.merton.gov.uk/cemeteries)
Church Road Cemetery (St Peter’s and St Paul’s), Church Road, Mitcham CR4 (1883)
London Road Cemetery (Figge’s Marsh), London Road, Mitcham CR4 (1929)
Merton and Sutton Joint Cemetery (Garth Road), Garth Road, Morden SM4 (1947) jointly managed with the London borough of Sutton
Gap Road Cemetery (Wimbledon), Gap Road, SW19 (1876)
DECEASED ONLINE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch) is a pay as you view indexed database of burials and cremations to which the London Borough of Merton has contributed cemetery records. COVERAGE (https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?AcctView=Login&SrchView=Basic&DetsView=Content&ListSource=Contributors§ion=CONTRIBUTORS&context=MERTON&lang=E) of Merton cemetery registers so far
North East Surrey Crematorium, Lower Morden Lane, Morden SM4 (1958)
This CREMATORIUM (http://www.nes-crematorium.org.uk/) is jointly managed by the London boroughs of Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth.
CEMETERY MANAGED BY ANOTHER LONDON BOROUGH WITHIN THE BOROUGH OF MERTON
See the London borough of Wandsworth for Battersea New Cemetery, (Morden) Lower Morden Lane, SM4 (1892) which is managed by Wandsworth.
RICHMOND UPON THAMES (http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/community_and_living/deaths/burial/cemeteries.htm)
Barnes Cemetery, Rocks Lane, Barnes Common, SW13 (1855)
East Sheen Cemetery, Sheen Road, Richmond-upon-Thames TW10 (1905)
Hampton Cemetery, Holly Bush Lane, Hampton TW12 (1879)
Old Mortlake Burial Ground, Avenue Gardens, SW14 (1887)
Richmond Cemetery, Grove Road, Richmond-upon-Thames TW10 (1839)
Teddington Cemetery, Shacklegate Lane, Teddington TW11 (1879)
Twickenham Cemetery, Hospital Bridge Road, Whitton TW2 (1868)
DATABASE (http://www2.richmond.gov.uk/lbrburials/(S(dzd55zjakdh1khijawapba55))/Search.aspx) for all Richmond-upon-Thames cemetery records
Richmond-upon-Thames with other London boroughs is a member of two crematorium boards
MORTLAKE CREMATORIUM BOARD (http://www.mortlakecrematorium.org/)
Mortlake Crematorium, Kew Meadow Path, Townmead Road, Richmond-upon-Thames TW9 (1939)
The Crematorium is jointly managed with the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham and Hounslow.
See the London borough of Hounslow for information on the jointly managed (with the London boroughs of Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow and the Surrey borough of Spelthorne), the South West Middlesex Crematorium (Hanworth Crematorium), Hounslow Road, Hanworth, Feltham TW13 (1954)
CEMETERIES MANAGED BY OTHER LONDON BOROUGHS WITHIN THE BOROUGH OF RICHMOND-UPON-THAMES
See the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for two cemeteries. Mortlake Cemetery (Hammersmith New), Clifford Avenue, SW14 (1926) and North Sheen Cemetery (Fulham New), Lower Richmond Road, TW9 (1909)
See the London Borough of Hounslow for Borough Cemetery, Powder Mill Lane, Whitton TW2 (1942)
INDEPENDENTLY MANAGED CEMETERY WITHIN THE BOROUGH OF RICHMOND-UPON-THAMES
Mortlake Roman Catholic Cemetery, North Worple Way SW14 (1852) is actually the churchyard of ST MARY MAGDALEN ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (http://www.stmarymags.org.uk/about/church-history/)
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
CIVIC CEMETERIES
CEMETERIES IN THE EIGHT LONDON BOROUGHS FORMERLY PART OF HISTORIC SURREY
SOUTHWARK (http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200032/deaths_funerals_and_cremations/185/camberwell_new_cemetery/1)
Camberwell Old Cemetery, Underhill Road, SE22 (1856)
Camberwell New Cemetery, Brenchley Gardens, SE23 (1927)
Honor Oak Crematorium, Brockley Way, SE23 (1939)
Nunhead Cemetery (All Saints), Linden Grove, SE15 (1840)
Bishop Transcripts for Nunhead cemetery (Anglican burials only) 1842-1871 held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll?patronlogin&application=LMA_ANONYM&language=144&file=[LMA) and also at ANCESTRY (http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/lma/default.aspx)
SOUTHWARK LOCAL HISTORY LIBRARY (http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200161/local_history_library) hold microfiche indexes of burials at Nunhead Cemetery 1840 to 1996 and indexes of grave purchases 1895-1912.
