THE VICTORIAN CREMATION

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 2, Issue 124, 24 April 1895, Page 3

THE VICTORIAN CREMATION

FURTHER PARTICULARS. The body of the late Mrs Elizabeth Inger Honniker, an agod lady of English birth, who resided in Victoria for nearly 40 years, -was cremated, -with the sanction' of the Chief Commissioner of Police, and in tho presence of a gathering of relatives and friends, on the afternoon of March 19, in a little seashore bay between Sandringham and Beaumaris. This is the first time that a European has been cremated in Victoria, although as recently as last week the corpse of a Hindoo was reduced to ashes near the same spot, according to the rites of his religion. It was by her own express wish that the body of Mrs Henniker was disposed of by fire, and the ceremony was carried out in a accent and orderly manner, which minimised as far as possible the natural shock to the feelings of the onlookers, which the novelty of the spectacle excited. Tho body, which was in a kauri pino coffin, was conveyed in tho customary mannor from tho deceased's lato residence at Richmond to tho spot selected for cremating it. As the iiro gained strength and crept round tho coffin the mourners sang softly tho verses of tho hymn 'Wo Shall Gather at tho Rivor.' Whon the firo died out nothing was loft but a little heap of black and smoking ashes. Nothing remained of tho corpse or tho coffin except the iron handle and the nameplate. It seems that Mrs Henniker originally belonged to the Church of England, but somo years ago went over to the Unitarians, and drifted thence into the tenets of .Spiritualism, which sho continued to hold up to the time of her death. A van containing three tons of firewood and a keg of keroseno was sent on in advance, and everything was ready when tho procession arrived at the chosen spot. The coffin was removed from the hearse, and placed on the sea beach at the base of a cliff. Logs were piled round and over it; somo dry brushwood, sprinkled with kerosene, was laid among the logs; and then the undertakers men, having finished their task, withdrew. The mourners, carrying wreaths of white flowers, stood round the pyie, while a son of the deceased lady witli his own hands applied the match,