Fact Sheets
Taking a closer look at….
The Old Cromwell
Cemetery
Resources for Cromwell Cemetery
 Background Notes
 Spreadsheet deaths for Block 1
 Spreadsheet deaths for Block 2 (2
pages)
 Spreadsheet deaths for Block 3 (2
pages)
 Scatter plot graph template
Cromwell Old Cemetery
Background notes
There are just over 90 burials represented in the following spreadsheets. The spreadsheets represent the
burials that have occurred in three blocks only of the Old Cromwell Cemetery. Not everyone who is buried
in these three blocks of the cemetery is listed here. In a number of cases the only information provided
about some people from original records is the surname. Data has been included in these lists if either an
age at death is provided or a cause of death. This data has been gleaned from both the information
provided at the cemetery itself and also from the transcription of remaining headstones, cemetery plans
and newspaper records, that were gathered in March 1992 by members of the Dunedin Group of the New
Zealand Society of Genealogists (Inc) and members of the Cromwell Family History Society.
The earliest recorded name in the cemetery is that of John McLachlan who met an accidental death in
1864. He was aged 37 and is buried in Block 1 Plot 38. The earliest death recorded on a tombstone that is
still visible appears to be that of Robert Edwards Block 1 Plot 1. He died 15 August 1868. (The headstone
is pictured next page). Most of the burials in Blocks 1, 2 and 3 of the cemetery occurred in the 1870s and
1880s.
The purpose of providing these statistics is to allow students who have completed a mortality study within
their local city cemetery to compare mortality rates to those of people of a similar time who lived in a
different area. The Old Cromwell Cemetery burial indexes provide rich historical data. The age at death,
and in some cases cause of death, are recorded.
Students are encouraged to transfer the age data onto the recording sheets provided and to carry out the
same statistical processes that are part of the Are we living longer: Myth or reality? teaching unit.
The data will assist students to answer some questions along the lines of “was overcrowding in cities one
of the prime causes of early death in children and young adults?” This data will also serve to raise other
questions such as why there were such a large number of accidental deaths, particularly drownings and
earth falls. The high incidence of death due to pneumonia and a typhoid epidemic is also interesting.
Students are encouraged to follow up lines of inquiry into these areas.
Fact Sheet
Detailed spreadsheet deaths for Block 1
Below: Robert Edwards.
Headstone is in Block 1 Plot 1
Plot
1
9
10
13
14
15
17
18
19
21
23
38
39
41
42
Name
Robert Edwards (drapery
shop)
Mary Barry
Mary Koch
Harriet Thompson
Thomas
James Lory Mitchell (Miner)
John William Garrett
Patrick Kelly (Hotel owner)
Thomas Shanly
Ellen Gorman
G.G. Marshall
John McLachlan
James Gray
Joel Chapman
William Scott
James Scott
Left: Location of
headstone for
Joel Chapman.
Block 1 Plot 41
Date of Death
15 August 1868
11 April 1870
5 February 1870
21 February 1874
10 January 1868
13 January 1868
30 December 1869
10 July 1871
26 May 1867
Cause of death
-
Dysentery
Accident (fall from a horse)
Accident (Drowned Kawarau
River)
26 February 1871
24 January 1872
12 August 1864
Accidental death
19 April 1865
Accidental death
21 November 1875 Accident (fall of earth)
5 April 1892
25 June 1870
Accident (Drowned in River)
Age at death
38
10 wks
2 mths
18mths
39
32
46
29
28
7mths
28
37
26
6wks
12
Shows location
of Block 1
Fact Sheet
Detailed spreadsheet deaths for Block 2 - page 1
Robert Paterson
headstone Block
2 Plot 12
Plot
1
2
3
4
5
7
8
11
12
13/14
14/15
16
18/19
Name
John Howe
George Wellington
Goodger
Johanna
“
Henry Patrick
“
Mary Anne
“
Margaret
“
Mary Ann
Byron Birnie
Mary Birnie
Bridget Campion
Sarah Wilson
Ellen Stumbles
John “
George Hayes
Date of Death
20 October 1870
12 December 1884
Cause of death
Appendicitis
Accident (Drowned)
