All records for Kensal Green Cemetery and West London Crematorium are now available to search on the database
From this week, all 330,000 records for Kensal Green Cenetery and West London Crematorium can be searched on Deceased Online. They include all burial and cremation records from 1833 to 2010. This release heralds the exclusive digitisation of records on the site from two of the 'Magnificent Seven' cemeteries. And we have more to come soon. Watch this space!
Among the famous names included in this latest release of records is the iconic sixties and seventies designer, Ossie Clark (1942-1996). Immortalized in the 1971 painting (above), Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, by his friend, David Hockney, Clark dressed Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Liza Minnelli and the Beatles. His clothes are still highly sought after, with his vintage designs being worn by Kate Moss and other modern trend-setters. Clark's style continues to influence designers sich as Anna Sui, Christian Lacroix and Prada. Tragically, Clark was stabbed to death by his former lover in 1996.
Other well-known people to feature in the collection are the great playwrights and screenwriters, Harold Pinter (1930-2008) and Sir Terence Rattigan (1911-1977). Rattigan died in Bermuda, but his cremated remains were deposited in the family vault at Kensal Green. Pinter's love of stagecraft continued into death, as he left detailed instructions for his funeral ceremony. Readers at the service included Michael Gambon, who recited from Pinter's play, No Man's Land.
West London Crematorium was built for the General Cemetery Company in 1938 at the south-western end of the cemetery. The Rt Hon. Thomas Jeeves Horder (1871-1955), Chairman of the Cremation Society, officially opened the crematorium in 1939. West London was one of seven crematoria to open that year. Designed by Gerald Berkeley Wills (1882-1979), the crematorium sits in the extensive memorial gardens and is laid out in the form of a cemetery with headstones. There are two chapels, East and West, which were built at the same time as the central building. Interestingly, the West Chapel was only fitted to hold ceremonies in 1996.
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| Memorial Gardens |
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| West London Crematorium |
This image (above) shows the front of the crematorium, with its entrance hall, glass ceiling and ionic columns.
The names of several well-known people are found in the cremation records. In some cases, although the cremation took place in West London, the ashes were removed. Beautiful movie star, Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982), was cremated at the West London Crematorium in 1982, but her ashes were subsequently taken to her native Sweden. Some were scattered at her beloved holiday home near Dannholmen, while the remainder were buried next to her parents' grave in Stockholm.
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| Publicity shot of Ingrid Bergman (1940) |
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| Burial entry for Ingrid Bergman
Other notable people who were cremated in West London include the singer, Freddie Mercury (1946-1991), and Major Herbert Walter James (1888-1958), who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery at Gallipoli. Major James' death was reported in The Times on 16 August 1958 as follows:
'He won the Victoria Cross for
conspicuous bravery during the operations
in the southern zone of the Gallipoi penin-
sula on June 28, 1915. when serving with
the 4th Battalion, The Worcestershire Regi-
ment. When a portion of a regiment had
been checked, because all the officers had
been put out of action, Second Lieutenant
James, who belonged to a neighbouring
unit, on his own initiative gathered together
a body of men and led them forward under
heavy shell and rifle fire. He then returned,
organized a second party, and again
advanced.
On July 3, in the same locality, he headed
a party of bomb throwers up a Turkish
communication trench, and after nearly all
his men had been killed or wounded,
remained alone at the head of the trench and
kept back the enemy single-handed until a
barrier had been built behind him and the
trench secured. "He was throughout
exposed to murderous fire."
He was twice wounded and was in
hospital in Egypt and in England before
going out to France. He was wounded a
third time at the Battle of the Somme.'
The funeral of Major James (pictured above around the time oft he First World War) took place at the church of St Mary Abbot's in Kensington on Wednesday 20 August, with the cremation following. The burial entry below shows that his ashes were "Scattered" in the grounds.
This is the last post in our series on Kensal Green Cemetery and West London Crematorium, but we would love to hear of any of your ancestors or other interesting people whose records you have found in the collection. Do leave a comment in the box below, or contact us via our Facebook or Twitter pages!
