George Orwell

The Daily Mail reports that William Hanks has secured permission from a judge to safeguard his ancestors’ remains, which are buried in the churchyard of All Saints Church in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire.

Orwell, the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, died aged 46 in 1950.

Mr Hanks is worried that, as a result of works being carried out at the site, visitors to Orwell’s grave may take a short cut over his relatives’ grave.

Normally permission for exhumation is refused by the Church of England’s Consistory Court but David Hodge QC, chancellor of the Diocese of Oxford and judge of the court, has given permission for the exhumation.

The application sought removal of the remains of Robert Hanks, who died 140 years ago, on April 6, 1789 at the age of 63 and his wife, Mary, who died on  March 13, 1919, at the age of 80.

Chancellor Hodge said in his judgment that the church’s visitor book indicates that people travel from around the world to see Orwell’s grave.

The judge said: “The grave will lie on the route of a ‘short-cut’ between the external entrance to the new extension and the path to the north; and the petitioner no doubt fears that this will become a ‘desire line’. In view of the popularity of the church and its churchyard with visitors, the petitioner’s concerns cannot be discounted.”

He added: “The petitioner’s particular concern is the likelihood that people will walk across the grave to get to and from the extension.”

He explained that “permanence is the norm for Christian burial and permission for exhumation is only granted exceptionally”.

“On the unusual facts of the present case, I hold that the petitioner has satisfied the court, on the balance of probabilities, that there are special circumstances which constitute good and proper reason for making an exception to the norm that Christian burial in consecrated ground is final,” he said.