FURTHER UPDATE

Having spoken with a very helpful man at yew tree brake crem,it appears that my grandmother could not have been cremated there as she was cremated in 1970 and the only crematorium then was gloucester crem. From gloucester crems website it appears that the only way to find out where her ashes may be is by paying £39 for a search of their records. Does anyone know if this is the only way of finding her now? Again thank you for all your help in this matter.

There is a small Room of Remembrance which displays daily some records.

Short of paying the fee to Glos CC, a search of local newspapers and/or ordering a Death cert to confirm dates seems the best way forward.

Having spoken with a very helpful man at yew tree brake crem,it appears that my grandmother could not have been cremated there as she was cremated in 1970 and the only crematorium then was gloucester crem. From gloucester crems website it appears that the only way to find out where her ashes may be is by paying £39 for a search of their records. Does anyone know if this is the only way of finding her now? Again thank you for all your help in this matter.

It appears that the reason i am coming up blank with a place of burial is that my grandmother was indeed cremated at yew tree brake crematorium so the list doesn't show the buried ashes plots. We are travelling down for my uncles ashes memorial so whilst we are there i have decided to have a look around for my grandmothers resting place.

Once again thank you for all of your help,this has now made me more inquisitive of my family's past and looking up my ancestors.

We'd love to help you but I must say I'm struggling to even place any of your ancestors within this area's records, maybe some more background detail will help us to help you ?. Please can you give any more details wrt their background, eg are they local people or not ?? I've searched a few websites including Glos Archives own BMD records without success at all.

Using the FreeBMD records which (ie official BMD Registrations across whole UK) I did find the following records that seem to fit the dates if not the area;

Surname First name(s) Spouse District Vol Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Sep 1941 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NICHOLSON Henry Smith Coventry 6d 2395
Smith Ethel M Nicholson Coventry 6d 2395

Did Ethel and Henry(pet-name Harry) get married in Coventry do you know ?. On this site the Date = the Quarter in which registered, so this Marriage would have been during July,August or September 1941.

Searching your Ethel's birth based on Slowhands' earlier July 1917 date suggests Coventry was their original area - on FreeBMD I also find this birth, was her mother originally a Wellington do you know ?

Surname Given Name Mother District Volume Page Transcriber
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Births Sep 1917
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Smith Ethel M. Wellington Coventry 6d 1184 chaswh

Again = born July, Aug or September 1917.

From same FreeBMD site I find these Births which seem to backup the "theory" ?

Surname First name(s) Mother District Vol Page
====================================================

Births Dec 1941
------------------------------------------------
Nicholson Gillian A Smith Warwick 6d 1594

Births Dec 1942
------------------------------------------------
Nicholson Robert H Smith Warwick 6d 1458
------------------------------------------------

Births Dec 1946
------------------------------------------------
Nicholson Colin Smith Coventry 9c 1434 AnneM

Births Jun 1950
------------------------------------------------
Nicholson Brian Smith Coventry 9c 1126

all from http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.

================================================

Re Burials at Yew Tree Brake Cemetary, as far as I'm aware this webpage has the contact details for all enquiries at the Council Office in Coleford, I do hope it's still valid.
http://www.fdean.gov.uk//nqcontent.cfm?a_id=6707&tt=graphic

The above webpage carries a search feature for both FoD Council Cemetaries. I do not know how accurate it's database is considered to be, I have had problems in the past when it's not found people I know are buried there..... Like many search engines "less is more", so just part names can give best results. I suspect in my case the search page "failed" at first because the website database itself contained errors eg incorrect spelling of a person's name when first entered into the site's database.
Either way, despite my carefully separately searching both Cemetaries for "Nicholson", then "Ethel", then "Henry" and also "Robert", then browsing thro each resulting list of hits, I'm sorry but I haven't been able to find any of your ancestors. However as said I know this site isn't perfect, hopefully if you try too you'll have more luck, or maybe if you contact the above webpage by phone or in writing they may be able to help further and with success.

Failing that as a last resort, I don't know whether you have visited Yew Tree Brake yourself ?. If not, it isn't a huge Cemetary and it's neatly laidout and well maintained, so altho it will take time it's possible to walk around all the graves within a few hours. It's a lovely place to spend a few hours on a Spring day with just the birdsong to accompany you.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/759985

You may also wish to try searching the local newspaper for any coverage of Ethel's Burial or Cremation, it might perhaps help if the above fails. This prior thread will help you
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=34751

Wishing you all the very best with your search for your Grandmother !

LATER UPDATE
Ah, I see Slowhands was also working at the same time I was typing mine, nice to see his updated post has confirmed my thoughts re the Coventry/Warwick connection.

