Kensal Green, St Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery, A mortuary chapel - geograph

St Mary's Catholic Cemetery is located on

Harrow Road The Harrow Road is an ancient route in North West London which runs from Paddington in a northwesterly direction towards Harrow. It is also the name given to the immediate surrounding area of Queens Park and Kensal Green, straddling the NW10 ...

Kensal Green Kensal Green is an area in north-west London. It lies mainly in the London Borough of Brent, with a small part to the south within Kensington and Chelsea. Kensal Green is located on the Harrow Road, about miles from Charing Cross. To the w ...

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It has its own Catholic chapel.

History

Established in 1858, the site was built next door to

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...

. It is the final resting place for more than 165,000 individuals of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

faith, and features
memorial
to

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

soldiers of the

First World War 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 ...

, wounded in combat and evacuated to England, where they died in hospital. There is also a War Memorial, in the form of
Cross of Sacrifice
to the British, Irish, French, Czechoslovakian and Canadian servicemen. It is surrounded by a Screen Wall memorial and a low kerb listing Commonwealth service personnel of both World Wars whose graves in the cemetery could not be marked by headstones. In all, the cemetery contains 208 graves of Commonwealth service personnel of the First World War, and 107 graves of the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

. There are also many foreign nationality war graves that include, from First World War, 77 Belgians and six Germans, and from the Second, eight

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

n and six Polish war graves.CWGC Cemetery Report
Breakdown of foreign war graves from casualty record. Many Irish migrants who came to England during the Great Famine are buried here.

Notable interments

Peter Ashmun Ames Peter Ashmun Ames (June 10, 1888 − November 21, 1920) was an American British Army intelligence officer and member of the Cairo Gang who was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army. Early life Peter Ashmun Ames was born on June 10, 1888, in T ...

(1888–1920), British spy *Sir

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 194 ...

(1899–1970), orchestral conductor *

Marmaduke Barton Marmaduke Barton FRCM (29 December 186524 July 1938) was an English pianist, composer and teacher at the Royal College of Music for almost 50 years. Career Marmaduke Miller Barton was born in Manchester, the son of a United Methodist Free Churc ...

(1865–1938), pianist and professor at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

John Chippendall Montesquieu Bellew John Chippendall Montesquieu Bellew (''né'' Higgin; 3 August 1823 – 19 June 1874) was an English author, preacher, and public reader. John Higgin was born at Lancaster on 3 August 1823. He was the only child of an infantry officer, Captain ...

(1823-1874), Preacher, reciter, and author * Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte (1813–1891), statesman, philologist *

Frank Brangwyn Sir Frank William Brangwyn (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer. Brangwyn was an artistic jack-of-all-trades. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced des ...

(1867-1956), artist *

Lizzie Burns Lydia "Lizzie" Burns (6 August 1827 – 12 September 1878 in London) was a working-class Irish woman, the wife of Friedrich Engels. Lizzie Burns was a daughter of Michael Burns or Byrne, a dyer in a cotton mill, and of Mary Conroy. The family ...

(1827–1878), wife of

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' William Pitt Byrne Jews in Georgian Society: The Laras of London, Pearl Foster, Silverwood Books, pp221-222 William Pitt Byrne (c. 1806 – 6 or 8 April 1861) was a British newspaper editor and proprietor of ''The Morning Post''. He graduated from Trinity Colle ...

(1806–1861), British newspaper editor and proprietor of ''

The Morning Post ''The Morning Post'' was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by ''The Daily Telegraph''. History The paper was founded by John Bell. According to historian Robert Darnton, ''The Morning Po ...

'' *

George Carman George Alfred Carman, QC (6 October 1929 – 2 January 2001) was an English leading barrister during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1979, he successfully defended the former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe after he was charged with conspiracy to murder. ...

QC (1929–2001), barrister *

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir

John Cowans General (United Kingdom), General Sir John Stephen Cowans, (11 March 1862 – 16 April 1921) was a senior British Army officer who served as Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1912 to 1919, covering the period of the First World War. ...

