British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

2015 should prove an exciting year for family historians and anyone researching burial and cremation records. Edinburgh's Hogmanay Midnight Fireworks (Credit Lloyd Smith) Today, villages, towns and cities across Scotland are gearing up for magnificent Hogmanay celebrations. While the glorious firework displays seen over Edinburgh at New Year are a fairly recent phenomenon, the tradition of welcoming January with bonfires and torchlit processions dates back centuries. Although the word "Hogmanay" only appeared in writing as late as 1604. My Scottish Jolly ancestors lived in the old county of Kincardineshire on the north east coast - just south of the coastal enclave of Stonehaven . From at least 1908 , the people of Stonehaven have celebrated New Year in a 20-30 minute fireball ceremony, intended to ward off evil spirits from the old year in preparation for the next. The ceremony involves a group of local people swinging cages of giant flaming ragballs around thei...

For many of us, Christmas is a time of family, feasting and celebration. But f or the working classes of the late 18th and early 19th century, Christmas Day was regarded as a rare break fro m daily toil . Nevertheless, s ome Georgians and Victorians were obliged to continue working in the holidays. Among them were priests, cemetery staff and gravediggers who overs aw Christmas burials.  It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long. And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad. The nights are wholesome. Then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallowed and so gracious is that time. Marcellus...

As the local council officially announces the launch of our Lincoln Collection, I look back at the social changes that led to the opening of the city's first cemetery in 1856. The Lincoln Collection on Deceased Online incorporates over 140,000 records dating back to the 1850s. Of the five cemeteries in the collection, three - Canwick Road, Eastgate, and Newport - date from 1856. But Lincoln's councillors had identified a need for a cemetery almost decade earlier. Gravestones in Lincoln's first cemetery at Canwick Road On the 12th November 1846, the Lincolnshire Chronicle reported that the Cemetery Committee worried that: "it appeared to be an impossibility to form a Cemetery in Lincoln at present, in consequence of the expense and trouble which would arise. Instead the Council proposed to focus on clearing the "nuisances now existing in the town" and to pass a bill for ""sanatory [sic] improvement".  One of the key difficultie...

We are delighted to announce a new release of Bolton Monumental Inscription records in partnership with Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society . We believe that, together with our collection of Bolton cemetery and crematoriun records , this forms the most definitive set of burial and cremation records for a single major urban area in the UK. Great news for anyone with Bolton ancestors! Bolton Civic Centre, home to its library, police station, museum, courts and health clinics was built between 1932 and 1939 Celebrated as the town with the friendliest population in Britain , Bolton has a fascinating industrial history. The town grew up around textile mills close to the West Pennine Moors. Bolton developed a strong identity with its successful football team, Bolton Wanderers F.C ., which I'm pleased to say my great grandfather's cousin, Joe Smith , captained to FA cup victory in 1923! Fans flooding the pitch after Bolton Wanderers' success at the 1923 FA C...

This week we are pleased to launch our Lincoln Collection, featuring five burial grounds and one crematorium from the East Midlands cathedral city. I hope some of you picked up on the hint in the recent Nottingham Collection post about the Robin Hood link to our latest release. I was, of course, referring to Lincoln Green , the colour of cloth worn by the fabled Robin and his Merry Men. In the Middle Ages, Lincoln produced woollen cloth of a rich olive green, created by dying first with blue woad and then with a yellow weld. Besides its cloth heritage, the city of Lincoln has a rich medieval history and a splendid cathedral, dating from 1072. In my opinion, there are few finer views in England than the sight of Lincoln Cathedral floodlit against a clear night. Monuments in Canwick Road Cemetery, with Lincoln Cathedral just visible on the horizon. Deceased Online's Lincoln Collection includes full sets of records for five burial grounds and one crematorium and is reprod...

Each week I end my blog post by asking readers to contact the Deceased Online team, saying that we love to hear from you. We really do and we very much appreciate all the emails, Facebook messages, Tweets, and blog comments that you send us. This week, I thought I'd share some of the inspirational messages we have received .  The gateway to Plumstead Cemetery in the Royal Borough of Greenwich A couple of weeks ago on this blog I mentioned a recent message from Brenda Moir Shout , who lives far from the UK in the Namibian desert. Brenda contacted me about the joint headstone of her great grandfather, Henry John Carlisle (1885-1915), and his son, Arthur Dowley Carlisle (died 16 July 1916 at Delville Wood), that she knew stands in Plumstead Cemetery . I recommended Brenda search the records on the Deceased Online database so that she could find the full burial details and grave location map of her family's headstone. A few months later, Brenda wrote again to tell me that...

This week Deceased Online launches its Pembrokeshire Collection, covering around 86,000 records, dating back to 1869. The Collection is launched in partnership with the local County Council, Cyngor Sir Penfro. The beautiful Pembrokeshire coastline (Richard Gray) Deceased Online 's Pembrokeshire Collection features transcriptions of records from cemeteries in the area around Narberth, Pembroke and Pembroke Dock. Pembrokeshire County County Council , or Cyngor Sir Penfro, is one of 22 Principal Areas in Wales.    The county is very popular as a holiday and water sports destination and I enjoyed a family break there recently, taking time out from cycling and swimming near Narberth to visit the beaches and architecture of historic Tenby. Pembrokeshire is rightly celebrated for its spectacular coastline. Consequently, the county has a strong maritime and fishing heritage, as well as a history of farming and agricultural labour .    The Collection includes 1...