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...

This week we had a great time at Who Do You Think You Are? Live and uploaded all cremation records from Manor Park Crematorium to the Deceased Online database. Big thanks to everyone who came to see us and tried out the Deceased Online database at this year’s Who Do You Think You Are? Live. The show is the biggest family history event in the world and this year did not disappoint. I was busy from Friday to Sunday meeting people on the Deceased Online stand, signing books and giving expert answers with the Society of Genealogists. I also met up with some lovely friends and colleagues, and generally didn’t stop talking for three days! As usual I sadly missed most of the many excellent talks on offer, but did catch a few minutes of William Roache speaking about his fascinating grandparents. His acting skills were much in evidence as he held the audience spellbound while recounting the tragic death of his grandfather. Jamie, John and the team on the Deceased Online stan...

Deceased Online looks forward to an exciting 2013 Happy New Year to all readers of this blog! 2012 saw a huge increase in burial records on the Deceased Online database and this year we are looking forward to even more.    London is very well-represented on the site. Last year we added data from the boroughs of Newham , Harrow , and Greenwich to join the collections of cemetery and crematoria records of Brent , Merton , Havering , Islington and Camden . Famous names from among these collections include Horatia Nelson in Harrow , Bertie Mee in Islington , and Richmal Crompton in Greenwich . Scottish records now include full burial records and headstone collections from Angus , Aberdeenshire , Edinburgh , the Highlands , Inverness , Banffshire , Dundee City , Ayshire , Stirling , Morayshire , Borders , Argyll , Clackmannanshire , Fife , Perthshire , Lothian , Lanarkshire , and the Isle of Islay . By the end of 2013, we hope to have up to 2 mil...