AN online archive that lets people search for details of 170 years of Leicester burials has been updated with over a century of cremation records.
Information on more than 200,000 cremations has been added to the 410,000 burial records already available online as part of a joint venture between Leicester City Council and website Deceased Online.
It means people can now easily access information dating back to the first burial at Welford Road Cemetery in 1849, as well as the first cremation at the city’s Gilroes Crematorium which opened in 1902.
The council’s bereavement services team handles requests from family members seeking details of burials and cremations at the city’s cemeteries, but the online service is accessible 24/7 and will connect to thousands more records held by other councils across the UK, as well as the National Archive.
The online information includes records of burials and cremations up to 2019. People searching for more recent records will still be able to do so through the bereavement services team.
Leicester City Council’s bereavement services manager, Alan Brown, said: “People come to us regularly wanting to find out details of where and when relatives were buried, particularly when people are researching their family history or trying to piece together information from the past.
“Every burial and cremation that takes place in the city is registered and documented, but in the case of historic ones it used to be very time consuming to view those records manually.
“We’ve worked with Deceased Online to include over 100 years of cremations, meaning there are now over 610,000 local records available for people to search for directly. The website will also allow people to cross reference the information with burial details held by other participating local authorities, and the National Archive.”
People will be able to search for a record for free, and pay a small charge to get copies of documents and other information online.
More information about burial and cremation records is available on the city council’s website here