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Is it likely for someone to be buried on the day they died?

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  • Is it likely for someone to be buried on the day they died?

    I have just been working through some burials that I have and noticed that a couple of the people were buried on the same day that they died.

    (The date of death has been taken from their gravestones).


    I suppose it would be logistically possible to bury someone on the same day they died, especially if they died in the early hours of the morning.

    One of the burials / deaths was in 1840 and I cannot remember who the other one belonged to but I think it was earlier.

    The only thing I can think of is that the grave was placed on the stone later and whoever informed the monumental mason got the date wrong? Or maybe they asked the vicar when the person died and he told them the date they were buried?

    Any thoughts?

    Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

  • #2
    Muslims are always buried on the day they die, before the sunsets.

    How do you know they were burried on the day they died? Where are you finding dates of internment- actually on the stones?
    Jess

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Tom Tom View Post

      (The date of death has been taken from their gravestones).

      Originally posted by Jessbowbag View Post

      How do you know they were burried on the day they died? Where are you finding dates of internment- actually on the stones?

      Yes Jess, the date given on their gravestone.

      They weren't muslims, but you have probably guessed that ;)

      Remembering: Cuthbert Gregory 1889 - 1916, George Arnold Connelly 1886 - 1917, Thomas Lowe Davenport 1890 - 1917, Roland Davenport Farmer 1885 - 1916, William Davenport Sheffield 1879 - 1915, Cuthbert Gregory 1918 - 1944

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      • #4
        Hi Tom,
        On council burial records my great granny was listed as being buried on the day she died. However I know this couldn't have been possible as it was a very sudden death and there was a postmortem. In my case I think the cemetery records just used the death date as the burial date for convenience. Perhaps the monumental mason used the same method in your case. Another thought however that if the person died of an infectious disease than perhaps it was normal practice to have an immediate burial.
        herky
        Researching - Trimmer (Farringdon), Noble & Taylor (Ross and Cromarty), Norris (Glasgow), McGilvray (Glasgow and Australia), Leck & Efford (Glasgow), Ferrett (Hampshire), Jenkins & Williams (Aberystwyth), Morton (Motherwell and Tipton), Barrowman (Glasgow), Lilley (Bromsgrove and Glasgow), Cresswell (England and Lanarkshire). Simpson, Morrow and Norris in Ireland. Thomas Price b c 1844 Scotland.

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        • #5
          Are Jewish people not also buried on the day of death? Am not 100% sure but I've seen this somewhere.

          Update - here's a link to that http://www.facingbereavement.co.uk/jewish-funeral.html
          Last edited by GallowayLass; 30-07-09, 15:24. Reason: update

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          • #6
            Originally posted by GallowayLass View Post
            Are Jewish people not also buried on the day of death? Am not 100% sure but I've seen this somewhere.

            Update - here's a link to that Jewish Funeral - Facing Bereavement (UK)
            Yes they are, though if they die on the Sabbeth (Saturday) its the next day.

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            • #7
              The answer appears to be, yes. A quick search on the British Library's 19th century newspapers reveals several mentions of people being buried on the same day they died.
              Phil
              historyhouse.co.uk
              Essex - family and local history.

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              • #8
                even I didnt know that about Jewish burials

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                • #9
                  I have recently found the obits for 2 of my gt-grandparents - not related nor known to each other. Both were buried on Sundays. I can only assume that it was to enable all friends to attend, as theyw ould work on Saturdays. Anyone else found this?

                  Anne

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                  • #10
                    you might also find if it were summertime they would bury on day of death too, as they had no way of keeping the body cold...
                    Julie
                    They're coming to take me away haha hee hee..........

                    .......I find dead people

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                    • #11
                      I've seen countless burials on death days here in North Yorkshire for the 18thC and 19thC. Surprised me at first as I'd thought the xian tradition was leave em 3 days for the 'soul' to get out... But yes, no effective embalming, no refrigeration - burying them quick made sense. You particularly see it if there's an epidemic like cholera or smallpox - and you can often spot them even if there's no listed cause of death from the sudden rash of child/elderly burials. You also see them for unknown bodies they found here washed up in the river - no sense in leaving them hanging around in fact they often seem to have not even bothered to try and identify them. But you do see them a lot generally in those registers that have a death date and a burial date and you can;t put them all down to epidemics or drownings further upriver. (We're lucky in Yorkshire in that the late 18thC-early 19thC often have extremely detailed records so we get birth dates as well as baptism dates and death dates as well as burial - that was less widely adopted across England generally).

                      So I suspect the idea of leave them above ground for 3 days is a more modern concept than you'd think?

                      ETA - despite the lack of effective embalming, the records of the York Cemetery show that public graves often had a dozen or more in there, and they left them open almost exactly a month, before filling them in and moving on to another. One of my ancestors died in the workhouse and was put in a grave that had been open a week or two, and they stuck another half dozen people in after him, before closing it exactly a month on. That seems to be a standard practice.
                      Last edited by Penelope; 30-07-09, 20:01.

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                      • #12
                        Most burials I've got in my family were within 2 or 3 days of the death. My father was buried a fortnight after he died, but that was because he died before Easter, and then my Mum didn't want the funeral to be on the day of various family birthdays and that was the earliest date after that the church could do the service.

                        I'm glad about that because after Easter the church was all decorated and full of flowers, it would have been very bare if we'd had the funeral just after Dad died.
                        ~ with love from Little Nell~
                        Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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