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Dr. C.W.F Young's Report.
(1.) The instruction of the Committee is to inquire into the condition of cemeteries* within the
metropolitan area with a view to ascertaining whether any further provision for the purpose of
burial is necessary, and whether it is expedient that any regulation should be made in respect to
such places in the interest of public health and decency.
(2.) It will be well in the first place to refer to the fact that a Royal Commission reported on
the question of burial, more especially with regard to intra-mural burial, in 1850, and to state
briefly the results of the Commissioners' report, so far as relates to the scope of the instruction of
the Committee.
(3.) Previous to 1850, however, namely, in 1834, the late Sir Edwin Chadwick had been requested
to inquire into the subject of burial, and he presented a report dealing comprehensively
with the whole question of the disposal of the dead, and containing recommendations with a view
to effecting improvement in the conditions of funerals and of burial. This report does not appear
to have been followed by action until the year 1850, when the above Commission—consisting of
Lord Carlisle, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Sir Edwin Chadwick, and Dr. Southwood Smith—was
appointed, and shortly afterwards presented a report on a " General scheme for extra-mural
sepulture."
(4.) The information which was obtained by the Commission shows that as regards the first
part of the above instruction the accommodation existing at that time—practically the churchyards
in the metropolis—had been exhausted, and that burial could only be effected in these
places by disturbing the remains of bodies in existing graves within a period of time which, even
if the soil had been virgin soil, was insufficient for allowing the process of decay to proceed to a
stage at which nothing was left of the body, whereas in the case of these burial grounds the soil
was already so saturated with the products of incomplete decomposition that it not only was illadapted
to promote decomposition but was also the cause of nuisance in the immediate neighbourhood.
(5.) As regards the second part of the instruction, the evidence obtained for the Commission
showed that owing to this crowding of churchyards and to the increased demand for burial brought
about by the increase of population, the interment of the dead could not be carried out with due
regard to sanitary conditions and to feelings of sentiment, and indicated the need that in future
interments should be specially regulated.
(6.) The result of the report of the Commissioners was the passing of an Act which constituted
the then existing General Board of Health—a Government department—the burial authority for
the metropolis, with a view to closing the churchyards, the provision of new places for interment,
and the taking over by the Board of Health of existing cemeteries which had been provided by
private companies; for previous to 1850 the need which existed for further accommodation for the
burial of the dead had been felt and had found expression, in the formation of cemeteries, that is
places of burial provided under special Act of Parliament or under the Cemeteries Clauses Act,
1847, by private enterprise for the use of residents in London. Without entering into details, it is
sufficient to state that this Act failed in its purpose, and was followed by further legislation in 1852,
a new Act, the first of the Burial Acts (15 and 16 Vic. cap. 85), being passed. This Act (1)
provided for the closure of existing places of burial by order in Council, with the exception that
such order was not to extend to burial places belonging to Quakers or Jews unless they were
specially mentioned in the order, and further by a special section (sect. 54) the cemeteries provided
by private companies referred to above were exempted from the Act; (2) gave power to parish
authorities to establish burial boards with a view to the provision of burial grounds for their
districts; and (3) gave power to a Secretary of State to make regulations in regard to burial
grounds with a view to the proper supervision and management of such places. This Act further
provided that no new burial ground was to be laid out in the metropolis or within two miles of it
without the authority of a Secretary of State. Several Acts amending the Act of 1852 have since
been passed, the chief effects of which have been to make it applicable to the whole country, to
extend the powers of the Secretary of State, to authorise the inspection of burial
grounds, and to make the regulations so far as they relate to common graves applicable to the
cemeteries belonging to private companies enumerated in a schedule to the Burial Act, 1852, or to
any cemeteries established under a local Act.
(7.) The powers given by the Act to establish burial grounds have been made use of by many
*In this report the word cemetery is frequently used as a convenient and generally understood term
signifying a place provided for the interment of the dead. In legal phraseology the term has a more restricted
meaning. Thus a cemetery is either—
(1) A place provided for the interment of the dead as a commercial undertaking, under special Act
of Parliament or under the Cemeteries Clauses Act, 1847; or
(2) A place provided for the interment of the dead by local authorities, under the Public Health
(Interments) Act, 1879, by which the provisions of the Cemeteries Clauses Act are incorporated into the
Public Health Act, 1875. This Act is not applicable to London.
Local authorities in London are able to provide places of interment under the Burials Acts, which apply to
the country generally. These places are known as burial grounds. The difference between a cemetery and a
burial ground is not solely one of nomenclature, since in the case of a burial ground under the Burials Acts "a
"portion of it must be tendered to the bishop of the diocese for consecrntion; whereas it is not necesary that
"any portion of a cemetery should be consecrated at all. "Further, while" no part of a cemetery may be laid
"out within 200 yards of a dwelling-house, in the case of a burial ground all that the Burials Acts require is that
"no one shall be buried within 100 yards of any dwelling-house without the consent of its owner or occupiers;
"and in neither case apparently is there any provision which forbids the subsequent erection of dwelling-houses
" in closer proximity to the graves."—(Local G-overnment—Blake Odgers.)
In addition to these two classes of places for interment there is a third, namely, the parish churchyard.
For the most part these are now closed in London, but a few situated in the outlying and less populated parts of
the county are still in use.