When Did Cremation Become Legal In The UK?

Dead bodies have been burnt throughout history and in many cultural traditions burning the body after death is an important part of the rituals of death and mourning. It is thought that cremating human remains was frowned upon, and in the UK made illegal, wherever Christianity spread because it was in conflict with the doctrine of resurrection. Despite a movement dedicated to promoting cremation which gathered force in the 19th century the law was slow to change. However, an attempted prosecution for cremating human remains illegally failed in 1884 and thereafter the authorities turned a blind eye. However, cremation was thought by politicians to be such an unpopular cause that few would speak on the issue and the first Cremation Act regulating cremation did not pass into law until 1902. Illegality did not stop the growth of cremation and the establishment of many crematoria up and down the UK.

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