Hi, My g-grandma (85 yrs) was buried in Plumstead cemetary in Oct. 1920. Her husband died (1913) and was buried in their life-long hometown in Oxfordshire. On the gravestone (in Oxfordshire) it says his wife is buried in Plumstead cemetary. I have no idea why she would be buried there as I can't find any relatives in the immediate area. *Would there be a hospital/old folks home etc. that would bring her to this area?* It is a mystery as they would have had enough money to have transported her back to her hometown for burial. *Were things tough in England in 1920 for her not to have been buried at home?* Any ideas gratefully received. Thank you Maureen

Hi Maureen Even as late as 1920, transporting a body across the country was not something to be entered into lightly, and it would have been an expensive business, so burial near to the place of death was the norm for most people. Her death certificate should give some clues as to where she was living at the time of her death. Just for the record - Plumstead was originally in Kent, but became part of London in 1888. Wrong side of the river for Essex! Best wishes Caroline > -----Original Message----- > From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk- > bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Maureen > Sent: 30 October 2008 15:04 > To: essex-uk@rootsweb.com > Subject: [Ess] plumstead cemetary > > Hi, > My g-grandma (85 yrs) was buried in Plumstead cemetary in Oct. 1920. > Her husband died (1913) and was buried in their life-long hometown in > Oxfordshire. On the gravestone (in Oxfordshire) it says his wife is > buried in Plumstead cemetary. I have no idea why she would be buried > there as I can't find any relatives in the immediate area. *Would > there be a hospital/old folks home etc. that would bring her to this > area?* It is a mystery as they would have had enough money to have > transported her back to her hometown for burial. *Were things tough in > England in 1920 for her not to have been buried at home?* Any ideas > gratefully received. > > Thank you > Maureen > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK- > admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message

Generally, times weren't bad enough to be the obvious cause of such a case. I'd say it was probably due to a family issue of some sort. I have a similar story in my tree, and investigating it shook loose a rather big skeleton. After some years of tracing the family tree I was told out of the blue (by mum - no-one else ever mentioned it) that my grt-grandad was buried in Moreton cemetery (in the heart of Essex). This was a surprise as no branch of the family had any connections with the area at that time (a different branch came from Ongar about 100 years earlier). Off I trotted one day, found his gravestone, and made enquiries in the village shop (we had such things then). They sent me to a certain cottage in the village, where I found myself being given tea and cakes by his daughter. She soon began phoning various relatives that I did know of, to tell them I'd found her, and then on subsequent visits to them I constantly got stories such as 'he wasn't all bad you know' or 'it's a shame what he did, but he was a great man' and so on. I'd managed to release 40 years of pent-up pressure by banging a nail into the side of the kettle! It turned out that he had two families on the go at the same time, the official lot including my grandad and about a dozen other siblings, but when he got found out one day he ran off to the other lot and never came back; likewise 'our' lot never breathed his name again. His (official) wife is buried at Upshire, on the western border of the county. ____ However I don't think your case sounds like it would have such a negative cause (the mention on the Oxon memorial to the Plumstead burial tells us that things were not hushed-up but open and above board); perhaps the only relatives who could look after your grt-grandma during the 7 years after her husband's death lived at Plumstead. Seven years is quite long enough for ties to a previous residence to get blurred, even a life-long one. That would also explain why no-one took her back there for burial, if there was no longer any family there to visit her grave. In effect, she might even have made a new home for herself at Plumstead. As for old folks' homes, this was a transitionary period when it's tempting to say that the only place where old folk could go was the dreaded workhouse - but I'm not sure when the first, private and exclusive, retirement homes arrived. Probably about then, but not available to most of the population. I would start by looking for anyone else of the same surname at Plumstead, who might turn out to be a son and his family, and then (because it involves one more step) look for any likely marriages for possible daughters, so as to find their married surname, and then look for that surname at Plumstead. If life were straightforward, you might then look in later years for the local burial, hopefully in the same place, of these relatives - but once settled in the sprawl of London (which would include Plumstead then), many people would move all over the place at the drop of a hat, and tracing them within the capital is often fraught with dead-ends. You might need to search for these relatives anywhere in London, which would at that time include at least 3 counties. HTH, Lawrence -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Maureen Sent: 30 October 2008 15:04 To: essex-uk@rootsweb.com Subject: [Ess] plumstead cemetary Hi, My g-grandma (85 yrs) was buried in Plumstead cemetary in Oct. 1920. Her husband died (1913) and was buried in their life-long hometown in Oxfordshire. On the gravestone (in Oxfordshire) it says his wife is buried in Plumstead cemetary. I have no idea why she would be buried there as I can't find any relatives in the immediate area. *Would there be a hospital/old folks home etc. that would bring her to this area?* It is a mystery as they would have had enough money to have transported her back to her hometown for burial. *Were things tough in England in 1920 for her not to have been buried at home?* Any ideas gratefully received. Thank you Maureen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.4/1754 - Release Date: 29/10/2008 07:45 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.4/1754 - Release Date: 29/10/2008 07:45

Hello, Here are some possibilities: 1. The records for Plumstead Cemetery are held by the London Borough of Greenwich - http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/ . I believe that there is a charge for looking up burial entries but I don't know what the current cost is. 2. The death certificate might give some clues as to what happened - if you are lucky it will give the address at which the lady died. The GBP 7.00 charge (including international postage) makes this a worthwhile expense. 3. There was a major influenza epidemic in England in 1918-1919 (as well as many other countries) so it's not impossible that this was a contributory factor to her death. 4. Since the lady was aged 85 and widowed, it's very likely that she was living with family or friends. If you can get an address from (1) or (2), a street directory will give the "head of household". If you reply to me or the list after getting an address, it should be possible to give you further information. 5. The records for Plumstead Cemetery have not (yet) been published by the North West Kent FHS - http://www.nwkfhs.org.uk/ - but it's possible that they may include them in their massive publishing project. 6. It might be worthwhile to contact the Woolwich and District FHS - see http://www.ffhs.org.uk/members2/england/eng-heref.php for details - since Plumstead officially falls within their area. Regards, Charles Fuller. Maureen wrote: > Hi, > My g-grandma (85 yrs) was buried in Plumstead cemetary in Oct. 1920. Her husband died (1913) and was buried in their life-long hometown in Oxfordshire. On the gravestone (in Oxfordshire) it says his wife is buried in Plumstead cemetary. I have no idea why she would be buried there as I can't find any relatives in the immediate area. *Would there be a hospital/old folks home etc. that would bring her to this area?* It is a mystery as they would have had enough money to have transported her back to her hometown for burial. *Were things tough in England in 1920 for her not to have been buried at home?* Any ideas gratefully received. > > Thank you > Maureen