HC Deb 17 July 1893 vol 14 cc1694-5
MR. WARNER (Somerset, N.)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that on Sunday, the 9th instant, at the burial of a child in the churchyard of Whitchurch, in Somerset, the Vicar, who had received due notice that the burial would be conducted under the Act of 1880, prevented for a time the entrance into the churchyard of the officiating Nonconformist minister and of the funeral party, and demanded the Registrar's certificate of death, which was refused, and that the Vicar thereupon proceeded to the grave reading the Burial Service concurrently with the Nonconformist Service which was being read by the officiating minister, but presently desisted and walked away; and whether he will inquire into the facts, and will take measures to prevent the recurrence of such an incident?

MR. ASQUITH

It appears from the information supplied to me by the Vicar of Whitchurch, in Somerset, that it had been arranged in the first instance between him and the mother that he should conduct the funeral; and Saturday, July 8, was fixed as the date. On the morning of the 7th, however, the Vicar received a notice from the undertaker that the funeral would take place on Sunday, the 9th, at 4 o'clock— Without the performance in manner prescribed by law of the service of the burial of the dead according to the rites of the Church of England. This notice was, no doubt, given under the 1st section of the Burial Laws Amendment Act, 1880. The Act authorises the person who receives such a notice to object to the Service taking place on a Sunday if he assigns in writing a reason for such objection. In reply to the notice the Vicar wrote word that he would be at the grave at the time appointed, and would not permit any other Service in the churchyard on that day. The undertaker repeated this notice that the Service would be performed independently of the Vicar, and the Vicar repeated his refusal to allow any Service but his own to be performed on that day. The Vicar met the funeral procession at the entrance to the churchyard, and accompanied it to the grave reading the opening sentences of the Church of England Service. He says that he had no intention of obstructing the Service, or of reading concurrently with Mr. Jameson (the Nonconformist minister), and that when he arrived at the grave and Mr. Jameson began reading, he (the Vicar) retired. It appears to me that the Vicar failed to observe that his notice objecting to the Service on Sunday ought to have stated his reasons, and ought also to have fixed a time on the following day, and he will be so informed. But I need not point out to my hon. Friend that I have no authority in the matter.