Brookwood Cemetery
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Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.


History


Background

Brookwood Cemetery was conceived by the
London Necropolis Company The London Necropolis Company (LNC), formally the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company until 1927, was a cemetery operator established by Act of Parliament in 1852 in reaction to the crisis caused by the closure of London's graveyards ...
(LNC) in 1849 to house
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 ...
's deceased, at a time when the capital was finding it difficult to accommodate its increasing population, of living and dead. The cemetery is said to have been landscaped by
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
William Tite, but this is disputed. In 1854, Brookwood was the largest
cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a bu ...
in the world but it is no longer. Its initial owner being incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1852, Brookwood Cemetery (apart from its northern section, reserved for Nonconformists) was consecrated by Charles Sumner,
Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except ...
, on 7 November 1854. It was opened to the public on 13 November 1854 when the first burials took place. In 1858 the London Necropolis Company sold 64 acres of the extra land to the government for the building of
Woking Convict Invalid Prison Woking Convict Invalid Prison was constructed in mid-19th-century England, primarily to hold male invalid convicts who previously had been billeted on hulks and had been moved to the temporary invalid prison at Lewes. The concept of a prison spec ...
.


Necropolis Railway

Brookwood originally was accessible by rail from a special station – the
London Necropolis railway station London Necropolis railway station was the terminus at Waterloo, London, of the London Necropolis Railway. The London Necropolis Railway was opened in 1854 as a reaction to severe overcrowding in London's existing graveyards and cemeteries. It a ...
– next to
Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...
in Central London. Trains had passenger carriages reserved for different classes and other carriages for coffins (also for different classes), and ran into the cemetery on a dedicated branch from the adjoining South West Main Line – there was a junction just to the west of Brookwood station. From there, passengers and coffins were transported by horse-drawn vehicles. The original London Necropolis station was relocated in 1902 but its successor was demolished after suffering bomb damage during
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. Return tickets were issued for mourners and single tickets for the dead. There were two stations in the cemetery: ''North'' for non-conformists and ''South'' for Anglicans. Their platforms still exist along the path called Railway Avenue. For visitors wishing to use the South West Main Line, Brookwood station has provided direct access since June 1864. A very short piece of commemorative track, with signpost and plaque, purposefully gives way to a grass field and recollects the old final stage of the journey of the deceased. It was the cholera epidemic of 1848 that led two industrialists to develop this high burial site. It was at first a controversial project. The Bishop of London condemned the "offensive" despatch of first-, second- and third-class corpses in the same carriages, so this had to be modified.


