| Description | The practice of recording a testimony about the life and service of deceased ministers began in the 17th century, and a copy was maintained by Yearly Meeting. From the 19th century onwards, this was widened to include Quarterly Meeting minutes recording the lives of deceased Friends. In 1861, it was decided that Quarterly Meetings could prepare a testimony to any Friend whose life showed devotion to God and to the service of the Church and from this date onwards these appear in the Quarterly Meeting minute books (see SF/1/1). After the removal of the General/Quarterly Meeting from the Quaker hierarchy in 2005, testimonies concerning the life and service of a deceased Friend are undertaken by the Area/Monthly Meeting on the advice of the Local/Preparative Meeting and these appear in the Area/Monthly Meeting minutes. Local/Preparative Meetings also issue a brief minute concerning each deceased Friend (see minutes of relevant meeting in SF/3). As with births, more systematic methods of recording burials were introduced from 1776 onwards via the use of standardised printed registers and burial notes. These contained the following information: the name of the gravedigger, the date the grave was to be made, the place of burial, the name, residence, age and date of death of the deceased, the actual date of burial and the signature of the gravedigger as a witness. They also sometimes included the occupation of the deceased.
See SF/2/1/1/29/6 for additional testimonies to the deceased and SF/3/4/10/3/1 for additional memorial minutes. |