Salford records added to Deceased Online

From Deceased Online (www.deceasedonline.com):

Salford records available on Deceased Online from Agecroft, Peel Green, and Swinton

Three cemeteries and two crematoria from Salford in Greater Manchester are available to view on www.deceasedonline.com, with records dating from 1879. Agecroft, Peel Green, and Swinton Cemeteries, and Agecroft and Peel Green Crematoria are available now. Their records comprise digital scans of the original burial and cremation registers, cemetery maps showing the section in which the grave is located, and grave details for each of the graves and their occupants.

Agecroft Cemetery

Agecroft Cemetery opened in 1903 with the name of Salford Northern Cemetery, due to a pressing need for burial space as the nearby Weaste Cemetery was near to capacity. In 1957 the Non-Conformist chapel was converted to a crematorium. In the grounds at Agecroft stands a beautiful Victorian mortuary chapel with a clock tower, now derelict and listed as a heritage building at risk. Peel Green Cemetery was opened in 1879 and was originally known as the Eccles Cemetery. The crematorium in the grounds opened in 1955 and, as with Agecroft, utilised the old Non-Conformist chapel.

Swinton Cemetery opened in 1886 and is the resting place of Henry George Crandon VC. Crandon enjoyed a distinguished military career and served all over the world, including in India, South Africa, France, and Egypt. He earned the Victoria Cross in Springbok Laagte when he and Private Berry were ambushed by forty Boer commandos whilst scouting ahead. Private Berry was shot in the hand and shoulder and his horse was injured but Private Crandon braved the bullets to ride back for him, placing Private Berry on to his own horse and leading the horse to safety on foot. With Berry safe and out of range, Crandon returned fire until the main body arrived. Crandon was buried with full military honours in Swinton Cemetery in 1953, at the age of 78.

Salford cemeteries, among many others in Greater Manchester, provide the final resting place of many people killed in the Manchester Blitz of Christmas 1940. It's estimated that 215 people were killed and 910 injured in Salford during the Luftwaffe raids of 22nd and 23rd of December, and more than 8,000 homes damaged or destroyed. The Greater Manchester Blitz Victims website, dedicated to the memory of those who died, details a total of 1,428 civilians from the Greater Manchester District, Salford included. Dr John Dudgeon Giles OBE and his wife Annie were among those killed when Hope Hospital was bombed, after Dr Giles had worked hard to transform Hope hospital "from a poor law institution to a well equipped medical centre." Dr and Mrs Giles were buried in Agecroft Cemetery. More information about some of the people killed in the Greater Manchester air raids can also be found at the Greater Manchester Blitz Victims' sister site, Trafford War Dead.

Coming Soon:
We're working hard on processing more than 330,000 burial records for Salford's Weaste Cemetery, which will be coming to Deceased Online in the near future.

(With thanks to Deceased Online)

Chris

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