Where did they bury them?

[boland]

Hello

Can anyone help? if deaths were registered from 1855 does it follow that records were kept of the burial for as early as 1862 in the Lanarkshire area.

Thanks Boland

[LesleyB]

Hi Boland
I'm guessing here, and I'm sure someone may be able to put me right or clarify the answer. 1855, as you know, was when it was made law to register births, deaths & marriages. As far as I'm aware, there was not a similar law regarding burial records - it would depend, I think, on which cemetery and how well their records were kept. (a bit like the OPRs!) But I would think that to be in charge of a burial ground it would be necessary that you knew who was buried where & who had paid for what lairs, so records were hightly likely to be kept in some form. Whether all these records have survived or not is another issue.

Can you be more specific than Lanarkshire? Burial records were certainly kept for many cemeteries in Glasgow at that time, and even before then. (this applies to lots of other places in Scotland too) The Mitchell Library in Glasgow holds a number of these records on microfilm. e.g. for Glasgow Necropolis. Some of the records are held in Archives such as GUAS (Glasgow University Archive Services) for undertakers such as Wylie & Lochhead in Glasgow.

Best wishes
Lesley

[DavidWW]

An interesting question.

I suspect that there may have been some form of statutory duty on the local authorities to keep records of lair ownership and those buried in such cemetaries. As for churchyard burials I'm even more unsure as to statutory requirements, but would imagine that most churches did keep such records, - but the number now extant is something very different.

Remember as well that from 1855 to 1860 the burial place is recorded on the statutory death register entry, - in 1855 only the undertaker as well. A study of death register entries for these years could give a good indication of where burials took place.

Which leads nicely into an associated comment which is the possibility of extant records of undertakers.

For example, Glasgow University Archives hold the records of Wylie & Lochhead, by far the biggest funeral director in Glasgow .....

This is my standard blurb on the subject .......


The following is lifted from GenUKI -

QUOTE

The Glasgow and Family History Room at the Mitchell Library holds the records of some twenty Glasgow cemeteries covering the period from the 18th century to the 1950's. There are a few also in the Glasgow City Archives, as well as lair plans and registers of burials in intra-mural burial grounds from 1870 to 1950. Records are arranged in chronological order and there are no indexes! A comprehensive listing, including location of registers and monumental inscriptions can be found in:- Burial Grounds of Glasgow: a brief guide for the genealogist by J Willing and J S Fairie - published by the Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society 2nd Revised Edition published in 1997.

Additional cemetery registers for Glasgow are kept by:- Cemeteries and Crematoria Section, Parks Department, City of Glasgow Council, 2 Port Dundas Place, GLASGOW G2 3LB (telephone 0141-333 0800)

ENDQUOTE

On top of that the records of the largest funeral directors in Glasgow, Wylie & Lochhead, are held by Glasgow University Archives.

This is from an email 5 years ago from Glasgow University Archives, but I'd assume that it still applies, except that the £15/hr may have increased ! <g>

QUOTE

We do indeed hold the W&L funeral ledgers from 1837 onwards. We need
a name and preferably an address or area of Glasgow and a date of
death. From 1879 there are reasonable indexes so a decade of death
would be enough to trace someone. Before this we need a date of
death. It is also useful to have next of kin names as the orders for
funerals are occasionally listed by the person paying for it and not
by the name of the deceased.

We are able to do brief preliminary searches for a donation to cover
costs but more lengthy research will be charged at £15 per hour. You
would of course be welcome to come and use the records yourself for
no charge other than for any copies you may wish to purchase.

ENDQUOTE

Current contact details -

FAO Duty Archivist
Archive Services
University of Glasgow
13 Thurso Street
Glasgow G11 6PE
Scotland
U.K.

Tel: 0141 330 5515
Fax: 0141 330 4158
E-mail: You need to go to http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/about/arcform.html and complete and submit on line the enquiry form.

David

[boland]

Hi,

The area specific to my question is the eastern district of Old Monkland, the village of Calderbank. As with most of my ancestors they were buried in lairs where there was available space. For example, my gggrandparents were buied with three of their grandchildren in St.Joseph's cemetary,Coatdyke,Airdrie. One always assumes that they were buried near to where they live.I visited four cemetaries before I located them( sadly with no headstone). The earliest records held in the district as far as i'm aware is the Monkland cemetary in Coatbridge which dates back to the 1860s approx... Others roughly at the turn of the century. I just wandered whether archives were held at other reposteries. It seems a lot of RC records are sparse and scattered in different districts of Lanarkshire.

With the scottish BMD records being as good as they are, it just seened logical that lair records would just be as good.

Thankyou for the replies will now check out these sites you have given me

Regards

Boland

[CatrionaL]

Boland

It might be worth your while contacting the North Lanarkshire Cemetaries at the address in Bellshill on the following link.

viewtopic.php?t=1226&highlight=bellshill

I found them very helpful when I went there but was also told that they responded to enquiries by mail or e-mail.

Besr wishes

Catriona

[apanderson]

Hi Boland,

Have you thought about contacting Lanarkshire FHS?

I had a quick look at their publications list and they have quite a few MI collections.

http://www.lanarkshirefhs.org.uk/view.p ... lications5

Alternatively, the Archives may hold copies of Lair Owners rather than actual Lair Records, but this would mean trying to figure out relationships and dates which can be a bit of a long way for a short cut - especially when the same names crop up in umpteen generations.

There is a project going on at the moment to map out and identify all the Lairs in Old Monkland Churchyard, the oldest part of Old Monkland Cemetery and I know the group concerned have a list of Lair Owners. I don't know however, how comprehensive this is as from memory, I think the list was drawn up in 1881. I would presume they are attempting to identify some of the really early ones also

The group meets in Airdrie Library, in the Local History Room (dates/times unknown) but I'm sure if you contacted the Library, they would be able to put you in contact with some of the members.

http://www.northlan.gov.uk/leisure+and+tourism/ (etc)

Anne

[boland]

Hi Anne'

Thanks for the info! Ironic really was in Airdrie this past August gathering info on ancestors- spent a lot of time in Airdrie library- just shows if dont ask that crucial question. will e-mail, thanks a lot will let you know outcome

Thanks again

Boland

[hbaird]

Hello Boland,

Most of my ancients hail from Calderbank - my Grandfather was the village barber and my Grandmother had the general store. The Great Grandparents also lived there - my Gr Grandfather was killed in a mine accident in the village. Let me have some details and I'll see if I can help.

Helen

[boland]

Hello Helen,

All my ancients as you put it came from Calderbank, too. When I was in Airdrie this past August,Istayed in Calderbank. Is it possible that members of your family (the Bairds) donated pictures to Airdrie Library of your relatives who owned the general store and the barbers because I have copies of those . In one picture taken outside the barber shop is two men who worked there (circa 1910) one of them was a Charles Grimley He was my grandmothers fathers brother.

look forward to hearing from you

Regards

Boland

[hbaird]

Boland,

My grandfather was Jim McCusker - the other man in that photo! These photos were donated by my Mum who's now 82 and I think she remembers Charlie Grimley.

Helen