Sources:
"Maj. Herbert James, V.C." Times [London, England] 16 Aug. 1958: 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
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Hi
ReplyDeleteIt has been some time since I visited website with such high quality information about regarding . Thank you so much for providing such helpful informationSanta Barbara Green building
Hi, the website states that maps will be available for the Kensal Green Cemetery as from 2014... It's now 2017, so where are the maps?
ReplyDeleteHi Nick,
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delay in uploading the maps.
This is as a result of the grave references being really difficult to reconcile with the maps due to duplicate references, each grave having to be drawn to scale by hand and then manually linked to the data before checking. Normally a large chunk of this can be automated but in this instance it has had to be done manually by our specialist technicians.
Sadly, we have not been able to publish it until we are happy we have as much of it (as physically possible) right.
Emma.
my 2 relatives don't come up in the search, both buried at kensal green according to the images on Ancestry, Elizabeth Fairclough 5th nov 1844 and William Fairclough 26th dec 1840,if anyone has any ideas how I can find them i would be most grateful :)
ReplyDeleteHi Andria,
DeleteI have checked this and your ancestors are buried in the same grave. They are in the index as follows:
last name Fairclough
first names Elizh
burial date 1844
authority Kensal Green
location Kensal Green Cemetery (Kensington And Chelsea)
last name
Farrclough
first names
William
burial date
1840
authority Kensal Green
location
Kensal Green Cemetery (Kensington And Chelsea)
Hope this helps!
Emma.
I have a Horace Jee buried in consecrated ground in 1881 (part 17,260, register number 68,263). How can I find out the date and place of death (which may have been Paris) and who paid for the burial? In fact, can I do this at all?
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to know where he is buried. I cannot find a record for the actual burial place. Also, what evidence do you have that he died in Paris?
DeleteNow you ask, I can't find the Paris record, and so must really look harder. A vague memory tells me it was a consular list of Brits dying abroad. I would like to know what he died of and who paid for the burial. I will guess it was his mum, since she outlived both brothers, but I don't know that. What's your interest? Mine is Speke Hall and Whistler.
DeleteFamily research. Whistler notes him as having gone to Paris with a 'disreputable old woman'.
DeleteI found a french document that is the official death notification in Paris of his death. It states, and I translate, " The year on thousand eight hundred and eighty one, September 15th at 3 in the evening, death certification of Horace Jee, age 37, auunitant born in Liverpool, died at his home in Rue Balzac No. 11 on Spetember 14th at 5 in the evening. Son of Horace, deceased annunitant and of Louisa Livesey his widow, annuitant, living in London. Certicate raised by us, Antoine Raynal adjutant Mayoral officer of the Civil..... of the 8th Arondissement of Paris on the declaration of Alfre Lefevre, aged 39, owner, residing in Paris Boulevard Malesherbe N0 297 and of Joseph Manbert aged 38 years old, employee living in Paris Rue St. Andre des Arts No44, no related to the deceased who have read and signed this."
DeleteNow the interesting thing is this: Someone knew what Jee's mother's maiden name was, and there's absolutely no reason for anyone he wasn't on intimate terms with to know this, and yet, the document does not list anyone else as being there other than these two men.
There is a brief consular record of him having died in Paris. It may well be that he had registered with the Embassy. someon knew enough to get his body back to Britain and buried. I sus pet his mother, who outlived him. If I recall, the Whistler correspondence mentions Paris and the disreputable old woman but does not link them. I shall check on that. I believe the money would have come via his mum. His father had died in America under unclear circumstances immediately after bankruptcy. I suspect suicide.
DeleteIs there a photo available of the headstone of Major General Sir Henry Pynn who died April 25, 1855 and was buried at KENSAL GREEN (ALL SOULS') CEMETERY on May 2, 1855.
ReplyDeleteHi, Is Freddie Mercury "Farrokh Bulsara" burried here?
ReplyDeleteThanks
mark
No. They are not in this cemetery. In accordance with Mercury's wishes, his cremated remains have been buried by his friend in an undisclosed location.
Delete