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Cremations - when did they start?

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Mandy in Wiltshire

Mandy in Wiltshire Report 25 Jan 2008 20:24

Many thanks, Kate,

Thanks, Island, I've looked at that site and it's very interesting. I'll copy and paste a small relevant part in case anyone else wants to know in future and does a thread search on here.

In 1873 Sir Henry Thompson, Surgeon to Queen Victoria, attended the Vienna Exposition, where a working model of a cremator designed by Professor Brunetti was exhibited. He returned home to become the first and chief promoter of cremation in England.


In 1874 the Cremation Society of England came into being, founded by Sir Henry Thompson, with Shirley Brooks, Frederick Lebonan, John Everett Millais, John Tenniel, Anthony Trollope and Sir T. Spenser Wells representing the realm of art, science, literature and medicine.


In 1885 on the 26th March the first official cremation within the UK was carried out at Woking. The deceased was a Mrs Jeannette C. Pickersgill.

Kate

Kate Report 25 Jan 2008 20:18

I don't know when they became commonplace but I think I read that the first one in London was for a woman named Honoretta Pratt in the mid to late 1700s.

Mandy in Wiltshire

Mandy in Wiltshire Report 25 Jan 2008 20:14

Does anyone know roughly when cremations started in this country please?

Many thanks,
Mandy :)