Bromley Cemetery is a cemetery in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand. It occupies approximately 10 hectares to the east of the city centre, on the corner of Keighleys Road and Linwood Avenue. The

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, wh ...

maintains and administers the cemetery.

History

The Christchurch City Council searched for additional cemetery land beginning in 1913, and opened Bromley Cemetery for burials in July 1918. Later that year the cemetery became the main burial place for fatalities of the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

from the eastern side of the city. The cemetery has two rows of

Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association, best known simply as the RSA, is one of the largest voluntary welfare organisations in New Zealand and one of the oldest ex-service organisations in the world. Wounded soldiers returnin ...

(RSA) interments, and the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...

(CWGC) has records of 109 burials at Bromley, 15 from

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and 94 from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In addition, the CWGC commemorates 33 Commonwealth service personnel cremated at Bromley Crematorium during World War II. On the eve of Anzac Day 2008, over 160 headstones of veterans were painted over for maintenance to improve the inscriptions, which received criticism from visitors and the RSA due to the timing. The cemetery is full and only accepts burials to existing plots or ash interments.

Notable burials

John Beanland John Walton Beanland (3 November 1866 – 7 December 1943) was a building contractor and Mayor of Christchurch from 1936 to 1938. Early life Beanland was born in Durham Lead near Ballarat, Victoria in 1866. His parents were John Griffith Beanla ...

(1866–1943), 36th Mayor of Christchurch * Annette Clifford (1881–1968), Christchurch property owner and landlord * H. H. Clifford (1872–1949), photographer * Ted Howard (1868–1939), Labour Party MP *

Mabel Howard Mabel Bowden Howard (18 April 1894 – 23 June 1972) was a well-known New Zealand trade unionist and politician. She was the first woman secretary of a predominantly male union (the Canterbury General Labourers' Union). She was a Member of Parl ...

(1894–1972), Labour Party MP *

Arthur Rhodes Arthur Lee Rhodes, Jr. (born October 24, 1969) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed relief pitcher who is the current pitching coach for the Cleburne Railroaders of the American Association of Professional Baseball. Career Rho ...

(1859–1922), member of parliament and 24th Mayor of Christchurch * William Trethewey (1892–1956), sculptor and monumental mason

References

External links

*
Bromley Cemetery
on the

website
Christchurch City Council Cemeteries Database
Cemeteries in Christchurch Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in New Zealand {{CanterburyNZ-geo-stub