Early burials

The LNC offered three classes of funerals: * A first class funeral allowed buyers to select the grave site of their choice anywhere in the cemetery. The LNC charged extra for burials in some designated special sites. At the time of opening prices began at £2 10 s (about £ in terms) for a basic with no special coffin specifications. It was expected by the LNC that those using first class graves would erect a permanent memorial of some kind in due course following the funeral. * Second class funerals cost £1 (about £ in terms) and allowed some control over the burial location. The right to erect a permanent memorial cost an additional 10 shillings (about £ in terms); if a permanent memorial was not erected the LNC reserved the right to re-use the grave in future. * Third class funerals were reserved for pauper funerals; those buried at
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
expense in the section of the cemetery designated for that parish. Although the LNC was forbidden from using mass graves (other than the burial of next of kin in the same grave) and thus even the lowest class of funeral provided a separate grave for the deceased, third class funerals were not granted the right to erect a permanent memorial on the site. (The families of those buried could pay afterwards to upgrade a third class grave to a higher class if they later wanted to erect a memorial, but this practice was rare.) Despite this, Brookwood's pauper graves granted more dignity to the deceased than did other graveyards and cemeteries of the period, all of which other than Brookwood continued the practice of mass graves for the poor. Brookwood was one of the few cemeteries to permit burials on Sundays, which made it a popular choice with the poor as it allowed people to attend funerals without the need to take a day off work. As theatrical performances were banned on Sundays at this time, it also made Brookwood a popular choice for the burial of actors for the same reason, to the extent that actors were provided with a dedicated section of the cemetery near the station entrance. While the majority of burials conducted by the LNC (around 80%) were pauper funerals on behalf of London parishes and prisons, the LNC also reached agreement with a number of societies, guilds, religious bodies and similar organisations (such as
Woking Convict Invalid Prison Woking Convict Invalid Prison was constructed in mid-19th-century England, primarily to hold male invalid convicts who previously had been billeted on hulks and had been moved to the temporary invalid prison at Lewes. The concept of a prison spec ...
and Tothill). The LNC provided dedicated sections of the cemetery for these groups, on the basis that those who had lived or worked together in life could remain together after death. Although the LNC was never able to gain the domination of London's funeral industry for which its founders had hoped, it was very successful at targeting specialist groups of artisans and trades, to the extent that it became nicknamed "the Westminster Abbey of the middle classes". The Royal Hospital Chelsea, which previously buried their inmate pensioners at Brompton Cemetery in Chelsea, have used Brookwood Cemetery, where they have two plots, since 1893. A large number of these dedicated plots were established, ranging from Chelsea Pensioners and the
Ancient Order of Foresters The Foresters Friendly Society is a British friendly society which was formed in 1834 as the Ancient Order of Foresters. As of 31 December 2016, the society had approximately 75,000 members. Its head office is located in Southampton, England. ...
to the
Corps of Commissionaires The Corps of Commissionaires refers to a global movement in Commonwealth countries of societies created to provide meaningful employment for veterans of the armed services. The Commissionaires movement traces its roots to 1859, when Captain Sir Edw ...
and the LSWR. The Nonconformist cemetery also includes a
Parsee Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Musli ...
burial ground established in 1862, which remained the only
Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
burial ground in Europe. Dedicated sections in the Anglican cemetery were also reserved for burials from those parishes which had made burial arrangements with the LNC. The first burial was of the stillborn twins of a Mr and Mrs Hore of Ewer Street, The Borough. The Hore twins, along with the other burials on the first day, were pauper funerals and buried in unmarked graves. The first burial at Brookwood with a permanent memorial was that of Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Goldfinch, buried on 25 November 1854, the 26th person to be buried in the cemetery. The first permanent memorial erected in the Nonconformist section of the cemetery was that of Charles Milligan Hogg, son of botanist Robert Hogg, buried on 12 December 1854. Goldfinch and Hogg's graves are not the oldest monuments in the cemetery, as on occasion gravestones were relocated and re-erected during the relocation of existing burial grounds to Brookwood. Over 235,000 people have been buried there.


Reburials

The massive London civil engineering projects of the mid-19th century—the railways, the sewer system and from the 1860s the precursors to the
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...
—often necessitated the demolition of existing churchyards. The first major relocation took place in 1862, when the construction of Charing Cross railway station and the routes into it necessitated the demolition of the burial ground of Cure's College in
Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
, which uncovered at least 7,950 bodies. These were packed into 220 large containers, each containing 26 adults plus children, and shipped on the London Necropolis Railway to Brookwood for reburial, along with at least some of the existing headstones from the cemetery. At least 21 London burial grounds were relocated to Brookwood via the railway, along with numerous others relocated by road following the railway's closure. Churches whose graves were relocated included: * St Antholin, Budge Row (demolished 1875) * All-Hallows-the-Great (demolished 1894) * St Magnus-the-Martyr (remains removed from crypt 1894) * All-Hallows-the-Less (destroyed in the
Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...
, remains removed 1896) *
St Michael Wood Street St Michael's Wood Street was a church and parish of medieval origin in Cripplegate Ward in the City of London, and is first mentioned in 1225 as ''St. Michael de Wudestrate''. It stood on the west side of Wood Street, initially with a frontage o ...
(demolished 1897) * St Mildred, Bread Street (remains removed 1898, church destroyed in
London Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...
1941) *
St George Botolph Lane St George Botolph Lane was a church off Eastcheap, in the ward of Billingsgate in the City of London. The rear of the church overlooked Pudding Lane, where the fire of London started. It was first recorded in the twelfth century, and destroyed i ...
(demolished 1904) * St Marylebone Parish Church (remains from crypt removed 1987) * St James's Church, Piccadilly (remains removed from St. James's Garden, established 1878 on the former burial grounds of the church, from 2017-2020 due to HS2 terminal construction at
Euston Station Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city ra ...
) * The unconsecrated Cross Bones Graveyard in Southwark (closed 1853, many remains removed in successive years)


