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Finding places of burial

Chris_Baker

master brummie
I am sure this has been asked a thousand times but I have not found a discussion thread that gives me what I am looking for. Apologies if it exists somewhere.

I have the names, some addresses and dates of death , either exact or close, of many of my Birmingham family, ranging from the early 1800s to the present day.

How can I found where they are buried? Just the name of the cemetery would be great. I'll find them then even if I have to walk round the whole lot (and trust me I know how big some of the Brum cemeteries are)! Are there any straightforward, tried and tested methods?
 
Key Hill Cemetery was mainly for Non Conformists so if your ancestor was a Baptist, Congregationalist etc. It stands a good chance they are there. If not it would be Witton, Brandwood End, Warstone Lane, Yardley or maybe Lodge Hill depending on where they lived.
 
Chris.

If you go into the Birmingham archives (6th Floor) the have the burial details for Birmingham Cemeteries, all you need to know is the date(ish) of your family members death.

Then, the hard part, going through the cemeteries one by one trying to find the one your ancestors were buried in, the film gives the date of burial, and plot number & area number, if you are lucky enough to find a match it is then a case of approaching the cemetery and asking them for a map of the cemetery, It is then a case of finding the area (easy) then finding the plot (hard) most of my family had public burials, no head stone and other persons buried in the same plot.

I think (ask Wendy to be sure) Warstone Lane, Key Hill are looked after by Hansdworth Cemetary, go to the office in the cemetary for help.

Witton has its own office as does Lodge Hill, not too sure about Brandwood.

Good Hunting.
 
Thank you all for some very useful stuff. I am especially grateful to you, dib44. That gives me a really good starting point.
 
Chris,
You could do worse that to start with the National Burial Index. Its been put together with the aid of family history societies nationwide. You can buy it online from any of a number of genealogical software houses or see if your local large library have it. You might get access to it on the library pc's. Or next time you're at TNA.

PoJo
 
Sadly the National Burial Index does not give Warwickshire a very good coverage, Vols 1 & 2
 
True, True, I should have said although Warwickshire has good coverage 500 thou odd, Birmingham does not alas, but if you want to find the actual burial place the only place you will find this is in the cemetery registers.
 
The cemetery indexes are on microfilm at central library. This is a good place to start then when you have all the info go to the relevant cemetery office and give them the info and they will help. If they have to search they charge. We have to remember they are businesses and the people who work there have to be paid. Warstone Lane and Key Hill registers are held at Handsworth Cemetery.

The registers are a great source of info as they give the date of death, age and last address. They also give cause of death sometimes. If you have the info from the library always ask if they can look in the registers for the extra info.
 
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