A MOTHER has been granted a college by the Consistory Court of the diocese of Chelmsford for the exhumation and reinterment of the stays of her son, who took his own life greater than 12 years ago, and will not, at the moment, be interred within the parish where his home had been.
Diane Smith sought a college for the exhumation of the cremated stays of her son, Jonathan, who took his own life on 10 January 2013. The family had lived in Blackmore since 1971, and Jonathan had grown up there. Mrs Smith stated that, on the time of his death, the Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore, was experiencing difficulties, and the incumbent wouldn’t make himself available to conduct Jonathan’s funeral.
Jonathan’s cremated stays were, due to this fact, interred within the churchyard of St Paul’s, Bentley Common, where some members of Mrs Smith’s family were buried. The headstone over Jonathan’s grave also contained the main points of his older brother, Anthony, who had died shortly after his birth and had been buried without his parents’ consent in an unmarked grave.
Mrs Smith spoke of the shock of Jonathan’s death, and said that she and her family “didn’t know which method to turn” and were “not pondering properly”. She said that the priest who had conducted the funeral stepped in to help with finding a spot to inter Jonathan’s stays. She said that “to avoid wasting a fuss” and “for no other reason” the family had agreed to the churchyard at Bentley Common. Jonathan had expressed no wishes with regard to the resting place of his stays, and, his mother added, “suicide doesn’t provide you with that probability.”
Jonathan’s father, William Smith, had died recently, and was buried within the churchyard at Blackmore. Mrs Smith wished her son’s ashes to be buried in his father’s grave.
The diocesan Chancellor, the Worshipful Philippa Hopkins KC, said that the place to begin within the principles to be applied in a petition for an exhumation was a presumption against exhumation. A college can be granted only exceptionally.
It was for a petitioner to satisfy the Chancellor that there have been special circumstances within the case which justified the making of an exception from the norm that Christian burial was final. Whether a case was exceptional was for the Chancellor to find out on the facts, and, ultimately, it was a matter for the Chancellor’s discretion.
Having considered the fabric before her, the Chancellor concluded that this was considered one of those exceptional cases through which exhumation might be justified.
Jonathan had died suddenly and unnaturally, leaving no indication of his wishes in relation to the ultimate resting place for his stays. Blackmore was his home. His father was now buried at Blackmore. The effect of interring Jonathan’s stays there can be to create a family grave, for which Mrs Smith would care while she lived.
Jonathan’s stays were presently interred with other, more distant, members of the family, however the bringing together of his stays with those of his father, and sooner or later his mother, would create a family grave for that immediate and shut family, the Chancellor said. It would also enable the deceased Anthony to be commemorated together along with his brother and his father.
While it couldn’t be said that there was a “mistake in the choice to inter Jonathan’s stays at Bentley Common”, the Chancellor said, it appeared that “the choice was made in circumstances that were removed from ideal.” She said that, “whether rightly or wrongly, [Mrs Smith] and her husband felt that they may not seek interment of Jonathan’s stays at Blackmore”. That was a matter that the Chancellor took into consideration when exercising her discretion.
The headstone over Jonathan’s grave at Bentley Common can be moved to the grave at Blackmore, and every of Jonathan, Anthony, and their father, William, can be commemorated in a single headstone. In due course, Mrs Smith’s name can be added to it. If there was insufficient space for all of the names on the present headstone from Bentley Common, there would should be a latest memorial for all three deceased. No further faculty can be required for that. It was a matter that might be discussed between Mrs Smith and the incumbent at Blackmore.
A college was granted for the exhumation of Jonathan’s stays from the churchyard of St Paul’s, Bentley Common, and their reinterment within the grave of William Smith within the churchyard of the Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore. An appropriate memorial can be placed over the grave of William Smith to commemorate him and his sons.
