Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

William Harbord died in 1853 in Birkenhead. I cannot find out where he is buried. He was a customs officer and worked at the customs house in Liverpool, so he may possibly be buried in Liverpool. He started out life in Norfolk. Is it possible his body would have been taken all the way down there to be buried? Any advice or help would be extremely welcome and appreciated. If an members are also his descendants I would be pleased to chat off list. Thanks in advance. Richard

There are several Harbord on Toxteth park Cemetery site. http://www.toxtethparkcemetery.co.uk/db ... search.php
But sorry no William, but others might be of use. OOps Toxteth did not open until 1856

Hi and welcome,

Liverpool Mercury, November 4, 1853.

If William was buried in Birkenhead, its likely it would be Flaybrick or St Mary's, the records are held in Birkenhead Central Library. Have you had those records checked?

Bertieone wrote:If William was buried in Birkenhead, its likely it would be Flaybrick or St Mary's, the records are held in Birkenhead Central Library. Have you had those records checked?

Flaybrick can be discounted as it didn't open until 1864.

http://www.visitwirral.com/attractions- ... ens-p54698

Correct Karen, got mixed up with the initial planning of it.

Fantastic to get replies so quickly - thanks Bert. I haven't tried to get records checked at Birkenhead Central Library. How does one do that?

Thanks for the newspaper clipping. He was also reported in the Mersey Times!
Sadly neither of them mentioned a burial!

Richard

coombehouse wrote:Fantastic to get replies so quickly - thanks Bert. I haven't tried to get records checked at Birkenhead Central Library. How does one do that?

Richard

Watch this space,

I'll check next week when they reopen.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Bert's a good guy, thanks for going out of your way to check.

Although no William I have a few Memorial Inscriptions for the name at St. Michael's Church, Pitt Street I hope you might find useful.

In memory of Joseph, son of Richard and Eleanor HARBORD, who died
29th May 1829, aged 14 weeks. Also Edward, son of the above Richard and
Eleanor HARBORD, who died 7th May 1833, aged 8 days. Also of Eleanor,
the beloved wife of Richard HARBORD, Born August 29th 1799 died July
22nd 1875. Her children arise up and call her blessed, Her husband also
and he praiseth her Prov. 31ch. 28v. Also of Richard HARBORD, Born ay
28th 1803 died December 21st 1878. And they were both righteous before
God, Walking in all the commandments and ordnances of the Lord,
Blameless. Luke 1ch 6v.

Sacred to the memory of Henry Gordon HARBORD who died at Clifton,
Gloucestershire on the 29th day of December 1849, aged 34 years. Also of
Harry, infant son of the above Henry Gordon and Catherine HARBORD,
who died 10th March 1843. Also of Margaret, their daughter, who died 28th
May 1849, aged 17 months. Also of Catherine, their daughter, who died at
Monkton, Kent, on the 4th April 1852, aged 2 years and 10 months

Mary, you are wonderful!! These are the ancestors of my (distant - literally as well as genealogically) cousin (she lives near Vancouver, Canada). Would it be OK if I forwarded you post to her? She isn't a member, so I won't do it without your permission. I am hoping to come to Liverpool in May on my way to Ingleton where my other side of the family, Randall Sherlock was struck by lightning on Ingleton railway station. He ran the Liverpool Times for some time till his death. His brother, Cornelius was an architect and among other things designed the reading room in the central library.

Maybe I can visit the Pitt St. cemetery if it is still there and photograph the headstones.

This is why forums are so helpful in genealogy - where on earth would I have found all this out without your help. Thank you so much.

Richard

PS, William's death record says he died at St Mary's Priory, Birkenhead - would that have been a hospice do you think? It also strengthens the thought that he was buried there.

coombehouse wrote: Maybe I can visit the Pitt St. cemetery if it is still there and photograph the headstones.

St. Michael's was bombed during World War Two but, apparently, gravestones were rediscovered during construction work in 2012. This report says that they were going to be incorporated into a memorial garden.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... ty-3346249

Thanks Karen - I'm always an optimist, so they will be there!!

I certainly hope you are lucky! This is the picture from genuki http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Li ... hael.shtml

We are very lucky that James Gibson transcribed all the MI's from the early cemeteries in Liverpool so they are available to us now, even though many may not actually be there any more.

Of course you can send that information to your relative, it's for sharing.

If you get to Liverpool, try to come to the Record Office on Tuesday afternoons when we host a Help Desk there between 1.30 and 4.00 pm, it will be good to meet you and we may be able to help.

