Bloxwich Cemetery, located on Field Road, was opened in 1875.
Until 1875, burials had taken place in the churchyard of All Saints – the parish church of Bloxwich (built 1793). By the 1870s, the churchyard had become extremely crowded and another burial site was needed.
Bloxwich Cemetery as shown on map c1901
The cemetery expanded over the years – from 6 acres to about 13 acres today (2023).
Map of Bloxwich Cemetery c2021
There were originally two mortuary chapels – one designated for Church of England and one for Nonconformists – but the Nonconformist chapel was demolished sometime before 2009. There was talk of demolishing the remaining building but as of 2023, the disused chapel is still standing.
Side view of disused chapel at Bloxwich Cemetery
Family Connections
1986 – Carnation Richards (died 27 Jan 1986) – buried [HH section]
1987 – Charles Richards (died 29 Apr 1987) – buried [HH section]
1900 – Eli Fletcher (infant) – buried 10 Aug 1900 [E section 2 grave 55]
1909 – Elizabeth Fletcher (died 3 May 1909) – buried 8 May 1909 [C section 2 grave 251]
Other Connections
1875 – The first burials were those of William Boncer (age 28) and Henry Edward Hough (aged 2 days) on 7 June 1875.
(Mary Ann Pritchard (aged 3) was buried 8 June)
I’ve been gone a while as I haven’t had much time to do genealogy lately. I haven’t even emailed my fabulous archivist for more information on the new lunatics I’ve uncovered from the last information received (She’s probably glad for the break).
At least this glorious snow we’ve been having will give me an opportunity to try and get in the swing of things again.
I’m going to sit back and relax now, read my brand new family tree magazine and wait for inspiration to strike. I’ll be back.
(Oh, and thankyou for the compliments and blog awards – you’re all very kind).
My mother migrated to Australia with her parents and younger sister when she was 9.
As a result, I know little about that side of the family but my mother remembers the time with her grandparents fondly.
In 2001, I was able to make a short trip to Belgium where I met my grandfather’s brother and his wife, who are wonderful people. Amongst many other activities, they took me to the grave of my great grandparents near Charleroi (which as you can see contains VERY little information).
While in Devon I paid a visit to the lovely village of Broadhembury. I had hopes of finding the graves of my STILING forebears to give me some new leads – this wasn’t to be. I did however, find the graves of some other Stilings. These Stilings are bound to be related somewhere along the line so I post these photos of their gravestones to help out distant family members who may be looking for these guys.
Affectionate Remembrance of
Thomas Stiling
Died Sep 18th 1848
Aged 38 years
[…] in death
ALSO Jane his wife
Died March 26 1875
Aged 75 years
Thy Will Be Done
ALSO John their son
Died November 27 1892
Aged 63 years
In Loving Memory
Of
William Stiling
Who died March 20 1865
Aged 43 years
*note* – These inscriptions were extremely difficult to read. Most of the last one was deciphered through touch and educated guesswork so may not be entirely accurate.
Sometimes as genealogists we have to wait years for answers.
Waiting for the required records to become available.
Waiting for the chance to visit somewhere that may hold the key. Waiting for some kind of miracle.
But by some extraordinary stroke of luck, I didn’t have to wait long at all (or do much work) to find the answers to the puzzles I listed on my Emigrating to New Zealand post.
As I searched for more information on the Rimutaka (there were a few ships with this name), I came across The Northern CemeteryThe Northern Cemeterysite. This site, I’m told, “brings together information from many different research sources to offer you a unique view of one of New Zealand’s most interesting cemeteries”. On this site I found excerpts from the book “From Peterhead to Passchendaele” written by Roy Buchan, who also turns out to be one of my distant relatives.
It also contains the following transcribed monumental inscription for some members of this family buried in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin:
Monumental Inscription
(1)
In memory of
CHARLES BUCHAN
1830 – 1910
and Wife
JANET BUCHAN
1830 – 1915
JESSIE RITCHIE BUCHAN
1888 – 1908
JOHN BUCHAN
1858 – 1926
and Wife
JESSIE BUCHAN
1860 – 1910
Arrived in NZ on ship Rimutaka, 1893
from Peterhead, Scotland
and lie buried here.
(2)
In loving memory of
ROSEMARY ANN BUCHAN
Died 5th June 1988
Aged 41 years.
(3)
In loving memory of
ANNIE ROSS BUCHAN
Dearly loved wife of ROBERT
And loved mother of
LORELEI, ROBIN and ROSEMARY
Died 22nd March 1972.
Also ROBERT BUCHAN
Died 4th January 1995
Aged 90 years.
“Keep a green bough in your heart,
And God will send you a singing bird.”
(4)
In loving memory of
Henry J.D. SCRYMGEOUR
Dearly loved husband of LORELEI
Loved father of ROSS, MURRAY & ALISTAIR
17-11-1926 – 6-1-1999
(5)
CHRISTINA BUCHAN
1894 – 1978
The information I found on this site allowed me to answer the questions I had on my Emigrating to New Zealand post :
* Which Jessie and John are recorded above Alex’s family and how do they link to my family?
Jessie is Alex’s sister and John Buchan is her husband – I would now like to find out if John’s family were closely connected to Jessie’s.
*What happened to Alex’s sister Jessie (is she the Jessie mentioned above) and brother Charles?
Jessie also travelled to New Zealand on the Rimutaka (see answer above). It appears Charles stayed in Scotland:
“Four of their children were: Peter (1858), Jessie (1860), Alexander (1862), and William (1872). These sailed with their parents to New Zealand, but there is thought to be at least one other who stayed behind”.
* Which Jessie Buchan is buried in the family grave with Charles and Jessie (born Janet RITCHIE)?
“Their daughter Jessie died at the age of twenty in 1908 of meningitis and is buried in the same plot with her mother, who died two years later in 1910”.
* Who is Master John? I’ve had no record of this person so far – is he Charles and Jessie’s son?
He is John & Jessie’s son, apparently just tagging along with his grandparents.
I also now have more family members to fit into the tree.
“From the Road to the Northern Cemetery” by George O’Brien found on Auckland Art Gallery
NOTE: I did find an error in this information, which should be a warning to all of us NOT to accept all that we’re given without question. It appears the author confused Janet/Jessie Buchan (1833) with her daughter Jessie Buchan (1860) when he writes that her maiden name was also Buchan. I have much evidence to prove that her maiden surname was RITCHIE.
Thank you to all the people involved in sharing the information I found on The Northern Cemetery site – it is VERY much appreciated.