(1862–1921),

Quartermaster-General to the Forces The Quartermaster-General to the Forces (QMG) is a senior general in the British Army. The post has become symbolic: the Ministry of Defence organisation charts since 2011 have not used the term "Quartermaster-General to the Forces"; they simply ...

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 ...

– buried at Terrace 130 *

Anne Crawford Imelda Anne Crawford (22 November 1920 – 17 October 1956) was a British film actress, born in Palestine of a Scottish father and an English mother, and brought up in Edinburgh. Biography A contemporary of Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calver ...

(1920-1956), actress of stage, radio and film *Major

Thomas Crean Major Dr. Thomas Joseph Crean, (19 April 1873 – 25 March 1923) was an Irish rugby union player, British Army soldier and physician, doctor. During the Second Boer War, while serving with the Imperial Light Horse, he was awarded the Victoria ...

(1873–1923), VC winner in

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

* Frances C. Fairman (1839–1923), English animal painter and illustrator * James Grant (1822–1887), Scottish author, historian, artist and architect *

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...

(1887-1940), Jamaican political activist - initially buried in catacombs beneath the chapel, later reburied in King George VI Memorial Park,

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

. *

Gilbert Harding Gilbert Charles Harding (5 June 1907 – 16 November 1960) was a British journalist and radio and television personality. His many careers included schoolmaster, journalist, policeman, disc jockey, actor, interviewer and television presenter. He ...

(1907–1960), journalist, radio and TV personality * Percy Hardy (1880-1916),

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er; committed suicide while serving during World War I. *

Josef Jakobs Josef Jakobs (30 June 1898 – 15 August 1941) was a German spy and the last person to be executed at the Tower of London. He was captured shortly after parachuting into the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Convicted of espionage unde ...

(1898–1941), German spy – unmarked grave *

Andrzej Kowerski Andrzej Kowerski (; 18 May 1912 in Łabunie, Zamość County, Lublin Province, eastern Poland – 8 December 1988 in Munich) was a Polish Army officer and SOE agent during World War II. From 1941 he used the ''nom de guerre'' Andrew Kennedy. ...

(aka Andrew Kennedy) (1912–1988), decorated Polish soldier and spy *

Danny La Rue Danny La Rue, (born Daniel Patrick Carroll, 26 July 1927 – 31 May 2009) was an Irish singer and entertainer, best known for his on-stage drag queen, drag persona. He performed in drag and also as himself in theatrical productions, television ...

(1927–2009), cabaret artist, nightclub owner, actor *

Edmonia Lewis Mary Edmonia Lewis, also known as "Wildfire" (c. July 4, 1844 – September 17, 1907), was an American sculptor, of mixed African-American and Native American ( Mississauga Ojibwe) heritage. Born free in Upstate New York, she worked for most of ...

(1844–1907), sculptor *Father

Vincent McNabb Vincent McNabb, Ordo Praedicatorum, O.P. (8 July 1868 – 17 June 1943) was an Irish Catholics, Irish Catholic scholar and Dominican Order, Dominican priest based in London, active in evangelisation and Christian apologetics, apologetics. ...

, O.P. (1868–1943), Irish scholar and priest *

Henry Edward Manning Henry Edward Manning (15 July 1808 – 14 January 1892) was an English prelate of the Catholic church, and the second Archbishop of Westminster from 1865 until his death in 1892. He was ordained in the Church of England as a young man, but con ...

(1808–1892), Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster (later transferred to

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

) *

Alice Meynell Alice Christiana Gertrude Meynell (née Thompson; 11 October 184727 November 1922) was a British writer, editor, critic, and suffragist, now remembered mainly as a poet. Early years and family Alice Christiana Gertrude Thompson was born in ...

(1847–1922), poet and essayist *

Victoria Monks Victoria Annie Monks (1 November 1884 – 26 January 1927) was a British music hall singer of the early 20th century. During the Edwardian and First World War eras she performed and recorded popular songs such as "Take Me Back to London Town" a ...

(1884–1927), music hall singer *Major General Sir

Luke O'Connor Major-General Sir Luke O'Connor, (20 January 1831 – 1 February 1915) was an Irish soldier who served in the British Army. He was the first soldier to receive the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy. ...

