West Norwood Cemetery

Image right - Gates of West Norwood Cemetery

Image by Matt Brown - originally posted to Flickr as West Norwood Cemetery, CC BY 2.0, Wiki Commons

Please link GENi profiles of people buried in West Norwood Cemetery to this project.

West Norwood Cemetery, one of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, is a 40-acre cemetery established in 1836, one of the "Magnificent Seven" Cemeteries of London. It is situated in West Norwood in London and was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. It is a site of major historical, architectural and ecological interest.

Its grounds are a mixture of historic monumental cemetery and modern lawn cemetery, but it also has catacombs, cremation plots and a columbarium for cinery ashes. The cemetery's crematorium still operates, and cremation plots are still available, but all the conventional burial plots have been allocated and so it is closed to new burials pending further agreement under current burial legislation.

The cemetery was founded by its own Act of Parliament of 1836 and consecrated for its first burials in 1837. By 2000, there had been 164,000 burials in 42,000 plots, plus 34,000 cremations and several thousand interments in its catacombs.

In 1842, a section of the cemetery was acquired by London's Greek community for a Greek Orthodox cemetery, and this soon filled with many fine monuments and large mausoleums, memorialising the history of Anglo-Hellenic families. Grade II-listed St Stephen's Chapel within the Greek section is sometimes attributed to architect John Oldrid Scott. The Greek necropolis is overseen by the trustees of the Cathedral of Saint Sophia. The Greek diaspora is well represented, including the Ralli family, Panayis Vagliano, Rodocanachi family, and Princess Eugenie Palaeologue.

Another enclosure in the south-east corner was acquired by St Mary-at-Hill in the City of London for its own parish burials.

A War Memorial in the form of a Cross of Sacrifice is the first memorial between the main gate and the inner gate. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 136 Commonwealth burials of the Great War and 52 of World War II, plus 18 cremations. There is also one Belgian war burial and two Greek civilian victims of the RMS Lusitania. There are many Anglo-Indian Army officers buried in various parts of the cemetery. Spencer John Bent, Victoria Cross recipient for action in World War I, who was cremated here, is commemorated in a garden of remembrance.

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Burials at West Norwood Cemetery

A

• William à Beckett
• C. W. Alcock - founder of Test cricket and the FA Cup
• Richard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone
• Arthur Anderson (businessman) - co-founder of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company
• John Appold
• Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer

B

• Richard Baggallay
• Charles Baily
• Hannah and Florence Barlow
• Joseph Barnby (1838-1896) composer and resident conductor at the Royal Albert Hall
• Ted Barratt
• Robert Lambert Baynes
• Thomas Miller Beach
• Isabella Beeton (1836-18650 - British Author. British writer of cookery articles and books such as "The Book of Household Management" and "Mrs Beeton's Cookbook." Died aged 28 in childbirth
• John Belcher (1841-1913) British architect. Projects included Whiteley's store in Bayswater (1910), Colchester Town Hall (1898) and the Aston Memorial in Lancaster (1906), which was built in the Edwardian Baroque style. He was also an accomplished musician and artist, and was elected President of the RIBA, (1904-1906) and the Royal Academy in 1909.
• Spencer John Bent (1891-1977) World War I Victoria Cross Recipient.
• Richard Bentley (publisher)
• Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) engineer and inventor who invented the first process for mass-producing steel inexpensively. This process, though no longer commercially used, at the time of its invention was of enormous industrial importance because it lowered the cost of production of steel.
• David Blair (1932-1976) Ballet Dancer. Trained at Sadler's Wells School, he joined their theatre in 1947. He was made a soloist in at Covent Garden in 1953 and was soon moved to a principal (1955).
• Samuel Laman Blanchard
• William Blizard
• Henry George Bohn
• Edward Charles Bowra
• William Thomas Brande
• Charles Bravo
• John Syer Bristowe
• Thomas Lynn Bristowe
• John Britton (antiquary)
• Henry James Brooke
• Johnny Broome
• Barnabas Brough
• John Cargill Brough
• Lionel Brough
• Mary Brough (1863-1934) Actress. She starred in British silent and early sound films. In 1881 she began her stage career at the Aldwych Theatre in London, appearing in such hit plays as "Thark" and "The Cuckoo in the Nest".
• Samuel Brown (Royal Navy officer)
• Gerard Baldwin Brown
• James Baldwin Brown
• Robert Brown (explorer)
• Richard Henry Brunton
• Peter Buchan
• Alfred Burges
• William Burges (1827-1881) - Gothic Revivalist architect and designer. He received his education at King's College School, London, where he studied under John Sell Cotman. In 1843 he began to study engineering, but left to work in the office of the surveyor Edward Blore. There he worked on the restoration of Westminster Abbey. In 1849 he joined the office of Matthew Digby Wyatt, the Special Commissioner and Secretary to the Great Exhibition of 1851, and contributed to the official record of the exhibition, The Industrial Arts of the Nineteenth Century, 2 vols (1851-1853).
• John Burnet (abolitionist)
• Alice Burville (1856-1944) Opera Singer, probably best remembered for performing the works of Gilbert and Sullivan during the late 1800s. Her professional debut came in 1874 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in Franz von Suppe's "Ten of 'Em".
• Thomas Talbot Bury
• James Busby

