Monday 11 February 2013

Borough Burial records


A chance visitor led to an enquiry to the Council Cemetaries Department about buriels in local cemetaries.   What has come back is a document which outlines some of the 'famous and infamous'.
Inevitably most of them are military and there is almost none which could be described as of industrial interest  - I have listed those with some sort of industrial connection and more information would be wonderful
 

Charlton Cemetery

Founded in 1855 as a ‘Gentleman’s Cemetery’ on land originally part of Sir Thomas Wilson’s Estate, it has barely changed since its Victorian layout was featured in the Illustrated London News in 1857. 
 
  • Numerous graves associated with the Royal docks including memorial to 52 who died of yellow fever on HMS Firebrand in 1861
  •  
  • Eltham Cemetery & Crematorium (aka Falconwood)
Opened 1935,


Greenwich Cemetery

  • Norwegian section
  • Nikolai Ogarev, Russian dissident, intellectual, poet. 

 Plumstead Cemetery

Opened 1890, like Greenwich Cemetery it good views across London and features an arched gateway.

  • Many graves and memorials to those killed at work in the Woolwich Royal Arsenal including one to the victims of the ‘Guncotton’ and ‘Lyddite’ explosions of 1913. A total of 16 men were killed and names are inscribed on the granite memorial by the chapel. 
  • Two former Mayors of Woolwich; Sir Edwin Hughes and Albert Gorman
  •  
  • Woolwich Cemetery
Founded in 1856, great London views.

  • Memorial to 120 victims from the Princess Alice disaster which sank in a collision on the Thames in 1878.  The disaster is the worst ever recorded on the Thames with over 600 victims.  Those who died were mostly poisoned due to pollution rather than drowning!
 
If you want information from the burial registers I am told:
 
The registers for all the cemeteries are currently held at Shooters Hill Depot and will shortly be relocated to the Heritage Centre. However, all the cemeteries registers 
havebeen scanned and are accessible to all on the Deceased Online website www.deceasedonline.com
 
(and thanks to Greenwich Parks Dept. for info)
 

 

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