Nonconformist Burials Advice
Paul Blake’s Focus On article on nonconformists in the January issue rightly concentrated on the surviving registers, but these rarely include burials as there were few dedicated nonconformist burial grounds.
In the burial ground around my local parish church (St Mary’s Alverstoke) the dissenters were allocated a separate area making them easier to distinguish, although it takes a bit of extra detective work. Whether this was a common practice I cannot say, but, in Gosport at least, the municipal cemetery, which replaced church burials after 1855, was divided into three sections – Church of England, Catholic and Protestant dissenters. Plot numbers can be found in the municipal burial registers which also name the officiating minister. It is usually not difficult to find the name of the church which the minister was attached to by looking in local trade/street directories. I imagine that the same approach of separate areas would have been widespread.
Philip Eley, Gosport, Hampshire
EDITOR REPLIES: That’s a top tip Philip, thanks!