Thank you so much, Mary - I will certainly try and schedule my trip around a Tuesday pm visit to you.

My Canadian cousin was delighted with the inscriptions you supplied and wants me to thank you on her behalf. Is the information direct from headstones that I can see and photograph for her when I come to Liverpool, or is there a site where the information is stored?

These headstones may no longer exist, James Gibson is said to have visited all graveyards and transcribed the inscriptions, so hopefully there is evidence of what may no longer be there. The information I gave you is direct from the publication.

Gibsons Epitaphs, transcribed by Veronica Oldham of our Society, was produced onto a CD, is available from the Society Shop (link to the main site from the globe at the top of the page) and the Introduction to them reads as follows:

"Gibson’s Epitaphs is one of the most important sources for the family historian, who is researching in 19th century Liverpool. It is hand-written in 10 volumes, the 10th volume being the index to the previous 9. A new index has been prepared from the transcripts of Volumes 1 to 9 that includes not only the deceased, but all instances of names that appear in the inscriptions, including for example "Rajah" the Elephant, Volume Viii, page 288 - "Shot after killing its Keeper"

The compiler of these volumes was probably James Gibson variously described as a merchant or draper, a native of Stirling who lived and worked in Liverpool for many years and who wrote and edited a number of works on Robert Burns. He died aged sixty, in July 1886, in Stratford on Avon where he had been employed for a short while as a librarian in the Shakespeare Memorial Library. During his time in Liverpool he had, in his own words, "...... taken notes from all the churchyards and chapels in the district." Some of his transcribed epitaphs were printed in the "Notes and Queries" column of the Liverpool Weekly Mercury and reproduced in Notes and Queries relating to Liverpool, 1882-1889. (Hq 942 721 MER)

The volumes of Gibson's transcribed epitaphs were purchased by the Library from a Liverpool bookseller in 1887 for £5.00. In each volume the inscriptions are prefaced by historical, descriptive and sometimes critical notes on the relevant churches, churchyards or cemeteries, and occasionally illustrated. Printed extracts from the Liverpool Mercury column were pasted in where appropriate.

With thanks to the Liverpool City Libraries."

St Mary's, Birkenhead.

William Harbord,
Number 935,
Abode, Liverpool,
Burial, 5th November, 1853,
Age, 74.


http://stmarysbirkenhead.blogspot.co.uk/
“In 1957 work started at St. Mary’s Birkenhead, by the firm of J. Doyle Demolition of Liverpool. Its contract was to move all the dead from St. Mary’s graveyard, Birkenhead and re-inter them at Landican Cemetery, near Arrowe Park. Notices were put in local papers of the fact, and anyone who had relatives buried there and wanted to make alternative arrangements were asked to contact the company, on site.
Work began in 1957 and was to finish in 1958. The removal and re-burial was carried out by 58 local men, men from Birkenhead and Liverpool. They ended up moving 5,500 bodies.
When work started each gravestone was marked with a number, the stones were then removed and a wooden stake was knocked into the same location, and the same number was put on the stake. A ramp was started about 30 feet away, which sloped down from ground level to a depth of six feet, thereby allowing the men to dig into a six foot high (grave) wall.
Next the last one to be buried (on top) was the first to be removed. It was put in a carry-off box and taken to the site mortuary, where it was put into a new coffin and its location number was put on. It was then ready for transportation to Landican cemetery where its previously marked gravestone was waiting.
On the other side of Cammell Laird’s a dyke had been built out from the shore, then it continued at right angles, then back to the shore. The site waste from St.Mary’s was then used to infill this inverted U-shape, so reclaiming the land back from the river.

Thank you both once again for all this effort you've gone to on my behalf.

Mary, - my next port of call is the shop to get that CD!!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to get away in May and get to meet you and thank you both in person

very best wishes

Richard

I expect there will be many more questions in the future!

I managed to get to Birkenhead this week (though not on Tuesday) and the Birkenhead Archives dept. were extremely helpful, but although they had a record of William Harbord's burial at St Mary's, they had no record of the grave's removal. They said that if the gravestone was illegible, then it would not be recorded. I found several gravestones still at St Mary's (though sadly no Harbords, even though the archives dept had several recorded there and none moved.) Some of the inscriptions were as old as 1853 and were perfectly legible

If anyone has any suggestions as to another line of attack, I would be very grateful.
Richard

Richard,
A phone call to Landican Cemetery office can't do any harm, if they can help, they certainly will.
Though I feel a yomp around the surviving headstones at Landican is your best chance of success.

Images of before and after Princess Dry Dock was built,