Manor Park in the Modern Age

Deceased Online's latest release includes the records of one of London’s largest cemeteries: Manor Park Cemetery and Crematorium E7.

Last week, we uploaded about a quarter of the burial and cremation records of East London’s magnificent Manor Park Cemetery to the database. This includes over 100,000 records from 1931 to 2010. For burials up to 26 February 1996, the details have been scanned from registers, but data from 27 February 1997 has been digitised only as there are no registers. Many of you have already been in touch to let us know that you have found your relatives buried there. You can find out more by downloading the burial register scan, examining the grave details of other occupants, or locating the specific grave by noting the grave reference number and then printing the digitised maps. If you are able to visit, the privately-owned Cemetery can be found not far from the 2012 Olympic Park. 

As the nation recovered from the First World War, domestic life and leisure pursuits became increasingly popular. Manor Park is situated in the modern London borough of Newham (burial records for which are also on Deceased Online), near Forest Gate, Stratford, Ilford, Barking, Wanstead and Leytonstone. In the East End of the twenties and thirties, thousands turned out regularly to dog races at grounds like Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium, just a few miles north of the Cemetery. One of 33 London stadiums to host dog racing, Walthamstow also hosted motor cycle speedway events.

The stadium was opened in 1933 by William Chandler, and could hold over 5,000 spectators. The Chandler family continued to run the stadium until its closure in 2008. A remarkable memorial on the Centre Drive of Manor Park Cemetery was built in memory of the family.

Chandler Memorial

In 1939, the Second World War began. This was to have a devastating effect on the area around the Cemetery. The East End was one of the most heavily bombed parts of the UK. The cemetery houses two civilian war memorials: one for a school in Leytonstone, and the other for local civilians killed by enemy action. This second memorial was placed by the mayor of West Ham.

One of the worst civilian tragedies of the war took place in nearby Bethnal Green. On the night of the 3 March 1943, at 8.15pm, an air siren rang sounded to warn the people of the East End to take shelter. Some sheltered in cages in their homes, but many thousands took the local underground station – an increasingly popular place to hide from the bombs. In the struggle to clamber down the black out staircase into Bethnal Green tube, a middle-aged woman and her child fell over. Those following tripped and fell, until almost three hundred people were on top of each other. 173 of these people, mostly women and children, were crushed and suffocated to death. By morning, families were wondering why their loved ones had not returned. But news of the disaster was censored for 36 hours. That night, not one bomb fell on Bethnal Green.

Many of the victims were buried in Manor Park. Their date of their deaths is given in the register as 4 March 1943. Doris David, who was 5 at the time, recalled her narrow escape and the terrible loss of her mother and one of her sisters at the memorial website http://www.stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org/DorisDavid.html Doris’s mother was Mary Ann Hall and her 8 year old sister, Irene, known as Renee. On the burial register (page shown above), they are recorded as ‘Mary Hall’ and ‘Rinie Hall’. The grave details reveal they were buried with 5 other victims of the disaster.

The cemetery continues to accept burials.

This beautiful angel monument stands in memory of Joyce McQueen (1934-2010), the mother of designer Alexander McQueen (1969-2010). The marble memorial, sculpted by Andrew Tanser and based on McQueen's ideas, was designed by his nephew, Gary James McQueen.

GREATER LONDON BOOK COMPETITION

The deadline is drawing nearer for our latest competition. For a chance to win a copy of Nick Barratt’s excellent book, Greater London: the story of the suburbs, just answer the following 4 questions:

1. Name the famous 19th/20th century novelist who helped clear and relocate burials from the old St Pancras Church graveyard to the new St Pancras and Islington Cemetery (records available on www.deceasedonline.com)?  A famous tree still stands in the old graveyard which bears his name. 
2. Many of the victims of the worst-ever River Thames boating accident of 1878 are buried in several cemeteries whose records are to be found on Deceased Online.  Can you name the pleasure boat which sank killing 640 people?  
3. Within the next few months, Deceased Online will upload all digitised records for Brompton Cemetery, one of the 'Magnificent Seven' large garden cemeteries in London.  Can you name four of the other six 'Magnificent Seven' cemeteries? 
4. Which East London cemetery, located in the London Borough of Newham, already has all its records on Deceased Online? 

How to enter:

For a chance to win a signed copy of the book, please email your answers by no later than 20^th February 2013 to admin@deceasedonline.com 

TIEBREAK: with your answers, tell us in no more than 20 words which is your favourite London cemetery and why. 

Good luck!

We’ll be drawing the entries with the correct answers and the best tiebreak responses on

Thursday 21^st February. The three winners will be announced at Who Do You Think You Are? Live, on our Facebook and Twitter pages, and on this blog later this month.

Sources:

Manor Park Cemetery & Crematorium website http://www.mpark.co.uk/

Mrs Janet Briggs, Cemetery Manager, Manor Park Cemetery & Crematorium

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Fashion-guru-set-in-stone-by-sculptor-06072011.htm