Category: Memorials Page 1 of 35

Seafarers and a boy soldier at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

On 29th May 2025

By the 1830s central London’s cemeteries were literally overflowing with bodies but it was entrepreneurs, rather than the religious authorities, who responded to the squalor by financing seemly, hygienic concepts of burial in the rural outskirts, now embraced by inner London. The Magnificent Seven is an informal term applied these developments and I am gradually working my way around them. I have now visited Highgate and Abney Park and recently I ventured east to Mile End and Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

The City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery Company was made up of eleven wealthy directors whose occupations reflect the industries of the day: corn merchant, merchant ship broker and ship owner, timber merchant, and Lord Mayor of the City of London. The company bought 27 acres (109,265 m2) of land and the cemetery was divided into a consecrated part for Anglican burials and an unconsecrated part for all other denominations. The Cemetery was very popular with people from the East End and by 1889 247,000 bodies had been interred (the cemetery remained open for another 77 years). In the first two years 60% of the burials were in public graves and by 1851 this had increased to 80%. Public graves were the property of the company and were used to bury those whose families could not afford to buy a plot. Several persons, entirely unrelated to each other, could be buried in the same grave within the space of a few weeks. There are stories of some graves being dug 40 feet deep and containing up to 30 bodies.

I headed straight for the beautifully situated war memorial …

It consistes of 16 bronze tablets carrying a list of 283 names. I often find it incredibly moving to look closely at the names, and particularly the ages, of those who have been commemorated in memorials such as this.

This panel certainly told a story since the first name I came across was that of a 17-year-old called Private W J Thurgood of the Civil Service Rifles …

The rules were that you had to be 18 to join up or be conscripted but it is estimated that around 250,000 boys under that age served during the First World War. Incidentally, the letters P.W.O. stand for the Prince of Wales’ Own.

This image tells a story …

The panel in full …

Of the fourteen men listed here where ages are stated, eight are aged 21 or younger.

You can read more about the teenage soldiers of World War 1 here.

A terrible storm at sea is brought to mind here on the family grave of Alfred James Gill and Captain J Warne. I love the details such as the rigging, the bird hovering on the left and what looks like lightning flashing on the right ….

A commemoration of the 190 people who died in Second World War air raids ….

The bricks used in this memorial come from the bombed houses nearby. The mention of a garden in the inscription (“THIS GARDEN…”) is about a garden that does not exist any more because, first, it became a path right up to the brick memorial, and second, the memorial itself was moved to a different location within the cemetery in 1995 because of vandalism.

One of the largest – and certainly the most imposing – family monument in the cemetery, is the Westwood Monument. Joseph Westwood, a businessman, lived at Tredegar House on the Bow Road …

You can read more about the Westwood dynasty here.

A few steps from the Westwood Monument is a 2016 memorial marking the
grave of three of Dr Thomas Barnado’s own children, and more than five hundred children who died whilst in his care who are buried elsewhere in
the Cemetery. Dr Barnado, who started his work with poor children in Stepney in 1868, set up The Ragged School in Stepney Causeway and children’s homes across the East End …

This is the large family vault erected for Ann Francis (d. 1859), wife of
Charles Francis (d.1861), a corn merchant and one of the founding Directors of the Cemetery. This is the highest point in the Cemetery Park and at the time the vault was built it was possible to see the Thames …

The monument was designed with a curious secret: a brick was removed from a wall so that the sun would shine through a wrought iron cross in a door on the western side of the vault at dawn on midsummer’s day …

The Bears were of German Jewish origin but converted to Methodism
and anglicised their names. Those buried here include Henry Bear, a wealthy tobacco and sugar merchant who lived on Cable Street …

The unusual mural of wheat signifies everlasting life …

The consoling text from John XII, v 24 “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

This is the grave of Will Crooks (d. 1921) and his second wife Elizabeth.
A casual labourer in the docks he became politically active and was one of the leaders of the historic 1889 Dock Strike,in which dockworkers
successfully demonstrated for increased wages …

He campaigned not only for fair wages but also open spaces, technical education and the opening of the Blackwall Tunnel. He became London’s first Labour mayor in 1901 when he was named Mayor of Poplar. He was elected to Parliament in 1903 winning in Woolwich, a traditionally Tory constituency …

The grave was rediscovered and the Labour Party and local council paid for its restoration. A true working class hero, you can read more about him here.

This small stone marker commemorates Alfred Linnel …

A steel plaque attached to it reads:

‘Alfred Linnell, 1846 – 1887, is buried near this spot.
On Sunday 13th November 1887, ten thousand people marched towards Trafalgar Square, protesting against repression in Ireland and unemployment. Police and troops beat them with truncheons. A week after ‘Bloody Sunday’ Alfred Linnell, joined a gathering in Trafalgar Square to protest against the authorities’ violence. He was knocked down by a police horse and died on December 2nd.

