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Researching family history at the Archives Centre

City of Westminster Archives Centre holds many sources to assist you with your family history research.

Gravestone, cemetery and undertaker records

Monumental inscriptions

For some churchyards we have monumental or gravestone inscriptions. Inscriptions can provide birth dates and family relationships.

Cemetery registers

To trace burials after 1853, you must consult cemetery records. By the mid-19th century, London churchyards were full to overflowing and so parishes bought land outside London to provide new cemeteries.

After the 1853 Burial Act, burials took place in surrounding cemeteries rather than churchyards.

Document
Cemetery registers PDF, 348.52 KB, 7 pages

View contact details for the modern cemetery department

Undertaker records

Funeral records can help with identifying where an individual is buried. Burials often took place miles from where a person died. These records can also contain the deceased's name, age, date of death, place of burial and funeral items supplied.

We hold the records of:

  • William Tookey and Sons, Marylebone High Street 
  • William Garstin and Sons, Wigmore Street 
  • T Vigers Co, 9 Eccleston Street 
  • J H Kenyon Ltd, 45/47 Edgware Road

Published: 22 December 2020

Last updated: 15 January 2021