§ MR. D. THOMASI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he can state what steps had been taken by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to remove the human remains interred in the Church of All Hallows the Great, Upper Thames Street, before the sale of the site to the New City of London Brewery Company, for the purpose of extending their brewery; and, whether there is any precedent for the sale of consecrated ground by the Eeclesiastical Commissioners to a brewery company?
THE UNDER SECRETARY FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. GEORGE RUSSELL, North Beds)The sale of All Hallows the Great Church, Upper Thames Street, was authorised by Order in Council under the Union of Benefices Act. Proper arrangements were made, with my sanction, for the removal of the human remains. If the relatives wished to make the removal, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners were to contribute to the cost; in other cases they were to arrange for their removal, under the superintendence of the Medical Officer of Health for the City, to Ilford Cemetery, or to Woking. I have no reason to doubt that these arrangements were duly carried out. There have been 14 cases 1263 of similar sales under the same Act. The sale is by auction, and I cannot say to what purpose the sites were afterwards devoted.