Not one, not one, nor thousands must they slay
But one and all if they would dusk the day.

William Morris.’

The pamphlet printed to raise money for his family …

Apparently his was one of the biggest funerals ever held at the cemetery with literally thousands of people following the procession.

Unfortunately I failed to find the grave of Music Hall star (and husband of Marie Lloyd) Alec Hurley. Here’s an image of it I found online …

And the man himself …

This stone displays very unusual information. Captain John Chrystal was buried at sea and the relevant Latitude and Longitude map co-ordinates are engraved on the family tombstone …

Research shows that his ship, The Travancore, was just off the coast of Peru when he died. The ‘Register of Deceased Seamen’ gives his cause of death as ‘Heart Failure’.

The Travancore …

And John’s Master’s Certificate is also online, along with other documents …

Here are other images I took as I walked around. Some graves seem incredibly close together and, since the graveyard was hit by bombs a number of times during the Blitz, I’m wondering whether the markers were disturbed and have subsequently been propped up again …

Fred Savill’s memorial incorporates a sculpture of a horse. Maybe he enjoyed a ‘flutter on the gee gees’ …

Though filled with gravestones and funerary monuments, the cemetery has been allowed to revert to resemble a natural woodland, with many wildflowers, birds and insect species found in the park. There are several trails and walks created by the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park you can follow. Here is one of them.

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Trees, flowers and a Bunhill resident pictured on the £5 note.

By The City Gent

On 27th March 2025

In Flowers, Gardens, Memorials, Social History

The big news is that the Magnolia trees beside St Giles are in bloom – this lasts less than a month so has to be savoured …

The Silk Street beds are looking good …

Some rogue visitors among the Polyanthus (possibly bulbs from last year) …

Must be fun to play amongst the daffodils …

St Giles silhouettes at dusk …

From the St Alphage Highwalk …

Magnolia Stellata …

Another highlight of the week was a guided walk around some of the fenced off areas of Bunhill Burial Ground organised by the Friends of City Gardens. The bunting and brochures were out to greet us …

For a detailed history of Bunhill, do have a look at my February 2022 blog. Relevant to our stroll, however, is the Act of Uniformity of 1663. This established the Church of England as the national church and at the same time created a distinct category of Christian believers who wished to remain outside the national church. These became known as the nonconformists or dissenters and Bunhill became for many of them the burial ground of choice due to its location outside the City boundary and its independence from any Established place of worship.

First stop was the earliest grave with a legible inscription, that of Theophilus Gale MA, an eminent dissenter who died in 1678 …

It is rather tucked away …

He was a doctor of divinity, a classical scholar and a learned theologian and philosopher. Gale is held in high regard in America’s Harvard University since, when he died, he left his library to the College, more than doubling its collection of books.

This is the impressive chest tomb of theologian John Owen (1618-1683) …

He was a great friend of John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress, whose elaborate tomb is nearby …

Bunyan spent more than ten years in prison for his beliefs and on one occasion Owen successfully negotiated his release.

This is the grave of Catherine (née Boucher; 1762 – 1831) the wife of the poet, painter, and engraver William Blake, and a vital presence and assistant throughout his life. Decorations have been laid on it by The William Blake Society …

She was the pretty, illiterate daughter of an unsuccessful market gardener from the farm village of Battersea. Her family name suggests they were Huguenots who had fled religious persecution in France. It was a highly satisfactory marriage. Blake taught Catherine to read and write (a little), to draw, to colour his designs and prints, to help him at the printing press and to see visions as he did. She believed implicitly in his genius and his visions and supported him in everything he did with charming credulity. After his death she lived chiefly for the moments when, she said, he came to sit and talk with her.

William is buried elsewhere in Bunhill, outside the fenced area …

Catherine as drawn by William (circa 1805) …

This lady’s importance is reflected in the inscription on her gravestone …

It differs somewhat from the stone in this image showing John visiting her grave in 1779 …

John Wesley was the founder of Methodism and his chapel and former home are across the road from Bunhill. He could see his mother’s grave from his bedroom on the top floor …

You can read more about my visit to his chapel here.

The large tomb at the centre of the photograph is the last resting place of Thomas Fowell Buxton of the famous Truman Hanbury Buxton brewery …

Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet Buxton of Belfield and Runton, was an English Member of Parliament, brewer, passionate abolitionist and social reformer. He married Hannah Gurney, whose sister became Elizabeth Fry, and was a great friend of her brother Joseph John Gurney and the extended Gurney family …

Buxton can be seen on the back of the (last ever) £5 note which commemorated Fry’s work with women prisoners. He is the tall gentleman with glasses standing with the group in Newgate Prison …

The engraving on which the note’s image is based …

It’s entitled Mrs Fry Reading to the Prisoners in Newgate, in the year 1816.

