How to find where someone is buried

Wanting to find a grave is often about more than a location. It might be a parent’s grave you’ve lost track of, a grandparent you never met, or a relative who died in a war. The good news is that burials are recorded, and with a few details you can usually find where someone lies. This guide explains where records are kept and how to search them.

Key points

• There’s no single national grave register. Records are kept by councils, churches and cemetery owners.
• The cemetery office is usually the best first contact. Its burial register gives the plot reference.
• War graves can be searched on the CWGC’s Find War Dead.
• Older church burials are often in local archives, ScotlandsPeople (Scotland) or PRONI (Northern Ireland).
• Online indexes help, but check them. Transcriptions can contain mistakes.

What information you’ll need

The more you know, the quicker the search. Try to gather:

• full name, including middle names, maiden or earlier names and nicknames;
• date of death, or at least the year;
• where they lived and died, since most people are buried near home;
• religion, which may point to a church or a faith section of a cemetery;
• the funeral director, if known, as they may still have records.

Family papers often hold the answer: a grave deed (proof of the right of burial), an order of service, a funeral invoice or old letters. A death certificate confirms the date and place of death.

Where burial records are kept

Burial authorities keep a register of burials and a record of who owns each grave. A good register entry gives the section and plot number, which the office can match to a map.

Searching in each nation

England and Wales

Start with the council for the area where the person lived. Large cities often have several cemeteries run from one bereavement services team. For churchyard burials, The National Archives advises using parish registers held in local archives for burials before 1837, and many later registers are there too. Some commercial family history sites index council and church burial records.

Scotland

Most burial grounds, including many old churchyards, are run by councils. Ask the council’s bereavement or burial grounds service. Graves are called lairs, and records may be kept in lair registers. For church burials before civil registration in 1855, search the Old Parish Registers on ScotlandsPeople, though burial entries can be patchy.

Northern Ireland

Contact the council or the church that runs the graveyard. Belfast City Council offers an online burial records search, with a charge for images of records. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) holds many church registers, including some burial and graveyard records.

Finding a war grave

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) commemorates the 1.7 million men and women from Commonwealth forces who died in the two World Wars. Its Find War Dead search lets you look up a name and see where the person is buried or commemorated, with the cemetery and grave reference.

Most are buried or commemorated overseas, but many lie in UK cemeteries and churchyards, often in family graves marked with a CWGC headstone. If the person died in service outside the World Wars, ask the relevant armed forces records service or the cemetery office.

Online indexes

Volunteer projects and family history websites have photographed and indexed millions of UK graves and burial registers. Some are free and others need a subscription. They’re a useful shortcut, especially for older burials, but:

• no index is complete, so an absence doesn’t mean there’s no grave;
• transcription errors are common, so try spelling variations;
• always confirm the plot reference with the cemetery office before travelling.

When you’ve found the grave

Ask the office for the plot reference, a map and directions. Some graves are hard to spot because they’re unmarked: for example, a shared or “common” grave, a grave from a public health funeral, or a family that never added a headstone.

If you’d like to add a memorial, you’ll need permission from the burial authority and usually the grave owner’s consent. See headstones and memorials.

Visiting etiquette

• Check opening hours, especially in winter and on bank holidays.
• Stay on paths where you can, and don’t walk across the tops of graves.
• Follow the rules on flowers. Many cemeteries don’t allow glass jars or ornaments on lawn sections.
• Be quiet and respectful of other visitors and any funerals taking place.
• Don’t touch or take items from other graves, and take any rubbish home.
• Follow signs in faith sections, which may have their own customs.
• Take photos respectfully, and avoid photographing other mourners.

Next steps

• Search cemeteries and crematoria near you for contact details.
• Planning a memorial? Read headstones and memorials.
• Visiting can bring feelings back to the surface. Our guide to coping with grief may help.