Newspapers to the rescue
Re the enquiry from Fiona Cobb (FT August) on now to find where someone is buried. Another useful source is the deaths column in the local newspaper. Not everybody gets a mention, of course, but where there is a notice, it will usually state where the funeral is to take place. This source can produce information above and beyond the immediate query. For a long time I knew that my 3x great-grandfather was born in London, but I didn’t know where the family lived previously. Then I looked at the Yorkshire Post deaths column for a family member who died in York in 1917, and found that he was to be buried at Melsonby in North Yorkshire.
On a visit to Melsonby churchyard, I found no stone for him, but I did find stones for three generations of his ancestors back to 1786. A brick wall bit the dust. The Yorkshire Post came up trumps again when a friend asked me to find his grandfather’s burial place. The grandfather lived and died in Leeds, so it was startling to find from the Post that he was to be buried at Batley Cemetery, something which I would never have guessed.
John Smurthwaite Editor: Good tip, Johns. Thank you for the ‘hatch, match, dispatch’ reminder.
