It’s a matter of grave concern!

When, some years ago, I owned an antique shop in Forest Hill, south London,occasionally visitors to the shop would ask me if I had a particular item for sale to

add to their collections. The most surprising and bizarre question that I was asked oncewas if I had any toilet pans? As by chance I did possess an elaborate Victorian toilet panlavishly ornamented with a blue floral design complete with maker’s name and place ofmanufacture. When I asked the customer if he collected suchitems or just wanted one for his own personal use, he said thathe had collected different styles ranging from examples fromStaffordshire potteries to a Thomas Crapper early cistern-operated toilet. He said he placed his collection around hisgarden and most of them were filled with plants.

Curiously this leads me on to one of my own unusual pastimesof visiting old cemeteries. Buried in Beckenham Cemetery arethe remains of the said Thomas Crapper along with otherfamous people including W. G. Grace, the cricketer; ColourSgt. Frank Bourne (of Rorke’s Drift fame); and the motorcar manufacturer, FrederickWolseley. I lived for a short while close to the cemetery and would visit when taking mydaughter out in her buggy. She was born though in Nunhead, where I lived for a shortwhile in 1993, and almost on the doorstep was the beautiful Nunhead Cemetery. I wouldoften stroll around it relaxing and enjoying the architectural splendour of the tombs andreading the names carved upon them. The cemetery was consecrated in 1840 and wasone of the seven great Victorian cemeteries (known as “the Magnificent Seven”) establishedin a ring around the outskirts of London which included Kensal Green (1832), WestNorwood (1836), Highgate (1839), Abney Park (1840), Tower Hamlets (1841), and

Beckenham (1876). These came after anoutcry from London’s citizens whosedearly departed were often buried inancient graveyards that were full tocapacity sometimes being buried just afoot or two below the surface. During badwinter weather, and particularly afterheavy rain, coffins would rise to thesurface and the corpse would beexposed.

It’s a matterof grave concern!

My strolls took me into the depths of the cemetery, overgrown by brambles and thickundergrowth. At one time I peered at a typical Victorian headstone a little distance away,but could see it still had legible lettering. As I clambered through the undergrowth to geta closer view, I suddenly stumbled and fell three feet down into an old open grave. I thoughtthis isn’t the time to meet my maker, so I pulled myself up and was delighted to find thename of a soldier inscribed on the headstone who had survived the Charge of the LightBrigade at Balaclava in the Crimean war in 1854, but died several years later.

The cemetery is also a haven for wildlife, and is a protectednature reserve. On a snowy winter’s day one can trace thefootprints of many small animals and see variousspecies of birds including tawny owls and woodpeckers. Thecemetery at its highest point is 200m and provides stunningviews of south London with the gleaming white stone of St.Paul’s Cathedral in the distance. I photographed this specialscene from the same point at each of the seasons and myphotos also recorded the growth of buildings surrounded bytowering cranes around the city.

I became a subscriber to the “Friends of Nunhead Cemetery”, an organisation who domuch to help preserve the 52 acre cemetery. From time to time, the “Friends” producebooklets telling the reader of the famous people buried there. The first burial was of CharlesAbbott, a 101-year-old Ipswich grocer; the last was of a volunteer soldier who became aCanon of Lahore Cathedral. There are also monuments to Sir Frederick Abel, co-inventorof Cordite; George John Bennett, the English Shakespearian actor; Edward John Eliot, whofought with Wellington in the Peninsula Wars; Thomas Tilling, the bus tycoon; and AlfredVance, English music hall performer. The largest monument is an obelisk dedicated to theleaders of the ‘Friends of the People’, popularly known as the Scottish Martyrs, who weretransported to Australia in 1794 for dissent against the government.

A few miles away is another of the‘Seven’ – West Norwood, and is said tohouse London’s finest collection ofsepulchral monuments. It features 69Grade I and Grade II listed buildings andstructures, including a dedicated GreekOrthodox necropolis with 19 listedmausoleums and monuments.

