Burial vs. cremation

[lydiaann]

Does anyone know when cremation first came in, and where?  I'm guessing that burial records don't apply in these cases?  Or are they a separate record somewhere?  Does the interment of ashes in a public cemetery/graveyard/churchyard count as a burial?  This may account for some details of more recently deceased forebears being missing - or as yet unfound. 

[KGarrad]

First (legal) cremation in England was in 1885.

The Cremation Society had built a crematorium in Woking.

[rosie99]

Deceased online has records for Cambridge crematorium and they generally show whether the ashes were taken away or scattered. 

I have a relation cremated at Woking and ashes interred in a local church yard, the entry is in the church burial book

[emeltom]

Presumably the crematoria will keep records but I imagine they are not yet on line.

[lydiaann]

Okay, that all helps, thanks very much.  I think I'll just concentrate on the burial records where I know that they have had their ashes interred in the cemetery. 

As time goes on, though, it is going to be increasingly difficult for our descendants to find our last resting place.  For my in-laws, it will be "...the surface of Lake Cowichan...", for me it will be "...ashes placed in the graves of her father, her mother and her 2 brothers..."(all different places) - (I have this notion that if I do this, I will join the nuclear family together again.  Just a wish that will probably not come to fruition, particularly as I intend to outlive my cousin who died at 102, which for me is 26 years away!  Who will care then )  If I go last, then we'll have to add "husband" to that unless Himself decides he wants to be scattered throughout the Highlands!

[Jebber]

Local Authority Bereavement departments usually hold Cremation records, you can usually apply for details if you know which Crematorium, there is generally a cost involved.

As for disposal of the Ashes, it all depends on the wishes of the family. My parents,  grandmother and my MIL were scattered in the Rose  Garden of the Crematorium. I have friends who have had the Ashes scattered at sea and other favourite places. Some people keep them in an ornate urn or box on the mantelpiece.

Some churchyards have special sections for the interment of Ashes, there are restrictions on scattering on, or burying in existing graves.

There have been concerns recently about the number of people depositing Ashes on Mount Snowdon, it is causing problems.

My husband's Ashes will eventually be mixed with mine, we  will be scattered in the New Forest.

So the odds on finding final resting places can be very hit and miss.

[Tickettyboo]

Its always worth looking to see if a Crematorium have put their Book of Remembrance online.

There are links to those in Northumberland and Durham on the relevant Resources boards, may be others up and down the UK.
and whichever county it is may have crematorium registers deposited - though probably not yet for very recent cremations.

Boo

[lydiaann]

I think the scattering of ashes elsewhere than a crematorium/burial ground is a fairly modern phenomenon, isn't it?  So those cremated earlier - say in the 1930s-1940s - are more likely to have been interred.  I'm possibly wrong about that though.  In the main, my family and those of Himself, have been buried but there are a couple of 'townies' who may have gone the other route...it's just a chance.  I'm not sure about any of it right now!

[Rena]

The first cremation in my family (that I know of) was my maternal grandfather's cremation in the late 1950s and his ashes were scattered in the Garden of Remembrance.  On the day of his cremation his name was entered in the Book of Remembrance.  This Book of Remembrance is placed in sight of all in the Crematoria.   The policy at that time was that if your kin was buried on the 1st of August (say) you could visit the crematorium on the 1st August of any year and the list of all the people who had been buried on the 1st day of any August would be displayed for all to see.