Brookwood Cemetery and cremation

In 1878, the LNC sold an isolated piece of its land at Brookwood, close to St John's village, to the Cremation Society of Great Britain, on which they built
Woking Crematorium Woking Crematorium is a crematorium in Woking, a large town in the west of Surrey, England. Established in 1878, it was the first custom-built crematorium in the United Kingdom and is closely linked to the history of cremation in the UK. ...
, the first in Britain, in 1879. While the LNC never built its own crematorium, in 1910, Lord Cadogan decided he no longer wanted to be interred in the mausoleum he had commissioned at Brookwood. This building, the largest mausoleum in the cemetery, was bought by the LNC, fitted with shelves and niches to hold urns, and used as a dedicated
columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "''colu ...
from then on. After 1945 cremation, up to that time an uncommon practice, became increasingly popular in Britain. In 1946, the LNC obtained consent to build their own crematorium on a section of the Nonconformist cemetery which had been set aside for pauper burials, but chose not to proceed. Instead, in 1945, the LNC began the construction of the Glades of Remembrance, a wooded area dedicated to the burial of cremated remains. These were dedicated by Henry Montgomery Campbell, Bishop of Guildford in 1950. Intentionally designed for informality, traditional gravestones and memorials were prohibited, and burials were marked only by small stones. In the next decade the cemetery came closest to having its own crematorium. Following the closure of the two Brookwood railway stations, the land surrounding the site of South station and the station's two Anglican chapels was redundant. As part of the London Necropolis Act 1956 the LNC obtained Parliamentary consent to convert the disused original Anglican chapel into a crematorium, using the newer chapel for funeral services and the station building for coffin storage and as a refreshment room for those attending cremations. Suffering cash flow problems and distracted by a succession of hostile takeover bids, the LNC management never proceeded with the scheme and the buildings fell into disuse. The station building was demolished after being damaged by a fire in 1972, although the platform remained intact.


Horticultural

With the ambition for it to become London's sole burial site in perpetuity, the LNC were aware that if their plans were successful, their Necropolis would become a site of major national importance. As a consequence, the cemetery was designed with attractiveness in mind, in contrast to the squalid and congested London burial grounds and the newer suburban cemeteries which were already becoming crowded.''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'', 8 Nov. 1854.
The LNC aimed to create an atmosphere of perpetual spring in the cemetery, and chose the plants for the cemetery accordingly. It had already been noted that
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...
plants from North America thrived in the local soil. Robert Donald, the owner of an
arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...
near Woking, was contracted to supply the trees and shrubs for the cemetery. The railway line through the cemetery and the major roads and paths within the cemetery were lined with giant sequoia trees, the first significant planting of these trees (only introduced to Europe in 1853) in Britain. As well as the giant sequoias (also known as ''Wellingtonia'' after the recently deceased
Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister ...
), the grounds were heavily planted with
magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...
,
rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...
, coastal redwood,
azalea Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus '' Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections '' Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and '' Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, and Oct ...
, andromeda and monkeypuzzle, with the intention of creating perpetual greenery with large numbers of flowers and a strong floral scent throughout the cemetery. In later years the original planting of the cemetery was supplemented by numerous other tree species planted by the LNC, as well as many plants planted by mourners at burial sites and around mausolea. Between the end of LNC independence in 1959 and the cemetery's purchase by
Ramadan Güney Ramadan Güney (18 February 19322 November 2006) was a British-Turkish Cypriot businessman and politician. He was the owner of Brookwood Cemetery, the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom, with the aim of establishing a Turkish cemetery. Güney ...
in 1985 cemetery maintenance was drastically reduced, and the spread of various plant types caused many of the non-military sections of the cemetery to revert to wilderness in this period.


