Genealogy Chat

I have a death of my GrGr Grandmother Elizabeth Taylor died age 76 January 1891 at the Lewisham Workhouse and was wondering what cemetary she would have been buried in and how I can get information on the burial records, as I live in NZ Thanks Zena

Hallo Zena The death records from Lewisham Workhouse are now kept at the London Metropolitan Archives, but I very much doubt that they will give you any information about where she was buried. I imagine it would be in an unmarked paupers' grave. You could contact the London Borough of Lewisham to see if they have information about burial grounds of that period. Their website is: www*.lewisham*.gov*.uk/ remove * first Somewhere on their site there should be an e-mail address. nell

Hi Zena It is MUCH more difficult to find out where someone was buried than to find out where they died. Workhouses would look to bury paupers as cheaply as possible, as Nell says in an unmarked paupers' grave. The cemetery might be local, or it might be some distance away. Londoners might be buried in Finchley or Brookwood or anywhere in between. The local studies library for the area or the North West Kent Family History Society may be able to provide local knowledge as to which cemetery was most likely to have been used at the period, but there is no guarantee that that is where your ancestor was buried, and she might have been admitted just for a few days, in order to get proper medical attention. Try asking someone to do an LMA lookup. Lewisham workhouse records are there. If she is buried "by friends" then there might be a family plot somewhere. Finally, even if you think you know where someone is buried, there is no guarantee that the records are indexed or freely accessible. My local cemetery is charging researchers £15 per hour for the priviledge! Sorry if I sound a killjoy. Brenda

My grandad was buried ay ladywell lane cemetry in lewisham in 1932. I already knew this, but wanted to establish whether he had a proper grave/headstone etc. I rang them direct and they were able to tell me that he was buried along with other in an unmarked plot but did give me the plot number so I could visit it if I wanted (I have not done so yet). I know it is a long shot and she died a long while before him, but if you know the year I will ring them (they can only say no) When I was a child I lived in the grounds of an old asylum - it had its own chapel and grave yard and inmates were buried there. it is possible that Lewisham was the same. Let me know if I can help further, long distance research is difficult. linda