Age at death
14
53
7 February 1877
23 March 1874
23 March 1874
16 March 1877
28 September 1907
10 May 1875
12February 1876
9 July 1874
27 May 1876
16 June 1917
12 February 1874
24 December 1874
41
14
12
2 mths
39
62
13
32
27
82
1
-
W. E. Primate
Helen Bateman
Robert Paterson
Sarah Jane Perriam
John
“
Charlotte Perriam
Sarah Perriam
Matilda Hebden
Jane Bell
Willie
William Bell
Emma G.B. Bell
Mary Brown
Alexandrina Pretsch
17 October 1872
16 July 1873
26 February 1872
26 May 18??
28 August 1883
8 September 1907
28 May 1873
13 December 1871
6 December 1915
27 March 1874
30 March 1927
3 December 1938
24 August 1872
2 February 1873
Typhoid
Typhoid
Teething
Accident (Barrel of
beer fell on him)
Bronchitis
Typhoid
Whooping Cough
Typhoid
Childbirth
Child
Child
46
9 yrs 3 mths
54
70
Child
26
40
7 mths
87
84
24
20
Fact Sheet
Detailed spreadsheet deaths for Block 2 - page 2
Plot
20
21
22
23
24/25
26
27
28
29
31
32
33/34
35
36/37
Name
Margaret Hotop
Charlotte Edwards
John Barter Luscombe
Duncan McKellor
Matilda Margaret Scally
John Scally
Mary Scally
Sarah Scally
Daniel Scally
Ellen Scally
Helen Bateman
Margaret Collins
Ellen Trudgen
Elizabeth Margaret Harvey
Fanny Graham (of Nevis)
Margaret Haldon
Margaret Jane Haldon
Mary Partridge
John Miller
Emma Hoskins
May Hoskins
Date of Death
12 January 1883
18 May1872
4 November 1871
2 August 1890
30 April 1873
27 March 1874
2 April 1874
7 April 1874
7 April 1874
1 April 1875
18 July 1873
18 December 1873
28 January 1874
19 December 1872
27 February 1873
13 December 1874
4 April 1875
4 April 1874
7 April 1872
17 February 1872
26 June 1887
Cause of death
Childbirth
Accident (Drowned at Quartzville)
Dropsy
Typhoid
Typhoid
Typhoid
Typhoid
Typhoid
Typhoid
Typhoid
Childbirth
Childbirth
Accident (Drowned)
Typhoid
Appendicitis
Pleurisy
Typhoid
Congestion of lungs
Age at death
22
12
37
46
11mths 3 days
7 yrs 3 mths
5 yrs 2 mths
6 yrs 3 mths
3 yrs 7 mths
29
30
33
36
23
6 mths
22
39
30
4 mths
Left upper: Haldon
Headstone Block 2 Plot
32.
Left lower: Luscombe
Headstone Block 2 Plot 22
Shows location
of Block 2
Fact Sheet
Detailed spreadsheet deaths for Block 3 - page 1
Williams Headstone Block 3 Plot
9 & 10
Plot
1
2
3
4/5
7
8
9/10
11
12
13
14
15
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Name
John George Milns
William Green
Samuel Bottrell
Esther Wright
Sarah Annie Jones
(Infant) Annie
James Beare
John Mason
William Williams
(Miner)
Mary Williams
Sarah Williams
Timothy O’Leary
Elizabeth Werner
Charles Ferdinand
Shutz
J Greer
James Campbell
Jane Thomson
Alfred Barnes
J. Wrightson
John Wrightson
Henrietta Bettincor
Susan Towan
John Munro
S Thomas
Jamieson Brown
David Roberts
H or E Thompson
Date of Death
20 April 1874
27 April 1874
4 October 1874
12 January 1875
24 March 1877
15 May 1877
13 October 1875
September 1875
26 October 1875
Cause of death
Typhoid
Typhoid
Accident (Killed by a fall of earth)
Cancer
Pneumonia
Accident (Killed by a fall of earth)
Pneumonia
Congestion of the lungs
Age at death
21
20
57
34
4 mths
33
40
16 July 1875
17 February 1907
5 December 1874
29 July 1874
5 August 1876
Cardiac
Accident (Killed by a fall of earth)
Appendicitis
Accident (Drowned Kawarau River)
6 yrs 3 mths
74
37
22
48
27 July 1876
5 May 1876
6 February 1874
8 August 1876
7 February 1876
24 April 1903
28 May 1874
8 December 1872
19 January 1875
31 August 1875
30 October 1875
13 October 1875
29 September 1875
Congestion of the lungs
Accident (Fell from a horse)
Dysentery
Typhoid
36
18mths
20
72
2 ½ years
28
40
37
36
