Memorial Inscriptions from West Derby Cemetery, Liverpool
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This site contains files of memorial inscriptions for all 29 sections at West Derby Cemetery. There are three files, one for each of Consecrated, General and Roman Catholic sections. Each inscription has a unique entry number, and shows the section number and grave number as well as a transcription of the inscription. The inscriptions are in entry number order. These files replicate the contents of hard copy files which have been provided to records offices.
There is also an index of all surnames which appear in inscriptions. This includes section number, grave number and the unique entry number. On this site the index has been split into separate files by first letter of surname. There is also an index file for ‘no name’ for entries where it has not been possible to allocate a surname or a surname in English.
To search for a memorial inscription, first open the relevant index file and scroll down or use your browser's search facility to access the entries for the surname of interest. Note the denomination, section and entry numbers. Then open each relevant denomination file in turn and scroll down or use your browser's search facility to access the inscription(s) - note that these are in entry number sequence.
The Inscription Files
Consecrated (Church of England) Sections
General Sections
Roman Catholic Sections
Consecrated (Church of England) Sections
General Sections
Roman Catholic Sections
How do you interpret the index? The first interment in the Consecrated sections according to the registers was on 2nd February 1884 and was of a Betsy Tomlinson MASON who was 38 years old and it was in section 10, grave number 493. Her head-stone is still actually there although it is now lying flat. Her entry in the index will appear as:-
MASON C.10 493 4710
The first entry obviously enough is the surname. There is a separate entry for every different surname that appears on the head-stone. The full index contains some 16,129 surname entries.
The index is big enough already and it would just not be practicable to start trying to record every person by their first name so more than one MASON may be buried in this particular grave. Do remember that just because a name appears on a head-stone the person may not necessarily be buried there. The entry might commemorate a death overseas, at sea or, of course, a war death.
The remaining entries in the index refer to the section, in this case C.10 means Consecrated Section 10. The number 493 is the official grave number which appears on the section plan and will help you establish where the grave is. The final number, i.e. 4710, is our consecutive entry number in the transcriptions.
The index is big enough already and it would just not be practicable to start trying to record every person by their first name so more than one MASON may be buried in this particular grave. Do remember that just because a name appears on a head-
The remaining entries in the index refer to the section, in this case C.10 means Consecrated Section 10. The number 493 is the official grave number which appears on the section plan and will help you establish where the grave is. The final number, i.e. 4710, is our consecutive entry number in the transcriptions.
Almost all the inscriptions are in upper case. However, for presentational purposes, we have recorded them all in lower case with the exception that the surnames appear in upper case to make them stand out. A change to a new line on a head-stone is indicated by a single angled line thus / and where you find two lines // this means that a substantial change has taken place. It is generally on a tiered stone where the next part is on the side or rear. On an upright stone it might indicate that it is much lower down or another part of the stone.
