Cremation
Local authority responsibility for cremations was enabled by the Cremation Act 1902 which permitted any burial authority to establish crematoria as well as burial grounds[1]. There was central government control over the establishment of crematoria as the Cremation Act required that the Local Government Board for Scotland should approve plans and site for any crematorium. The Cremation Act 1902 was subsequently amended by the Cremation Act 1952 in relation to minor details about forms and burial authorities under other legislation[2]. However, in practice local authorities were slow to take up these powers and initially crematoria were built by private enterprise.
The first Scottish crematorium was built by the Scottish Burial Reform and Cremation Society (established in 1888) which opened Glasgow Crematorium beside the Western Necropolis in 1895[3]. The development of crematoria was slow and other commercial crematoria were established in Edinburgh (Warriston) in 1929, Dundee in 1936, Paisley and in Aberdeen in 1938, and Seafield Crematorium in Leith in 1939.[4]
The first local authority Crematorium was Aberdeen Crematorium which was initially built as a private enterprise in 1938 but involving local Councillors and the Provost in their private capacities, and then was taken over as a local authority crematorium in 1945[5]. The next local authority crematorium was Daldowie Crematorium built by Lanarkshire County Council in 1950. A number of other local authorities built crematoria in the 1950s and 1960s and the function remains an option for local authorities rather than a requirement.
The Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 was a complete overhaul of the regulation of burials and cremations following widespread concern over the disposal of ashes of babies and maintenance of records of these disposals. The 2016 Act brought in inspection and regulation provisions for burial and cremation authorities and funeral directors and brought in licensing of funeral directors. It also applied regulations to private burials, requiring application for private burials to be made to local authorities who also had to maintain a register of private burials. All burial and cremation authorities (both local authorities and private/commercial companies) were required to maintain electronic registers of burials and cremations, to make these available and provide extracts with the right to charge a fee for these services.[6] Moreover, the 2016 Act was the first to specify that a local authority must provide a burial ground: previous legislation had been permissive, enabling the local authority to operate cemeteries and crematoria, rather than placing a requirement to provide a burial ground within its boundaries.
Cremation registers are likely to be held by the cremation authority. Local authority cremation registers may be held by the local authority archives service.
Compiler: Elspeth Reid (2021)
Related Knowledge Base entries
Death registers of Catholic churches
Records of municipal and private cemeteries
Records of undertakers and monumental masons
Procurators fiscal records and Fatal Accident Inquiries
Bibliography
Ferguson, Keith, An introduction to local government in Scotland (The Planning Exchange, 1984)
Inspector of Crematoria Annual Reports <https://www.gov.scot/publications/inspector-crematoria-annual-report-1-april-2018-31-march-2019/> [accessed 12 Dec 2023]
Whyte, W. E., Local Government in Scotland (Hodge & Co, 1936)
References
[1] Cremation Act 1902 (2 Edw. VII c.8).
[2] Cremation Act 1952 (15 & 16 Geo. VI & 1 Eliz. 2 c.31).
[3] Small, Sam, Greater Glasgow: An Illustrated Architectural Guide (RIAS, 2008).
[4] ‘Crematorium Dedicatory Service’ The Scotsman, 4 October 1929, p. 8; ‘Lord Salvesen opens crematorium’ Dundee Courier 15 October 1936 p. 11; ‘Crematorium opened at Paisley’ The Scotsman 29 October 1938 p. 14; ‘Cremation’s merits. New facilities for Aberdeen. Dedication of Building’ Aberdeen Press & Journal, 15 March 1938 p. 8; ‘Edinburgh’s New Crematorium. Lord Salvesen on Progress of the Movement.’ The Scotsman, 29 April 1939 p. 12.
[5] Aberdeen City Archives (GB228). CA/1/2/62 Aberdeen City: Minutes of the Town Council of Aberdeen 4 December 1944.
[6] The Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 (asp 20).