British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

Records from the  London Borough of Lambeth's   Lambeth Cemetery in south London are now available to view on  www.deceasedonline.com .  Lambeth Cemetery , originally known as Tooting Cemetery , is home to a great many species of wildlife, including goldcrests, sparrowhawks, and woodpeckers, and provides the final resting place for over 250,000 people, including many famous music hall Victorians. Lambeth Cemetery The music hall was a popular Victorian brand of theatrical entertainment, and involved songs, comedy, speciality acts, and variety entertainment.  One giant figure of music hall was George Wild Galvin, better known as Dan Leno (1860-1904) , who was buried in Lambeth Cemetery. Dan Leno was a leading comedian and musical actor within music hall, and was also well known for his pantomime dame roles. His first solo stage appearance was at nine years old and, as a teen, he became the star of his family's act. By the late 1800s, Dan Leno was one of the highes...

Records from Streatham Cemetery in south London are now available to search on the database. Records from the   London Borough of Lambeth's   Streatham Cemetery are available to view on   www.deceasedonline.com . Streatham Cemetery opened in 1893 under the Metropolitan Burial Act of 1852, which was instigated after the cholera epidemic of 1848 to 1849. Along with a large number of Commonwealth War Grave Commission burials from World Wars I and II, Streatham Cemetery provides the final resting place for many notable people. Among them is Edward Foster VC , born in Streatham in 1886. In 1915, during the First World War, he enlisted in the British Army in the 13th Battalion (Wandsworth), East Surrey Regiment and was eventually awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy. In April 1917, the regiment's advance in Villers-Plouich, Nord, France was held up by enemy machine guns, strongly entrenched and covered by wire. Corporal Foster succeeding in enter...

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...

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  ...

Deceased Online adds burial records for the magnificent  West Norwood Cemetery in south London   We are very excited to announce the release of records for West Norwood Cemetery , one of London’s 'Magnificent Seven'. A total of 165,000 records have been uploaded to the   database   of this significant collection, which dates from 1837 to 2005.  This beautiful cemetery, one of the 'Magnificent Seven' Victorian cemeteries, was founded in 1836 and is home to a great many listed monuments. The cemetery maintains a place in the English Heritage National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, and is recognised as a site of nature conservation value within Lambeth. West Norwood's  original burial registers are held (?at the cemetery itself and at)  but are available online only through   Deceased Online  information showing the other occupants of the grave, and maps showing the grave's approximate location in the cemetery. This p...

Manor Park Cemetery E7 in contains the graves of many revered East Londoners. Sarah Chapman, the former Matchgirls Strike Leader, lies buried there and her grave has recently become the subject of an online petition. A  petition  has been started online calling for Manor Park Cemetery to, "SAVE SARAH CHAPMAN'S GRAVE FOR POSTERITY". The petition explains that SARAH Dearman (née CHAPMAN; 31 Oct 1862-27 Nov 1945) was a  leading member  of the  Matchgirls 1888 Strike Committee, Matchmakers' Union, as well as being a  TUC Delegate Although Sarah was one of the first working-class women to represent her  Union at the Trades Union Congress and a major contributor to working women's rights, she is buried in a pauper's grave in Manor Park Cemetery  in the London borough of Newham. Her great granddaughter found the grave in early 2017, but it currently has no marker or headstone. The details of Sarah's grave can be found in the Deceased O...

Today's taphophiles and family historians often enjoy the calm and greenery of urban cemeteries. But would today's cemetery users want to return to a Victorian policy that sought to convert burial grounds into public parks? The Hardy Tree in the grounds of St Pancras Old Church In the 1860s, the graves of the ancient pa rish churchyard of St Pancras were cleared. Among those who  helped clear and relocate burials from the old St Pancras Church graveyard to the new St Pancras and Islington Cemetery , was a y oung Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) .  A famous tree still stands in the old graveyard which bears his name.  Some of the church lands was taken by the Midland Railway. During this period, around 8,000 bodies were exhumed from their burial plots and some were relocated to the new cemetery in Finchley. Some headstones, like that of the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (1759-1797) were left standing and can still be seen in the churchyard today. ...

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!