49
Pneumonia
Exposure
Pneumonia
Pneumonia
-
Fact Sheet
Detailed spreadsheet deaths for Block 3 - page 2
Headstone for James Cossar
Block 3 Plot 32
Plot
28/29
30/31
32
33
35/36
37
38
39
41
43
Name
Jane Spence
Adam Spence
Nanny Maria Jolly
Frederick Jolly
Herbert Charles Jolly
William Grose
James Cossar
Andrew Bennett
William Ussher Goodall
Thomas Ussher Goodall
H. Halcrow
Robert Scott
Jane Smith
Rose Carline
Rosina Dagg
Date of Death
4 April 1875
15 November 1875
17 April 1875
8 April 1875
12 January 1877
24 October 1883
17 November 1875
20 December 1876
10 November 1875
1 March 1875
21 August 1874
3 November 1875
30 October 1875
9 May 1876
22 December 1873
Cause of death
Bronchitis
Diarrhoea
Accident (Drowned at Quartzville)
Pleurisy
Tuberculosis
Bronchitis
Pneumonia
Childbirth
-
Age at death
34
39
26
1 day
6 mths
80
61
1 yr 11 mths
3
14 mths
51
15 days
35
Child
Shows location of
Block 3
Selected details for Blocks 1, 2 and 3 are sourced from Cromwell Cemetery Old and New. Investigated and compiled by the
Dunedin Group of New Zealand Society of Genealogists (Inc) and the Cromwell Family History Society. Dunedin March 1992
pp1 - 36.
Student Worksheet:
Scatter plot template for graph for age at death and decade of death
Adapted from Sagazio, C. (1992) Cemeteries: Our Heritage. National Trust of Australia.
AGE
100 - 90
89 - 80
79 - 70
69 - 60
59 - 50
49 - 40
39 - 30
29 - 20
19 - 10
9–1
1-0
YEAR
1850 - 1859
1860 - 1869
1870 - 1879
1880 - 1889
1890 - 1899
1900 - 1909
1910 - 1919
1920 - 1929
1930 - 1939
1940 – 1949
Student Worksheet and Resources for further investigation
Questions about the data
What decades do the deaths in these three blocks cover?
What were the most common known causes of death in these three blocks of the cemetery?
What percentage of people died from accidents?
What was the most common type of accident?
Find out why do you think this was?
What percentage of people died from diseases?
What were most commonly listed kinds of diseases?
When did the typhoid outbreak occur in Cromwell? What is the range of dates for deaths for this outbreak for
these three blocks of the cemetery? How extensive was Typhoid in New Zealand at this time?
Note:
There is more about the Scally Family in the epidemics resource that also accompanies this Mortality
Unit. There is also a lot of information about the Cromwell typhoid outbreak and its possible causes in the
local newspapers of the time.
Resources for further investigation
Resources for further investigation
Websites
 Papers Past Website URL http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
o FEVER AT CROMWELL.Tuapeka Times, 16 May 1874, Page 3 Reports on Dr Coughtrey’s investigation
into the outbreak in Cromwell and his descriptions of sanitary conditions at the time.
o The Southland Times. MONDAY, MAY 18, 1874. Southland Times , 18 May 1874, Page 2. A similar
story featured.
 Te Ara. Encyclopedia of New Zealand
 City Planning Typhoid map. URL http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/city-planning/2
 Typhoid killed 49 people in Christchurch in 1875 . URL http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/sewage-water-andwaste/2

The Voyage out URL http:// www.teara.govt.nz/en/the-voyage-out/9/8
Books
Cromwell Cemetery Old and New. Investigated and compiled by the Dunedin Group of New Zealand Society
of Genealogists (Inc) and the Cromwell Family History Society. Dunedin March 1992.
Sagazio, C. (1992) Cemeteries: Our Heritage. National Trust of Australia.