FRIENDS OF NUNHEAD CEMETERY (http://www.fonc.org.uk/) Nunhead is one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries established between 1832 and 1841.This is an informal term given to these cemeteries in 1981 by an architectural historian.
SUTTON (http://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2031#Cemetery and Cremation Facilities in Sutton)
Bandon Hill Joint Cemetery, Plough Lane, Wallington SM6 (1900) is jointly managed with the London borough of Croydon
Cuddington Cemetery, Lindsay Road, Worcester Park KT4 (1902)
Merton and Sutton Joint Cemetery (Garth Road), Garth Road, Morden SM4 (1947) is jointly managed with the London borough of Merton and is situated in Merton.
Sutton Cemetery, Alcorn Close, off Oldfields Road, Sutton SM3 (1889)
See the London borough of Merton for information on the jointly managed North East Surrey Crematorium, Lower Morden Lane, Morden SM4 (1958)
WANDSWORTH (http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/200032/deaths_funerals_and_cremations/86/cemeteries_and_crematorium/1)
Battersea New Cemetery, (Morden) Lower Morden Lane, SM4 (1892) situated in Merton
Putney Vale Cemetery, Stag Lane, SW15 (1891 crematorium - 1938)
Putney Lower Common Cemetery, Lower Common, Lower Richmond Road SW15 (1855)
St Mary’s Cemetery, Battersea Rise, SW11, (1860)
Wandsworth Cemetery, Magdalen Road, SW18 (1878)
WANDSWORTH HERITAGE SERVICE (http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/200064/local_history_and_heritage/888/wandsworth_heritage_service/1) also hold copies of burial registers for Battersea New Cemetery 1892-1930, Putney Vale Cemetery 1891-1930, Putney Lower Common Cemetery 1855-1982, St Mary’s Cemetery 1860-3 and 1875-81 plus a transcription of monumental inscriptions and Wandsworth Cemetery 1878-1930
See the London borough of Merton for information on the jointly managed North East Surrey Crematorium, Lower Morden Lane, Morden SM4 (1958)
LONDON ASYLUM CEMETERIES IN BOROUGHS AND DISTRICT COUNCILS IN THE COUNTY OF SURREY
SURREY BOROUGH OF EPSOM AND EWELL
Horton Cemetery, Horton Lane, Epsom KT18 (1901)
The cemetery of the five London County Council mental asylums situated in Epsom
(Horton, Long Grove, Manor, St Ebbe’s and West Park)
Registers are held at SURREY HISTORY CENTRE (http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHCOL_6336)
DATABASE (http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/HortonCemeteryBurialsA.shtml) for Horton Cemetery records 1902-1955 at Epsom and Ewell History Explorer
SURREY BOROUGH OF REIGATE AND BANSTEAD
Banstead Asylum, Sutton Lane? Banstead, Surrey SM7 1877-1955
This was a Middlesex later a London county mental asylum. Burial registers are held at the LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11896&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=)
SURREY DISTRICT COUNCIL OF TANDRIDGE
St Lawrence’s Hospital Cemetery, Coulsdon Road, Caterham, Surrey CR3 1870-1994
This cemetery served the Metropolitan Asylum Board (later London County Council)’s institution known as the Imbeciles Asylum, then Caterham Mental Hospital from 1920-1941 and finally St Lawrence’s Hospital until 1991. Registers held at LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES (http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11891&inst_id=118)
Further information on SURREY (http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,404819.0.html) burials can be found in the Rootschat guide on the relevant county board.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
WHO MIGHT BE MISSING FROM CHURCH OF ENGLAND BURIAL REGISTERS?
