Hampstead Cemetery is a historic cemetery in

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, located at the upper extremity of the

NW6 The NW (North Western) postcode area, also known as the London NW postcode area, is a group of 13 postcode districts covering around 13,895 live postcodes within part of northwest London, England. It is the successor of the NW sector, originally ...

district. Despite the name, the cemetery is three-quarters of a mile from Hampstead Village, and bears a different postcode. It is jointly managed by Islington and Camden Cemetery Service and opens seven days a week, with closing times varying throughout the year.

Location and history

Hampstead Cemetery is situated on Fortune Green Road and is bordered on the northern side by the sports ground of

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_he ...

. A public footpath running from Hocroft Road to

Fortune Green Fortune Green is a small area in West Hampstead, London Borough of Camden. Lying on the south-west side of the Finchley Road, Hampstead town council decided to build its overflow cemetery there in the 1840s. A guide to Hampstead Cemetery, with s ...

runs through the cemetery, effectively splitting it in two. Hampstead Cemetery was consecrated by the Bishop of London and opened in November 1876. The entire site covers , and an estimated 60,000 people are buried there. While there are no new grave spaces available, there is an area for cremated remains to the north of the cemetery, by the Fortune Green Road exit. The cemetery has a pair of

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

mortuary chapels, both of which are Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

s. The southern chapel was originally

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

, and the northern non-conformist; they share a common ''

porte-cochère A porte-cochère (; , late 17th century, literally 'coach gateway'; plural: porte-cochères, portes-cochères) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like ...

''. Currently, only the southern chapel is in use as an inter-faith place of worship. There is also an entry lodge made of Kentish Rag and Bath stone. The Heritage Lottery Fund has funded restoration work on the buildings. A large number of

Celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses e ...

es can be found in the area to the southwest of the chapel, marking the presence of several Scottish families. The northeastern corner has some notable examples of modern and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

stonemasonry, in particular the Bianchi monument and the sculpted church organ in memory of Charles Barritt.

Notable burials

* Dorothea Baird, actress (wife of H.B. Irving, also buried in the same grave) *

Nigel Balchin Nigel Marlin Balchin (3 December 1908 – 17 May 1970)Peter Rowland, "Balchin, Nigel Marlin (1908–1970)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, accessed 9 December 2008 was an English psyc ...

, novelist * Francis Barraud, painter (most notably of ''

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

'') *

Lajos Biro Lajos () is a Hungarian masculine given name, cognate to the English Louis. People named Lajos include: Hungarian monarchs: * Lajos I, 1326-1382 (ruled 1342-1382) * Lajos II, 1506-1526 (ruled 1516-1526) In Hungarian politics: * Lajos Aul ...

, Hungarian novelist *

Dennis Brain Dennis Brain (17 May 19211 September 1957) was a British horn player. From a musical family – his father and grandfather were horn players – he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. During the Second World War he served in the Roya ...

, horn player *

Ann Dudin Brown Ann Dudin Brown (1822–1917) was a benefactor. She funded the establishment of Westfield College for women. Life Brown was born to John Dudin Brown and his wife, Ann, on the 2nd January 1822. Her father was a wharfinger on the River Thames and a ...

, philanthropist and co-foundress of

Westfield College Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

Gladys Cooper Dame Gladys Constance Cooper, (18 December 1888 – 17 November 1971) was an English actress, theatrical manager and producer, whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television. Beginning as a teenager in Edwardian mus ...

, actress *

Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery. He was Architect to the Ecclesiastical Commiss ...

, architect *

Alan Coren Alan Coren (27 June 1938 – 18 October 2007) was an English humourist, writer and satirist who was a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz ''The News Quiz'' and a team captain on BBC television's ''Call My Bluff''. Coren was also a journalis ...

, journalist, writer and satirist *

William Randal Cremer Sir William Randal Cremer (18 March 1828 – 22 July 1908) usually known by his middle name "Randal", was a British Liberal Member of Parliament, a pacifist, and a leading advocate for international arbitration. He was awarded the Nobel Peace ...

, politician and pacifist *

Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti Sebastian Pietro Innocenzo Adhemar Ziani de Ferranti (9 April 1864 – 13 January 1930) was a British electrical engineer and inventor. Personal life Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti was born in Liverpool, England. His Italian father, Cesare, was a ...

, engineer and inventor *

Frank Bernard Dicksee Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee (27 November 1853 – 17 October 1928) was an English Victorian painter and illustrator, best known for his pictures of dramatic literary, historical, and legendary scenes. He also was a noted painter of portra ...

, Pre-Raphaelite painter *

Maurice Feild E. Maurice Feild (1905–1988) was an English painter and teacher, a close associate of the Euston Road School, and an influential teacher at the Downs School, Colwall, and the Slade School of Art. Career He began his career at the Downs Scho ...

, painter *

Walter Field Walter Field (1 December 1837 – 23 December 1901) was an English painter. Biography He was the youngest son of Edwin Wilkins Field by his second wife, Letitia Kinder, and was born at Windmill Hill, Hampstead, on 1 December 1837. He was a line ...

, painter *

Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...

, fifth Prime Minister of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

* Banister Fletcher (Senior), architectural historian, and his son

Banister Fletcher Sir Banister Flight Fletcher (15 February 1866 – 17 August 1953) was an English architect and architectural historian, as was his father, also named Banister Fletcher. They wrote the standard textbook ''A History of Architecture'' ...

, architect *

Gilbert Frankau Gilbert Frankau (21 April 1884 – 4 November 1952) was a popular British novelist. He was known also for verse (he was a war poet of World War I), including a number of verse novels, and short stories. He was born in London into a Jewish fami ...

, novelist *

Ronald Frankau Ronald Hugh Wyndham Frankau (22 February 1894 – 11 September 1951) was an English comedian who started in cabaret and made his way to radio and films. Family Frankau was born in London, the third child of Arthur Frankau, son of Joseph Fra ...

, comedian and comedy partner of

Tommy Handley Thomas Reginald Handley (17 January 1892 – 9 January 1949) was an English comedian, best known for the BBC radio programme ''It's That Man Again'' ("''ITMA''") which ran between 1939 and 1949. Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, Handley went ...

Pamela Frankau Pamela Sydney Frankau (3 January 1908 – 8 June 1967) was a popular English novelist from a prominent artistic and literary family. She was abandoned by her novelist father Gilbert Frankau at an early age, and she became a prolific writer. Sh ...

, author * Ronald Fraser, actor * Walter Goodman, artist, author and illustrator *

Kate Greenaway Catherine Greenaway (17 March 18466 November 1901) was an English Victorian artist and writer, known for her children's book illustrations. She received her education in graphic design and art between 1858 and 1871 from the Finsbury School o ...

, children's book illustrator *

John Hargrave John Gordon Hargrave (6 June 1894 – 21 November 1982), (woodcraft name 'White Fox'), was a prominent youth leader in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s, Head Man of the Kibbo Kift, described in his obituary as an 'author, cartoonist, inve ...

, pacifist and social activist *

H. B. Irving Harry Brodribb Irving (5 August 1870 – 17 October 1919), was a British stage actor and actor-manager; the eldest son of Sir Henry Irving and his wife Florence (née O'Callaghan), and father of designer Laurence Irving and actress Elizabeth ...

, actor son of

Sir Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

William Stanley Jevons William Stanley Jevons (; 1 September 183513 August 1882) was an English economist and logician. Irving Fisher described Jevons's book ''A General Mathematical Theory of Political Economy'' (1862) as the start of the mathematical method in ec ...

(1 September 1835 – 13 August 1882), British economist and logician *

Henry Arthur Jones Henry Arthur Jones (20 September 1851 – 7 January 1929) was an English dramatist, who was first noted for his melodrama '' The Silver King'' (1882), and went on to write prolifically, often appearing to mirror Ibsen from the opposite (conser ...

, playwright *

Goscombe John Sir William Goscombe John (21 February 1860 – 15 December 1952) was a prolific Welsh sculptor known for his many public memorials. As a sculptor, John developed a distinctive style of his own while respecting classical traditions and forms of ...

