Cremation Act 1902
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| Long title | An Act for the regulation of the burning of Human Remains, and to enable Burial Authorities to establish Crematoria. |
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| Citation | 2 Edw. 7 c. 8 |
| Territorial extent | England, Scotland and Wales |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 22 July 1902 |
| Commencement | 1 April 1903 |
The Cremation Act 1902 (2 Edw 7 c. 8) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The major purpose of the Act was to allow burial authorities to establish crematoria. Later versions of the Act were used to outlaw open air cremations using funeral pyres, although in 2010 the Court of Appeal ruled this practice to be legal under certain circumstances.
In 1883 eccentric Welshman Dr William Price fathered a child with his housekeeper nearly sixty years his junior. By the time his son - named Iesu Grist (Jesus Christ) - was born to him in his eighties, Price had taken to wearing a scarlet waistcoat and fox-skin headpiece. He often paraded through the town of Llantrisant carrying a blazing torch and a druid's crescent moon.
However, when his son died - aged five months, the heartbroken Dr Price took the boyʼs body to a hilltop above Llantrisant on a Sunday. There in full view of the nearby chapel he attempted to cremate the body in paraffin. A furious crowd of locals dragged the body from the flames and nearly killed Price. Later an autopsy was performed on Iesu’s body by a local doctor who concluded that the child had died of natural causes and had not been murdered. Price was therefore not charged with infanticide but was instead tried in a Cardiff courtroom for performing cremation rather than a burial which the police believed to be illegal.
Price argued that while the law did not state that cremation was legal it also did not state that it was illegal. The judge, Mr. Justice Stephen, agreed. Price was freed and returned to Llantrisant to find a crowd of supporters cheering for his victory. On 14 March, he was finally able to give his son a cremation involving his own personal Druidic prayers. In 1885 the first official cremation took place at Woking, and ten cremations are recorded as being performed in the following year. In 1892 a crematorium opened in Manchester followed by one in Glasgow in 1895 and one in Liverpool in 1896. The case's legal precedent together with the activities of the newly founded Cremation Society of Great Britain led to the Cremation Act of 1902.
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