Horton Cemetery Burials – Surnames O

Transcribed by the Epsom & Ewell Local & Family History Centre Volunteers.
E. and O.E. copyright 2019

NOTES:

The Annex explains that, sadly, the grave numberings given in the table below are of little practical use. The cemetery was originally intended for 900 burials, but eventually received some 8,500! These burials were recorded with a fluid numbering scheme that eventually reached over 3,500 – with suffixes. The Annex also notes that the poor state of the original records means that this transcription may have gaps and other errors – and suggests ways that matters may be pursued further if you wish.

For more background, see not only our article on the history of Horton Cemetery but also the website of the independent Friends of Horton Cemetery – and special mention must be made of the Friends’ ever-expanding list of biographies of those buried in the cemetery.

Other surnames can be found at these links: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W [-] Y Z

If you are looking for a particular surname try the Search: function at the top right of the table below.

Horton Cemetery Burials 1902 to 1955 - Surnames O

ANNEX

Horton cemetery was designed for just 900 plots but we have details for about 8,450 burials! We are not aware of any additional land being used for the graveyard and no plan survives so we believe most plots will have been reused on several occasions.

The grave numbering is both complicated and unclear. There are just over 3,500 grave numbers in the register, so some of the original 900 plots probably have been renumbered several times. We also know that some numbers have been used several times, usually identified with a suffix. Almost all the 3,500+ grave numbers are used more than once. In almost every case, this is with either an “a” or “b” suffix. For about 170 cases, “c” and “d” suffixes are also used.

A random example of the problem is grave number 1614: this was used twice on 15 January 1915 (with suffixes a and b); 25 years later it was used on 19 March 1940 (suffix a) and the following day, 20 March, (not with suffix b but with suffix d); the following year it was used again 26 September 1941 (suffix c); and lastly on 03 October 1941 (not with a d suffix but with suffix b).

It has been suggested that the suffix may indicate the orientation of the bodies in the plots with body ‘a’ laid with the head at one end of the grave and the head of body ‘b’ at the opposite end. (i.e. heads to toes), but we have found no evidence to confirm this.

To add to the above, many the entries in the original burial registers are not in any obvious order, and some of the handwriting is particularly difficult to decipher. Every effort has been taken to ensure that this alphabetical list is as accurate as possible but some errors are inevitable. If you think that an error has occurred then you can inspect the microfilm copies of the original documents at both the Epsom and Ewell Local and Family History Centre and at the Surrey History Centre in Woking but expect to spend many hours searching through the images. If you want someone to carry out this research on your behalf contact the relevant Centre but you may have to pay for the time it takes.

Other Hospital Records

In addition to the burial registers the Surrey History Centre holds the Long Grove Hospital Post Mortem Examination Book (part of Collection ref: 6275) which only covers one of the five hospitals in the cluster and that only for a brief period. Other hospital records are widely dispersed – use this link to find out where Hospital Records Database

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