, sculptor *

Tamara Karsavina Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (russian: Тамара Платоновна Карсавина; 10 March 1885 – 26 May 1978) was a Russian prima ballerina, renowned for her beauty, who was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and l ...

, Russian Prima Ballerina *

John Kensit John Kensit (12 February 1853 – 8 October 1902) was an English religious leader and polemicist. He concentrated on a struggle against Anglo-Catholic tendencies in the Church of England. Life history Kensit, a bookseller from London, had in his ...

(1853 – 8 October 1902), English religious leader and polemicist *

Joseph Lister Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of ...

, discoverer of antiseptic treatment of wounds *

Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (12 February 1870 – 7 October 1922), professionally known as Marie Lloyd (), was an English music hall singer, comedian and musical theatre actress. She was best known for her performances of songs such as " T ...

, music hall star * Marie Lloyd Jr., entertainer and daughter of the above *

George Alexander Macfarren Sir George Alexander Macfarren (2 March 181331 October 1887) was an English composer and musicologist. Life George Alexander Macfarren was born in London on 2 March 1813 to George Macfarren, a dancing-master, dramatic author and journalist, wh ...

, composer and musicologist *

Gaetano Meo Gaetano Giuseppe Faostino Meo (1849, Basilicata, Italy – 16 January 1925, London, United Kingdom) was an Italian-British artist's model, landscape painter, and a noted craftsman in mosaic and stained glass. His unpublished autobiography is ...

(1849 – 1925), artist's model for the Pre-Raphaelites, landscape painter, and craftsman in mosaic and stained glass *

Charlotte Mew Charlotte Mary Mew (15 November 1869 – 24 March 1928) was an English poet whose work spans the eras of Victorian poetry and Modernism. Early life and education Mew was born in Bloomsbury, London, daughter of the architect Frederick Mew ( ...

, poet *

Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia (Russian: Михаил Михайлович; 16 October 1861 – 26 April 1929) was a son of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and a grandson of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. He was raised in the ...

and his wife Countess Sophie von Merenberg, Countess de Torby *

Alan Moorehead Alan McCrae Moorehead, (22 July 1910 – 29 September 1983) was a war correspondent and author of popular histories, most notably two books on the nineteenth-century exploration of the Nile, ''The White Nile'' (1960) and ''The Blue Nile'' (196 ...

, writer * Agnes G. Murphy, writer *

Julia Neilson Julia Emilie Neilson (12 June 1868 – 27 May 1957) was an English actress best known for her numerous performances as Lady Blakeney in ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'', for her roles in many tragedies and historical romances, and for her portrayal of ...

, actress wife of

Fred Terry Fred Terry (9 November 1863 – 17 April 1933) was an English actor and theatrical manager. After establishing his reputation in London and in the provinces for a decade, he joined the company of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree where he remained for f ...

* Tom O'Brien, politician * Herbert Andrew Patey,

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

and military hero *

Adam Pragier Adam Szymon Pragier (12 December 1886 - 24 July 1976) was a Polish economist, Doctor of Jurisprudence professor at the Free Polish University, socialist activist, politician, member of the Polish Legions and writer. A minister of information ...

, Polish socialist, minister and writer * Harry Randall (1857–1932), actor and comedian * Paula Rego, Portuguese painter * Robert Reid (Australian politician) merchant and member of the

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and

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* Joseph Rotblat, Nobel Laureate *Eustace Short, co-founder of

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

* Horace Short, aircraft pioneer * Elliott Spiers, actor (played the role of "Marc" in the 1988 film '' Paperhouse'') * George Adolphus Storey, painter *

James W. Tate James William Tate (30 July 1875 – 5 February 1922) was a songwriter, accompanist, and composer and producer of revues and pantomimes in the early years of the 20th century. Tate was born in Wolverhampton, England and died in Stoke-on-Trent, ...

, composer *

, actor (younger brother of

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...

) * Dennis Neilson-Terry, actor son of

and

* Florence Kate Upton, creator of the

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, musical comedy actress and silent film performer *

Victor Willing Victor Arthur James Willing (15 January 1928 – 1 June 1988) was a British painter, noted for his original nude studies. He was a friend and colleague of many notable artists, including Elisabeth Frink, Michael Andrews and Francis Bacon. He ...

