Burials St Osmund's

For those of you who are eagle-eyed and inquisitive, you may have noticed that the 6.00pm Mass on 2 February was offered for the repose of the souls of two people: Mr H Coope and his housekeeper (name unknown). But who were they? 

Soon after the laying of St Osmund’s foundation stone in April 1847, the neighbouring property was bought. The house was initially to be divided into two dwellings for the priest and a tenant; however, it was later decided that the priest should occupy the whole house as the presbytery.  As for the garden, this was to be used as a burial ground, and the first burial was of the housekeeper of Mr Coope. It took place on 25th September 1847. The burial ground was closed by Order in Council in  January 1859 (presumably because it was full). However, those who had a close relative buried here, could also be interred at St Osmund’s. The last burial was in1922  (see Brown forthcoming,From Chapel to Church: Catholics in Salisbury c.1760-c.1860). 

As for Mr Coope, he was a convert and contemporary of St John Henry Newman. Born c.1816, he studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and later became an Anglican curate at a church in Shropshire from 1836-1841. He converted to Catholicism and was in Salisbury by 1846. He lived at King’s House (now Salisbury Museum) in the Close, but we hear no more of him in Salisbury after 1848.  

In all, forty-five people are recorded in the burial registers as being interred at St Osmund’s during this twelve-year period; however, the true number is probably higher since the earliest surviving register dates to 1850, three years after the first burial.Their names are recorded in a frame in the sacristy and below, and it is the intention that Masses will be offered for them during the year.