MARGRAVE, Sandridge/St Albans, 1890 March, 2003	Answers Places Sandridge
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Karen Davies (bushrange @t westnet.com.au) of Western Australia writes: Really enjoy your site and was interested to read the article on "The Aftermath of Brickmaking". The article mentions Leonard Margrave (my Grandmother's brother) aged 5 who drowned in a claypit in 1890. How can I find out where he is buried, please?

I have posted more details about the drowning at The Death of Leonard Margrave.

There are problems in knowing where he was buried.

At the time of his death he was with his grandmother, Susan Gray, in Sandridge Road, St Albans. This means he was living and died in "Sandridge New Town" which was part of Sandridge parish, (with the church and graveyard some way away in the village) and also part of the City of St Albans. The nearest Church of England church with a graveyard was St Peters, and the City public cemetery was in Hatfield Road, St Albans. I am not certain of the status of any non-conformist burial grounds. However his parents are not listed as living in the parish of Sandridge at the time of the 1891 census (presumably you already know who they were and where they were living) and he may well have been buried near where his parents lived.

If he was baptised at a church which is close to where his parents or grandparents lived I would start by looking at the burial register. I would then try the Hatfield Road cemetery (Cemetery Dept., St Albans Council). Failing that you have little option but to look through the likely burial registers. If you find where he was buried there is no certainty that there was ever a stone, and if he was buried in Sandridge about 95% of the stones were removed some 30 years ago, and St Peters clearly has been thinned down at some time.

MARGRAVE, Hitchin, circa 1880 gives further details of Leonard's family.

See also Sandridge New Town, The Aftermath of Brickmaking, and James Dickson