British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

The eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 has been commemorated this week on its hundredth anniversary. This week's post takes a look at some of the most notable burials in our collection from the First World War. Silvertown Explosion 1917 (West Ham Cemetery, London E7) The  Millennium Mills  in the aftermath of the  Silvertown explosion  - Avery, John, 1917-01-25 ( By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28065575 ) One of the worst non-military disasters of the First World War took place near the cemetery in Silvertown, East London.  On 19 January 1917, the largest explosion ever to occur in the UK ripped through the former Brunner Mond factory in Silvertown. It had been turned over to munitions production near the beginning of the war, and now manufactured highly unstable TNT. The blast was heard as far away as Southampton and Norwich. A devastating firestorm spread beyond the factory into neighbour...

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...

New memorial unveiled in London to commemorate the 1943 Bethnal Green Tube Disaster  On 17 December 2017, a large crowd, including survivors and officials such as the Mayor of London , attended an unveiling of the Stairway to Heaven Memorial in Bethnal Green.  While this recent monument is the only official memorial to the Bethnal Gr een Tube Disaster , several of the victims are also remembered at their burial places in  Manor Park Cemetery and Crematorium , London E7 . The tube disaster is now known to be one of the worst British civilian tragedies of the war. On the night of the 3 March 1943 , at 8.15pm, an air siren rang sounded to warn the people of the East End to take shelter. Some sheltered in cages in their homes, but many thousands took the local underground station – an increasingly popular place to hide from the bombs. In the struggle to clamber down the   blackout   staircase into Bethnal Green tube, a middle-aged woman and her child f...

This week everyone at Deceased Online has been delighted to learn that First World War boy hero, Jack Cornwell's grave in London's Manor Park Cemetery has been awarded Grade II listed status. John Travers Cornwell, Boy 1st class (1900–1916)  by  Ambrose McEvoy 2016 marks the centenary of the Battle of Jutland , the devastating Great War naval conflict of 31st May-1st June 1916, that led to loss of  6,094 British and 2,551 German personnel. One of those lost souls was John "Jack" Travers Cornwell (1900-1916) , who had enlisted as a young teenager in 1915. Jack Cornwell was just 16 years old when he was fatally wounded during the Battle of Jutland aboard the HMS Chester . He died two days later at hospital in Grimsby, Lincolnshire.  On the day of the 31st May, HMS Chester came under heavy fire from four German ships. Despite being hit by shrapnel, Cornwell remained at his post awaiting orders. As a result of his bravery, Cornwell became celebrated acro...

A recent discovery among old family papers has inspired this week's thoughts on how the ephemera of death and mourning, such as funeral cards, can help with family history research. Last week, my father was looking through some old documents belonging to my grandmother (and her mother before her) when he came across an envelope of 12 medium-sized cards dating from 1881 to 1941. On closer examination, he realized they were memorial cards for some of our distant relatives. More commonly known as "funeral cards", memorial cards are still used today but became popular in the late 19th century. In Ireland, they are sometimes referred to as "mortuary cards" or "remembrance cards". At the time of bereavement, mourners would send the cards to distant family members, friends and neighbours announcing the death and giving details of the funeral. The cards would then be kept in remembrance of the deceased. On the left side of each folded black-rimmed c...

This week we mark the completion of the digitization of the records of Manor Park Cemetery and Crematorium All 430,000 burial and cremation records for Manor Park in East London are now online and available to search on the Deceased Online database . One of the (very large) burial registers from 1875-1898 This week we added burial records from 25 March 1875 to 15 December 1898. These records include scans of the burial registers, as well as maps of the grave sections and details of the occupants of each grave.  High numbers of deaths in this period led to the Cemetery being quickly filled with graves and headstones. This twenty-five year period saw around 160,000 burials, many due to a continually increasing population and the extreme levels of poverty in London’s East End. Amongst the dead were thousands of children, including young infants. The page below, from the burial register of August 1889, shows the burial details of ten children. One was only 36 h...

This week's post looks at the history of Manor Park Cemetery from its opening in 1874 through to the end of the First World War in 1918. We are delighted that almost all the remaining records for East London’s Manor Park Cemetery are now online; the last ones for the period 1875-1898 should be available next week. The entrance to Manor Park Cemetery and Crematorium Manor Park Cemetery opened in 1874. Owned by the Manor Park Cemetery Company, which continues to manage the cemetery and crematorium today, Manor Park was then one of the largest graveyards in London. The Company bought the land in 1872 from neighbouring Hamfrith Farm. The cemetery remains a haven for wildlife, with two woodlands, lawns and gardens of remembrance. The Cemetery Chapel The first person to be buried was a Mr. Wiliam Nesbitt. His burial took place on 25th March 1875, and his headstone can still be found on the right hand side of the cemetery's Remembrance Road. Two years later, the ...