(1831–1915), VC winner in

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

T. P. O'Connor Thomas Power O'Connor (5 October 1848 – 18 November 1929), known as T. P. O'Connor and occasionally as Tay Pay (mimicking his own pronunciation of the initials ''T. P.''), was an Irish nationalist politician and journalist who served as a ...

(1848–1929), Irish journalist and politician * Carlo Pellegrini (1839–1889), caricaturist *Sir

Max Pemberton Sir Max Pemberton (19 June 1863 – 22 February 1950) was a popular English novelist, working mainly in the adventure and mystery genres.LeRoy Lad Panek, ''After Sherlock Holmes: The Evolution of British and American Detective Stories, 1891– ...

(1863–1950), British author, journalist and editor *Lieutenant Colonel

James Henry Reynolds Lieutenant-Colonel James Henry Reynolds VC (3 February 1844 – 4 March 1932), born Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), County Dublin, was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Battle of Rorke's Drift, the highest and most pr ...

(1844–1932), VC winner and medical officer at

Rorke's Drift The Battle of Rorke's Drift (1879), also known as the Defence of Rorke's Drift, was an engagement in the Anglo-Zulu War. The successful British defence of the mission station of Rorke's Drift, under the command of Lieutenants John Chard of the ...

Sax Rohmer Arthur Henry "Sarsfield" Ward (15 February 1883 – 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was an English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu."Rohmer, Sax" by Jack Adrian in Da ...

(1883–1959), author, creator of "Dr. Fu Manchu" *

Mary Seacole Mary Jane Seacole (;Anionwu E.N. (2012) Mary Seacole: nursing care in many lands. ''British Journal of Healthcare Assistants'' 6(5), 244–248. 23 November 1805 – 14 May 1881) was a British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman who set up t ...

(1805–1881) nurse, humanitarian *

Krystyna Skarbek Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, (, ; 1 May 1908 – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville, was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploi ...

(aka Christine Granville) (1908–1952), Polish SOE agent and World War II heroine *

Clarkson Frederick Stanfield Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (3 December 179318 May 1867) was a prominent English painter (often inaccurately credited as William Clarkson Stanfield) who was best known for his large-scale paintings of dramatic marine subjects and landscapes. H ...

(1793–1867), marine painter *

Władysław Studnicki Władysław Gizbert-Studnicki, a Polish politician and publicist, was born on 15 November 1867 in Dünaburg, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire (current Latvia), into a Polish szlachta family of the Kresy region. Both his parents fought in t ...

(1867–1953), Polish politician and publicist *

Francis Thompson Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...

(1859–1907), poet, literary critic *

Louis Wain Louis William Wain (5 August 1860 – 4 July 1939) was an English artist best known for his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphized large-eyed cats and kittens. Later in life, he was confined to mental institutions and struggle ...

(1860–1939), artist *

Nicholas Wiseman Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (3 August 1802 – 15 February 1865) was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church who became the first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850. Born ...

(1802–1865), Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster (later transferred to

)

The chapel

* Th
cemetery's Catholic chapel
is used for funeral and memorial services. The walls have many memorial plaques. * The chapel was used in the filming of '' Miranda'' episode "Before I Die". Kensal Green, St Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery, The Chapel - geograph

Access

The cemetery is open for visitors 365 days per year. Summer Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday – 8am to 5pm
Sunday – 9am to 5pm Winter Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday – 8am to 4pm
Sunday – 9am to 4pm

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

– 9am to 1pm

The cemetery office

Office hours
Monday to Friday – 9am to 3pm
Visitors, especially those interested in their Catholic family history, may request the office staff consult the recently computerised records for all interments in St Mary's Catholic Cemetery (from 1858 to date). ''Please note'': The office is closed on Bank Holidays and Summer months closing times can vary. The Summer Opening Hours are in effect from early April to late October during UK British Summer Time. The Winter Opening Hours are for the rest of the year when the UK has Greenwich Mean Time.

References

External links

Pastscape (English Heritage National Monuments record online)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery Cemeteries in London Roman Catholic cemeteries in England and Wales Religion in the London Borough of Brent Religious organizations established in 1858 Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Brent Catholic organizations established in the 19th century 1858 establishments in England Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England Kensal Green