The Western Cemetery in Dundee, Scotland, is a still-operational cemetery founded in the mid 19th century. It rises northwards from the Perth Road, with terraces in its upper sections. It views over the

Firth of Tay The Firth of Tay (; gd, Linne Tatha) is a firth on the east coast of Scotland, into which the River Tay (Scotland's largest river in terms of flow) empties. The firth is surrounded by four council areas: Fife, Perth and Kinross, City of Dun ...

to the

Tay Rail Bridge The Tay Bridge ( gd, Drochaid-rèile na Tatha) carries the railway across the Firth of Tay in Scotland between Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife. Its span is . It is the second bridge to occupy the site. Plans for a bridge over the Tay t ...

and Fife. The Western Cemetery is maintained and managed by

Dundee City Council Dundee City Council is the local government authority for the City of Dundee. It was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. History Dundee City became a single-tier council in 1996, under the Local Government e ...

Background

The Cemeteries Act (Scotland) 1840 had permitted private companies to create burial grounds, unconnected to the historic church parish burial grounds or traditional burial grounds such as

The Howff The Howff is a burial ground in the city of Dundee, Scotland. Established in 1564, it has one of the most important collections of tombstones in Scotland, and is protected as a category A listed building. The majority of graves face exactl ...

. This provided a religiously neutral burial ground (at a price) in a controlled environment, usually some distance from the town centres. Dundee had planned a new cemetery north of the Howff Burial Ground based on a curvilinear layout as already executed in burial grounds such as Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh (1842). However, such curvilinear layouts, whilst visually more attractive, were far more difficult both to manage and maintain, and to track graves once more than a few dozen were created. A rectilinear layout was therefore chosen, based on more organised layouts such as found in

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hil ...

in south Edinburgh (1847). The site chosen was Blackness House and Blackhouse Nurseries, to the west of Dundee, thereby gaining the name Western Cemetery. It had the huge advantage of already being laid out with paths and an established landscape, due to its previous nursery use. Unlike most traditional graveyards, the site was far from flat. However, as a nursery, soil depths were good, and the ground was well-drained. The southern aspect also created a sunnier position than normal and views from almost all parts of the cemetery (especially the upper sections). The terraces within the cemetery predate its conversion to cemetery use and belong to Blackness House. Designed by James Findlater in 1852 (mainly the entrance gates) the cemetery did not fully open until around 1858. From around 1860 the cemetery quickly became popular, especially amongst the wealthier families. Lightning destroyed the dome on top of the eastern gatepost in 1953 and this has never been repaired. The site changed from private control to Council control in 1979. In 2014 the Council created a new section in the centre of the western wall for interment of ashes. A new northern terrace was created in 2014 as an area for private burials. Local names include Nucator, Mealmaker, Easson, Fyffe, Soutar, McMaster and Keiller.

Notable interments

* William Allan (c. 1890–1945) architect * George Armitstead, Baron Armitstead (1824–1915) MP for Dundee * Henry Samuel Boase FRS (1799–1883) geologist * George Addison Cox (1826–1889) architect/engineer – creator of Cox's Stack at

Camperdown Works Camperdown Works was a jute works in Dundee, Scotland, which covered around 30 acres and at one point employed over 14,000, mostly female, workers. It was for a time the world's largest jute works and was owned by Cox Brothers. Origins The Cox ...

* George Methven Cox (1852–1916) jute baron of the

* Thomas Hunter Cox (1820–1892) jute baron in the

* James Guthrie Davidson (1778–1861) founder of

Rodyk & Davidson Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP is one of Singapore's largest law firms, with around 180 lawyers who are qualified in various jurisdictions such as those of Singapore, Australia, England and Wales and India, and with offices in Singapore and Myanma ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

* James Thomson Fairweather (1811–1859) tobacco merchant, founder of Fairweather & Sons (one of the first burials) * James Fairlie Gemmill FRSE (1867–1926) * Sir Douglas Hardie (1923–2005) instigator of the

Tay Road Bridge The Tay Road Bridge ( gd, Drochaid-rathaid na Tatha) carries the A92 road across the Firth of Tay from Newport-on-Tay in Fife to Dundee in Scotland, just downstream of the Tay Rail Bridge. At around , it is one of the longest road bridges in E ...

and the person who brought

RRS Discovery The RRS ''Discovery'' is a barque-rigged auxiliary steamship built in Dundee, Scotland for Antarctic research. Launched in 1901, she was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in the United Kingdom. Her first mission was th ...

to Dundee * Sir William High (1858–1934) shipowner and Lord Provost of Dundee 1923 to 1929 * William Hunter (1840–1925) Lord Provost of Dundee *

James Ireland James Ireland (4 December 1846 – 29 June 1886) was a short-lived but productive 19th-century Scottish architect, specialising in schools. Life He was born on 4 December 1846 at Hawkhill Place in Dundee the son of George Ireland and his wife ...

