British Cemetery and Cremation Records from Deceased Online

Now that all Lewisham Council's burial and cremation records have been uploaded to the Deceased Online database, I look at the twentieth century history of the cemeteries at Brockley and Hither Green and discover how hard the area was hit by air raids during the two world wars. Hither Green Hither Green Cemetery Hither Green continued through the end of the 19th century and into the 20th as a popular resting place for the people of South East London. As for many across Britain, life in the Lewisham area was transformed during the course of the First World War . War was declared on 4th August 1914 and on the 4th January 1915 the first official war burial at Hither Green took place. 53 year old Able Seaman Frank Finn RN 97447 of the HMS Pembroke died on the 29th at the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent. Finn had previously served in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882-4 and left a widow, Jane Finn of 21 Medusa Road, Catford. His body was returned to South East London and he...

All 1,000,000 records of nearly 400,000 burials and cremations from 1858 to 1999 for the burial and cremation records of Lewisham Borough Council are now on the database.  This week we uploaded the final set of records from Lewisham Council . Among the new data on Deceased Online are the burial records of Hither Green Cemetery .  This includes details of 81,000 burials and nearly 250,000 records (data items). The last two cemeteries to be included for Lewisham are Hither Green and Brockley which have served large parts of South London since the mid-19th century. Hither Green Cemetery Hither Green Cemetery (formerly Lee Cemetery) Hither Green was opened in 1873 - 15 years after Brockley and Ladywell. Hither Green Cemetery is laid out next to Lewisham Crematorium - formerly, the Hither Green Crematorium (opened 1956), whose records are also in the database . The cemetery's official address is Verdant Lane in Grove Park. Originally known as "Lee Cemetery"...

This week Deceased Online adds burial records for the celebrated Brockley Cemetery in the London Borough of Lewisham     We are very pleased that the records for the cemetery of Brockley being launched on the database this week. In this blog, I explore Brockley's Victorian past. Brockley Chapel and Memorial With the addition of the Brockley and Hither Green records (coming soon), there are now nearly 400,000 burials and 1 million records for Lewisham Council on the Deceased Online website .  As with its neighbouring sister cemetery, Ladywell , Brockley was opened in 1858. Originally named "Deptford Cemetery" , the site was designed by William Morphew of Tinkler & Morphew after the parish churchyard of St Paul's became overcrowded. Deptford Burial Board bought the plot next to that of Lewisham Burial Board's (Ladywell) and appointed the same architects. Up to the 1940s, the sites were separated by a low wall. The two sites have both b...

This week, Deceased Online adds to its Lewisham Collection with records from Ladywell Cemetery. Dating from 1858, the cemetery's registers should prove interesting for anyone with 19th or 20th century connections to South East London. Read on to discover the interesting entries I found while exploring the Ladywell records.    Ladywell Cemeter y was opened in 1858 as "Lewisham Cemetery" by Lewisham Burial Board. Today, the cemetery's official address is Ladywell Road, Ladywell Se13 7hy . Confusingly, Brockley Cemetery was laid out two months earlier in an adjacent plot, but by Deptford Burial Board. Today, Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries are closely linked, but until 1948 they were divided by a low wall. Today this can still be identified by a bank. In 1965, with changes in London's local government, both cemeteries came under the control of the Borough of Lewisham.  Deceased Online will be adding Brockley records shortly. Both cemeteries are supported...

Coming soon to Deceased Online are the burial and cremation records of the London Borough of Lewisham in South East London. As a taster of some of the fascinating people to be found in the collection, this week I look at the short life of circus horse trainer, Helmuth Barth. Lewisham lies to the south of central London landmarks like Canary Wharf Everyone at Deceased Online is very excited about the forthcoming release of records for the inner London Borough of Lewisham . Burial and cre mation records will be added to the database throughout September and October this year. They include full digital scans of original burial and cremation registers ( computerised records from the late 1990s) , grave details including all those buried in each grave, and maps indicating the sections for each grave. T he Lewisham Collection includes records from: Brockley Cemetery (records from 1858 - 1999) Ladywell Cemetery (which adjoins Brockley, records from 1858 - 1999) Grove Park ...

This week, as Deceased Online adds records for four cemeteries managed by Wyre Council, I look at the oldest of these - the Victorian coastal cemetery of Fleetwood.    Fleetwood Cemetery I grew up in a village in the Wyre district , spending my early childhood roaming marshland reclaimed from the wild Irish Sea. The winds can be high on this part of the coast, with regular rainfall from its wide skies. This fairly remote, rural outcrop of Lancashire and overlooks the Pennines and the magnificent Lake District across Morecambe Bay.Its key towns are Cleveleys, Fleetwood, Garstang, Poulton-Le-Fylde and Thornton . Wyre is located in mid/north Lancashire, a short tram ride from bustling Blackpool. The council is named for the river which runs through the area. View of the coastline from Fleetwood Cemetery Since the history of Wyre is not widely known, I was delighted to discover that Deceased Online would be adding records from the region to its database . The a...

While the next cemetery data is being uploaded to the database, this week I thought I'd look into the fascinating concept of "taphophilia" - or a fondness for cemeteries.  Recently, I discovered that some of our Twitter followers describe themselves as "taphophiles" . I have heard a few terms to describe those of us who are interested in old cemeteries, but the word "taphophilia" seems one of the loveliest. The term comes from the Greek “taph” - for "tomb" - and “philia” - meaning "strong love or admiration". Although chiefly used to describe a love of cemeteries , the word is also associated with a fondness for funerals, epitaphs and the art of gravestones, monuments and tombs . Poets, novelists, lyricists and dramatists have long lauded the cemetery. Memorable literary scenes include Hamlet standing by the graveside with Yorrick's skull, the St Pancras gravediggers in A Tale of Two Cities, and the lines from The Sm...