Missing burials - a general discussion

[philipsearching]

Before 1837 when death registration began we rely mostly on burial records to discover when and where people died.
But what about cases where no burials are found?

Parish registers include CofE burials, other religious (nonconformist, Jewish etc) records exist, but that does not account for many deaths.

Deliberate name changes
Missing or illegible records (e.g. PRs lost or badly damaged)
Emigration
Death in foreign wars
Lost at sea
Mining or other industrial disaster
Natural disaster (fire, flood etc)
Accidental undiscovered death (in forests, rivers etc)
Murder where the body is hidden (or sold to anatomists)
Death while travelling (the "unknown stranger")

What other explanations can Rootschatters come up with?

[Jebber]

One problem I have had was deaths occurring in unexpected places, so unless an unusual name they can be very hard to locate. If they are
only known by their where they die the ages can be way out, that adds another complication.

[youngtug]

Seen fairly often in parish records, "a stranger" or " a traveller"

[StevieSteve]

Suicides?
Executions
Witch burning

[dowdstree]

Here in Scotland official registration did not begin until 1855.

Prior to that many of the records were stored in damp church vaults where they disintegrated over time. That is if the death was recorded at all.

One entry I found just said "an old woman died" no further information. Glad I was not researching her 

Dorrie

[StevieSteve]

Excommunicants
Burial in a Family mausoleum on your own grounds
Devoured by a gang of feral cats

[philipsearching]

Devoured by a gang of feral cats

 

[philipsearching]

Fascinating replies!

Suicide - one might expect some reference in a parish minute book or cemetery register (inquest records rarely survive)

Excommunicants - one might expect some reference in a parish minute book to the excommunication which would narrow down a search.  A surviving cemetery register would help.

Execution - there should be a court or prison record of the sentence or death surviving somewhere

Burial in a family vault - would this be shown in a parish record?  I would guess that family records could survive.

Feral cats?  Is this the British equivalent of the "dingo baby" case?

[a-l]

I have one in late 1700's hanged as a spy, nobody knew where he was buried even at the time.