The East London Cemetery and Crematorium are located in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

in the London Borough of Newham. It is owned and operated by the Dignity Funeral Group.

History

The cemetery was founded in 1871 and laid out in 1872 to meet the increasing demand from the eastern suburbs of London. The first interment was in August 1872 and the cemetery remains open. The cemetery covers next to the Greenway and has two Gothic chapels built at the end of the 19th century that remain in use: a burial chapel dedicated to Church of St Michael and All Angels, and a non-denominational chapel for cremations. A total of 244 Commonwealth service casualties from

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

and 132 from

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

are buried in this cemetery, in addition to three Dutch merchant seamen from the latter war.CWGC Cemetery report.
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Burials

Memorials

Disaster victims: *Memorial to the 550 victims of the 1878 disaster. *Memorial, marked by a ship's anchor, commemorates those who died when the staging collapsed during the launching of in 1898. *A further disaster, the

Silvertown explosion The Silvertown explosion occurred in Silvertown in West Ham, Essex (now part of the London Borough of Newham, in Greater London) on Friday, 19 January 1917 at 6:52 pm. The blast occurred at a munitions factory that was manufacturing explos ...

of 1917, is commemorated in the grave of Andrea Angel, chemist at the Brunner Mond chemical works whose TNT plant exploded damaging up to 70,000 properties in the area, killing 73 people and causing over 400 casualties. CWGC memorials: *Stone kerb wall in Soldiers' and Sailors' Plot, listing 97 Commonwealth servicemen buried in it in

. *Screen Wall memorial, close to main drive, listing Commonwealth servicemen of the same World War buried elsewhere in the cemetery, whose graves could not be marked by headstones. *Collective Grave memorial panel listing service and civilian victims of

air raids buried within the grave. *Screen Wall memorial listing Commonwealth service personnel of the latter war whose graves could not be marked by headstones.

Notable burials

* Michael Barrington * Christopher Blake *

Robert Cawdron Robert Cawdron (29 December 1921 – 14 September 1997) was a French-born British film and television actor. Often cast as police officers, he had a long-running role on '' Dixon of Dock Green'' as Detective Inspector Cherry.The Guinness Book of ...

Beryl Cooke Beryl Cooke (1 November 1906 – 21 August 2001) was an English actress. Her career spanned six decades; she is most familiar to British audiences as Aunt Lucy in the sitcom '' Happy Ever After'' and Mrs. Vance in the BBC drama '' Tenko''. ...

* Sylvia Coleridge * Leslie Dwyer *

Hilda Fenemore Hilda Lilian Fenemore (22 April 1914 – 13 April 2004) was an English actress with a prolific career in film and television from the 1940s to the 1990s. Fenemore played mainly supporting roles which were characterised in her obituary in ''The ...

* McDonald Hobley *

Arthur Howard Arthur Howard (born Arthur John Steiner; 18 January 1910 – 18 June 1995) was an English stage, film and television actor. Life and career Born in Camberwell, London, Howard was the younger son of Lilian (née Blumberg) and Ferdinand "Frank" ...

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...

* Carl Hans Lody - the first person to be shot during World War I in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

as a spy is buried under his own black headstone. Ten other German spies shot in World War I are buried under a small memorial stone, about 150 yards from Lody's grave, next to a pathway * Mollie Maureen *

Michael Mellinger Michael Andreas Mellinger (30 May 1929 – 17 March 2004) was a German actor in film, television, theatre and radio. He was best known for his appearances on the West End and supporting role in the film '' Goldfinger'' (1964). Biography Born ...

Billy Milton Billy Milton (8 December 190522 November 1989) was a British stage, film and television actor. Born in Paddington, Middlesex, (now in London), as William Thomas Milton, he was the son of Harry Harman Milton (1880-1942), a commission agent, and ...

Blair Peach Clement Blair Peach (25 March 1946 – 24 April 1979) was a New Zealand teacher who was killed during an anti-racism demonstration in Southall, London, England. A campaigner and activist against the far right, in April 1979 Peach took part in a ...

* Harry Reeve * Terry Spinks MBE, Olympic Gold Medallist, Boxing, 1956 *

Tony Steedman Anthony Francis Steedman (21 August 1927 – 4 February 2001) was an English character actor, perhaps best known for roles in British TV drama series of the 1970s and 1980s, and for his role as Socrates in ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' ...

* Elizabeth Stride, 1843–1888, victim of Jack the Ripper *

Will Thorne William James Thorne CBE (4 October 1857 – 2 January 1946) was a British trade unionist, activist and one of the first Labour Members of Parliament. Early years Thorne was born in Hockley, Birmingham, on 8 October 1857. His father and othe ...

* Jack Warner * Doris Waters * Queenie Watts * Maurice Wagg

Cremation of notables

Lilian Baylis Lilian Mary Baylis CH (9 May 187425 November 1937) was an English theatrical producer and manager. She managed the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London and ran an opera company, which became the English National Opera (ENO); a theatre ...

, ashes scattered *

William Dysart William Dysart (26 November 1929 – October 2002) was a Scottish actor, known for his role as Alec Campbell in the 1970s television series '' Survivors''. Dysart also appeared in '' Z-Cars'', ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'', '' Doctor Who' ...

References

{{Crematoria in England Cemeteries in London Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Newham 1871 establishments in England Crematoria in London West Ham