4,925 burials at Greatham St. John the Baptist in Hartlepool district, from the start of the register in 1559 to the end of 1972 - over 400 years of burials. At first, there are seldom any details to help identify the deceased person:

  • 17 May 1559 Robert Boothe
  • 15 Mar 1582 Nicholas Bird, one of the poor of the Hospital

but in the early 1580s, we start seeing parents and spouses and an occasional age:

  • 18 Feb 1582 Robert Rudderforth, son of Brian Rudderforth
  • 14 Aug 1598 Agnes Dawson, wife of Rauf Dawson
  • 2 Dec 1622 Margaret Emerson, daughter of Michael Trotter (of the parish of Stannok, being the reputed father) & Kathreen Emerson
  • 26 Feb 1674 Elinor Willson alias Curry, age: 80

then we start getting both parents of most deceased children in 1730:

  • 25 Apr 1732 John Fell, son of Ralph Fell & Elizabeth
  • 11 Sep 1751 Jane Elstob, widow of Jonathan Elstob
  • 23 Sep 1791 Francis Harperley, age: 3, son of William Harperley & Isabella

then we enter the era of many glorious details:

  • 7 Mar 1798 Hannah Harper late Suggit, of Greatham, age: 60, native of the chapelry of Wolviston, died 4th March, wife of Joseph Harper (stonemason)
  • 1 Sep 1800 Luke Elstob, of Stockton, age: 60, died 29th Aug, officer of Customs
  • 14 Oct 1811 Christopher Porrit Bowser, of Sunderland, age: 4 & 1/2, died 11th Oct, son of Henry Bowser (late mariner, deceased) & Margaret, his wife

and finally we return to the few details offered by post-1812 burials, with some additional detail given for Hospital brothers & sisters:

  • 4 Feb 1815 Hannah Earl, of Greatham, age: 91
  • 30 Mar 1836 Margaret Summers, of Parkhurst Hospital, age: 73, a sister in the Hospital
  • 19 May 1850 Isaac Tyson, of Greatham, age: 82, a brother in the Hospital
  • 6 Sep 1871 Frederick Lamb Scott, of Greatham, age: 15
  • 12 Oct 1972 Constance Mary Tate, of Briarmead, Greatham, age: 82

The Hospital of God at Greatham wasn’t a medical hospital; it was more of an almshouse, supporting a small population of elderly indigent men (originally priests), called brothers. Parkhurst Hospital was the sister home for elderly indigent women, called sisters.