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Key Hill Cemetery

Rosie - Thank you so much for the link to the KH Cemetery thread. I have now seen the vaults on #711 so can understand what they look like. Most of my family that I have found so far are buried in the Vaults. Apart from two who were buried at P84. I have now found about 10 family at Key Hill since Brumgum posted the link to the JQRG site which is brilliant.

Judy
 
Simple way to post a link is to right click on the address that is shown in the address bar at top of you browser page. Choose 'Copy' from the menu that is now displayed (it should be highlighted automatically) - then right click in your post and choose 'Paste'.
 
Thanks for moving this to the right thread I didn't notice untill it was too late. Judy the registers are held at Handsworth Cemetery but they now charge for look ups as it's a busy working cemetery. They now ask people to go through the BMSGH site although they charge as well. If you give me the names of the people in P section I will look to see if there is a memorial.
 
Thanks for the information Wendy. The family in P84 were Robert and Maria Louisa Purdie. I have found a memorial for them on the JQRG site, but thanks for your offer. Perhaps you could tell me if the vaults are numbered. I have seen a map of the cemetery with the lettered sections and Rosie told me that the vaualts are behind the catacombs. I will have a look at the BMSGH site before I contact Handsworth Cemetery for burial records.

Judy
 
Judy the vaults were numbered by Keyhill Brian but he is having a break at the moment. The numbers were chalked on which was all that was allowed and it has washed away now. My ancestor John McKnight is in vault 13 which is close to the path down from the Key Hill entrance. The vaults are actually a continuation of the Catacombs I have attached a map which shows section H which are the vaults.
Key_Hill_map_edit.jpg
 
This photo shows the path from the top section of the cemetery with the vaults beneath.

100_2406_edit.jpg
 
Many thanks Wendy. I have copied the map and now understand where the vaults are. I will take this with me when I visit. Hope to be able to get up to Brum in October sometime as I am keen to visit Key Hill as soon as I can. Maybe Keyhill Brian will be back online by then and could guide me as to vault numbers beforehand so that I know where to look.

Judy
 
hope brian is having a good break wend..hes given so much of his time helping our members over the years including myself..he deserves a good rest...

lyn
 
Hope you all had a good day at KeyHill and Warstone. I hoped to chat with the BMSGH at the Heritage Day event in Dudley today. The site said they would be part of a family history day. I was really excited about the event because one branch of the family spend 80 years in Bloomfield Road.

Sadly they were not there and the only nod to family history was just a dozen pieces of A4 photocopy. Having got stung with FHS publications in the past we hoped to get some clarification of exactly what information is included in their records, so we know what we are paying for. It is one thing when the archives make public records available for no charge and another when we have to pay. Fortunately the day was not wasted because the Boat Festival in Bumble Hole was brilliant.

It is about 7 years since I last did a membership with Ancestry so it might be worth signing up to one of the websites for access to the latest records. Which is best for Birmingham Deaths (whole of Birmingham rather than just the 2 cemeteries) Ancestry, Findmypast or a.n.other? I know the library sign up to Ancestry so maybe ought to try Findmypast.
 
If anyone is visiting Key Hill cemetery and able to look for a grave for me, I'd be very grateful. The grave number is C251 and is in the name of Edmonds - unfortunately I have no record of whether or not a gravestone exists.

Many thanks

Doug
 
Hello Doug,
I had a look at the website www.jqrg.org but there doesn't seem to be a gravestone recorded there. I haven't been able to visit the Cemetery for a while, hopefully someone will be able to go and have a look for you.
rosie.
 
I think it's more or less complete. Many of the memorials were laid flat or buried for "Health and Safety" reasons, this list was compiled afterwards.
Some of my relatives were moved to make way for the Metro and I've never found out if my Gt. Grandmother originally had a gravestone.
The photos on that site are good, showing the comparison "then and now".
rosie.
 
Hopefully it will help Doug. Find My Past has his record with the Register Number as 15743, so that may help Wendy when she's able to search the records for you.
 
Hi,

I wondered if someone could help me as I currently live in the South of England having moved away from Birmingham.
I've been doing my family tree and have found an ancestor called Charles Noble Fisher (By 4th Great Grandfather) buried in Key Hill cemetery.
His burial record states he was register no:- 27500 and www.jqrq.org states he is buried in (KH 1880 FISHER Charles Noble G 7 Vault)

Does anybody know if this vault still stands as I would love to travel up and visit the cemetery.

Thanks in advance,

Rob
 
Hi Rob,
Yes the vaults are still there. On post #711 Key Hill Brian has posted a photo of H14-H11. I don't think the rest are numbered.
On the JQRG website is a virtual tour and you can see them on that.
Key Hill and Warstone are beautiful Cemeteries and are well worth a visit.
rosie.
 
Hi wendy, I am new to this site and this is my first post. I did some family history research a few years ago and discoverd that some of my family are buried there, including my grandfather who I never met.We lived in wellesley street and my grandfather in anglesey street in lozells. Many thanks for the photgraph. John
 
The index records on Find My Past have been put on the site by Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry who have transcribed and indexed the records for Key Hill (in some cases there are monument photographs). A search service is offered via the Society's online bookshop www.bmsgh-shop.org.uk We have also transcribed and index the records for Warstone Lane, Handsworth Cemetery and are half way through photographing and indexing Witton Cemetery.
 
Welcome John a lot of my family in Key Hill came from Lozells. It may be worth checking here for any more family in Key Hill or Warstone Lane www.jqrq.org. Then you can get burial records etc from www.bmsgh-shop.org.uk their charges are very reasonable.

Thanks for the update gensec I am thrilled to hear records for Handsworth and Witton are being transcribed.
 
Although all 79 registers for Witton have been photographed, with nearly 500,000 burials, full indexing could take another twelve months. If the person you are looking for is not on Findmypast, it is possible to have a search carried out on the unindexed registers, but you would need to be able to give full details including a date of death. Further information is available via our online shop www.bmsgh-shop.org.uk
 
rosie said:
Hi Rob,
Yes the vaults are still there. On post #711 Key Hill Brian has posted a photo of H14-H11. I don't think the rest are numbered.
On the JQRG website is a virtual tour and you can see them on that.
Key Hill and Warstone are beautiful Cemeteries and are well worth a visit.
rosie.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rosie,

I'm going to travel up in the next few weeks and see what I can find.

There are also some other Fisher relatives buried there so it'll be an interesting day.

Rob
 
gensec said:
Although all 79 registers for Witton have been photographed, with nearly 500,000 burials, full indexing could take another twelve months. If the person you are looking for is not on Findmypast, it is possible to have a search carried out on the unindexed registers, but you would need to be able to give full details including a date of death. Further information is available via our online shop www.bmsgh-shop.org.uk
Click to expand...

I just had to say that I am so glad that you posted the information about Witton Cemetery and the BMSGH Indexing. I had a very bad experience just yesterday trying to find the grave numbers for my grandparents buried at Witton in the 1950,s.

I e-mailed Witton Cemetery giving exact details of the deaths of my grandparents and asking for the grave numbers where they are buried and received an upsetting reply.

Although I gave Witton Cemetery the exact dates of death for both my grandparents, Heather Robertson the Assistant Bereavement Officer at Witton Cemetery sent me an e-mail giving a grave number with the burial date of a week before my grandfather actually died so this was wrong. Next she gave me the grave number for my grandmother with a burial date of a year before she actually died. So neither of them are right and it is obvious that no care has been taken at all to give out the right information.

The map of witton they attached was illegible and although they didn't charge me for this information they said that it should have been £11 per name.

A very uncaring costly service for dealing with the public and bereavement. I didn't know there was such as high charge of £11 each but I am so glad I hadn't already paid £22 for this poor service.

I saw the information for the BMSGH Witton Index on this forum and for £4.50 it has accurately answered my query, so thank you again for the information about Witton Indexes I am grateful and I am sure it will help a lot of people.

Louisa
 
A while ago I noticed some papers that had belonged to a soldier and amongst them was a memorial card for his mother who was interred at Key Hill Cemetery in 1937. I thought I would put the information on here as it may be useful to someone in the future – I know a lot of people find their way to this forum when researching their family tree.
Percy John Bowen born 17/07/1919 Winson Green.
Royal Artillery, 7 Medium Regt. Gunner. Service No:876308
Date of death: 04/01/1941. Age 21. Memorial: Alamein.
When he enlisted in 1938 he was working as a Tube Drawer, Bulpitt and sons.
His Parents were Samuel and Elizabeth Bowen of Kingstanding.
Brothers Frank and Jeffery.

I have found an Elizabeth Bowen listed as buried in Key Hill in 1937 - Grave L 222 – so I am assuming this is the right one.
 
Hi pollypops
There is a tree on Ancestry with most of the the details you have posted, but the owner doesnt appear to have logged in for a year..so at least someone is or has been searching.. hopefully they will come across your post eventually!!
 
Hi Wendy, this is the first time I've commented on this forum, it really is an amazing source of information! I am doing some research on Key Hill as part of my PhD and I was wondering whether I could include your stereo photo in my work - its not for publication or anything. Also, do you know when it was taken?
 
Sorry for the delay in replying have had a few personal problems. Of course you can use the photo. I don't know the exact date I think it's about 1860/70 by the size of the trees and amount of graves.
 
I have finally found Great Grandfather Henry Sharp! His name was entered wrongly (with an "e" on the end) on the Register but the address is correct. It's a common grave in section C by that massive wall. Several of the nearby common graves had huge memorials but there isn't one on his. They had a daughter who died from TB. and her name is on a different common memorial which was moved when the Metro was built. Great Grandmother was moved for the Metro too, and she appears on the Metro Screen.
At least I know he's there, after all that searching. I should have checked alternate spellings before.
rosie.
 
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