Actor Adam Faith and the first Doctor Who are among those whose burial records have been published on a national database today.

Deceased Online will allow genealogists to search for detailed cremation and burial records.

Tunbridge Wells council was the first local authority to sign up, and 150 years of its records went online today.

They include William Hartnell, who played Doctor Who for three years from 1963 and lived in Marden until his death in 1975, and the singer and actor Adam Faith, who died in 2003.

The website gives people access to images of the original register pages, photographs of headstones and memorials, scans of remembrance book pages and maps of graveyards and cemeteries.

John Rickwood, director of Deceased Online, said local authorities are lining up to have their cremation and burial records collated on the website.

Until now, each council has kept its own records separately.

He said: “In the UK there are more than 10,000 cemeteries and nearly 250 crematoria. With genealogy becoming ever more popular, this was a very unsatisfactory situation.”

Dr Ian Beavis, Tunbridge Wells council’s collections management officer, said its records span 150 years.

He said: “We are the first local authority to provide these records in this way. It will be great for researchers to have this information at their fingertips.”

Other personalities whose records will be on the website include pop singer and actor Adam Faith, who died in 2003, and lived at Tudeley.

Blob: For more details call Deceased Online, 01273 207203, or email info@deceasedonline.co.uk