Hi
The majority of suicides were not denied the right of burial in the churchyard or the burial service, only until 1823 those who committed suicide whilst of sound mind were sometimes though not always prevented burial in a churchyard and did not have the right to a burial service.
'Suicide ‘whilst of sound mind’ was considered by the state to be a serious crime. A suicide’s property could be forfeited to the crown. The church considered suicide ‘whilst of sound mind’ a mortal sin. It was customary in England to bury suicides at cross roads, but not infrequently for charity's sake, the body was interred in the graveyard without ceremony. Coroner’s juries were often sympathetic and returned verdicts of ‘suicide while of unsound mind’. Better to be judged mad than a criminal and denied a Christian burial. If the jury returned the rarer verdict of 'felo de se', felon of himself, the suicide was deemed a felon and their property was confiscated.
Penalties against suicides and their families were gradually reduced throughout the nineteenth century. In 1823, the Right to Burial Act allowed for the burial of felo de se suicides in the churchyard. In 1870, the Abolition of Forfeiture Act removed the penalty of forfeiting the suicide’s property to the Crown. No religious ceremony could be obtained for a felo de se until the Burial Laws Amendment Act of 1880, though the full burial service was still denied them and until 1882; the suicide’s body was buried privately between the hours of nine and twelve at night. Under the Suicide Act of 1961, suicide no longer became a crime, though assisting someone to commit suicide still is.'
The most likely answer would be non-conformism.
Regards
Valda
