Metropolitan Interments Act 1850
(13 & 14 Vict.) C A P. LII.
[5th August 1850]
'WHEREAS it is expedient to make better Provision for the Interment of the Dead in and near the Metropolis:' Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That the Cities and Liberties ofLondon and Westminster respectively, the Borough of Southwark , and the Parishes, Townships, Precincts, and Places mentioned in the Schedule (A.) to this Act, shall for the Purposes of this Act be One District, to be called ‘The Metropolitan Burial District.’
II General Board of Health to execute this Act.
II. And be it enacted, That the General Board of Health shall act in the Execution of this Act; and it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, from Time to Time, by Warrant under Her Royal Sign Manual, to appoint One Member of such Board in addition to the Members of such Board which Her Majesty may be authorized to appoint under any other Act or Acts, and at Pleasure to remove the Member so appointed; and such Board shall for the Purposes of this Act be One Body Politic and Corporate by the Name of ‘The General Board of Health,’ and by that Name shall have perpetual Succession and a Common Seal, and shall sue and be sued, and have Power and Authority (without any Licence in Mortmain) to take, purchase, and hold Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments for the Purposes of this Act.
III Power to Board to appoint and remove Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, &c.
III. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Board from Time to Time to appoint or employ, for the Purposes of this Act, an Assistant Secretary, a Treasurer, and such Clerks and Officers, and for and in each Burial Ground to be provided by the said Board under this Act a Warden, and such Assistants, Gravediggers, and other Servants as they deem necessary, and to remove such Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, Clerks, Wardens, Officers, and Servants, or any of them.
IV Appointments limited to Duration of General Board of Health.
IV. And be it enacted, That no additional Member of the said Board to be appointed under this Act, and no Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, or other Officer to be appointed as aforesaid, shall hold his Office after the Expiration of the Period for which ‘The Public Health Act, 1848,’ provides that the said General Board of Health shall be continued.
V Board to provide Offices.
V. And be it enacted, That the said Board shall provide such Offices as they may think necessary for the Purposes of this Act, and for providing such Offices may purchase by Agreement or take on Lease any Lands which may appear to them convenient for the same.
VI Power to Board to provide Burial Grounds, and enlarge them if necessary.
VI. And be it enacted, That the said Board shall from Time to Time provide, in such Places as, having regard to the public Health, may appear to them expedient, and either within or without the Limits of the District, Burial Grounds of sufficient Extent for the decent Interment of the Bodies of all Persons dying within the District; and it shall be lawful for the said Board, from Time to Time, in case it appear to them necessary or expedient so to do, to enlarge any Burial Ground provided by them under this Act, and to make any Road to such Burial Ground, or, with the Consent of the Owner of any existing Road, or of the Persons in whom the Management thereof may by Law be vested, to widen or improve such existing Road, for facilitating the Approach to such Burial Ground; and for providing any Burial Ground under this Act, or enlarging any such Burial Ground, or making, widening, or improving Roads or Approaches thereto, it shall be lawful for the said Board to purchase by Agreement any Lands which it may appear to them expedient to purchase for such Purpose.
VII Power to Board to purchase Cemeteries.
VII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That for the Purposes of this Act the said Board may, if they see fit, purchase and take by Agreement or otherwise all or any of the Cemeteries mentioned in the Schedule (B.) to this Act, subject to the Rights to Graves, Vaults, and Monuments subsisting therein, and subject to such subsisting Rights, and save as herein-after mentioned, all the Provisions of this Act concerning Burial Grounds provided thereunder shall extend to the Cemeteries purchased as aforesaid; provided that no such Cemetery shall be taken otherwise than by Agreement after the Expiration of Two Years from the passing of this Act.
VIII Before Purchase of Land for Burial Grounds the Board to give Six Weeks Notice by Advertisement for Tenders.
VIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That before the said Board enter into any Agreement for the Purchase of any Lands as aforesaid for the Site of any Burial Ground, (save any such Cemetery as aforesaid, or any Land required for enlarging any such Cemetery or Burial Ground,) they shall give public Notice, by Advertisement to be inserted not less than Twice in each of Two daily Newspapers published inLondon or Westminster , inviting Tenders by Persons willing to sell Lands for the Purposes for which the same are required by the said Board; and no such Agreement for Purchase as aforesaid shall be entered into by the said Board until the Expiration of Six Weeks from the Time of the Insertion of the First of such Advertisements.
IX Board to enclose and lay out Burial Grounds, erect Buildings, and build Chapels.
IX. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Board to enclose and lay out the Burial Grounds provided under this Act, in such Manner, and to erect and make therein such Buildings and other Works, as may appear to them fitting and proper, and to build in every such Burial Ground a suitable Chapel for the Performance of Burial Service according to the Rites of the United Church ofEngland and Ireland , or where there is any Chapel already built, and consecrated according to the Rites of the said United Church, in any Cemetery purchased under this Act, to enlarge such Chapel, if it appear to the said Board necessary so to do for the Performance of such Service; and every such Chapel, and every Burial Ground, provided under this Act, except such Portion thereof as may not be intended to be used for the Burial of the Dead according to the Rites of the said United Church, may be consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese within which such Chapel is situated; and every Chapel consecrated according to the Rites of the said United Church in any Burial Ground provided under this Act, and the Portion consecrated as aforesaid of every such Burial Ground, shall be subject to the Jurisdiction of the said Bishop, and no Service shall be performed in the Burial of the Dead in the Portion consecrated according to the Rites of the said United Church of any Burial Ground provided under this Act otherwise than according to the Rites of such Church.
X Power to Board to appoint Chaplains, who shall be licensed by and subject to the Jurisdiction of the Bishop.
X. And be it enacted, That the said Board shall from Time to Time appoint so many Clerks in Holy Orders as they may think necessary to be Chaplains to officiate in the Burial Grounds provided under this Act, and such Chaplains shall be licensed by and subject to the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of the Diocese, and the Consent of the Incumbent of the Parish in which any such Burial Ground may be situate shall not be required to the Grant of any such Licence, and every such Licence shall be revocable by the said Bishop when he thinks fit; and the said Board may assign to such Chaplains such Duties in relation to the Time and Place of the Performance of the Burial Service in the Portions consecrated as aforesaid of the Burial Grounds provided under this Act as the said Board may from Time to Time think fit; and the said Board shall have Power to remove such Chaplains: Provided always, that the Incumbent of the Parish from which any Body is brought may, by himself or his Curate, upon giving Notice as herein-after mentioned, perform such Service over such Body, where he desires so to do, and, subject to the Rights of such Incumbent and the Regulations of the said Board, any other Clerk in Holy Orders not prohibited by the Bishop, nor under Ecclesiastical Censure, may perform such Service.
XI A Portion of each Burial Ground not to be consecrated.
XI. And be it enacted, That a Portion of every Burial Ground provided under this Act shall not be consecrated as aforesaid, and the said Board may build thereon a suitable Chapel or Chapels for the Performance of Funeral Service; and so much of any of the Cemeteries mentioned in the said Schedule (B.) which shall be purchased under this Act as may not have been consecrated at the Time of such Purchase thereof, and may have been used or appropriated for the Purposes of Interment, shall remain unconsecrated, and where there is any Chapel on such unconsecrated Part of any such Cemetery the said Board may, if they think necessary, enlarge...
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