Genealogy Chat

My Ggrandfather was buried at Chatham Cemetery but i am having trouble finding out which church any suggestions - have been trawling trough the online parish records Henry Falkus he lived at Dale Street Chatham he was a Royal marine at Chatham he died in the Gillingham Barracks Hospital in 1915 all help much appreciated Sally

Sally, I am not entirely sure that I understand your question correctly, so If my response is unhelpful, I'm sorry. Chatham cemetery is a large cemetery located on Maidstone Road in Chatham. It is one of four large cemeteries serving the Medway Towns. According the the CWGC website your great grandfather is buried in plot FF. 578 of Chatham cemetery. Is your question - at which church did a funeral service take place. Have you checked if the records of the chapel at the Royal Marines barracks are available for searching. Medway Council may be able to assist you with details of the burial records for the cemetery. Pete

Sally, the church cemetaries got overcrowded way back in Victorian times so most people started being buried in cemetaries - they arent attached to churches Im afraid. Even here in Norfolk country, its like winning the lottery to actually get a plot in a church yard. You have to jump all sorts of hoops to try to reserve one - including prooving your connection to the village.

Hi Pete many thanks had not realised that there was a chapel for the Rpoyal marines many thanks will check this out Sally

The Royal marines museum have a website which may assist you a little. http://www.royalmarinesmuseum*co*uk you'll need to replace the * with dots

The cemetery records should record who took the burial service. This should lead you to finding the correct church, .... although I asked for records of my grandfather's burial, - I already knew where he is buried as I've visited many times but hadn't found him in the parish registers. The vicar of the parish took the service, ...I knew him well, ..but I still haven't found an entry in the church register.

Quite a lot of theses cemetaries have their own chapel in the grounds and the funeral service takes place there and then the committal is made at the graveside. Have you checked if the cemetary has such a chapel.

thank you all for your replies i will have to look into the points mentioned as yet all i have tried to do is look into the parished records as they are on line as I do not live enough to Chatham to vist at present its a 5 hour drive away thank you all again for your helpful suggestions Sally

I can't tell you which Church he was buried from but , He is buried in Maidstone Road, Cemetery, Chatham Plot FF 578 First part of the inscription is illegible -- Private H. FALKUS Royal Marine Lieutenant 16 March 1915 aged (43)? Military Headstone. Hope this helps. Jennifer