Finding out when your ancestor died is as important to family history as finding out their date of birth and marriage. If you cannot find your ancestor’s death in the monumental inscriptions, then check to see if there are burial records.
The burial records provide the name of the deceased and his death and/or burial date. They may also include the name of spouse (if wife) or name of father (if child), father’s occupation, maiden name, age and cause of death, as well as section and lair numbers, and the burial fee.
We hold the following burial records on microfilm:
| Ardrossan | 1874-1925 | Kilbirnie | 1887-1930 |
| Dailly | 1876-1914 | Kilwinning | 1870-1894 |
| Dalry | 1866-1925 | Kirkmichael | 1881-1923 |
| Dreghorn | 1849-1925 | Largs | 1862-1925 |
| Irvine | 1818-1862 | West Kilbride | 1859-1923 |
Lair Records
North Ayrshire Council looks after 45 cemeteries and churchyards, including Millport and Arran. Bereavement Services holds the records of the lairs in the cemeteries. They do not hold any records for the churchyards. Their email address is BereavementServices@north-ayrshire.gov.uk
Bereavement Services have also been working to put photographs of the cemetery headstones online. The database is searchable by surname, lair number, or section. Only graves with headstones are recorded.
See: https://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/birth-deaths-marriages/cemeteries
Burial records of War dead
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website provides the burial records of 1.7 million Commonwealth men and women who died fighting in World War One and World War Two. The website allows you to search by a number of different fields, including name, military force, serial number and conflict.