On the way out we passed this rather strange sunken tomb of the Pottenger family …

I have not been able to find out anything about the family but the tomb is Grade II listed. The official record gives the following information: The monument takes the form of a stone chest with a coped lid and moulded base, sunk within a rectangular brick-walled well about three feet deep. (This is said to represent the original ground level within the cemetery). The sides of the chest have incised panels bearing the names of various members of the Pottenger family. The two end panels read, respectively, ‘RICHARD POTTENGER’S Vault 1761’ and ‘The Within are Gone to Rest’.

Bunhill is always wonderful to visit, and we were accompanied for most of the way by the tap-tap-tapping of a resident woodpecker.

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‘Elvis put his hand on my shoulder’ – My visit to Abney Park Cemetery.

By The City Gent

On 27th February 2025

In Architecture, Memorials, Social History

On my recent visit to Abney Park I came across this bench …

Let me quote from one of the published tributes to the Mally Powell who is remembered here: ‘Mally Powell was the singer with the cult glam disco funk band Zip Zip Undo Me. He was the writer of great songs including (Mind Your) Plums and Fist (“She’s back, she’s risen, she’s bent the bars of Holloway Prison”). Dressed in leather, ripped fishnets, sequins, and fake fur, Mally swirled his tail in the face of current trends, avoiding the de-rigueur shoe-gazing of the period, to command the stage like a disco fuelled Iggy Pop’.

Mally in action …

He died in 2013 at the sadly young age of 48. You can see images and hear a performance here and here. Read a full obituary here.

He died in Wales and I have been unable to find out where he is buried but this bench is certainly a form of immortality (I don’t normally Google glam disco funk band singers!).

Now some more about Abney Park itself.

In the early 1800s, London’s rapid population growth proved too much for inner city burial grounds, which were literally overflowing. Parliament passed a bill in 1832 to encourage the establishment of new private cemeteries. Within ten years, seven had been established (later dubbed ‘The Magnificent Seven’ by architectural historian Hugh Meller), one of which was Abney Park.

A modest entrance in Church Street …

The site of Abney Park was formed from the estates of Fleetwood House and Abney House, the latter of which had been the home of renowned non-conformist and hymn writer Isaac Watts. This association quickly made Abney the foremost burial ground for Dissenters – those practising their religion outside the established church. It was founded on these principles, with a non-denominational chapel at its core, and was open to all, regardless of religious conviction. Over 200,000 people are laid to rest here.

Here are some of the other highlights of my visit.

Possibly the most well-known resident of Abney Park is William Booth, English methodist preacher and founder of the Salvation Army …

After a childhood marred by poverty, Booth preached to the sinners of Nottingham with Will Sansom, then moved to London in 1849, finding work as a pawnbroker. In 1851 he left his job and, after years of Methodist evangelical preaching, he founded the East London Christian Mission at Mile End in 1865. After an incident in 1878 the Salvation Army was established. With his wife Catherine, herself a formidable preacher, Booth worked hard to abolish poverty, homelessness and vice, publishing ‘In Darkest England and the Way Out’ in 1890. Operations extended worldwide to include America, France and Australia. Many other Salvationists are buried in this area …

Bostock’s lion …

Frank Bostock was a well-known menagerist responsible for the introduction of many exotic animals to Victorian England. Known as ‘the animal king’, he travelled the world. The Bostock animal arena was a main attraction at Coney Island in the early 1900s. ‘Bostock’s Arena and Jungle’ is recorded as being held at Earls Court in 1908 and then visited principal cities in the UK over the following years. At the time of his death in 1912, Bostock had over a thousand animals in his various shows. He had circus shows and amusement parks in America, Australia, Europe and South Africa. The floral tributes at his funeral took up five carriages.

Bostock and his lions. Brave chap! I think he’s pretending to be nonchalantly reading a newspaper …

PC William Frederick Tyler lost his life in the line of duty …

He was killed on 23 January 1909 by armed criminals while giving chase in what became known as ‘The Tottenham Outrage’. A wages robbery was staged by two left-wing Latvian migrants in Tottenham. The pursuit ended after an estimated 2 hours, after covering 6 miles. Sadly 10 year old Ralph Jocelyn was also fatally struck by the cross-fire. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the joint funeral for PC Tyler and Ralph on 29 January. The grade II listed monument was commissioned by the Metropolitan Police, who also paid for a plot for the Jocelyn family nearby.

