Re: Cremation in 1857

On Fri, 9 Jan 2009 20:47:19 -0000, "JFHH" <johnfhhgen@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Bob,
....
See
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1851/jul/31/the-metropolitan-interments-act
in particular for the state of St.Margaret's churchyard.
Burials ceased in St.Margaret's in 1853, and it sounds as if Henry's son tried in vain to have his
father's remains interred with his mother and sister.
IIRC family vaults [not graves] were exempt in that the Home Secretary could grant a licence for
such a burial.
Regards
John Henley

Many thanks for that - I had presumed there was such a dispute.
I had understood that Parliament proposed closing churchyards in the 1830s,
but it would seem from your attached Hansard link that it took them another
20 years to actually do so. The "Great Stink" was in 1858, it was
understandable for Parliament to intervene over St Margarets for, as they
said; "the noxious effluvia arising from St. Margaret's churchyard, near
which he stood, were so powerful, that fresh meat in the neighbourhood had
been tainted within a single hour"

Its an interesting article - I hadn't realised that Parliament threatened to
nationalise the Metropolitan cemeteries at this time. In the end some
cemeteries sold space to parish churches (West Norwood has a section for St
Mary at Hill), but they normally competed for parish business; they even paid
a "finder's fee" of up to several shillings to the clergyman for each of
their parishoners that they referred on!

Bob
.

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