Burials?

[shan42]

What happened in the 1800s if a person or their family had no money to buy a plot or a headstone - did they get buried in the church still but without the grave being marked? What about of they'd stopped going to church or were an outcast from the religious community?

[Luzzu]

Hi,

This link explains the different types of graves in the 19th century.

http://www.beckettstreetcemetery.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=1

Not sure what happened if they had stopped going to Church (although there were non-conformist areas in cemeteries). I think from about the 1850's burials in churchyards were stopping in the heavily populated areas and municipal cemeteries were introduced  but I stand to be corrected on this point.

Luzzu

[shan42]

Thanks Luzzu.... oh dear, I'm not likely to find overground evidence of most of my lot then 

Geneaology really is an education, I suppose these things are obvious really but alot of us never even think about them as we're just so used to graves being a visible plot with a headstone.

[behindthefrogs]

The link above refers to the Board of Guardians and as such is refering to the situation after 1834.  Prior to that the expense would fall upon the parish, that is the parish of settlement of the pauper being buried.

In some burial registers you will find those buried at the parish's expense marked with a "p" or some other note.

David

[LizzieW]

My 3 x g.grandmother died in a workhouse in Lincolnshire in 1827. but when I went to the churchyard where she was buried, there was no headstone. I found her date and place of burial on

 http://freereg.rootsweb.com/cgi/Search.pl

so you could try that site.  Some counties are more complete than others.

Lizzie

[halfasheep]

This is likely to be an exception rather than a rule, but when I finally got the records of my family's four graves in a local church cemetary (all being unmarked, but luckily side by side (gt gt grandfather bought the four plots together), I found a few unknown relatives.

However, I also found a complete stranger buried in with my lot.

I was lucky in that a great aunt knew the woman who was buried in with our relatives. It turns out that she was an old friend of the family who ended up in the workhouse when her husband died, and stayed there for many years.

My gt gt grandfather apparently took pity when she died, and agreed that she could be buried in one of our graves - I'm not sure who paid for the burial (as my family were not well off in the slightest), but who knows if this is a one-off event.

Just trying to give a little hope 

[shan42]

Thanks everyone 

My girl didn't come up on that search Lizzie... I'm used to her elusive qualities now though 

[shan42]

I found this 'index of gravestones and monumental inscriptions' - but does anyone know how I decipher it?

A103
C34
C34
B5 Add.
B6 Add.
B7 Add.

[nigelp]

Many cemeteries are divided into areas using the letters of the alphabet. The number afterwards identifies the grave within the area. Not sure what the Add. may mean.

Nigel