British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

This week we look at the last words that remember our ancestors by examining epitaphs in burial grounds.  The grave of In Loving Memory of Alice Freestone in Alby (St Ethelbert) Churchyard, Norfolk. Her epitaph describes her as, "A Dear Wife and Mother" and "Worthy of Remembrance". According to the Oxford Dictionary , epitaphs are, "words that are written or said about a dead person, especially words on a gravestone." The Deceased Online website includes photographs of graves and memorials, as well as digital scans of cremation and burial registers.  Photographs, such as those from our Norfolk Collection , can give you an insight into the character of the deceased. They also provide us with essential genealogical information, such as the names of relatives. Among our records are some fascinating memorials and epitaphs. The Londonist website wrote an interesting post on  Brompton Cemetery , whose burial registers you can search in our database . The hea...

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...