SOUTH METROPOLITAN CEMETERY. (Hansard, 18 July 1836)

§ Mr. Charles Lushington
rose for the purpose of stating, that he withdrew his opposition to the present Bill, as some of its clauses had been materially modified. His original objection to the measure was founded upon its illiberal character; and he feared that that had not been altogether removed. It was painful to him to reflect, that the Legislature should grant its sanction to a Bill for forming a Cemetery, in which the rites of burial would be refused to such men as Dr. Pye Smith or Dr. Chalmers, and granted to murderers or to parricides, if their friends stated that they belonged to the Established Church. The most virtuous Dissenters were to be rejected and repulsed, while the greatest criminals, if nominally connected with the Church, were to be freely admitted. It would sometimes happen, that the wish of husband and wife to be buried together would be frustrated. Since he had last spoken on the subject in that House, he had come to the conclusion, that he could not continue his opposition to the Bill without doing injury to individuals; he should, therefore, withdraw his opposition. In stating so much, however, he begged to add, that to some parts of the Bill his aversion and disgust continued unabated.

§ Mr. Baines
hoped it would be found that some of the clauses to which the last speaker referred were only objectionable in appearance, and he hoped and believed, that upon examination it would appear that a great deal to which exception was previously taken had now been obviated.

§ Dr. Bowring
said, there were a few words in one of the clauses to which he had a decided repugnance; he alluded to that wherein it was enacted, that the bodies of Dissenters should be decently interred. Of course they would be decently interred —who could doubt it? Then why, he 254 would ask, should any reflection appear to be cast upon the great body of the Dissenters by the retention of such a phrase in an Act of Parliament?

§ Mr. Wilks
said, that all persons must approve of undertakings such as that, provided they were liberally conducted. He thought that the whole of the ground ought to be consecrated, for it was surely not fitting that one portion should be considered more holy than another, or that any distinction as to their burial places should exist between Dissenters and members of the Established Church. Of course every one desired to see cemeteries removed out of London, but he earnestly desired to see Roman Catholics and Dissenters in this country placed upon the same footing that they were in Ireland, as regarded the rites of burial.