Elma
Well-Known Member
I am not sure if it is just me but as I have got older, things bug me more. So I thought I would ask what everyone's understanding of a common burial is.
I was watching Antiques Roadshow last week and they took you to Abney Park Cemetery, where they showed a line of headstones that they said were from common graves. They also said these common graves were shared with an unknown other.
My understanding is that early burials in London were of three classes
Class 1, a private plot paid for by the family and used by them.
Class 2, a common grave where the plot was not purchased and unrelated interments were added and the grave filled in between burials. This offered some dignity.
Class 3, a common grave where the plot was not purchased and the unrelated burials were put in an open grave. These graves had a sort of door that could be locked between burials but they were not filled in with any earth until they were full.
Out of curiosity I researched my GG Grandmothers family 1820-1920. They lived in London and there were 14 children. I found most of the burials. It seemed no two were the same, nor in the same place. As far as I can see most were Class 3, with one class 2 and one class 1. None were pauper burials, the family paid for them. Some of the class 3 burials had more than 20 bodies in the same grave and the periods of times they had been added were only days or weeks apart.
None of the common graves could have memorial stones, as they were shared, they were very few exceptions to this.
Whilst I can feel some sadness at my family's burials. I believe this was what most people did at the time. My family were a fairly ordinary family, they rarely used the workhouse, at least until old age and then it was the infirmary.
Are other people's experiences similar to this? I understand in rural communities things would be different.
Elizabeth
I was watching Antiques Roadshow last week and they took you to Abney Park Cemetery, where they showed a line of headstones that they said were from common graves. They also said these common graves were shared with an unknown other.
My understanding is that early burials in London were of three classes
Class 1, a private plot paid for by the family and used by them.
Class 2, a common grave where the plot was not purchased and unrelated interments were added and the grave filled in between burials. This offered some dignity.
Class 3, a common grave where the plot was not purchased and the unrelated burials were put in an open grave. These graves had a sort of door that could be locked between burials but they were not filled in with any earth until they were full.
Out of curiosity I researched my GG Grandmothers family 1820-1920. They lived in London and there were 14 children. I found most of the burials. It seemed no two were the same, nor in the same place. As far as I can see most were Class 3, with one class 2 and one class 1. None were pauper burials, the family paid for them. Some of the class 3 burials had more than 20 bodies in the same grave and the periods of times they had been added were only days or weeks apart.
None of the common graves could have memorial stones, as they were shared, they were very few exceptions to this.
Whilst I can feel some sadness at my family's burials. I believe this was what most people did at the time. My family were a fairly ordinary family, they rarely used the workhouse, at least until old age and then it was the infirmary.
Are other people's experiences similar to this? I understand in rural communities things would be different.
Elizabeth