British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

This Christmastide, we explore the connections between the author of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, and the cemetery records in the Deceased Online database For many, Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is indelibly associated with Christmas. Besides the iconic   A Christmas Carol (published in 1843) , he also wrote the semi-autobiographical short story ‘A Christmas Tree’ (1850). Dickens loved the meaning and ritual of Christmas festivities. In later life, he enjoyed parties, and even in his poverty-stricken younger days, he always participated in the season. The ghosts in A Christmas Carol are believed to have been inspired by the stories told around the fire in his childhood Christmases that first inspired Dickens’ imagination to ‘hanker’ after the supernatural. Although Dickens is buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey , the burial records of many of his family and friends are found in the Deceased Online database .   In our  Highgate Cemetery  ...

This week's post was inspired by the Finnish ritual of visiting cemeteries at Christmas. It may not be everyone's idea of a perfect Christmas, but for religious and non-churchgoing Finns, taking candles to place on family graves on the 24th December is part of their annual tradition. Since the 1920s when candles became affordable, many Finns (up to around 75%  of Finnish families) will light the beginning of the Christmas period for their deceased relatives. Snow lying crisp and even in Highgate Cemetery, London. You can search the cemetery's registers on the Deceased Online database  Some take candles to a local cemetery where they do not have relatives - often to enjoy the peaceful, reflective experience of the candlelit graveyard. In Finland, as with many of the cemeteries that feature in the collections of Deceased Online , graveyards are respected as places of calm for the living. Emphasis is placed on nurturing the trees and plants surrounding memorials. T...