Jenny De Angelis wrote: > As Mary was talking about a death in 1840, when there would not have been > refrigeration for keeping bodies longer than a few days, I believe that most > people would have been buried within 3 or 4 days of death at that time. A > delay might be caused by the inquest but I have found that the inquests > that have taken place for members of my past family have usually been the > day after the death and the body released for burial within a day or two of > that inquest. A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but I have since discovered bodies could be and were kept for up to a week before burial even back then and before. The bodies could be kept anywhere that was cool enough, especially ice houses. There's no doubt there were burials that did take place with two or three days of death. I've come across both in the course of my research but I'm more inclined to agree with JK that the norm was about a week. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk