Although headstones can be a great source of information for family historians (and who doesn’t love pottering round a cemetery or graveyard?), what can we do when a headstone is illegible, inaccessible, vanished, or never existed in the first place? Even where a legible headstone can be found, it doesn’t necessarily follow that all those interred in a plot are recorded on it. How does anyone find just where their ancestors are buried?
Fortunately for me, I spotted a Facebook request for family historians to join Undercliffe Cemetery’s research team and jumped at the opportunity to investigate the records. That was back in 2018. Little did I know what rabbit hole of research I was entering and what I’d discover!
Undercliffe Cemetery’s history
Undercliffe Cemetery (www. undercliffecemetery.co.uk) was provisionally registered as the Bradford Cemetery Company in 1849 by a group of leading businessmen. Not only was it a necessary amenity but it was designed to be a profitable enterprise. It received its licence to operate in 1852, shares were issued and a suitable site was sought. The right parcel of land became available, an estate being sold by a wealthy Quaker family, on the outskirts of the burgeoning town. In all, 26 acres of land (incorporating farm buildings) were purchased for £3,400 and
