Glossop Cemetery Burials+ Wyatt family

[GrahamH]

The cemetery map (link at https://www.highpeak.gov.uk/article/704/Burial-records) indicates that those grave numbers are in the "Old C of E area". I wonder, therefore, whether they were/are used for Council Burials, where a person dies with no one else to make the arrangements.

It may be worth asking the Cemeteries staff at High Peak Borough Council (https://highpeak-egovhub-framework-live.azurewebsites.net/CONTACTCEMETERIES/launch) if they can help. I've found them very helpful in the past.

Graham

[Lazarus]

Thank you Graham
I have emailed as suggested.
I am assuming ojd grave reused.

Regards
Rex

[GrahamH]

Could be reused Rex or could just be a large grave. Some of the plots are vaults with room for several burials.

[Lazarus]

A response now received from the cemetery authorities:
The last two burials of Mary Patterson and Lisa Warhurst in 1954 were actually the last two common burials ever in this section – I assume the grave was used as it was known there was room for one more burial in it. They are likely to be unrelated – and it’s also likely that Lisa, being a baby who unfortunately survived only a few minutes, was interred with Mary as this grave was open for her burial at that time.  We know from speaking to some of the older funeral directors that this was a practice that was relatively common for infant burials up until the 1960’s – they were unfortunately not treated with the same importance as they are nowadays.



 

[GrahamH]

Nice to receive such a quick response - that echos my own experience.
I agree that Mary Patterson and Lisa Warhurst were probably unrelated.
I found a report of Mary Patterson's death in a copy of the Glossop Chronicle in the Archive of Glossop Heritage Trust. She was a widow of 20 years who died suddenly on returning home from shopping.
There is no mention of Lisa Warhurst in the report.

[Lazarus]

Thanks for your interest Graham.

Rex

[Missy33]

Hello Missy33
I raised the query regarding the grave at Glossop Cemetery.
I live in Australia so not possible for me to view.
Joseph and Ellen Wyatt were my great great grandparents. They lived at Blackshaw Farm.
I have not resolved any connection to Mary Paterson or Lisa Warhurst.
My best guess was that the grave had been reused , having noticed that the Wyatt related burials were so much earlier.

Does this resolve it for you? I was unaware that the grave had been reused.

Rex

Hi Rex, all my Mum knows is that her sister died very young, I don't suppose the family would have a plot, so,I don't know how things worked in those days.  Maybe as the grave was being opened to bury the other lady, Lisa was just buried in there? I'm not sure if a baby actually counts as a space in a grave?  I've asked my Mum about the Wyatt family, and as far as she knows, there was no connection to,the family.

Claire

[Missy33]

A response now received from the cemetery authorities:
The last two burials of Mary Patterson and Lisa Warhurst in 1954 were actually the last two common burials ever in this section – I assume the grave was used as it was known there was room for one more burial in it. They are likely to be unrelated – and it’s also likely that Lisa, being a baby who unfortunately survived only a few minutes, was interred with Mary as this grave was open for her burial at that time.  We know from speaking to some of the older funeral directors that this was a practice that was relatively common for infant burials up until the 1960’s – they were unfortunately not treated with the same importance as they are nowadays.

Rex, think you're right in what you have been told.  It's interesting to know that my Auntie Lisa and Mary were the last burials in this area, I did not know that.  The area is just grass now,  no suggestion of any graves being there, which is sad.

[GrahamH]

(snip)
I'm not sure if a baby actually counts as a space in a grave?

The number of burials which graves can hold can be determined by the sizes of coffins/ashes caskets which are placed in them.

My own family has a vault at Glossop cemetery, built for my Great Grandfather when my Great Grandmother died, which covers three grave plots.
When my Father's ashes casket was interred in 2002 we checked and knew there was enough space for two more - my Aunt and my Mother, both of whom we understood at the time wished to be cremated. My Aunt died in 2011 and her ashes casket was duly interred.
We then had a mild panic when my Mum announced about 2 years later (just under a year before she died) that she wished to be buried, rather than cremated. Luckily (if that is the correct word in the circumstances) when we checked we found that there was sufficient room for one more coffin. There is actually still room for several ashes caskets should any other family members wish their ashes to be interred, but not for another coffin.

I'm sure the cemetery authorities would have made certain that there was sufficient space in plot 1292 for a proper burial of both Lisa and Mary before giving their permission.