Documenting the Stones

Mike Rowledge, also known as ‘Wulfrunian’ on Find A Grave, has made a significant contribution to the historical documentation of Wednesfield New Burial Ground—the original name for the ground when it was first established. His meticulous efforts have resulted in the creation of thousands of burial records for the site.

Mike’s journey began in 2013 with a personal genealogy project—several of his ancestors were buried there and he was inspired to document their resting places on Find A Grave, an online resource that helps people locate burial records across the world. But what started with his family tree soon branched into something much larger.

As Mike’s interest in the cemetery grew, he expanded his focus beyond his own relatives. He began creating more records for others interred at the cemetery, using data from Find My Past, where the data goes from the very first recorded interment—Thomas Tomkys on 6 June, 1855—up to burial number 3714, Lily Andrews, on 8 January, 1901.

Lost In Transcription

Throughout this process, Mike encountered a number of transcription errors in the records he was working from. Issues such as unclear handwriting and mis-transcriptions complicated his work. Mike made it his mission to ensure that the records he created for Find A Grave were as accurate as possible.

Mike explained that whilst you might think that burial no.1 to burial no.3714 = 3714 burials, the records actually encompass almost 3900 burials. For example, extra numbers such as John Phoenix buried 31 December, 1863, listed as burial 625a.

Additionally, there was a significant error when burial number 2104, Hannah Challinor, wasn’t followed by interment no. 2105… instead, the numbers were transposed and Amelia Holliss was incorrectly assigned burial number 2015 instead of continuing in sequence. These discrepancies required careful attention to avoid further confusion.

Mike then went on to use the information from the 2002 survey of the cemetery, which was an effort undertaken by a group of volunteers to document the surviving gravestones. However, this survey also contained its own set of inaccuracies. Faded inscriptions, human error and errors on the spreadsheet required some detective work on Mike’s part. 

One example was the gravestone of Robert Andrews, who was married to Amie Ashwood Jones. The survey had incorrectly listed him as “Robert Andrews,” but ‘Andrews’ was his middle name. His full name was actually “Robert Andrews Jones.”

Another is the stone of William Edwards… also his wife Hilda. Hilda (not unreasonably) appears as Hilda Edwards in the 2002 survey, but she remarried and so he has her listed as Hilda Craven in Find A Grave.

Due to his dedication to accuracy, Mike chose not to create records for certain entries in the 2002 survey that lacked critical information—graves with missing years of death or ambiguous references were left out to avoid further confusion.

In his research, Mike also uncovered additional burial information from Wolverhampton’s online archives, which extended the burial records up to 1903. Though he didn’t systematically add all this data, he did incorporate selected burials from the extended period into Find A Grave.

Mike was keen to add that his own entries were supplemented by fellow enthusiast Rob Dickens. Many of Rob’s photos captured graves not documented in the 2002 survey. This resulted in over 100 new entries to add to his own. 

Mike Rowledge’s contributions to Find A Grave are immense. His work, which started as a personal genealogical project, has evolved into an invaluable resource for anyone researching the area’s history. Thanks to his efforts, the majority of the 6,600 records and accompanying photographs for Wednesfield New Burial Ground on Find A Grave are now available to the public. 

Mike appears under the username ‘Wulfrunian’ on Find A Grave

Search Wednesfield New Burial Ground records on Find A Grave.