C

• Demetrios Capetanakis
• George Caridia
• Richard Christopher Carrington
• Robert Brudenell Carter
• Sydney Carter
• Alfred James Carver
• George Cattermole
• Alfred Cellier
• Charles Chabot
• David Chadwick (politician)
• Paul Emile Chappuis
• William Brass, 1st Baron Chattisham
• Henry Christmas
• Paul Cinquevalli
• Joseph Bernard Clark
• William Clarke (cricketer)
• William Clowes (printer)
• John Jenkins Cole
• Ninian Comper
• Francis Cook, 1st Viscount of Monserrate
• John Cowan (sheriff)
• David Cox (artist)
• Frederick Crace
• John Dibblee Crace
• John Gregory Crace (designer)
• Alexander Crichton
• Sir George Cubbit (1828-1917) George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe was born at Clapham Common, London, He was the son of Thomas Cubitt and Mary Anne Warner.
• Mary Ann Cubitt (Nee Warner) (1802- ?) wife of Thomas Cubitt
• Thomas Cubitt (1788-1855) Architect. An influential figure in English building design, he specialised in the late Georgian and early Regency styles.
• Sir William Cubitt (1785-1861) Railway and canal engineer; inventor of patent windmill sails and of the prison treadwheel. He was born at Dilham in North Norfolk, England, where his father was a miller.
• William Hayman Cummings
• Henry Currey (architect)

D

• William Dallas
• Arthur Daniel
• Derrick De Marney
• Terence De Marney
• Paul de Reuter (1816-1899) Journalist. Born in a family of rabbis, he was named Israel Beer Josaphat. He changed his name and became a founder of Reuters, one of the major financial news agencies of the world, which first established a telegraph link between Britain and the European continent through the English Channel.
• Edward Stephen Dendy
• Stephen Poyntz Denning
• Charles P. Dixon
• George Dodd (MP)
• George Dollond
• Frederick Doulton
• Sir Henry Doulton (1820-1897) Son of John Doulton, he joined the pottery business at the age of 15 and took over his father's, (John Dwight Doulton) company after his death. It was his genius that propelled the company forward to reach artistic heights.
• John Dwight Doulton (1793-1873) Father of English pottery who set up a pottery in Fulham, near London. In 1815 he left the Fulham pottery and invested his life savings of £100 in a small pottery in Vauxhall Walk. The company produced a line of stoneware bottles, jars, tobacco containers, match stands, butter dishes and utilitarian based industrial products in addition to some traditional brown stoneware tobies.
• John Doyle (artist)
• Charles Henry Driver
• Sir William Dunn, 1st Baronet, of Lakenheath

E

• Sir John Easthope, 1st Baronet
• Mary Emma Ebsworth
• William Ellis (economist)
• Enon Chapel
• James Esdaile
• James Eyre (physician)

F

• Charles Hilton Fagge
• Robert Francis Fairlie
• Joshua Field (engineer)
• James Fitzmaurice-Kelly
• Alfred Henry Forrester

G

• Sir Thomas Gabriel, 1st Baronet
• John Peter Gassiot
• Henry Gastineau
• James William Gilbart
• James Godkin
• Bella Goodall
• Thomas Gray (surveyor)
• James Henry Greathead - who tunnelled much of the London Underground
• Harry Green
• Thomas Grieve (painter)
• Henry Grissell
• John William Grover
• Joseph Gurney
• William Brodie Gurney
• Frederick Gye

H

• George Hackenschmidt (1878-1968) Anglo-Russian professional wrestler. Legendary Wrestler. Georges Karl Julius Hackenschmidt (aka Hack or The Russian Lion) of German and Swedish decent was born at Dorpat in the province of Estonia, Russia now Tartu, Estonia. Hack was genetically and physically gifted. He took after his Swedish grandfather. Hack is considered one of the greatest Greco-Roman and Catch-as-Catch-can Wrestler's of all time. He excelled at cycling, gymnastics, swimming, running, jumping and weightlifting.
• Louis Haghe
• Sir Frederick Hall, 1st Baronet
• James Hannen, Baron Hannen
• Richard Reader Harris (barrister)
• Henry Harrod
• George Harwood
• Martin Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke
• John Herapath
• John Hilton (surgeon)
• Edward George Honey
• Robert William Honner
• Sir William Houston, 1st Baronet
• John Hughes (businessman)

I

• Adelaide Ironside

J

• John Jackson (UK politician)
• George Jennings
• Thomas C. Jerdon
• Douglas William Jerrold
• William Blanchard Jerrold
• John Lawson Johnston
• Philip Mainwaring Johnston
• Horace Jones (1819-1887) English architect, famous for Tower bridge and Smithfield market.
• Lloyd Jones (socialist), Co-operative Society activist, to name but a few.

