The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-04 00:00:00

OCTOBER.

Curragh l6, 17 18
FRENCH RACING FIXTURES.
JULY.
Toulouse
St. Omer
Rouen
Motz B, 9 Saintes 2B, 29
Amiens
AUGUST.
Deauville. ...« 4, 5,6 I Lo Mans
Rochefort 5 Laon l9, 20
Bourges...
Valenciennes
Moulins
Cherbourg l9

SEPT:
Baden-Baden 3, 5, 7
Chantilly

nBER.
Paris (Autumn) 23, 30

OCT'
Paris 7
Chantilly l4, 18

IBER.
Vincennes

St. Pancras Churchyard.

Yesterday was appointed by the Bishop of Lon-
don for the consecration of a piece of ground which
had been appropriated by the Midland Railway
Company to the purpose of re-interment of the
bodies or remains of deceased persons which at pre-
sent lie in the churchyards of St. Giles-in-the-
Yields and Old St. Pancras, and which it may be
found necessary to remove in constructing the works
of the Metropolitan Branch and Terminus of the
Midland Railway.

The piece of land in question consists of about
three-quarters of an acre, bounded on the north by
the lunatic wards of St. Pancras Workhouse, on the
west by the eastern wall of St. Giles's Cemetery, 03
RPaailliswaadyinlginef,oarnmdintagpering to a narrow
the boundary of
ptthhoeeini\etanosdtnlbatnyhdeasouth, abutting on the north-eastern
corner of Old St. Pancras Churchyard. The whole
of this ground is situated in the parish of St. Pan-
cras, but the freehold is vested in the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners.

The Bishop of London had appointed 1 o'clock
p.m. for the ceremony of consecration, and shortly
after that hour arrived at the old mortuary chapel
of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, Old St. Pancras-road,
where he was received by the Rev. Canon Champ-
neys, vicar ; the Rev. Mr. Arrowsmith, incumbent
of Old St. Pancras ; the Rev. Air. Thorold, rector
of St. otherdecplz
deputy-chairman rLn ; Mr. by Mr. Price,
Af..p. for Giles,
Gloucester, and
Bar-
low, chief engineer ; M. Beale, solicitor, and seve-
ral directors of the Midland Railway; Mr. Scadding,
clerk to the church trustees ; Dr. Hillier, medical
officer of health ; several members of the sanatory
committee of St. Pancras, and its chairman, Mr.
Watson, &c.

Prior to the procession moving to the'ground to
be consecrated several preliminary objections were
raised, some it was feared at the outset which would
be fatal to the legality of the ceremony being per-
formed altogether. In the first place, only a few
days since the Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment foal made a solemn promise to the sana-
tory committee and the medical officer of health of
St. Pancras that he would not sanction, at all
events at the present period of the year, the removal
of large masses of human remains from the two
churchyards in question, reeking as they were known
to be with dead. The question then arose whether
in the face of this promise the Secretary of State
had given his sanction to theseproccedings in accord-
ance with the 9th section of the Metropolitan Burials
Act, the 15th and 16th section, c. 85, which enacts,
" No new burial-ground or cemetery (parochial or
non-parochial) shall be provided and used in the
metropolis, or within two miles of any part thereof,
without the previous approval of one of her Majesty's
principal Secretaries
settled by the declaration in the petition from the
Midland Railway Company to the bishop, setting
forth that such approval of her Majesty's Secretary
of State had been
ob-
jection still remained. This arose from the con-
struction put upon the 33d section of the Metropolis
given. But the more serious ""
Burials Act, by which it is provided that where a
burial-ground is provided for two or more parishes
such burial-ground shall be in law as if such parishes
were one parish, and the incumbent or minister of
such parishes are to
be entitled to all such rights,
&c., as pertained to the burial-ground of their own
parish, &c. On the part of St. Pancras it was
argued that they
Mild not consent to any right of
supervision over the
ground to be appropriated for
consecration by the authorities of St. Giles's. In
order to get rid of this difficulty it was suggested
that whilst the new burial ground for the reception
of these remains should be
granted and consecrated
for the parish of St. Pancras, it was provided that
St. Giles's should have the use thereof for similar
purposes. This
was met on the part of St. Giles's,
that they might be subjected to prohibition from
placing the remains of bodies therein from St. Giles's
ground if the authorities of
St. Pancras objected.
The Bishop, however, overruled this protest on
the ground that the faculty from his Court enabled
the bodies of St. Giles's parishioners to be removed
as it directed.
He, therefore, adopted the sug-
gestion.

The procession then walked to the ground to be
consecrated, in the centre of
which a small marquee
had been erected, and where a much larger congre-
gation had assembled than it would contain. The
right reverend prelate proceeded with the ceremony
till arriving at that part where the presentation of
the petition for consecrating takes place. After re-

citing the acts under which the Midland Railway
Company had powers to pass through the St. G iles's
and St. Pancras's-churchyards, it stated that these
acts also gave them powers to remove bodies from
vaults, and from one grave to another in the same
ground ; but added that the ground was no longer
used as an interment ground, and there was not
sufficient room for such re-interment of bodies.
They, therefore, prayed that the bishop would con-
secrate the ground then inclosed, to meet the neces-
sities referred to in their petition.

The Bishop of LONDON said the Secretary of State
had signified his approval of the consecration of this
ground, on condition that it was used only for the
re-interment of the bodies removed from the adjoin-
ing burial-ground of St. Pancras and St. Giles's in
carrying out the works of the Midland Railway
Company. (The Bishop was here about to proceed
when the ceremony was interrupted by several ob-
jections being apparently raised, and several of the
gentlemen present, as well as the clergy, crowded
round him, and a whispering conversation took
place for some time, in which the solicitors for the
company, the Bishop's surrogate, Mr. Sheppard,
and others took part.) At its conclusion the Bishop
continued :—The objection now raised was, that
there was no provision made for transferring bodies
from St. George's, Bloomsbury, as well as those of
St. Giles's, but as they were united parishes, he saw
no difficulty under his faculty, although the ground
belonged to St. Pancras. The Secretary of State
having, therefore, given his sanction for the removal
of the bodies from St. Giles's and St. Pancras, he
felt quite ready to consecrate the ground.
The right rev, prelate then proceeded to conse-
crate the ground, dispensing with the usual cere-
mony of perambulation, stating as his reason that
it was unnecessary, the place in which they were
assembled being part and parcel of the ground con-
secrated.

The proceedings then closed, and were looked
upon by the authorities and others present as a com-
plete farce, the ceremony of consecration affording
no real protection to the remains of the dead from
desecration.