The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-10-17 00:00:00

STOURBRIDOE BURIAL BOARD.

The adjourned meeting of this Board was held
in the ante-room of the Corn Exchange, on Monday
atteruoou last. Mr. J. B. Shepherdpresided ; and
there were also present Messrs. W. .J. Turuey, E.
Stringer, 11. Bißingham,: Cr. E. Perkin, C. King,
and W. Platt.

The Clerk read the minutes of the last meeting,
which were confirmed. The Chairman having
reminded the meeting that on the previous oceasion
a committee had been appointed to draw up a re-
port with reference to the number of deaths,
burials and probable arrangements for the pm-
, chase of a site for a cemetery, said the committee
had prepared a reprt, which was to the following
effect. 'l'he following was a statement of deaths
during the years 1871-2-3 :—Stourbridge, 1871,
155; 1872, 170; 1873, 167. Upper Swinford, 1871,
58; 1872, 39; 1873, 36; total for Stourbridge for
the three years, 492; total for Upper Swinford, 133;
tl for both tew whips 492; average for the three
years, 20-s. These tiger* a were based upon infor-
mation received from Mr. Levi, registrar of births
and deaths. It was unnecessary to go into details
as to Lye and Wollescote, and he might state that 1
the average for three years was 182 in each year.
They would also see that the number was almost '
equal to that for the two township of Stourbridge !
and Upper Swinford. The report then gave a
stat ement of the number of burials in Old Swinford
parish churchyard. In 1871, the number was 318;
in 1872, 333 ;in 1873, 344—total, 995. Of these
burials, 438 were from Lye and Woolescote, leaving :
557 from other districts, the greater part being
from Stourbridgeand Upper Swinford. mat gave
an average of 186 burials in Old Swinford parish
churchyard from Stourbridge and Upper Swinford,
allowing for those coming from a distance and
persons from Stourbridge who were buried else.
where. On a comparison of the number of deaths
and of beriale, there were about 22 to be accounted
for, the average deaths in Stourbridge and Upper
Swinford being 208, as against 186 burials. They
had estimated that 30 burials took place yearly in
in other places within the townships and Upper
Swinford. That estimation was based on the best
information they could get at the moment, and
which they thought sufficient to rely upon for the
report. He had, however, received a letter that
day from Mr. Hand, who had written at the re-
quest of Mr. Haskew, stating the burials in the
Roman Catholic Cemetery at Norton numbered 15
annually, whereas it had been thought to be 25;
and they must consider whether there should be
any allowance made for that discrepancy. They
were indebted to Mr. Holloway's son, who had ex-
amined his father's books, for the following state-
ment of the population of the townships :—Stonr-
bridge, census of 1861, 8,789 ; 1871, 9,376. Upper
Swinford, census of 1861, 2,749 ; 1871, 2,897. Total
in 1861, 11,538; in 1871, 12,273. The census for
Lye and Wollescote, taking the two townships to-
gether. showed a population, in 1861, of 6,772; and
in 1871, 7,758. The population of Steel-bridge
and Up) •r Swinford has increased during the ten
years at the rate of 6-37 per cent.; and the popu-
lation of Lye and Wellescote had increased at the
rate of 1156 per cent. Assuming that the popu-
lation of Stourbridge and Upper Swinford would
increase at the same rate every ten years during
the next 50 years as during the ten years from 1861
to 1871, and that other burial places would be
shortly closed, the committee estimated to provide
during the next 50 years for 12,000 burials, and
that they would require for the Cemetery an area
of eight acres, besbles space for chapels, walks &c.,
and in e, ,nsideratiou of the above facts, it appeared
that they would require from nine to eleven acres
of g,roun.l, au d the proportion of area would be for
St ,urbridge, 76-1 per cent, and for Upper Swinford
26.6 per cent. The Chairman then entered into a
number ~f details as to the area of the Worcester
Cemetery, the regulations for burials, fees, &c.
It appeared the grave of *mean was not allowed
to be opened under a term of 14 years. The lowest
burial was 17s. They were divided in this
I llaLlUer: s+. was paid to the Cemetery Hoard, 58, to
t er, ::s tid, to the clerk, and to the sexton
3s 64. Those were amounts as nearly as he could
recollect them. For poor funerals ihe found that
four bearers were generally considered sufficient;
and the corpses were generally brought to the
cemetery —which was 1} mile distant from the
Cross at Worce,ter in a one-horse hearse, for
which the charge was Sc. The number of graves,
per acre, was somewhere about 1,000. He (the
chairman was struck with the large amount of burial
fees. The charge for a grave within 12 feet of
road was £4; and for the grant of a grave in
perpetuity with a brick vault, £6. For every
Moment in such graves they charged for those
that were close to the road £2 for those a little
farther IT £l, and for those still farther 10s. And
then there were for expenses on the ground, .21
13s, for every foot of extra depth £l, for permission
to phice a headstone £2, and for an iron rail round
the grave more than two inches high from the
ground .22.

One of the members remarked that at that rate
it would cost as much to bury a woman as to marry
her. Mr. King said if such charges as those were
to be made they would be able to make the ceme-
tery self-supporting, as, at the rate of 1,000 graves
per acre. a fee of Is per grave would be £2lO pounds.
Mr. Billingham a Anowledged the indebtedness
of the Beard to Mr. Shepherd, for the trouble he had
been at iu getting the information, but they had
not yet arrived at the time when they could (Es.
cuss those charges.
_

This was admitted, and iurefereneetothe quan-
tity of ground required fore cemetery:inthis town,
The Chairman said if there should be 12,000
burials in the ground during the 50 years for
whi-h they proposed to provide accommodation,
eight acre. 4 woald not be quite enough. It would
seem from the enquires he had made that 120,100
burials was not an over-estimate. The report was
the best they were able to draw up with the
material.; they could get, and before he moved
that the report be received and adopted he thought
it was possible that the Board would like todecide
whether less than nine acres would be desirable.
Mr. Billingham reminded him that there was one
thing that they had not taken into account that
was that they should get duplicate interments in
SOMe graves. If they took a term of 14 years be-
fore each grave was re-opened there would be a
probability- of having as many as three in one
grave iu the course.of.so years..

4.
The Chairman said that might be so, except in
cases whel e graves were brought. What he had
been laying before them were the facts, and he
should like to Max any gentleman say something
on the subject. He should be glad to hear whether
they thought it desirable that the report should
be further considered.

Mr. ifillingham did not think the latter was
necessary because when they came to the real
business they might alter the figures. They were
not obliged to adhere to all the suggestions of
committee, even if they adopted the report.
The Chairman acquiesced in this, and said the
suggestion of the committee was that it was desir-
able to supply from nine to eleven acres, and ac-
cording to the best information he could obtain
that amount of land would be necessary for their
cemetery,

Mr. S(ringer suggested that the further consi-
deration of this subject be adjourned for a few
days.
'rhe report was finally adjourned for further
consideration at the next meeting, it being under-
stood that in the meantime the members w mid
get all available information from Bridgenecth,
Kidderminster, and other places where the popu-
latiou was about the same as that of Stourbrid ge.
The ehatruaan then read a section of the Bu i is
Act, which state,l that burials of adults, in any
one grave, should not take place oftener than once
in 14 years.