K

• James Kershaw
• Sir John Key, 1st Baronet
• Thomas King (boxer)
• James Knowles (architect)
• James Thomas Knowles

L

• Sophia Lane Poole
• Edward William Lane
• Katti Lanner - ballet dancer
• George Alexander Lee
• Thomas Letts
• John Scott Lidgett
• Richard Limpus
• John Locke (MP)

M

• Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur
• G. H. MacDermott
• Edmund Distin Maddick
• Robert Mallet
• August Manns
• Dr. Gideon Algernon Mantell (1790-1852) English Obstetrician, Geologist, and Paleontologist. He is credited with discovering the first fossils identified as originating from a dinosaur, teeth belonging to an Iguanodon. He was born in Lewes, Sussex, England
• William Marsden (surgeon) - founder of the Royal Free Hospital and The Royal Marsden Hospital
• Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840-1916) Weapons Inventor. Born in Sangerville, Maine, he moved to England in 1881. He is widely known for inventing and developing the Maxim Machine Gun, which was the first portable, self powered, fully automatic machine gun.
• Alexander McArthur
• William McArthur (Lord Mayor of London)
• Thomas Miller (poet)
• William Allen Miller
• Edwin James Milliken
• Robert Moffat (missionary)
• Eric "Mr. World" Morley (1918-2000) millionaire entrepreneur became known as "Mr. World" after creating the Miss World beauty pageant.
• Will Mortlock
• Richard Muir
• Alexander Muirhead (1848-1920) Electrical engineer. He was born in East Lothian, the son of a farmer who moved into the world of wireless telegraphy, came south to London, and set up his own firm of telegraphic engineers.
• Charles Murchison (physician)
• George Myers (builder)

N

• William Francis Patrick Napier
• John Collis Nesbit
• Frederick Nettlefold
• Lesslie Newbigin
• John Alexander Reina Newlands
• William Newmarch
• Andrew Nicholl
• Henry Minchin Noad

O

• John Oakey

P

• John Hinde Palmer
• Alexander Parkes
• Charles Pearson
• Mary Martha Pearson
• Alexander Perceval
• Henry Wyndham Phillips
• Richard Phillips (chemist)
• Sir John Pirie, 1st Baronet
• Arthur Beresford Pite
• Christopher Pond
• John Cyril Porte
• Samuel Prout
• William Morley Punshon

Q

• Joseph Quick (engineer)

R

• Mario Raggi
• Ralli Brothers
• Frederick Ransome
• Ellen Henrietta Ranyard
• William Thomas Reay
• Lovell Augustus Reeve
• William Pett Ridge
• David Roberts (painter)
• Sister Eliza Roberts, (Florence Nightingale's principal nurse during the Crimean War)
• Michel Emmanuel Rodocanachi
• William Roupell
• John Ryder (actor)

S

• Arnold Safroni-Middleton
• St George's, Hanover Square
• George Shenton
• Augustus Siebe
• William Simms (instrument maker)
• Sir Lumley Skeffington, 2nd Baronet
• Felix Slade
• Patsy Smart
• Menella Bute Smedley
• William Collingwood Smith
• Thomas Sopwith (geologist)
• Tom Spring
• Charles Spurgeon
• Charles Stanford (minister)
• Edward Stephens
• Thomas Stevenson (toxicologist)
• James Stiff
• Henry William Stisted
• William Richard Sutton

T

• Thomas Noon Talfourd
• Henry Tate - sugar magnate and founder of London's Tate Gallery
• George Tattersall
• Annie Royle Taylor
• Alfred Temple
• David Thomas (born 1813)
• Richard Thornton
• George Tinworth
• William Tite - gothic architect
• Joseph Towne
• Sir Ernest Tritton, 1st Baronet
• Ebenezer Trotman
• Sharon Turner
• George Tyler

U

• James Underwood (carpenter)

V

• Panayis Athanase Vagliano

W

• Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward
• James Watson (radical)
• Theodore Watts-Dunton
• John Webster (engineer)
• Joseph Whitaker (publisher)
• William Mattieu Williams
• James Wimshurst
• Robert Wingate
• William F. Woodington
• William Wyon

Z

• Maria Zambaco

[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=658403 Full list of 2 280 interments at Find a Grave.

References and Sources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Norwood_Cemetery
• London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer Hugh Miller & Brian Parsons.

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