In her paper Post-Cremation Ashes: What’s The (Updated) Legal Position? Professor Heather Conway states: “…in England and Wales…the first thing is to distinguish between is who is authorised to collect the remains from the crematorium, and who has the legal right to the ashes once this has occurred”. However, matters became more uncertain subsequent to the these considerations in Re St. Mary the Virgin Greenham [2026] ECC Oxf 11.
The dilemma faced by the PCC was that a cremation urn had been left at Newbury Racecourse following a race meeting and despite extensive efforts by the racecourse, police and crematoria to trace relatives or the owner, no next of kin could be identified. Although the police thought they knew the family, the said family denied any link to the urn.
The churchwarden heard of the situation and thought it would be ‘good publicity’ for the incoming vicar, the Revd Gail Minter, imagining that she would contact the local press to trace the family and reunite them with the urn, or take a burial and publicise that. However, in consultation with the Associate Archdeacon, she concluded that this was not an appropriate approach. The police declined to take possession of the ashes; the PCC discussed the matter and wish to bury the ashes so that they have a permanent resting place. The only alternative – to keep them in church in a safe place in the hope that the family try to trace them – seemed unlikely given the attempts already made to get in touch.
Re St. Mary the Virgin Greenham [2026] ECC Oxf 11
The papers submitted to the court include a photograph of the urn containing the ashes. This bears two printed labels, one above the other: R.I.P GARY BONSOR; MY DAD MY HERO. Further detail is contained within an email sent to the vicar from the front counter of Newbury Police Station on 18 September 2025 and headed ‘Re: Ashes in urn collected from Newbury Police Station 09/09/25’. This reads as follows:
“Thank you for your query. I cannot really provide you with much pertinent information and Newbury Racecourse have requested no negative publicity. A member of staff from Newbury Racecourse attended Newbury Police Station last year and advised the urn and contents had been left on a burger van counter. The exact date is unknown, however they had checked all race tickets for the name of Bonsor.
We took possession of the ashes and conducted numerous checks to try to return them to a family member this returned a negative result. We requested assistance from local crematoriums who were unable to provide information. Our colleague Joanne Macdonald has then advised us that you may be able to assist and your churchwarden Chris Simons has collected the ashes from us on 09/09/25″.
The minutes of a meeting of the Parochial Church Council on 14 October 2025[1] correctly noted “We cannot legally bury without the right paperwork, which we do not have”[2]. Hodge Ch. commented:
“[6]. Since the churchyard does not appear to be closed to burials, I am not sure that a faculty is strictly required to authorise the interment of these ashes. In the unusual circumstances of this case, however, and with no registrar’s certificate or coroner’s order available, I well understand why the vicar should seek the authority of a faculty. It is clearly appropriate that the urn containing these ashes should be reverently laid to rest within the churchyard in accordance with the rites of the Church of England; and that the place and circumstances of the burial should be recorded on the churchyard plan. I grant a faculty for this purpose. The interment of the urn containing the ashes should take place within 28 days from the grant of this faculty.
[1]. Under item 6, headed ‘Irregular Burial of Ashes’) as follows:
“GM [the vicar] reported that an urn containing ashes had been left on the counter of a burger van by someone attending a race day at Newbury Racecourse on 24 July. Despite a rigorous search for a record of the person named on it, no trace of them has been found and the police have handed it to Gail as vicar of the parish that is now responsible for it. We cannot legally bury without the right paperwork, which we do not have. GM has sought advice from the Diocese; we can either keep the urn somewhere in the church or apply to the Diocesan Chancellor for a faculty to bury in the churchyard. GM has ascertained that the Diocese would pay the faculty fee. PCC approved unanimously for GM to apply for the faculty. The grave would have to be unmarked, but noted on the graveyard plan”.
[2]. The Guidebook for The Clergy, General Register Office, (Issued 2012, Last Updated August 2024) list only one exception to the rule that a registrar’s certificate or coroner’s order must be produced before the burial is allowed to take place, (para.9.5 and Appendix U), neither of which is applicable in this case.
Comment
L&RUK is not the correct vehicle for pursuing information to the possible identity of Gary Bonsor, which should be directed towards the Diocesan Registrar. On a more general point, those seeking information on Scattering Ashes at Horse Racing Tracks and Circuits a list is provided in the post, although it does not include Newbury.