20th and 21st centuries

In August 1914, on the outbreak of 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, ...
, the LNC offered to donate to the
War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
of land "for the free interment of soldiers and sailors who have returned from the front wounded and may subsequently die". The offer was not taken up until 1917, when a section of the cemetery was set aside as Brookwood Military Cemetery, used for the burials of service personnel who died in the London District. This purpose built cemetery came to accommodate further dead 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. In the meantime, 141 Commonwealth service personnel were buried from London in scattered graves throughout the cemetery, apart from a small Nurses' Plot in St Peter's Avenue in the Westminster field (where are buried nurses from Millbank Military Hospital) and an Indian plot (including one unidentified soldier) in the North-West corner.
CWGC Cemetery Report, Brookwood Cemetery.
In World War II 51 Commonwealth service personnel were buried in the civilian cemetery, where there are also buried five foreign national servicemen whose graves 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) additionally care for. A military memorial to the missing from that war was built in 1958 by the CWGC. Memorialised here too came to be Edward the Martyr, King of England, whose relics are kept nearby in St Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church. The London Necropolis Company was taken over by Alliance Property in 1959 and the company was gradually divested of land and investments until by 1973, the cemetery was an independent entity. The cemetery changed hands between various development companies in the 1970s, during which time the cemetery maintenance was neglected: 1970 Cornwall Property (Holdings) Ltd, 1971 Great Southern Group, 1973 Maximillian Investments. Maximillian investments secured the passing of the Brookwood Cemetery Act 1975 which authorised them to sell unused parts of the cemetery and a few areas were sold for development. In 1985, Ramadan Güney acquired Brookwood Cemetery from the owner Mr D. J. T. Dally, who was previously the cemetery manager . The purchase evolved from Güney's role as Chairman of the UK Turkish Islamic Trust, which wanted suitable burial facilities for its members. The Brookwood Cemetery Society was founded in 1992 to organise events, promote the site's history and support restoration work. After Güney's death in 2006 he was buried in the cemetery and ownership passed to his children (by his late wife) and operated by his son Erkin, a director at the cemetery for almost 30 years. Diane Holliday, Güney's partner of 6 years, was "frozen out" from the operating company and then dismissed. In 2011, the inheritance of the cemetery was successfully challenged by Diane Holliday and her adult son Kevin. This decision was upheld by the High Court on appeal in 2012. In 2014, Diane Holliday sold the cemetery to
Woking Council Woking Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Woking in the county of Surrey, England. The council consists of 30 councillors, three for each of the 10 wards in the town. It is currently controlled by the Liberal Democrat Party ...
. In 2017, work began on exhumation of the remains of approximately 40,000 to 50,000 people who were interred at the former burial ground of St. James's Church due to construction of the new HS2 terminal at
Euston Station Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city ra ...
in London. The former burial ground had been in use between 1790 and 1853 before the cemetery became St James's Gardens in 1878. The grounds had been utilised as public park space until they were closed in 2017 at the outset of construction. A large part of the exhumation project consisted of a multi-year cataloguing and study of the remains by osteo-archaeologists, part of which was documented by the BBC. In 2020 it was announced that it had been agreed by the Woking Council and HS2 that the remains were to be re-interred in a new grassland plot on the south side of Brookwood Cemetery. The exhumations and study began in October 2018 and the re-interment at Brookwood took place sometime around August 2020 to November 2020. At around 50,000 individual remains, it is thought to be the largest single reburial project in the history of Brookwood.


