Where is my grandmother buried?
QCan you help me find where my grandmother was buried? Her name was Eliza Rosetta Weston and she died on 2 March 1909 at the Medical Mission Hospital, Balaam Street, West Ham. She left six young children, including my mother, who was only three years old. They lived at 28 Ivy Road, Custom House. A Salisbury
AWhile it is almost certain that Eliza would have been buried or cremated in London, the difficulty comes when identifying in which of the capital’s cemeteries and crematoria the event took place.
Cremation was still fairly unusual at this date, so a burial is more likely. A good starting point is to check deceasedonline.com, which has a searchable database of cemetery burials and cremations from around the UK. Although the coverage is far from complete, the site’s records for London are fairly
comprehensive. It’s free to search, but you have to pay a small fee (or take out a subscription) to view the full details of each entry.
If this fails to produce a result, get a copy of
Cliff Webb’s Greater London Cemeteries and
Crematoria. The book features a comprehensive listing of all of the cemeteries and crematoria in London, and can be used to identify those in the vicinity of where Eliza lived and died. A quick check shows that four of the closest cemeteries were East London, Manor Park, West Ham and Woodgrange Park, but you should extend this search if necessary.
Once you have done this, check the coverage lists on DeceasedOnline to see if any cemeteries on your ‘hit list’ are not included in their records. Once the gaps are identified, use the internet to contact the relevant cemeteries and find out the procedures for searching their records. Webb’s guide will also help you find cemeteries specialising in burials for people of different faiths, for example Catholics and Jews.
Another factor that should be considered is the wealth of the person in question, since this could also influence the place of burial. Many poorer Londoners – especially those whose family could not afford to pay for the funeral – may be found buried in Brookwood Cemetery in Woking.
Finally, you should also consider whether Eliza had links with any other part of the country where she might have asked to be buried. It could have a family connection or be somewhere she lived for much of her life. Celia Heritage