Yorkshire Burials

Each record contains a transcript and many include an image of the original record. The information contained can vary but you could find out the following about your ancestor:

• Name
• Age
• Birth year
• Burial date
• Burial place
• County and Country
• Archive and reference

Images may contain additional information for your family tree including names of relatives or who performed the ceremony.

There are over 5 million records from Anglican parishes across the three historic Yorkshire counties as well as records from Quaker, Roman Catholic, and Methodist parishes and municipal cemeteries. You can search the records from several Yorkshire archives and family history societies in what will become a comprehensive collection of parish records.

Situated in north England, Yorkshire is the largest British county. Yorkshire was divided into three ridings: North, West, and East. The word riding came into Old English from the Old Norse word þriðjungr, meaning a third part.

There has been human settlement in Yorkshire since Neolithic times. Under Roman rule, the fortified city of Eboracum (now York) was the joint capital of Roman Britain. Before the introduction of civil registration in 1837, Church of England parishes recorded the bulk of births, marriages, and deaths. The Church of England mandated the keeping of records in all its parishes from 1537 with the earliest records generally starting in 1538. Early registers recorded all events in a single book but after 1774 separate registers were needed for marriages and marriage banns.

History of cemeteries

From around the 7th century, burial in Europe was under the control of the Church and could only be carried out on consecrated church ground. From the early 19th century, however, the burial of the dead in graveyards (burial grounds within churchyards) began to fall out of favour. This was due to several factors: rapid population growth in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, continued outbreaks of infectious disease near graveyards, and the increasingly restricted space in graveyards for new interment.

The introduction of cemeteries in Britain was driven by both public health concerns and a growing desire from a portion of the population to have non-denominational burial place. The Metropolitan Burial Act of 1852 legislated for the establishment of the first national system of government-funded municipal cemeteries across Britain, paving the way for an enormous expansion of burial facilities throughout the 19th century.

In the 19th century, urban burial grounds were viewed as public open spaces and were thus professionally designed to be attractive places to visit in their own right. Those hired to design public parks were often employed to design these new cemeteries.

The records in this collection come from a variety of sources:

Borthwick Institue for Archives, University of York

• Borthwick transcripts were made from records held in the custody of the Borthwick Institute.

Bradford Family History Society

• The society transcribed records for Bradford, Denholme, Eccleshill, Heaton, Shpley and Wilsden parishes.
• The society’s volunteer members created the transcripts of the burial records for the grounds of the parish church of St Peters, now a cathedral in the historic Yorkshire diocese of Bradford, which span the years 1681 to 1837.
• Bradford burial index includes records from Eccleshill St Lukes and Norman Lane Wesleyan Burial Ground, spanning the years from 1825 to 1994.

Calerdale Family History Society

• The society created the Ripponden transcripts and provided the Northowram Independent Chapel records.

Doncaster Archives

• Doncaster Archives provided records for Doncaster, Christ Church, and Doncaster, St George.

Doncaster Family History Society / Doncaster Borough Council

• The society’s volunteers created the transcripts for Hyde Park Cemetery in Doncaster, spanning the years from 1856 to 1937. The cemetery is known as the Old Cemetery and opened in 1856. It was the first municipal cemetery in the South Yorkshire borough of Doncaster after the 1853 Burial Act. The cemetery was built to accommodate all the denomination of Donacter and had separate sections for Church of England burials and those of other denominations. A significant number of these results show that the individual was buried in non-consecrated ground. It was in the terms of the Doncaster Cemetery Act to separate this area away from the rest of the graves with walls and rails not less than two feet in height. Unconsecrated burials were not only reserved for those who died by suicide or babies who were stillborn or unbaptised but also for the poor who couldn’t pay for a plot and those who followed religions other than the established Church of England.

East Riding Archives & Local Studies Service

• East Riding records were reproduced with the permission of the East Riding Archives & Local Studies Service, East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

North Yorkshire County Record Office

• North Yorkshire images copyright North Yorkshire County Record Office.

Peter Cross

• Peter Cross created the transcripts for the Old Holbeck Cemetery in Leeds. The cemetery opened in 1857 and was the third municipal cemetery to open in Leeds following the 1853 Burial Act, which allowed for the establishment of publicly funded cemeteries throughout England to east the pressure on parish churchyards. The cemetery closed to general burials in the 1940s.

Pontefract and District Family History Society

• The society created the transcripts pertaining to Pontefract District burials, which include Pontefract and the villages within its district including Darrington, Kirk Smeaton, and Womersley.

Ryedale Family History Society

• Ryedale burials from the Ryedale district in North Yorkshire include burials from ten parishes. The records span from 1813-1999.

Selby & District Family History Society

• The society provided the records for Brayton, St Wilfrid burials.
• The society provided the records for Selby Cemetery, which span from 1858 to 2004. Most transcripts include details of whether the individual was buried in the consecrated or unconsecrated grounds. Those buried in unconsecrated grounds generally means that the individual was not a member of the Church of England.

Sheffield Archives & Local Studies

• Sheffield Cathedral Church Of St Peter & St Paul Burial Index, 1767-1812 – a church has stood on the site of the present-day cathedral since the time of Henry I. During the First Baron’s War the church was destroyed. When it was rebuilt in 1280, it was dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. In 1914, the church was elevated to cathedral status.

Sheffield & District Family History Society

• Norton Cemetery, one of 16 cemeteries in Sheffield, was originally owned by Norton Parish Council and is run today by Sheffield City Council. The records span form 1869 to 1995.

Sheffield City Council Libraries Archives and Information Services and Sheffield & District Family History Society

• Sheffield records were reproduced with permission from Sheffield City Council Libraries Archives and Information Services and the Sheffield & District Family History Society

Teeside Archives

• Teesside records were reproduced with permission from Teeside Archives

Wakefield and District Family History Society

• The society created the transcripts for Wakefield District burials. Fifteen civil parishes are included.