Records for the second ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemetery in the Deceased
Online database will be released on Boxing Day
We are
delighted to announce, just in time for Christmas, that all cremation and
burial records from 1833 to 1901 for Kensal Green Cemetery will be launched on
the database this week. Later records will be available in the New Year. When all 340,000
records are on the site (by early February), there will be over 3 million individual
burial and cremation records for London available on Deceased Online
representing approximately 8 million data items. The Kensal Green records include those of the West
London Crematorium (est. 1939), which is located in the grounds of the
Cemetery.
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| The Main Entrance to Kensal Green Cemetery |
1833-1860
was a busy time for this part of West London and the new Kensal Green Cemetery,
which was the first commercial burial ground in London. Laid out between the
Harrow Road and the Regent’s Canal in 1832, the cemetery was built over 55 acres
(later extended to 77) in the emerging suburb of North Kensington. By the
1830s, sanitation
in parts of the area was poor and little helped by the increasing numbers of
corpses needing to be buried. Thus there was an urgent requirement for burial
spaces beyond church graveyards. In response, over the next nine years seven
private cemeteries, built by independent companies, were established on the
outskirts of central London.
Kensal Green was the first of these
celebrated ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries to
be built. Its founder, a barrister
and editor of The Penny magazine,
George Frederick Carden (1798-1874), was inspired to create the burial ground after
visiting Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Carden petitioned Parliament in 1830,
and soon afterwards, a number of bills were passed, allowing for the creation
of commercial cemeteries in the more rural suburbs of London. The General Cemetery Company was
created to manage the New Cemetery (or General Cemetery), Kensal Green, and
continues to do so more than 180 years later.
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| The Grade I-listed Anglican Chapel |
In 1832,
when the cemetery was laid out, 39 acres were allotted to Church of England
burials, and 15 for Dissenters. The style of the landscaping was influenced by
Pere Lachaise and designed by Richard Forrest, a former Head Gardener of the
beautiful Syon Park. The buildings were typical of the Regency period, built in
a neo-Classical style and laid out in an Arcadian landscape.
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| Central Avenue |
Soon after opening, the cemetery
became the resting place for notable citizens of the time, including:
- · John St John Long (1798-1834), quack doctor and pharmacist - buried beneath this magnificent memorial [insert photo]
- · Mary Hogarth (1819-1837), sister-in-law of Charles Dickens and the inspiration for the character of Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop.
- · Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843), sixth son of George III - the popular uncle of Queen Victoria, he requested not to be given state funeral.
- · Dr George Birkbeck (1776-1841), the founder of Birkbeck College in London
- · George III’s twelfth child, Princess Sophia (1777-1848), who wished to be buried near her brother, Prince Augustus, and is remembered by this extraordinary sarcophagus.
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| Brunel Family Plot |
Both engineers, Sir Marc Isambard
Brunel (1769-1849) and his more celebrated son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59)
can be found here. The Brunel family plot, which also includes Isambard’s
mother, Sophia Kingdom, lies by Centre Avenue.
Among the most ornate memorials
is that of Andrew Ducrow (1793-1842), a circus owner and equestrian trick rider.
When he died in 1842, he left the enormous sum of £800 for the decoration of
the family tomb at Kensal Green Cemetery.
Kensal Green is also a memorial
to some of those significant in the history of British social reform. Located
here is the resting place of the Chartist leader and founder of the Northern Star, Feargus O'Connor MP (1794-1855),
who after years of promoting the rights of the working man, died penniless and
insane. He was given a public burial at Kensal Green on 10 September 1855, at
which 50,000 people followed the funeral procession. Despite his decline in
later life, O’Connor was hugely influential and popular - you may even find one
of your ancestors was named after him!
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| Cenotaph dedicated to the memory of Sir Robert Owen (1771-1858) |
A cenotaph erected in 1879 stands
in memory of Sir Robert Owen (1771-1858), philanthropist and major social
reformer, who was buried in his birthplace of Newtown, Wales. The cenotaph reads:
HE ORIGINATED
AND ORGANIZED INFANT SCHOOLS, HE SECURED A REDUCTION OF THE HOURS OF LABOUR FOR
WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN FACTORIES. HE WAS A LIBERAL SUPPORTER OF THE EARLY
EFFORTS IN FAVOUR OF NATIONAL EDUCATION AND LABOURED TO PROMOTE INTERNATIONAL
ARBITRATION. HE WAS ONE OF THE FOREMOST ENGLISHMEN WHO TAUGHT MEN TO ASPIRE TO
A HIGHER SOCIAL STATE BY RECONCILING THE INTERESTS OF CAPITAL AND LABOUR. HE
SPENT HIS LIFE AND A LARGE FORTUNE IN SEEKING TO IMPROVE HIS FELLOW MEN BY
GIVING THEM EDUCATION, SELF-RELIANCE AND MORE WORTH.
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| Reformers' Memorial |
Owen’s name is recorded along
with other philanthropists and radicals on the Reformers’ Memorial (next to the
cenotaph) that was erected in 1885:
to the
memory of men and women who have generously given their time and means to
improve the conditions and enlarge the happiness of all classes of society.
They have felt that a far happier and more prosperous life is within reach of
all men, and they have earnestly sought to realize it. The old brutal laws of
imprisonment for free printing have been swept away and the right of selecting
our own law makers has been gained mainly by their efforts. The exercise of
these rights will give the people an interest in the laws that govern them, and
will make them a better men and better citizens.
Two lesser known connections to
the Romantic poets, Keats, Byron and Shelley, are found at the cemetery in the
form of the burial places of the writer, James Leigh Hunt (1784-1859), and
Byron’s rarely-mentioned wife of just one year, Anne, Lady Byron (1792-1860).
Next week I shall be looking at
the great Victorian novelists and others who were buried at Kensal Green
between 1860 and 1900. In the meantime, do let us know if you find any of your
ancestors among the records. We love to hear from you on our Facebook and
Twitter pages.
And finally, we’d like to take this opportunity to wish all our users a
very Happy Christmas from everyone at Deceased Online!
Sources:
The Era (London,
England), Sunday, February 13, 1842; Issue 177.
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