Burials in Mount Vernon Cemetery Edinburgh

[wscroley]

My great aunt was buried in this cemetery in 1945 in a lair held by her son. I found the burial list and register, and the latter shows subsequent burials in 1951, 1973 and ashes in 2004. The names have nothing to do with my family. Is there a system in this cemetery/Scotland generally whereby burials can be made in a lair held by someone else?  Do they have to have permission from the lair holder?  My first cousin once removed died in 1978 in London so would have been alive when two of these burials were carried out.  Any information gratefully received.  Thanks

[ADP]

The answer to that should be "no". However, I remember a neighbour in my childhood years always spoke about having bought a plot at Mount Vernon. When my Mum went to her funeral, I think in the 1980s, she was surprised to find this neighbour being buried in a plot that already had burials in it. It makes you wonder if the proprietors of Mount Vernon Cemetery were unscrupulous about the use of the lairs there.

See the attached newspaper article which implies this practice certainly took place in the 1990s.It makes you wonder if it had been going on much longer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-38032338

ADP

[oldfashionedgirl]

I don't know the answer to your question but I did visit Mount Vernon cemetery this week on a genealogy quest. I noticed they have a manned office on site so you could phone them up and find out.
I did the same for a grave in Inverness shire and they were very helpful, telling me who and when was in the lair. I did actually know the two she told me but didn't let on as I was trying to find the last resting place of another person and there was no stone.

[wscroley]

Many thanks for those replies.  I will ring the cemetery office and make enquiries.  I expect the answer will be that they tried to contact the lair holder and had no reply (the family had moved to London in about 1946) and that the grave was reused to maximise the space available! Regards to both

[oldfashionedgirl]

Would be interested to hear how you get on.
Happy to go and take a photo if there is a stone if you get the lair number and approx. position.

[wscroley]

I spoke to Anna Culwicka (Superintendent?) at Mount Vernon this morning who was very helpful and checked the records for me while I was on the line.  She couldn't give me any details about the three mysterious burials as they receive a request from the undertaker with details of the plot number if there is one specific one to be used.  She does not have the correspondence with the undertaker on file so has suggested that I contact them direct.  One was St Cuthbert's Co-operative Society (now Scotmid Funerals) and the other Thomas Marin.  I will try emailing them.  Ms Culwicka is going to send one of her staff out to the plot to see if there is a headstone and whether the three names are on it.  She says that if they are, a relationship is implied....  Thank you for the offer of taking a photo.  Let me try to find out some more info and I might take you up on that!  Watch this space   Regards

[wscroley]

Hello again, the three names have been checked and are on the headstone and I think I have partially solved the mystery.  Robert Norman married Mary Margaret Leahy in Cork in 1920.  Mary had a sister Catherine Frances.  She married Wilfred Mather (a soldier stationed at barracks in Cork) in 1921 in Cork. They had a daughter, Amy M Mather, whom I assume married Mr Malone but I cannot find the marriage. The only puzzle is why you would want to be buried in a plot with your brother in law's mother, so no blood relation, when your sister had already moved to London!  I cannot find Wilfred or Catherine/Frances Mather on the Scottish electoral rolls, but there is an Amy M Malone living in Edinburgh at the right time.  As they are not blood relatives I will not pursue this line any further.  Thanks for your help and interest.  Regards

[Unė kthimi i papenduar]

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/cemetery-worker-guilty-of-misselling-burial-plots-1-4547394

There was a fire in the office at Mount Vernon a number of years back when the "records"  were destroyed.

[Templar75]

My Uncle was buried in Mount Vernon but a few years later my Aunt sold the Plot to a couple, this was for three coffins so the couple would have filled it up, sad to say my Uncles Headstone was removed and only the couples names are on the new one ( Sad ) my Aunt must have needed the money.

Mount Vernon is a Privately owned R.C. Cemetery.

Archie