Her name was Ethel margaret Nicholson (nee Smith) although she had been living with a Mr Dear before her death (not sure if she had taken his name/gotten married)

Name: William J C Dear
Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1911
Registration district: Biggleswade
Inferred County: Bedfordshire
Volume: 3b
Page: 309

Name: William J C Dear & Emily Wilson
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1931
Registration district: Coventry
Inferred County: Warwickshire
Volume Number: 6d
Page Number: 2052

DEAR William James Christopher
LUMSDEN / THOMAS Jeanne Margery
Forest of Dean Forest of Dean Register Office
1971 29 80

Name: William J C Dear & Jeanne THOMAS
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1971
Registration district: Forest of Dean
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Volume Number: 7b
Page Number: 1267
Find Spouse: Find Spouse

Name: William James C Dear
Birth Date: 12 Mar 1911
Date of Registration: Jun 1990
Age at Death: 79
Registration district: Forest of Dean
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Volume: 22
Page: 1713

Name: Jeanne Margery Dear
Birth Date: 30 Mar 1923
Date of Registration: Dec 1993
Age at Death: 70
Registration district: Forest of Dean
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Register Number: 30
District and Subdistrict: 4821
Entry number: 182

<><><> possible first wife
Name: Emily Dear
Birth Date: 3 Aug 1910
Date of Registration: Jul 1994
Age at Death: 83
Registration district: Coventry
Inferred County: Warwickshire
Register Number: D46A
District and Subdistrict: 0631D
Entry number: 136

Thank you for this information,how would i go about finding whereabouts she was buried/cremated and where her remains were placed.

Sorry i'm new to all of this but i know its a wish of my fathers and he's not well so i'd like to make his wish come true.

Now that we have narrowed your research down to a couple of months, this might be ueseful

To view the full burial register (by appointment only) please contact the Bereavement Officer on 01594 812257.

Burial records are not held for any other cemetery or churchyard or for interments and scattering of cremated remains undertaken by the Forest of Dean Crematorium.

http://www.fdean.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=6707&tt=graphic

an example :-
Cemetery Yew Tree Brake
Grave Ref A-P8 143
Name WORGAN William Howard
Age 68 years
Address 19 Woodside Street, Cinderford, Glos.
Date of Death 7th October 1976
Date of Burial 12th October 1976
Place of Death Gloucester Royal
Officiating Minister Rev. C. Minett

Sorry i'm new to all of this but i know its a wish of my fathers and he's not well so i'd like to make his wish come true.

My grandmother died and was apparently buried/cremated in Yew Tree Brake Crematorium.

Her name was Ethel margaret Nicholson (nee Smith) although she had been living with a Mr Dear before her death (not sure if she had taken his name/gotten married)

She is believed to have possibly been in Dilke Hospital shortly before (or possibly at the time of) her death and died around 1967-1971.

She had 5 children from her marriage to Harry Nicholson (Bobby,Gill,Colin,Brian and Karen)

My uncle Bobby was recently cremated at the same crematorium and my dad Colin was informed this is where his mother is buried. I would like very much to be able to find out if this is indeed the case and whereabouts her grave is in the crematorium so when he goes to see his brothers ashes buried he could visit his mothers grave too as he has always wondered about where she was buried.

Any information to help me would be greatly appreciated.

Name: Ethel M Smith
Mother's Maiden Surname: Wellington
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1917
Registration district: Coventry
Inferred County: Warwickshire
Volume Number: 6d
Page Number: 1184

Name: Ethel M Smith & Henry Nicholson
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1941
Registration district: Coventry
Inferred County: Warwickshire
Volume Number: 6d
Page Number: 2395

Name: Ethel Margaret Nicholson
Birth Date: 31 Jul 1917
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1970
Age at Death: 52
Registration district: Forest of Dean
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Volume: 7b
Page: 1135

<><><><> possible ?

Name: Henry Nicholson
Birth Date: 22 Aug 1912
Date of Registration: Aug 1993
Age at Death: 81
Registration district: Coventry
Inferred County: Warwickshire
Register Number: C51A
District and Subdistrict: 0631C
Entry number: 20

Her name was Ethel margaret Nicholson (nee Smith) although she had been living with a Mr Dear before her death (not sure if she had taken his name/gotten married)

She is believed to have possibly been in Dilke Hospital shortly before (or possibly at the time of) her death and died around 1967-1971.

She had 5 children from her marriage to Harry Nicholson (Bobby,Gill,Colin,Brian and Karen)

My uncle Bobby was recently cremated at the same crematorium and my dad Colin was informed this is where his mother is buried. I would like very much to be able to find out if this is indeed the case and whereabouts her grave is in the crematorium so when he goes to see his brothers ashes buried he could visit his mothers grave too as he has always wondered about where she was buried.

Any information to help me would be greatly appreciated.