Graveyard protocol for uploading

[ScouseBoy]

If a headstone belongs to my family, or extended relations, I will take a photo when I am there.

         One of my family is buried in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.       It is unlikely that I can ever visit in person.

ScouseBoy

Have you looked at the South African graves project?  Many photographs of headstones in many cemeteries, including Port Elizabeth. Enter name on search page for all SA.

eggsa.org


Jebber

  Many thanks for that.

[Guy Etchells]

I know that many people are really grateful for the work others do to put images online and get comfort from them being there.

I was just mentioning that, as a courtesy, you should check before you do take photos.

I agree that it is polite to ask permission before taking photographs in churchyards and private cemeteries, however I do have a problem with public bodies demanding that the public ask permission first.

In my mind there is a big difference between photographing something on private land and photographing something on public land.
The council does not own public cemeteries but is simply the caretaker of the land, in the same way as the government does not own the UK.
The public own the land and the government or council simply look after it on our behalf, in much the same way as a gardener would look after a private garden.

I would ask permission to photograph in a churchyard or private cemetery but would happily take photos in a public cemetery no matter what the bylaws stated.
Why because as a member of the public I would give myself the required permission to photograph in the cemetery that I part own.

Obviously I would not take photos if a funeral was taking place unless I was in a different part of the cemetery well away from the funeral.

Cheers
Guy

[alanmack]

I have to pose the rhetorical question," If the family didn't want their relatives' place of interrment known and seen, then why did they place a headstone there in the first place?".

alanmack

[Isabel H]

Exactly! It seems to me that headstones are put there expressly in order to be seen by whoever passes by, and that photographing them and making them available to a wider public is simply an extension of that.  You do not have to request permission to view them, so why should you need permission to photograph them? I don't see it as disrespectful, indeed I would regard it as a service.
Since I photographed the stones in a local graveyard a few years ago, a number of them have fallen or been so severely damaged by winter weather that the inscriptions can no longer be seen or read.

[Treetotal]

I think anyone who photographs graves in a public graveyard and puts them online is doing a great service to relatives who live too far away to visit...I took photos of family headstones in St. John's Nfld and contributed them to the family history site and they were delighted. Not everyone can travel to far flung places to get a photo of a headstone of their ancestors. I have found some on the "Find a Grave" site and have felt privileged to have that made available for my research.
Carol

[Beeonthebay]

Ask the church or local authority who maintains the cemetery before you do.

This isn't the first news item of this type I've seen

http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/news/regional-affairs/jewellery-quarter-research-trust-banned-10808767

I'm not really bothered enough to do that, I was just asking a general question as it kind of popped into my head as a moral dilemma.

Re the article, I think that's ridiculous.  If every churchyard or cemetery was like this there would be no MI's or online databases to help us with our family history.

So can I come into your garden and take photos without your permission?

It's not that far removed from what you are doing.

I'm sorry you think the article is ridiculous. You asked a question and I gave an answer.

As I previously mentioned that article was one of many

see 5th paragrpah here

https://beta.islington.gov.uk/birth-death-marriage-and-citizenship/cemeteries

see clause 35 here

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01hd2/

see the bylaws here

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200032/deaths_funerals_and_cemeteries/5580/cemeteries_and_crematoria/4

paragraph 4 here

http://www2.rctcbc.gov.uk/en/relateddocuments/publications/bereavement/rulesandregulationsfull.pdf

Wandsworth do not allow photography without permission, there is a pdf of regulations here

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/downloads/200032/funerals_and_cremations

and Bexley has a similar pdf here

http://www.bexley.gov.uk/search?q=cemetery+regulations&go=Go

I know that many people are really grateful for the work others do to put images online and get comfort from them being there.

I was just mentioning that, as a courtesy, you should check before you do take photos.

I don't know why you have taken such offence to my reply Dawn as it was not my intent to offend you or anybody else in any way and I apologise if that is the case.

[LizzieW]

I've often taken photographs of gravestones in village churchyards when I've found ones of my ancestors.  Most of them are at least 200 years old though.  I do have a photograph of my maternal grandfather's and his eldest daughter's grave, with his youngest son aged about 20 I would guess, standing by the grave, so that must have been in the 1940s.  My g.grandfather died in 1922, his eldest daughter in 1920.  I imagine my maternal gran was buried in the same grave, although I've never been to see it and I was considered too young to go to her funeral - I was 8¹/₂ at the time. 

[dawnsh]

I suppose it's not so much offence as the attitude "just because I can, I will" and as you stated "I'm not really bothered" to check.

I just wanted to suggest that people should check beforehand, and I very much doubt whether any cemetery with these regulations will refuse you taking 1 or 2 photos of family plots.

I just wonder whether the authorities may object if the cemetery is really old and they are trying to protect flora and fauna who now inhabit these areas as they become nature reserves?

[Guy Etchells]

I suppose it's not so much offence as the attitude "just because I can, I will" and as you stated "I'm not really bothered" to check.

I just wanted to suggest that people should check beforehand, and I very much doubt whether any cemetery with these regulations will refuse you taking 1 or 2 photos of family plots.

I just wonder whether the authorities may object if the cemetery is really old and they are trying to protect flora and fauna who now inhabit these areas as they become nature reserves?

Many local authorities are uploading burial burial indexes to sites like findagrave and charging the public for access, preventing photography is a way to maximise the return made.

I think the regulations were initially to prevent the cemeteries being used as film sets but as with a lot of these regulations once in place the objective slips and before one knows it all photography is being banned.

Cheers
Guy