UNINTENTIONALLY MISSING
In 1538, a law was passed in England, which required the clergy to keep a record of baptisms, marriages, and burials, which would be recorded every Sunday after services. A further notice was sent out to churches in 1558, but compliance was still not uniform. In 1597 it was required that any existing records should be copied into a book (the parish register). There was some opposition from parish clergy. Some copied what records the parish had amassed into the new register, some copied some of the records and some did nothing starting their parish register from 1598. Not all parish registers survive from this period and because records were rarely written up on the day they occurred, not all events were remembered and written into the registers, particularly in smaller parishes lacking a resident minister.
In 1598, parishes were ordered to make annual returns of their baptisms, marriages, and burials to their local bishop. These are known as Bishops Transcripts and where obligatory up until the mid-nineteenth century. Not all parishes complied with the requirement on a regular basis and not all the transcripts have survived. Where they have, they serve as a useful check against the actual registers themselves. Not all entries in the parish registers are found in the Bishops Transcripts and sometimes records in the BTs are not found in the parish registers.
The English civil war lasted from1641-1651. The country was without a monarchy until the restoration of Charles II in 1660. Parish registers may only be fragmentary throughout this twenty-year period.
Institutions such as workhouses, asylums, and military hospitals often had their own burial grounds, particularly in the nineteenth century. With the building of municipal cemeteries from the 1840s onwards in towns and cities and the growing popularity of cremation, particularly from the twentieth century onwards, most burials and cremations in this country no longer occurred in churchyards, apart from in the more rural areas of England. Memorial services, in more modern times, might be listed in parish church registers if they are held in a church prior to a burial in a municipal cemetery. Such entries usually but not always give the actual burial location. A cremation would rarely be noted in a church burial register unless the ashes were buried in the churchyard later and then an entry should be made in the register.
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
WHO MIGHT BE MISSING FROM CHURCH OF ENGLAND BURIAL REGISTERS?
INTENTIONALLY MISSING
The Church forbade the ceremonial interment of all excommunicated or unbaptized persons as well as suicides, though it was more sympathetic towards those suicides considered ‘bereft of reason’. Non-conformists were entitled to burial in the parish churchyard. The insertion of all such burials in the registers was often only fitful and irregular, though such burials did occur nevertheless.
UNBAPTISED
Unbaptised and stillborn babies can be found intermittently in even the earliest Church of England registers showing they were buried in churchyards, but more likely at the edges and in unconsecrated ground because they were not entitled to the full church rites of burial. Many of these burials went unrecorded in registers.
For parents who have experienced stillbirths this remains quite rightly a very sensitive subject, since attitudes to stillbirths were slow to change until well into the second half of the twentieth century ANSWERS.COM (http://www.answers.com/topic/unbaptized-babies)
NON-CONFORMISTS
By 1851, about a quarter of the population was non-conformist. Non-conformists were dissenters who disagreed with the beliefs and practices of the Church of England. They might be Protestants e.g. Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Independents, Congregationalists and Quakers or Roman Catholics. Some non-conformist chapels had their own burial grounds, but burials for many non-conformists still took place in parish churchyards, until the larger towns and cities had established their own municipal cemeteries from the 1840s onwards. In 1880, the Burial Laws Amendment Act allowed for the burial of non-conformists by their own ministers in Anglican churchyards. Where burials did take place in non-conformist burial grounds, the survival rate of these registers, if they ever existed, is much poorer than Church of England registers.
The example below is taken from the ANNOTATED BURIALS AT WESTBURY ON SEVERN (http://www.rebus.demon.co.uk/wos_br.htm) 1889 - 1895
In this register, the vicar gave far greater information than the standard requirement for burial registers of the period. In the register is mentioned the service conducted for a man who had committed suicide and the burial of three unnamed non-conformists, demonstrating that in a standard Church of England burial register these would have gone unrecorded
'18 Dec 1890 Memorandum that there had been 3 other persons buried by Sectaries this year whose names are not entered in this book'
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A GUIDE TO BURIALS IN THE LONDON AREA
WHO MIGHT BE MISSING FROM CHURCH OF ENGLAND BURIAL REGISTERS?