Brookwood Military Cemetery and memorials

Brookwood Military Cemetery covers about and is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the United Kingdom. The land was set aside during
World War I 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, ...
to provide a burial site for men and women of Commonwealth and American armed forces who died in the United Kingdom of wounds and other causes. It now contains 1,601 Commonwealth burials from
World War I 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 3,476 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
(the latter including 3 unidentified British and 2 unidentified Canadian airmen). Within this, there is a particularly large Canadian section, which includes 43 men who died of wounds following the
Dieppe Raid Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, s ...
in August 1942. Two dozen Muslim dead were also later transferred here in 1968 from the Muslim Burial Ground at Horsell Common. There is a large
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
section in the southeast corner of the cemetery which includes graves of Czech and United States nationals who died serving in the RAF. The cemetery also has 786 non-Commonwealth war graves, including 28 unidentified French, besides eight German dead from World War I and 46 from World War II. It also contains Polish (84 graves), Czech, Belgian (46 graves), Dutch (seven graves) and Italian (over 300 graves) sections. Except for
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, ...
and
New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...
, this cemetery is open to the public from 8am to sunset Monday to Friday, and 9am to sunset Saturdays and Sundays. The United Kingdom 1914–1918 Memorial originally stood at the northeastern end of the 1914–1918 Plot. The new memorial that replaced it was created in 2004, and currently (9 February 2022) commemorates 338 Commonwealth service personnel who died in 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, ...
in the United Kingdom but have no known grave. The majority of the casualties commemorated on the Brookwood 1914–1918 Memorial are servicemen and women identified by the In From The Cold Project as having died while in care of their families and were not commemorated by the Commission at the time. (Those whose graves are subsequently discovered become commemorated under the respective cemetery.) The Brookwood Memorial stands at the southern end of the Canadian section of the cemetery and commemorates 3,428 Commonwealth men and women who died during the Second World War and have no known grave. This includes commandos killed in the Dieppe and
St Nazaire Raid The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) a ...
s; and
Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its p ...
personnel who died in occupied Europe. The Brookwood Memorial also honours 199 Canadian servicemen and women. The memorial was placed within a military cemetery near the theatre of operations. The Brookwood (Russia) Memorial was erected in 1983 and dismantled in 2015. It commemorated forces of the British Commonwealth who died in Russia in
World War I 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
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and were buried there. The memorial was erected originally because during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
those graves were inaccessible. File:Brookwood Military Cemetery-1512.JPG, Original 1914–1918 memorial File:Brookwood 1914-1918 Memorial.jpg, Replacement 1914–1918 memorial File:Brookwood Russia Memorial-1461.JPG, Russia memorial


Brookwood American Cemetery and Memorial

This site lies to the west of the civilian cemetery. It contains the graves, from
World War I 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, ...
of 468 American military dead and a further 563 with no known grave are commemorated. After the entry of the United States into 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 opposi ...
the American cemetery was enlarged, with burials of US servicemen beginning in April 1942. With large numbers of American personnel based in the west of England, a dedicated rail service for the transport of bodies operated from Devonport to Brookwood. By August 1944, over 3,600 bodies had been buried in the American Military Cemetery. At this time burials were discontinued, and US casualties were from then on buried at Cambridge American Cemetery. On the authority of the
Quartermaster General of the United States Army The Quartermaster General of the United States Army is a general officer who is responsible for the Quartermaster Corps, the Quartermaster branch of the U.S. Army. The Quartermaster General does not command Quartermaster units, but is primarily ...
, the US servicemen buried at Brookwood during the Second World War were exhumed in January–May 1948. Those whose next of kin requested it were shipped to the United States for reburial, and the remaining bodies were transferred to the new cemetery outside Cambridge. Brookwood American Cemetery had also been the burial site for those US servicemen executed while serving in the United Kingdom, whose bodies had been carried to Brookwood by rail from the American execution facilities at
Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parish in the Mendip District of Somerset, England, some south-west of Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. Mendip District Council is based ...
. They were not transferred to Cambridge in 1948, but instead reburied in unmarked graves at
Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery Plot E is the fifth plot at the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial, an American military cemetery in northern France that comprises four main burial plots (i.e., A, B, C and D) containing the remains of 6 ...
, a dedicated site for US servicemen executed during the Second World War. (One of those executed, David Cobb, was not transferred to Plot E but was repatriated to the US and reburied in
Dothan, Alabama Dothan () is a city in Dale, Henry, and Houston counties and the Houston county seat in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is Alabama's eighth-largest city, with a population of 71,072 at the 2020 census. It is near the state's southeastern corner ...
in 1949.) Following the removal of the US war graves, the site in which they had been buried was divided into cemeteries for the
Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...
forces and Italian prisoners of war. It is administered by the
American Battle Monuments Commission The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) is an independent agency of the United States government that administers, operates, and maintains permanent U.S. military cemeteries, memorials and monuments primarily outside the United States. ...
. Close by are military cemeteries and monuments of the British Commonwealth and other allied nations.


