BURIALS - CHRIST CHURCH NEWCASTLE

 
 
There were 314 burials performed at Christ Church during this decade. 
On average between two and three burials each month. 
 
The information recorded for each burial is as follows:
 burial date
  death date (after 1837)
 Christian name
 family name
 age
 abode
 civil status at time of death
 year and ship of arrival
 quality or profession
  officiating minister
 reference number
 
Various miscellaneous remarks in the register have been recorded as 
'end-notes' at the bottom of the list.
 
The burials are listed in chronological order. The records in the register 
are not always in strict chronological order but this has been corrected 
in this work.
 
The Rev.Charles Pleydell Neale Wilton continued as chaplain from the 
previous decade and remained for the entirety of the decade, in fact he 
was to remain at Christ Church for the rest of his life. Bishop William 
Grant Broughton performed the first burial of the decade. Other occasional 
burials were performed by the Reverends; Charles Dickinson - Chaplain 
at Field of Mars, George Keylock Rusden - Chaplain at Maitland, Charles 
Spencer & Richard Taylor, Chaplain at Liverpool. The two parish clerks; 
Mr. Richard Hill and Mr.Joseph Spencer performed sixteen burials between 
them during the course of the decade.
 
At the beginning of this decade the information to be recorded on the 
official government supplied forms for each burial was; reference number, 
date of burial, Christian name of the deceased, family name of the deceased, 
age, abode, ship of arrival, quality or profession and officiating 
minister. 
 
Regrettably in 1839 the 'Ship of Arrival' column was removed from the 
official forms altogether but it was still occasionally recorded by 
nothing like as often as previously. The year and ship of arrival have 
been heavily researched outside the parish register.
 
The 'Ship of Arrival' column was replaced by a 'Date of Death' column,
making identification much more difficult. 
 
For the colonial born their year of birth and parents names are recorded 
in the 'Ship of Arrival' column.
 
Ages at Death ranged from Pleydell Wilton who only lived for one hour 
to, at the other end of the scale, James Michaelvogue who claimed to be 
101 years old and Charles Griffiths who claimed to be 94 years old. 
Unfortunately neither of these ages has been confirmed by other sources.
 
During this decade 53 infants (17% of all deaths) did not live past their 
fifth birthday. 
 
Despite extensive research the identity of the deceased at Christ Church 
has only been discovered in 249 (or 79% of) cases during this decade.
 
The Newcastle Family History Society's "Christ Church, Newcastle, NSW, 
1804-1900, Transcriptions and Indexes of Baptism, Marriage and Burial 
Registers" was also most helpful  in providing information.
 
During the course of the decade the Rev.Wilton lost a son, a daughter 
and his wife. His grief must have been overwhelming as he could not bring 
himself to officiate at their burials but called upon the services of 
Reverends Ruskin and Dickinson.
 
In an amazing coincidence there were two John Barkers both dying aged 24 
years and both dying in 1838 but arriving upon different ships, one buried 
at St Peters East Maitland and other at Christ Church Newcastle. And in 
a second instance involving the same two churches, two William Paynes died 
in the same year with just one years difference in ages.
 
George Foggar died on the 31st December 1840 and was not buried until 
the 2nd January 1841 but has been included all the same.
 
There was one burial in the State Archives Pioneer Series file which 
has no entry on this parish register. It is very likely that it results 
from a typographical error and relates to a post 1840 burial.
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry 
in the original source document. The numbering system was re-initialized 
in 1826 with the introduction of the new printed registers. 
 
The reference numbers for Christ Church run sequentially from the previous 
decade at B145 to B306 at the end of 1838. The numbers B343 & B344 were omitted. 
The numbers were re-initialized in 1839 to C001 and ran to C056 by the end of 
the decade.
 
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the 
name would be made on List 5 using code "CCN" from which the date of 
burial would be retrieved, secondly using the appropriate date, the 
burial would then be located on this list.

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