Father Ernest Eugene Laws

[Feliss]

Good evening.

I am in Australia and am trying to find a burial record for Father Ernest Eugene Laws who was my great-great-uncle.

Father Laws was Australian and served as a Catholic Chaplain in England and France during WWI. He stayed on in the UK after the war and I'm not sure he ever returned to Australia.

My research suggests Father Laws died in England in 1982 and that he was buried in Bullingdon, Oxfordshire. I gather Bullingdon no longer exists and is now part of South Oxfordshire.

I thought that the Catholic archdiocese in Birmingham may have a record of the burials of Catholic priests but it seems they don't. Their archivist was very helpful though and sent me this:

" ... we do hold some of the records for various churches in Oxford and specifically the area which incorporates the historic area of Bullingdon; however, of those records we have, none of them are burials for the period you are looking at. This is not uncommon, most churches do not have their own cemeteries and those which did in this area where full by 1840.

Three municipal cemeteries were opened though - Osney, St Sepulchre, and Holywell, all of which had sections dedicated to Catholic Burial. I would imagine that Fr Laws is most likely buried in one of these. The problem with locating burials is that whilst the death has to be registered, the location of burial does not. It is very difficult to locate individuals without knowledge of which church a service took place at and which cemetery was most likely being used at the time."

Would anyone know what the best way would be of looking for this burial record? Should I try to buy the death certificate? I'm happy to do that but not sure if the burial details would be on it. Does anyone have access to death records which might be able to shed some light on this for me please?

Many thanks for any help you may be able to offer.

Felicity

[rosie99]

Ernest Eugene Laws
Death Age 91
Birth 28 October 1890
Reg Date   Mar qtr 1982
Reg district Bullingdon
20 / 2549

His probate entry gives him 'of' Willowbeck, Drayton St Leonard, Oxfordshire
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

[JenB]

Sadly the death certificate will not give you any information at all about where he was buried. It will simply tell you exactly where he died. By the way, Bullingdon Registration District is pretty large - he could have died anywhere within this area https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/bullingdon.html

And, because he died in Bullingdon Registration District, it doesn't necessarily follow that he was buried there 

[Feliss]

Rosie,

Thank you so much!!

Do you know if one can get a copy of the will for free or is there always a cost involved?

Felicity

[Feliss]

Jen,

That's good to know. Thank you.

Felicity

[rosie99]

The will is available through the link I gave you but will cost £10.

[Feliss]

Thanks Rosie. I'll order a copy.

So my next question is about Willowbeck where he was living when he died. I can't find a record of this house or whatever it is and I'm wondering whether someone who knows the area (long shot, I know) might be able to tell me where I can find out about it.

It seems to be located in Water Lane in Drayton-St-Leonard but I can find no reference to it when I Google it. Water Lane comes up (it looks gorgeous) and I've now read about Drayton-St-Leonard but hoping to find out more about "Willowbeck" itself. Could it have been a home for retired Catholic priests? That's my guess.

Felicity

[rosie99]

Here it is though it looks like the annexe

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01lwl/

[Feliss]

Thank you Rosie. You're amazing!