There are a few resources that can help you find a burial in Reading Old.
A good starting point for your search is the Royal Berkshire Archives (RBA) website that hosts a very helpful two-part guide about Cemetery Records. You will need to visit RBA to access the resources on that guide. The Berkshire Family History Centre, located on the second floor of Reading Central Library, is another great resource and of course Reading Crematorium holds data about individuals buried in Reading Old.
Members of the Reading Old Cemetery: History, Heritage and Education Facebook Group are also happy to advise and help you in your search but also work with you to locate the grave in the Cemetery once you have some information. We would love for you to share the life stories of your ancestors as part of our long-term community project.
For interments that have taken place from the opening of the cemetery (1843) until 1953 if you know the full name and date of death or funeral, you can access the Order Books at RBA. The Order Books are also available on microfiche. They record the name, age and address of deceased, sometimes name and address of the person who purchased the grave, purchase or burial cost, the Cemetery division the grave is located as well as the number of the grave and whether it was in the consecrated or unconsecrated part of the Cemetery. They also give the day and time of the funeral. The handwriting is sometimes hard to decipher and you may find that for the first 5 years the location of the grave is not clearly indicated. If you look or a person buried in a plot that was purchased before their death (e.g. if it is a family grave or reused grave), it may be harder to find them in the order book sometimes based on the date of their death (as the grave would have been ordered before their death). The burial registers can help you for searches between 1953-58 and after 1964. The burial registers are on microfiche up to July 1959.
For burials between 1959 to 1964 notices of interments replaced the order book and are available at RBA.
The registers of graves are another helpful resource. They are arranged by grave or plot number, which you may have found from the order book or the notice or interment. These registers record the approximate location of the grave (the division number and whether it is in the consecrated or unconsecrated part), names of all persons interred there with the dates of burial (including interments of ashes), and cross-references to relevant pages in burial register.
If you are unable to visit the RBA or the Library, you can buy copies of transcribed burial records for Reading London Rd Cemetery from the Berkshire Family History online Shop. They are organised in Parts and cover 1843 to 1959 for both the consecrated and the unconsecrated part of the cemetery. Berkshire Family History Society also sells a CD with the memorial inscriptions in Reading Old Cemetery. It contains the surviving inscriptions and a map of the Cemetery Divisions. Berkshire Family History Society also sells a CD with Burial Records (13th Edition) in Berkshire that includes Reading Old. It may be particularly helpful when you look for unmarked or common graves, that we know we have a lot in Reading Old.
For war graves, especially if you are trying to find a war grave from WW1, visit the Cemetery Junction War Graves website. Our website covers WW2 graves and very few of the WW1 graves that are not included in the Cemetery Junction War Graves site.
Finding an old grave may take some time but there is support available and interest to help.