burial records for pauper burials ??

[Sheila Whittingham]

I have been trying without success for a number of years to find my great great grandfathers burial place.He died in Brighton in 1882, whilst lodging in what I was told was a lodging house in a rough district.He died in January and it was suggested if a huge number of people were dying in that month and were destined for a paupers burial, their names would not be entered in the cemetery burial book.Could anyone confirm that this is true and also give names of any Brighton cemeterys that had pauper sites. Thankyou.

[KGarrad]

Have you asked Brighton & Hove Council?

https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/community-and-life-events/deaths-funerals-and-cemeteries/family-history-research-burial-and

[Sheila Whittingham]

Many thanks will do

[Sheila Whittingham]

Looked through my notes and just realised that I had contacted Brighton and Hove some years  before and they had no record of his death,so I am beginning to wonder if what i was told about deaths of paupers not being entered in burial books at busy times is true

[Ayashi]

I suppose its possible that if some real epidemic was happening a burial entry might say something like "three persons buried this day" because the likelihood of accurate information happening was lessened. Even under normal circumstances there are unfortunate entries in burial registers that don't include names. I was stunned by one Islington burial register that was littered with "child found in river" "baby found in churchyard" "child found in gutter", was very upsetting. They aren't just restricted to children though, with the occasional "man found in docks" or "wife of Mr Smith" "Man Unknown, aged about 35". Makes you wonder if that one relative you just can't find is written down in some manner like that and while you are cursing them out for having been abducted by aliens... 

[Guy Etchells]

I have been trying without success for a number of years to find my great great grandfathers burial place.He died in Brighton in 1882, whilst lodging in what I was told was a lodging house in a rough district.He died in January and it was suggested if a huge number of people were dying in that month and were destined for a paupers burial, their names would not be entered in the cemetery burial book.Could anyone confirm that this is true and also give names of any Brighton cemeterys that had pauper sites. Thankyou.

I am sure it did happen but it certainly was not common practice as such a practice was unlawfuly and each offence came with a £5 penalty (from 1864 the fine was increased later).

Cheers
Guy

[josey]

In response to Ayashi's post - I too was saddened when researching my mother's Cornwall family to see a fair number of burials for 'man/woman's body washed up on beach'.

Josey

[dawnsh]

have another look at the death cert and cross reference the place of death with a current map and try to find the nearest cemeteries. It will be easier to ask each cemetery if they have him as you have an exact date of death. Burial would have taken place 3-5 days later.

If a death cert has been issued I think it unlikely he will have been anonymously buried.

I don't know of a cemetery that doesn't have a section for common graves (our ancestors would be horrified by the term pauper graves, many families couldn't afford to buy a plot but would have scrimped together the necessary funds for a decent burial.)

[Sheila Whittingham]

Thanks folks,finding his resting place would finish 10 years of research,.He died at Providence Place,of pneumonia, and his son lived on the other side of Brighton, with his pregnant wife and two very young children, all newly arrived in Brighton, so I should think he was not in a position to pay out very much for a funeral.I contacted cemetery records some years ago and paid my fee but they said couldnt find him, and over the years I tried so many other places.I have had so many suggestions over the years of where he might be,I think I will just have to assume he is somewhere in Brighton.
So sad to hear of these poor folk who were not given a proper burial. Thankyou again.