, painter * Charles Wyndham, actor and theatre manager

War graves

There are buried in the cemetery 216 Commonwealth service personnel from the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and 44 from the

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

, besides one Polish and one Czech serviceman from the latter war. Those whose graves could not be marked by headstones are listed on a Screen Wall memorial near the north boundary, right of the main entrance.
CWGC Cemetery Report.

Other notable monuments

The cemetery also contains several graves notable either from an architectural point of view or for the eccentric inscriptions they bear.

Architecture

The eastern part of the cemetery houses the so-called Bianchi Monument, a large triangular grave for the Gall family, executed in the finest

style by the Trieste-born sculptor Romeo Rathmann in 1937. The most prominent feature of the grave - a stylised sculpture of a female angel raising her hands to heaven - has become famous in its own right, and often adorns the covers of local guidebooks. Similarly, the tomb of James Wilson ('Wilson Pasha'), Chief Engineer to the Egyptian Government (1875-1901), executed in red marble and also found in the eastern section, has a striking Egyptian look to it. The monument built by the sculptor Sir William Goscombe John to his wife Marthe (d.1923) was stolen from the cemetery in 2001 but later returned after being spotted at an auction a few months later. It was then moved to East Finchley Cemetery but was once more stolen from a storage area in autumn 2006. It has not been recovered.

Inscriptions

The cemetery contains more than one grave with humorous or bizarre inscriptions. On the main avenue of the eastern section can be seen the grave of John Kensit (died 1902), a religious protestor who was "struck down by the missile of an assassin in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liv ...

", actually a chisel thrown by a member of a crowd he was preaching to (the man was charged with manslaughter but later acquitted). The following epitaph is carved on the tomb of Charles Cowper Ross, "a man of the theatre":

What will be said,
When I am dead,
Of what I used to do?
They liked my smile?
I failed with style?
Or, more than likely, "Who?"

Flora and fauna

The cemetery has a large number of mature ash trees. Other trees include yew, sycamore, Norway maple, silver birch, Lombardy poplar, purple cherry-plum, willow and Swedish whitebeam. There is a wildlife area in the north part of the eastern half of the cemetery. This has been planted with trees, shrubs and wild flowers especially attractive to wildlife, such as field maple, hazel, oak, oxeye daisy, common knapweed and bird's-foot-trefoil. This is where most of the site's butterflies are to be found, including small white, speckled wood, holly blue, meadow brown and small copper. Birds recorded in the cemetery include jay, robin redbreast,

green woodpecker There are four species of bird named green woodpecker: * European green woodpecker, ''Picus viridis'' * Iberian green woodpecker The Iberian green woodpecker (''Picus sharpei'') is a medium-sized woodpecker endemic to the Iberian peninsula. It w ...

long-tailed tit The long-tailed tit (''Aegithalos caudatus''), also named long-tailed bushtit, is a common bird found throughout Europe and the Palearctic. The genus name ''Aegithalos'' was a term used by Aristotle for some European tits, including the long-tail ...

goldcrest The goldcrest (''Regulus regulus'') is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. Its colourful golden crest feathers, as well as being called the "king of the birds" in European folklore, gives rise to its English and scientific ...

willow warbler The willow warbler (''Phylloscopus trochilus'') is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strong ...

and

linnet The common linnet (''Linaria cannabina'') is a small passerine bird of the finch family, Fringillidae. It derives its common name and the scientific name, ''Linaria'', from its fondness for hemp seeds and flax seeds—flax being the English n ...

. It is also home to the ubiquitous

grey squirrel The eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis''), also known, particularly outside of North America, as simply the grey squirrel, is a tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is native to eastern North America, where it is the most prodi ...

, as well as many species of fungi.

References

External links

''Hampstead Cemetery''
(LB Camden) {{Commons category, Hampstead Cemetery Cemeteries in London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Camden 1876 establishments in England Grade II listed churches in London Anglican cemeteries in the United Kingdom Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England