RootsChat.Com

General => The Common Room => Topic started by: GrahamPC on Friday 20 June 25 14:48 BST (UK)

Title: Burial of prisoners in 18th century
Post by: GrahamPC on Friday 20 June 25 14:48 BST (UK)

Does anyone know whether a prisoner dying in custody in the 18th century would have their burial recorded in a local parish register, or whether they would be buried without record at the prison or elsewhere?

Title: Re: Burial of prisoners in 18th century
Post by: hepburn on Friday 20 June 25 17:29 BST (UK)

Google gave me this..Yes, it is possible but not guaranteed that a prisoner's burial in the 18th century would be recorded in a local parish register, even if they died in custody.

Title: Re: Burial of prisoners in 18th century
Post by: jorose on Saturday 21 June 25 05:18 BST (UK)

I think it massively depends on what we're talking about in terms of what prison.
In a rural area where the "prison" was a room tacked onto the police station, they likely would have been buried at the local parish and recorded as such.

Larger prisons may have had their own burial grounds and a visiting chaplain.  That isn't to say there'd be no record but it may be seperate from the actual parish burials.

In terms of records, there were often coroners records for deaths in custody, example:
https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/Deaths_in_London_Prisons_1760-1869