The cemetery has a large number ofinventors, engineers, architects, andbuilders, such as Sir Hiram Maxim,inventor of the automatic machine gun; Sir The Berens mausoleum, said to be the finest in England

View from the summit of Nunhead cemetery

Henry Bessemer, engineer and inventor of the famous steel process; James HenryGreathead, who tunnelled much of the London Underground; William Burges and SirWilliam Tite, the gothic-style architects.

There are also many artists, entertainers and notable medics, including Dr. WilliamMarsden, founder of the Royal Free and The Royal Marsden Hospitals; Dr Gideon Mantell,the geologist and pioneering palaeontologist; and Sister Eliza Roberts (FlorenceNightingale's principal nurse during the Crimean War). Sportsmen include C. W. Alcock,founder of Test cricket and the FA Cup; Sir Henry Tate, the sugar magnate and founder ofLondon's Tate Gallery and many civil libraries; Arthur Anderson, co-founder of P&O SteamNavigation; Paul Julius Baron von Reuter, founder of the news agency; the Revd. CharlesSpurgeon, Baptist preacher; and Isabella Beeton, the cookery and household managementwriter, are also interred there.

Recently, I have ventured to othermuch older cemeteries. Theimposing ancient All Saints Churchin Maidstone, Kent is one of theoldest churches in the locality, theoriginal was built in the year 690by the Anglo Saxons. The church isset in a calm and peacefulenvironment overlooking the RiverMedway amidst many historicbuildings, including the Palace ofthe Archbishops. Wanderingaround its many graves andmonuments I came across theresting place of the founder of the Royal Society of Arts, William Shipley.

Nearer home the splendidGreenwich Cemetery containssome interesting epitaphs to thedead. There is a special lawnedsection which contains theCommonwealth War GravesCommission’s final resting placesfor some Australian war dead ofthe Great War neatly laid out inrows with an occasional floweringplant at its base. Nearby is thearchitecturally-splendid memorialto those who fell in the Great WarView of the Docklands complex from Greenwich Cemetery.

All Saints, Maidstone with the River Medway in the foreground

with their names on bronze plaques. Reading the names always makes me very sad whenreading the young age of the fallen. Those who died in Greenwich are alsocommemorated with a memorial to those killed by enemy action during World War Two.

Perhaps you can understand my fascination with cemeteries. They hold a plethora of pastlife; some of the most influential and important people of their day. Just for a moment theyare remembered, even if they were not famous, merely ordinary citizens whose life ended,but are not forgotten as you look at their headstones telling when they were born, died,and sometimes their professions and honours. It is always lovely to see the square andcompasses inscribed on some headstones, like Brother James Brown (illustrated below)who was a Foreman at a Boilermakers in Greenwich.

The beautiful architecture of the memorialat Greenwich Cemetery.

Written and researched byW.Bro. Peter Cartwright, PAGStB, PPGReg.

ADDENDUM

Since writing the above article, I have been contacted by W.Bro. Nick Tyrrell, PPJGD,PProvGStwd who informs me that the article does not include Surrey’s very own

Grade I listed Brookwood Cemetery which until 1941 was the largest cemetery in Europe.I have to admit I knew of the cemetery, but have not had the ‘pleasure’ to visit it. W.Bro.Nick has offered to show me around as he and his wife walk around the cemetery weekly.He says, the cemetery was once the terminal for trains arriving at the two stations withtheir ‘deadly’ cargo. There are many famous people who are interred there includingmany Freemasons and Victoria Cross holders. It does sound quite interesting, so in duetime I will contact Nick to arrange a conducted visit, and perhaps I can pen another articleon what I discover during the visit. (See photos over).

The purpose-built London Necropolis Railway launched in 1854.

It was developed in 1854 in response to both a recent cholera epidemic and chronic overcrowding inLondon cemeteries at the time, and the service was designed to transport not just the dead, but theirrelatives and funeral-goers too.