The Reverend Henry Richard …

Henry Richard was born in Tregaron, Wales in 1812. After obtaining qualifications for the ministry at Highbury College, he became a Congregational minister. He was known as ‘the Apostle of Peace’, being an advocate for peace and international arbitration. He was also respected for his non-conformist and anti-slavery work. Rev’d Richard was secretary of the Peace Society from 1848-1884 and a Welsh MP from 1868-1888. After his sudden death in 1888 the Richard monument was erected by public subscription in 1891. This grand memorial is Grade II listed.

The only mausoleum permitted by the Abney Park Cemetery Company is that of Dr. Nathaniel Rogers …

Rogers, who died in 1884, was a doctor of medicine known for his philanthropic works. He edited medical books, lectured and sympathised with anti-slavery supporters. Dr Rogers was a Baptist, supporting their meetings, and involvement in the non-denominational London Missionary Society. He made donations to assist with the restoration of the Pulteney Monument at Westminster Abbey, stained glass windows at St Paul’s Cathedral, Abney Park Chapel and the Union Chapel. Twenty years before his death, Rogers designed this Grade II listed mausoleum for himself.

A portrait from his 1847 book Obituaries of eminent persons and private friends …

African-American Eric Walrond is one of the most respected Harlem Renaissance writers …

Born in Guyana, he later moved to New York in the 1920s. His work, including the classic Tropic Death, was influenced by his years growing up in the Caribbean and the slave trade’s legacy. In the 1930s he moved to England and died in London in 1966. This monument was carved by a member of Abney Park’s stone carving group. Walrond is buried in an unmarked public grave in the area behind the headstone.

James Braidwood was a fire-fighter of Scottish descent. He founded the
first fire-service in Edinburgh and later became the first director of
the London Fire Brigade. By 1830, Braidwood had established principles
of fire fighting that were published and are still in use today …

The funeral procession was over one mile long, the hearse was tailed by 15 coaches and representatives of all London Fire Brigades, the Rifle Brigade and the police were present. You can read more about this brave man and the Tooley Street fire in my blog of the same name which you can find here.

Joanna Vassa was the daughter of the man who could claim to be Britain’s first Black activist, Olaudah Equiano alias Gustavus Vassa. Equiano was shipped to England as a slave, served in the navy and obtained his freedom in 1766. He became a writer, Methodist and anti-slavery campaigner, and wrote a groundbreaking autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life Of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, published in 1789 …

Vassa married Susannah Cullen of Soham, Cambridgeshire and they had two daughters. This monument was discovered in the early 1990s in bad condition. After restoration works funded by Abney Park Trust in 2016, it was removed from the English Heritage ‘At Risk’ register.

Abney Park Chapel …

The first foundation stone of the chapel was laid by the then Lord Mayor of London, Sir Chapman Marshall, on 20 May 1840. The architect of the chapel was William Hosking FSA (1800–1861), a professor in Architecture and Civil Engineering, and the first professor of Architecture at Kings College.

Abney Park Chapel is the oldest surviving non-denominational chapel in Europe, and is the only surviving public building by Hosking, then considered a controversial architect. Hosking planned the Chapel to reflect the lack of bias towards any one Christian sect and the cruciform plan adopted the equal arms of the Greek cross, to show the concept of equality before God. It functioned as a funerary chapel – not a place of worship.

The Chapel is the first building known to have been built by John Jay. His varied body of works included building the Victorian clock tower and the city clock of the Houses of Parliament during the 1850s and his body rests nearby …

The rich baroque sarcophagus of white stone with a curved belly, standing on four delightful lion’s paws with elaborately carved filigree at each end, is rumoured to have been sculpted by Jay himself.

It was nice to be accompanied some of the way by a friendly, territorial Robin, a bird believed by some to represent a visit by the spirit of lost loved ones …

Some miscellaneous images.

The War Memorial…

One of the 140 marked graves …

Intriguingly, I discovered two tombstones with musical notes on them and my friend Anne, doyenne of ancestry research, has found out more about the people using census records.

Henry James De Boodt appears to have been a general labourer, GPO worker and builder at various times. His son, however, was a piano tuner, so maybe Henry was a music lover and his son had the talent to decorate the memorial accordingly …

The other stone marks the grave of Gladys St Aubyn Dunn. She had at one time been a governess and at the time of the 1921 census was a music teacher for the Evening Institute. Maybe she chose the musical score herself? The poem is also rather sweet …

I caught a glimpse of an anchor …

… and investigated further …

The inscription tells the sad tale of an only child called Harry, aged just 17, drowned in an accident off the coast of Colombo.

Abney is a wonderful place. It is managed by a Trust and you can donate to its work here. There is also a nice cafe just inside the main entrance.

Incidentally, you’ll find this lion in another of the Magnificent Seven Cemeteries. It’s the tomb of Frank Bostock’s one-time partner George Wombwell …

Read more about it here in my blog about Highgate.

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