6,918 burials in Bishopwearmouth Cemetery 1882 - 1885

Like earlier records from Bishopwearmouth Cemetery, these burial records usually provide the names of spouses, parents of deceased children, addresses, ages, and occupations. For example:

  • 20 Nov 1875 John George Wanless, of 33 Lawrence Street, age: 10, son of George Wanless (Commercial Traveller)

This block includes the burials following the horrifying and tragic Victoria Hall Disaster of June 16, 1883 in which 183 children were crushed to death as they pressed against a door to receive treats. We have already seen that 31 of these children were buried at Mere Knolls Cemetery and 1 at the graveyard of Southwick parish church. Now we find that 116 were interred at Bishopwearmouth Cemetery - 48 on June 19th, 64 on the 20th. and 4 on June 21st. This still leaves 35 children unaccounted for and we would expect to find all of these when we cover the last large burial ground of Greater Sunderland - Sunderland Cemetery at Stockton Road, Grangetown.

More articles about the Victoria Hall Disaster of 1883 can be found at: