Burial of a person who committed suicide in 18th century England? I have an ancestor who committed suicide in 1748 in rural Northamptonshire, England. The burial register of his parish does not record his burial, but it does note that he "hung humself lying almost prostrate on his own bed." I know he was not buried in the churchyard because the number of burials are tallied each year. This man's widow died about seven years later, but was buried in a nearby parish. It is unlikely she had permanently moved to that parish as the burial register still describes her as of the former parish. This makes me wonder whether her husband's suicide affected where the family decided to have her buried. **What would have been the common practice for burial of a person who committed suicide in the eighteenth century? Are there any records that might contain information about where he was buried?**

At that time, a suicide would not have been buried in consecrated ground. Suicide was both a sin and a criminal offence. Burial in consecrated ground was only permitted after 1823 without ritual, and with ritual only after the 1880 Burial Act, one description of which is found here.

As the Church would have nothing to do with the burial of a suicide, there were various local traditions which seemed to vary around the country. Commonly suicides were buried at crossroads and sometimes buried head-downwards. A description of this practice is given here by the Council for British Archaeology.

I am not aware of any specific organised records for such burials.