Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Tracing a Grave

Hi,

One of my relatives died in 1896 after suffering from TB for 5 years and I'm trying to find where she may be buried. I have been in touch with Wirral cemeteries and there is no record of her being buried in one.

Her name was Kate Louise Gillies and she lived at 5 Mercia Terrace, West Kirby, Hoylake. Her death was registered in the sub-district of Woodchurch in the county of Chester.

She was married in a C of E church in Everton in 1890. What C of E churches were in her neighbourhood ?

Which local newspaper may her death have been anounced in ?

Grateful for any assistance.

Thanks


Adrian Cork

Totally misread that at first and wondered why you were on here posting about Everton district. It is more than likely they were buried in a church yard the most likely being Holy Trinity Hoylake. The grave yard is still there but the church was pulled down. You will have to find where the parish records are held, which is probably Chester or maybe Wirral Archives can help?

Rootschat may be able to help. http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php

I was thinking try flaybrick??

First off if you have contacted Wirral Cemeteries and they have no record of an burial, that is in a municipal cemetery then you must look to the local parish churchyard.

Mercia Terrace is in the Grange Ward of Hoylake-cum-West Kirby, in the parish of St. Bridgets (church) that is the first place I would look.

Her death is registered at the GRO in the Wirral registration district which covers West Kirby. Cheshire BMD uses the sub-district of Woodchurch which is very confusing if you don't know how the registration districts work.

Failing St. Bridgets you could then try Holy Trinity, at Hoylake. Remember these are all Church records & Wirral Cemeteries do not have the records for these.

Holy Trinity is quite easy to locate graves but St Bridgets is overgrown in a lot of places. I would imagine that given the date she died, you may be lucky and she would be buried close to the church which isn't too bad. Assuming her grave is marked of course.

You could try local papers of the time Liverpool Echo also Birkenhead News.
Alan

The burial registers for both St Bridget (1561 - 1970) and Holy Trinity (1834 - 1921) are at the Cheshire Record Office, it may be worth trying there before walking round the churchyards, as the grave may have no marker.

I've checked the monumental inscription indexes that I have for the local churches and there is no record of a Gillies headstone at any of them. Unfortunately it looks like a trawl through the parish burial records is needed as there are no details on Family Search or the Cheshire Parish Register database either. Churches I've looked at for MIs are:

St. Bridget's, West Kirby
Holy Trinity, Hoylake
St. John the Devine, Frankby
Holy Cross, Woodchurch
Christ Church, Moreton

If anyone else is looking for graves at any of these churches feel free to pm me and I'll see what I can find. I also have access to the MIs for Birkenhead St. Mary and St. Oswald, Bidston.

As Kate and her husband Robert were living in West Derby in 1891 they had not lived in West Kirby that long when she died. It could be they moved temporarily to West Kirby to relieve Kate's TB - although there was no known cure for the disease it was thought that a healthier climate could help. Her death would have to be registered here, but is it possible that she was buried in Liverpool where there was a family grave? Sorry if I'm complicating things!

The MI's for St. Marys Church Birkenhead can be found at
http://stmarysbirkenhead.blogspot.com/

As nightwalker pointed out, looking at the 1911 Census it look like Robert Gillies has re-married and is back in West Derby, so it does seem reasonable that she could be buried in Lancashire.

From the Liverpool Mercury, 4th January 1896:

GILLIES - New Year's morn, at 5, Mercia-terrace, West Kirby, aged 29, Kate Louise, the dear wife of Robert W Gillies of this city. Deeply regretted. Interment at West Derby Cemetery this day (Saturday), Jan 4, at two p.m.

Result!!!

What can I say other than thank you to all who posted in response to my query. I have learned much from simply reading each response.

According to her death certificate, Kate had sufferred from two types of TB for 5 years. It never incurred to me that she would've moved to Wirral for health reasons. Clealrly she did.

Robert William did indeed moved back to Great Crosby where he lived with his second wife Maude Gillies (nee Macleod.)Maude was the daughter of a bread and flower dealer and lived in Conway Street Birkenhead. I wonder if they met because of Kate. Maybe Maude helped nurse her.

They went on to have two children the youngest of whom, Ken, flew with great distinction in the Battle of Britain. He was killed in action a matter of weeks before the birth of his only son. Robert was to die 6 weeks after Ken and was intered in Thornton Garden of Rest on New Years Day 1941, 45 years to the day after Kate passed.

Robert and Maude's grandson was also killed in the war, defending Tobruk in 1941.

A little bit of interest is that a future Archbishop of Canterbury,Robert Runcie, lived in the same road as the Gillies family and played cricket in his back garden with Ken.

Again, a huge thank you to to all who contributed to this thread. You have helped my research enormously.

Regards

Adrian Cork