(1846–1886) architect * Alexander Keiller (1820–1877) creator of Keiller's marmalade * John Mitchell Keiller (1851–1899) owner of Keiller's marmalade during its major expansion in the 19th century * James Laing (1813–1886) inventor * William Duncan Latto (1823–1899) editor of "

The People's Journal ''The People's Journal'', first published in 1858, was a Dundee-based Scottish periodical, originally produced by John Leng & Co., a local publishing company that for a time enjoyed the Scottish artist, political cartoonist, postcard illustrat ...

" * James Bowman Lindsay inventor and electricity pioneer * Henry McGrady (1836–1917) Lord Provost of Dundee 1896 to 1899 * Alexander Mathewson (1822-1914) Lord Provost of Dundee 1890 to 1893 * James Duncan Mitchell (1892–1915) drowned on RMS Lusitania (memorial only) * Alexander Hay Moncur (1830–1903) Provost of Dundee 1881–1884 * Brigadier Surgeon George Alexander Moorhead (died 1912) and his pioneering doctor daughter

Alice Moorhead Dr Alice Margaret Moorhead MD LRCP LRCSE LM (Dub) (1868–23 June 1910), also known as Dr A.M. Moorhead, was one of the first practising female physicians and surgeons in Scotland. In the late 19th-century she established a practice and hospi ...

(1868–1910) (sister of the suffragette

Ethel Moorhead Ethel Agnes Mary Moorhead (28 August 18694 March 1955) was a British suffragette and painter and was the first suffragette in Scotland to be forcibly-fed. Early life Moorhead was born on 28 August 1869 in Fisher Street, Maidstone, Kent. She ...

) * Charles Ower (1849–1921) and his brother Leslie Ower (1851–1916) architect * Rev Dr John Paterson DD (1776–1855) missionary in Russia * George Alexander Pirie (1863–1929) radiologist * Prof Lloyd Turton Price (1874–1933) professor of surgery at

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

* William Robertson (1825–1899) Provost of Dundee * John Greig Sibbald (1922–2006) founder of Graham & Sibbald surveyors * Major General Richard Talbot Snowden-Smith (1887–1951) pioneer air pilot, pupil of Blondeau *

John Steggall Prof John Edward Aloysius Steggall ARIBA FRSE LLD (1855–1935) was an English mathematician and professor at the University College, Dundee (now University of Dundee). Life and work He was born on 19 November 1855 in London, the son of Dr J ...

(1855–1935) mathematician * William Bruce Thompson (1837–1923) engineer and shipbuilder * Patrick Hill Thoms (1873–1946) architect * Alexander Gordon Milne Thomson FGS (1866–1919) jute mill owner and geologist *

David Couper Thomson David Couper Thomson DL (6 August 1861 – 12 October 1954) was a Newspaper proprietor and founder of the newspaper and publishing company D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd in Dundee, Scotland. He was the son of William Thomson, shipowner (18 June 1817 – ...

founder of D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd * Sir Thomas Thornton of Thornton Castle (1830–1903) town clerk * Preston Watson (1880–1915) aviation pioneer * Very Rev Dr James Weatherhead DD (died 1944)

Moderator of the General Assembly The moderator of the General Assembly is the chairperson of a General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states t ...

of the

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; gd, An Eaglais Shaor Aonaichte, sco, The Unitit Free Kirk o Scotland) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and ...

in 1927 * David Dougal Williams

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(June 1888 – 27 September 1944) was a Cheshire-born artist and art teacher who lived, worked and died in Dundee.''Dundee Courier'', 29 September 1944, p. 3 – Death of Dundee Art Master Mr. David D. Williams of Logie Central School (obituary) * Very Rev William Wilson (1808–1888)

of the Free Church of Scotland in 1866.

War Graves

The cemetery contains the Commonwealth war graves of 17 British service personnel of

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 10 of

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Western Cemetery, Dundee Cemeteries in Scotland Buildings and structures in Dundee