British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

Today Wednesday 21st March 2018, we celebrate the UN's World Poetry Day by looking at the famous and lesser-known poets that we've come across in the Deceased Online database The United Nations designated   21 March World Poetry Day   in 1999. Observing the day,   according to UNESCO , encourages all of us to, "return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to promote the teaching of poetry, to restore a dialogue between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and to support small publishers . . . " In doing so, UNESCO recognises, "the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind." Like family history, poetry can reaffirm our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, across the world and across time, share the same questions and feelings. Among the very famous poets in the   database   are the revolutionary   William Blake   and feminist pioneer and chronicler of the mid-Victorian per...

In honour of International Women's Day 2018, this week's blog pays tribute to some of the inspirational women whose burial records are held in the Deceased Online database. 8 March each year marks   International Women's Day . The event commemorates the movement for women's rights, and dates from 1909 when a day of observance was held in New York. That day was organised by the Socialist Party of America, but today events take place all over the world. They include talks, marches, conferences, fun runs, concerts, festivals and online digital gatherings. Throughout the day, actions and thoughts are focused on women living now and those who inspire us from the past. Among the billions of inspirational women who are no longer with us are remarkable women whose lives continue to be remembered by historical researchers and family historians.  This year's theme is #PressforProgress . Below I explore a few of the amazing women in the Deceased Online database who...

This Wednesday 21st March, we celebrate the UN's World Poetry Day by looking at the famous and lesser-known poets that we've come across in the Deceased Online database The United Nations designated 21 March World Poetry Day in 1999. Observing the day, according to UNESCO , encourages all of us to, "return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to promote the teaching of poetry, to restore a dialogue between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and to support small publishers . . . " In doing so, UNESCO recognises, "the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind." Like family history, poetry can reaffirm our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, across the world and across time, share the same questions and feelings. Among the very famous poets in the database are the revolutionary William Blake and feminist pioneer and chronicler of the mid-Victorian period, George Eliot ....

As Easter is almost upon us, I look for the name EASTER in the Deceased Online database . . . with some surprising results. The origins of the word Easter used as a forename are unclear. Some etymologists believe the name comes from an Anglo-Saxon goddess, Eostre . Others associate it with the Old Testament queen, Esther , whose story is commemorated in the festival of Purim that precedes the Jewish spring festival of Pesach, or Passover. There is also a theory that some girls were named Easter as a variant or misspelling of the more commonly used Esther. The earliest mention of an Easter in the Deceased Online database is Easter Ashcroft , who was buried at St Paul's Church, Bedford on 1 September 1696. As you can see from the scan of the burial register below , this Easter was the daughter of another Easter, the wife of Mr John Ashcroft. Later in the database there are some interesting forename and surname combinations, including Easter Penny , who was buried on ...

Deceased Online's Bunhill Fields collection has proved very popular so far. Thank you to all who have been in touch about the nonconformist ancestors (including Huguenots) you have found in the database. This week, I look at the later years of the collection, 1800-1854. Headstones and monuments in Bunhill Fields By 1800, Bunhill Fields was well-established as a burial ground for nonconformist Londoners. Some of the most important figures in the Methodist movement were interred there, including Susanna Wesley and Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon . Buried in 1808, Theophilus Lindsey (1723-1808) , one of the founders of Unitarianism, lies nearby. So significant to dissenters was the graveyard that even those who died away from London were brought to Bunhill Fields to be buried: the Scottish minister Henry Hunter (1741-1802) died in Bristol but was laid to rest at Bunhill on 6 November 1802. Burial entry of Jabez Carter Hornblower (1744-1814), showing his date of bu...