British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

This week we continue our series looking at epitaphs - those final words that help to immortalize our forebears in cemeteries.    Above: a painting of Eliot by François D'Albert Durade, and her headstone Numerous literary giants can be found in the burial and cremation registers on the  Deceased Online website . One of the famous literary epitaphs is that of George Eliot in Highgate Cemetery , north London: "Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence" Here lies the body of "George Eliot" Mary Ann Cross George Eliot   (1819 to 1880),  o ne of the most prominent writers of the Victorian era,  was buried in Highgate East Cemetery. Although she was baptised "Mary-Anne Evans", the novelist's later married name of Mary Ann Cross is inscribed on her headstone below that of her pen-name. Born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Eliot left home after her father's death in 1849, and after travelling in Europe, she settled in Lond...

Sad loss of well-loved and historic tree Sadly, Highgate Cemetery has reported the loss of, "its great old Cedar of Lebanon " The beloved tree predates the cemetery, having been planted more than 50 years before the  London Cemetery Company began its  layout began in 1836.   It is not known exactly how old the Cedar was, but it was believed to be at least 250 years   Highgate Cemetery’s layout on seventeen acres of the former Ashurst Estate by Highgate Village,  which was itself taken down to allow for the building of  St Michael's Church, Highgate  in 1830.  The areas lie on a steep hillside, facing the centre of London, and winding down Swain’s Lane past Waterlow Park towards Hampstead Heath, Dartmouth Park and Kentish Town. Garden designer,  David Ramsey , created exotic, formal planting.  Stephen Geary , the architect, and surveyor,  James Bunstone Bunning  designed the stunning monuments and chapels of what soon ...

Modern burial ideas are drawing on experiences of the past On 16 October 2018, the Chief Executive of the  Friends of Highgate Cemetery 's Dr Ian Dungavell was interviewed on  BBC Radio London's Vanessa Feltz programme  to discuss ideas to create more burial space. The programme discussed how to find room for future generations of Londoners while maintaining all that is special about the cemetery. Surprisingly, this is not a new concept. Before the 19th century, particularly during the medieval period, social norms allowed for  old graves to be exhumed in order that space would be freed for new burials. The remains were transferred to charnel houses (bone stores). Examples of these can be found across the country, such as in Spitalfields, London .  The news was also reported in The Telegraph  with a warning that there will be no space for full-sized graves (and thus coffin burials) by 2024. Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust have completed a...

As most of the UK is covered in snow today thanks to the 'Beast from the East', this week's blog focuses on the beauty of some of Highgate Cemetery in winter. View from the South Entrance to the Cemetery Snow settled on a fallen crucifix Snow remains settled on the ground but not on the headstones Do you have any photos of local cemeteries covered in snow? Are any in the Deceased Online database? Please share your images with us on Facebook or  Twitter  @deceasedonline!

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 ....

A deeper look at the Victorian records of  Deceased Online's  new  Highgate Cemetery Collection Some of the Victorian monuments and headstones in Highgate Cemetery Like the other Magnificent Seven cemeteries, Highgate is celebrated for its Victorian funerary architecture, particularly those of the gothic tradition. This week's post highlights some of the lives of the Victorians buried in the north London site. The Victorian records on Deceased Online cover 1839 to the early 1870s, with a gap between 1863 to 1865. The first burial took place in 1839 in what is now known as the West Cemetery. Fifteen years later, i n 1854, the London Cemetery Company sought to expand the burial ground by purchasing the area opposite the cemetery, across Swain's Lane, that now forms the East Cemetery.  The Terrace Catacombs are located at the highest point of Highgate's West Cemetery Some of the most identifiably Victorian of the monuments and headstones lie in the ...

This week Deceased Online adds burial records for the magnificent  Highgate Cemetery in north London   We are very excited to announce the release of records for Highgate Cemetery , one of London’s 'Magnificent Seven'. A total of 160,000 records have been uploaded to the database  of this significant collection, which dates from 1839 to 2010. They include coverage of the first three decades: 1840 to the early 1870s, with a gap in the records from 1863 to 1865. Highgate’s original burial registers are held at the cemetery itself and at Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre in Holborn but are available online only through   Deceased Online .  Pages from the Highgate Cemetery Register showing burials from 1839-1843 History Like the other ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries, Highgate Cemetery is world-renowned, contains hundreds of notable burials, has several listed monuments, and provides a haven to inner-city wildlife. EnglishHeritag...