Notable graves

'' List of people buried in Brookwood Cemetery'' (Listed in order of date of death) * Edward the Martyr (c. 962–978), King of England (reburied from Shaftesbury Abbey 1984) * Daniel Carlsson Solander (1733–1782), Swedish naturalist, apostle of
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...
and scientist on
James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...
's first voyage to the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
aboard the '' Endeavour’’ (reburied from Swedish Church, Wapping in 1900s) * Admiral Sir Edward Codrington (1770–1851), naval hero of Battles of Trafalgar and Navarino (reburied from
St Peter's Church, Eaton Square St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square, is a Church of England parish church at the east end of Eaton Square, Belgravia, London. It is a neoclassical building designed by the architect Henry Hakewill with a hexastyle portico with Ionic columns and ...
1954) * Sir Henry Goldfinch (1781–1854),
Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...
veteran and one of the first to be buried at the cemetery * Thomas Manders (1797–1859), low comedian and stage actor * Fortunatus Dwarris (1786 - 1860), English lawyer and author * Robert Knox (1791–1862), notable anatomist and racial theorist involved with the Burke and Hare murders * John Lynch (c. 1833–1866), Irish nationalist * Gustav von Franck (1807-1860), writer, painter, founding-member Savage Club * Rebecca Isaacs, (1828–1877), the operatic soprano * Horatia Johnson (née Ward) (1833–1890), granddaughter of
Horatio Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought a ...
and Emma Hamilton *
Charles Bradlaugh Charles Bradlaugh (; 26 September 1833 – 30 January 1891) was an English political activist and atheist. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866, 15 years after George Holyoake had coined the term "secularism" in 1851. In 1880, Bradl ...
(1833–1891), atheist and political activist and his daughter
Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner (31 March 1858 – 25 August 1935) was a British peace activist, author, atheist and freethinker, and the daughter of Charles Bradlaugh. Early life and teaching She was born Hypatia Bradlaugh, at 3 Hedger's Terrace, H ...
(1858–1935), peace activist, author, atheist and freethinker (latter after cremation) * The 1st Viscount Sherbrooke (1811–1892), statesman * Henri Van Laun (1820–1896), author and translator * Alfred William Hunt (1830–1896), landscape painter, and daughter Violet Hunt (1863–1942), authoress and literary hostess *
Mary Frances Scott-Siddons Mary Frances Scott-Siddons (1844 – 8 November 1896), frequently referred to as Mrs. Scott-Siddons, was a British actor and dramatic reader. Her paternal great-grandmother was Sarah Siddons. After a struggle, Scott-Siddons secured an engagemen ...
(1840-1896), actress, and great-granddaughter of Sarah Siddons. * Daniel Nicols (1833–1897), founder of the Café Royal * Giulio Salviati (1843–1898), glassmaker of the Salviati family * Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (1840–1899), Anglo-Hungarian orientalist * Elaine Maynard Falkiner ''née'' Farmer (1871–1900), society beauty and first wife of Leslie Falkiner *
Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709  – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
(1830–1900) Shakespearean comedy actor * Alexander William Williamson (1824–1904), chemical theorist, originator of the Williamson ether synthesis, and head of the chemistry department at University College, London *
Jamsetji Tata Jamsetji (Jamshedji) Nusserwanji Tata (3 March 1839 – 19 May 1904) was an Indian pioneer industrialist who founded the Tata Group, India's biggest conglomerate company. Named the greatest philanthropist of the last century by several pol ...
(1839–1904), Indian Industrialist and Founder of
Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...
* Ross Lowis Mangles (1833–1905), the first civilian to be awarded the VC and one of 12 holders of the same award who are buried in the cemetery * Lord Edward Clinton (1836–1907), politician and soldier * Robert Ashington Bullen (1850–1912), priest, geologist and conchologist *
Dugald Drummond Dugald Drummond (1 January 1840 – 8 November 1912) was a Scottish steam locomotive engineer. He had a career with the North British Railway, LB&SCR, Caledonian Railway and London and South Western Railway. He was the older brother of the eng ...
(1840–1912), Scottish locomotive engineer * Allan Octavian Hume (1829–1912), Founder of
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
