Hi, I'm wondering if anybody could help with a research problem I've been having. I'm trying to find the burial site of a George Greaves, who was born in 1849 and died in Middlewood Hospital on 5th Mar 1888. I assumed he would have been buried in Wadsley church cemetery, however I can't find any record of him there (both on the SFHS transcripts and the image copies on Findmypast).

I don't know if this has any bearing, but he was from Barnsley originally and was living in the workhouse there before he was admitted to Middlewood. I wondered if his body was returned to Barnsley but there is no record of him in any of the cemeteries there either.

Did Middlewood use any other cemeteries? Or is it possible he was simply buried without it being recorded?

Any help or insight much appreciated!

James, On his death it is most likely that he will have been returned to the Barnsley Workhouse. They would then have given his next of kin the option to bury him. Either way I believe you are more likely to find him in Barnsley.
Dave

Hi James,

I dont suppose the date of death could be wrong???

Greaves, George (, died on 30 Nov 1897, at the age of 53).
Resided at Wadsley Asylum and buried on 5 Dec 1897 in C of E ground;
Grave Number 21905, Section X2 71 of General Cemetery, Sharrow.

Elaine.

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Hi,

Thanks Elaine but I have his death record details cross-referenced with the hospital's patient records so I know he died 1888.

Dave, after what you suggested I've returned to researching in Barnsley. Thanks for your help.

At Wadsley church there is a large area with no headstones where people from Middlewood hospital were buried.

just a thought but do you know when his wife died and where she is buried?

He never married and his parents died before he did. On the 1881 census he was listed as having become blind, so he must have been ill for some time prior to ending up at Wadsley.

I'm struggling to find anything about a burial in Barnsley though.

I am wondering now that if his body wasn't claimed within a reasonable time (I'm presuming his parents would have been the next of kin as he was living with them prior to ending up where he did) whether it was given to medical research. There was a law that allowed for it apparently. Has anybody come across anything like that?

James, back in 2004 I had a similar case with my grandmother who died in 1917. Because I could not find a burial for her I believed at that stage that perhaps she had been sold for research. Some documents for her were found at SFA, including an autopsy report, and a nurse report of her moment of death. That autopsy was a legal requirement for someone who died in the asylum. But there was no indication of what happened to her remains.
Eventually I found her buried by her mother in Stannington
From all this I learned that the SFA patients were paid for by the workhouse from which they came, and when they died that originating workhouse sorted out what happened next.
Your theory is possible, but the final decision on that would be made by the Barnsley Workhouse. Are there any records extant?
Hope that helps.
Dave