INTENTIONALLY MISSING
SUICIDES
Suicide ‘whilst of sound mind’ was considered by the state to be a serious crime. A suicide’s property could be forfeited to the crown. The church considered suicide ‘whilst of sound mind’ a mortal sin. It was customary in England to bury suicides at cross roads, but not infrequently for charity's sake, the body was interred in the graveyard without ceremony. Coroner’s juries were often sympathetic and returned verdicts of ‘suicide while of unsound mind’. Better to be judged mad than a criminal and denied a Christian burial. If the jury returned the rarer verdict of 'felo de se', felon of himself, the suicide was deemed a felon and their property was confiscated.
Though in the context of the suicide of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, SHAKESPEARE LAW LIBRARY (http://www.sourcetext.com/lawlibrary/guernsey/03.htm) has an informative article on the church’s response to the burials of suicides.
Penalties against suicides and their families were gradually reduced throughout the nineteenth century. In 1823, the Right to Burial Act allowed for the burial of felo de se suicides in the churchyard. In 1870, the Abolition of Forfeiture Act removed the penalty of forfeiting the suicide’s property to the Crown. No religious ceremony could be obtained for a felo de se until the Burial Laws Amendment Act of 1880, though the full burial service was still denied them and until 1882; the suicide’s body was buried privately between the hours of nine and twelve at night. Under the Suicide Act of 1961, suicide no longer became a crime, though assisting someone to commit suicide still is. The Church of England proposed Book of Common Prayer (1928) began the order for the burial of the dead with this statement.
'Here it is to be noted that the Office ensuing is not to be used for any that die unbaptized, or for any that are excommunicate, or have laid violent hands upon themselves, or in the act of committing any grievous crime.
If question arise as to whether this Office should be used for the burial of any person, reference shall (if time and opportunity permit,) be made to the Bishop, who shall decide the question.'
EXCOMMUNICANTS
The Church of England could excommunicate parishioners for many moral offences, as well as heresy. A modified form of the burial service was available for excommunicants following the Burial Laws Amendment Act of 1880, though this was merely the formalisation of the process where sympathetic clergymen absolved deceased excommunicants and read the normal burial service. Those who were excommunicated because they had committed a grievous crime, if they died unrepentant, would be deprived of the normal burial service. From 1745 onwards the relatives of excommunicants, where necessary, could compel their burial in a churchyard.
CRIMINALS
Taken from THE HISTORY OF JUDICIAL HANGING IN BRITAIN 1735-1964 (http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/hanging1.html)
‘From 1752 the bodies of executed murderers were not returned to their relatives for burial. Up to 1832, except in a case of murderers where the court had ordered dissection or gibbeting it was usual for the criminal's body to be claimed by friends or relatives for burial. This burial could take place in consecrated ground provided that the person had not committed murder. In earlier times (pre 1752) it was not unusual for murderers to be buried under the gallows on which they had suffered. Dissection was removed from the statute book on the 1st of August 1832, by the Anatomy Act. The same act directed that the bodies of executed criminals belonged to the Crown and were now to be buried in the prison grounds in unmarked graves, often several to a grave to save space. Typically, the person was placed into a cheap pine coffin or even a sack and covered with quicklime, which was thought to hasten the process of decomposition of the body. This practice was later abandoned, as the quicklime was found to have a preserving effect. The Capital Punishment Amendment Act of 1868 required that a formal inquest be held after an execution and that the prisoner be buried within the grounds of the prison unless directed otherwise by the sheriff of the county. This practice continued up to abolition. After the inquest, the body was placed into the coffin, which had large holes bored in the sides and ends. The burial normally took place at lunchtime and was carried out by prison officers and overseen by the chaplain who conducted a simple burial service. The position of the grave was recorded in the Burial Register for the prison. Prisons in major cities soon had quite large graveyard areas. Where prisons were demolished for redevelopment the bodies were removed and buried elsewhere, normally in consecrated ground.’