, civil servant, political reformer and amateur ornithologist and horticulturalist in British India * Arthur Dukinfield Darbishire
FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
(1879–1915), geneticist * Bernhard Ringrose Wise (1858–1916), Australian politician and Attorney General, amateur mile champion of Great Britain, 1879–81, Co-Founder of the Amateur Athletic Association * John Wrightson (1840–1916), pioneer in agricultural education and reputedly Britain's first surfer * William De Morgan (1839–1917), potter and tile designer *
Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...
the 5th Baron Abinger (1871–1917), hereditary peer and naval officer, one of the WWI war graves here * Sir John Wolfe Barry (1836–1918), civil engineer, architect of Barry Docks, Wales * Lieutenant Dudley Beaumont (1877–1918), army officer, painter and husband of the Dame of Sark * Sir Ratanji Tata (1871–1918), Indian businessman and philanthropist * Edward Compton (1854–1918), actor-manager * Edmund Baron Hartley (1847–1919),
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...
recipient * Evelyn De Morgan (1855–1919), English painter *
Edith Thompson Edith Jessie Thompson (25 December 1893 – 9 January 1923) and Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters (27 June 1902 – 9 January 1923) were a British couple executed for the murder of Thompson's husband Percy. Their case became a ''cause c ...
(1893–1923), executed in Holloway prison in 1923. Exhumed in 2018 and buried with her parents in
City of London Cemetery The City of London Cemetery and Crematorium is a cemetery and crematorium in the east of London. It is owned and operated by the City of London Corporation. It is designated Grade I on the Historic England National Register of Historic Parks an ...
*
John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...
(1856–1925), American artist *
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(1873–1927), Russian politician who formed and led the
Trudoviks The Trudoviks (russian: Трудова́я гру́ппа, translit=Trudovaya gruppa, lit=Labour Group) were a social-democratic political party of Russia in early 20th century. History The Trudoviks were a breakaway of the Socialist Revolut ...
*
Luke Fildes __NOTOC__ Sir Samuel Luke Fildes (3 October 1843 – 28 February 1927) was a British painter and illustrator born in Liverpool and trained at the South Kensington and Royal Academy Schools. He was the grandson of the political activist ...
(1843–1927), painter * Sarah Eleanor Smith (née Pennington) (1861–1931) wife of the captain of the ''
Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...
'' Edward J. Smith, buried a few feet from Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon * Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon (1862–1931) baronet, sportsman and ''Titanic'' survivor * Abdul Rahman Andak (1859–1931), senior Malaysian civil servant, exiled to London in 1909 * Sir
Dorabji Tata Sir Dorabji Tata (27 August 1859 – 3 June 1932) was an Indian businessman of the British Raj, and a key figure in the history and development of the Tata Group. He was knighted in 1910 for his contributions to industry in British India. ...
(1859–1932),
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
philanthropist * Abdullah Quilliam (1856–1932), 19th-century convert from Christianity to Islam, noted for founding England's first mosque and Islamic centre * Field Marshal Sir William Robert Robertson, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, DSO (1860–1933), Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) during 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, ...
* Ernest William Moir (1862–1933), civil engineer, 1st Baronet of Whitehanger and
Margaret, Lady Moir Margaret, Lady Moir, OBE (née Margaret Bruce Pennycook) (10 January 18645 October 1942) was a Scottish lathe operator, engineer, a workers' relief organiser, an employment campaigner, and a founder member of the Women's Engineering Society ( ...
(1864 – 1942) engineer and campaigner for women's rights * Shapurji Saklatvala (1874–1936), Indian-born British Labour and
Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
MP, and nephew of Jamsetji Tata (following cremation)Article by Mike Squires * Marmaduke Pickthall (1875–1936), Western Islamic scholar, novelist, and British Muslim revert who translated the qur'an into English. * Michael O'Dwyer (1864–1940), assassinated former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab * Stanley Spooner (1856–1940), editor and journalist. The creator of ''Flight'' magazine. * J. P. B. Jeejeebhoy (1891-1950), first Indian pilot in the
Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...
* Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1872–1953), a translator of the Quran * Caroll Gibbons (1903–1954), pianist and composer * Styllou Christofi (1900–1954), penultimate woman executed in Britain (reburied from HMP Holloway 1971) * A memorial to the victims in the Turkish Airforce plot (1959) * Sir Thomas Beecham (1879–1961), conductor. Initially buried here, owing to changes at Brookwood, his remains were exhumed in 1991 and reburied in St Peter's Churchyard at
Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25.
, Surrey. *
F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas Wing Commander Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas, (17 June 1902 – 26 February 1964), known as "Tommy", was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in the Second World War. Codenamed "Seahorse" and "Shelley" in the SOE, Yeo-Thomas ...
(1902–1964),
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(SOE) agent * Said Bin Taimur (1910–1972), Sultan of
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1932–1970; body later repatriated and reburied at Royal Cemetery, Muscat *
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(1907–1972), Bengali politician and social reformer *
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(1897–1977), occult and mystery writer (after cremation) *
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(1892–1983), novelist, feminist and journalist * Alfred Bestall (1892–1986), author and illustrator of '' Rupert Bear'' *
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(1937?–1987), Palestinian political cartoonist *
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*
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(1903–1988), DSO and Bar, British Army officer in World War II, served with the Irish Guards *
Margaret, Duchess of Argyll Ethel Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll (''née'' Whigham, formerly Sweeny; 1 December 1912 – 25 July 1993) was a Scottish heiress, socialite, and aristocrat who was most famous for her 1951 marriage and much-publicised 1963 divorce fr ...
(1912–1993) * Idries Shah (1924–1996),
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master and writer *
Muhammad al-Badr , succession = King and Imam of Yemen , image = Muhammad al-Badr.jpg , image_size = , caption = Al-Badr in 1962 , reign = 19 – 26 September 1962 , predecessor = Ahmad bin Yahya , successor = ''Title abolished ...
(1926–1996) last King of
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* Dodi Fayed (1955–1997), film producer, (original burial site, subsequently moved to the Al-Fayed estate in Surrey) *
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(1921–2001), actor, played Mr. Belvedere *
Ramadan Güney Ramadan Güney (18 February 19322 November 2006) was a British-Turkish Cypriot businessman and politician. He was the owner of Brookwood Cemetery, the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom, with the aim of establishing a Turkish cemetery. Güney ...
(1932–2006), owner of Brookwood Cemetery, 1985–2006 * Zdeňka Pokorná (1905–2007), Czech liberation campaigner (following cremation) * Maqbool Fida Husain (1915–2011), Indian painter * Boris Berezovsky (1946–2013), Russian tycoon * Dame Zaha Hadid (1950–2016), Iraqi-born British architect


Location

Brookwood Cemetery is served by Brookwood railway station, and is located on both sides of Cemetery Pales in Woking. The Cemetery office is located in Glades House.


See also

* Canadian war cemeteries


Notes


References


Citations


Sources

* *


Further reading

* * Clarke, John M. ''An Introduction to Brookwood Cemetery'' 2nd Edition *


External links

*
The Brookwood Cemetery Society


– commissioned by the Home Office.
English Heritage Listed Garden Entry


– Images of all sections of the military cemetery and burial plots and memorials. Includes allied nationals, Chelsea Pensioners, QA Nurses as well as German and Italian plots.

* * * * ttps://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW014841 Aerial view from 1926 from the English Heritage "Britain from Above" archive {{Cemeteries in England Cemeteries in Surrey Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England American Battle Monuments Commission Grade I listed parks and gardens in Surrey World War I cemeteries in the United Kingdom World War II cemeteries in the United Kingdom Disused railway stations in Surrey London Necropolis Company 1852 establishments in England Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1854 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1941