Those Who Are Interred Here

For information about some of thise who are intered here, please look at the list below and refer to the internet links for additional information

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Section 2 - Some Important Burials:

Founders of the Salvation Army

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER:
Shield in pennant, sandstone, n/O6 BOOTH, William 1829-1912; Catherine 1829-1890Shield with gilt inscription, n/O6; BOOTH, William Bramwell 1856-1929;Florence 1861-1957;. William and Catherine Booth founded The Salvation Army in 1865. From the outset their approach broke strongly from that of traditional religious movements: they gave equal status to women workers, and concentrated on fighting poverty with practical help and raising funds. In addition they repeatedly ran into serious problems with the police and magistrates by working on the streets. We may wonder ", the author Arthur Mee wrote in 1937, "if any other man of modern times touched so many wretched lives all over the world as General Booth".

Slavery Abolitionists

Baptist Missionaries who were also Slavery Abolitionists

S. side of PATH L, north of Abney Park Chapel (almost next to Leota the Samoan):BURCHELL, Thomas Baptist missionary and slavery abolitionist. Today Burchell's house in Jamaica is owned by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. See: ' Jamaica National Heritage Trust website' also 'Thomas Burchell'

For many more slavery abolitionists see the specific page accessed from the right hand side of the home page menu. 'click here'

The Loddiges Nursery family (link to further information)

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER: Pedestal Monument, [Fawcett-Pyle family vault] n/O6; FAWCETT-PYLE nee LODDIGES, Evelyn 1841-1913;FAWCETT-PYLE Rev. James 1844-1893.
Elegant pink and grey polished granite memorial to Evelyn Fawcett-Pyle nee Loddiges and her husband, Rev. James Fawcett-Pyle,Wesleyan Minister. Evelyn was the daughter of the last of the famous line of nurserymen, Conrad Loddiges who is buried in Dr.Watts' Walk with his Susanna Bowes.

DR. WATTS' WALK: Stone Chest Tomb, [Bowes family vault] w/L6 LODDIGES, Conrad 1821-1865;Susanna Agar 1819-1897. Conrad was the son of George Loddiges and grandson of Joachim Conrad Loddiges, both great horticulturalists. He inherited the famous nursery on Mare Street when its lease was almost expired and nursery land in Hackney was becoming worth far more as housing land. As the nursery closed its famous palms and orchids were found good homes, sometimes attracting huge public interest as they were transported away.

Eminent Horticultural Writer

SOUTH BOUNDARY ROAD: White gothic headstone very weathered, with kerb, e/K10 HIBBERD, James Shirley 1825-1890. Experimental horticulturalist who lived in Stoke Newington until the 1880's. Author of both popular and specialist illustrated books and editor of "Floral World" 1858-75 and of the Gardener's Magazine -1890. Vegetarian and teetotaller.

The First Fire Chief of London

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER/DR WATTS' WALK, branch b: Pedestal Monument in White Stone, w/N6 BRAIDWOOD, James 1800-1861. Superintendent of the London Fire Engine Establishment 1832-61 who had earlier established an efficient fire service in Edinburgh. Died in June 1861 at a fire in Tooley Street, Southwark when a falling wall crushed and buried him. It took two days to recover his mutilated body. The funeral at Abney Park was a major public spectacle, the subject of a feature in the Illustrated London News.

Policeman

off DR WATTS' WALK, statue path: Baroque Monument with Policeman's Helmet, n/K6
TYLER, William 1877-1909. Edwardian baroque triumphal arch to a murdered police constable, killed in the course of duty whilst making an attempted arrest at Tottenham on 23 January 1909. Compelling story of anarchists associated with the infamous Tottenham Outrage.

Congregational Ministers

W. BOUNDARY ROAD B, e/m5: Grey granite celtic crossALLON, Rev. Dr Henry 1818-1892. Congregational hymnologist, author, and Minister of Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, opposite Highbury & Islington underground station. Founder and client for its late Victorian rebuilding, employing the design skills of James Cubitt as architect to create today's impressive chapel. Contributed a chapter to 'Life of William Ellis' (see burials of missionaries below), the famous biography written by Ellis's son, John Eimeo Ellis. Allon's second son ALLON, Henry Erskine is also buried here and was a composer. See 'Henry Allon website' and 'Union Chapel website'

Dr. WATTS' WALK: Plain Stone Chest Tomb with hipped top, e/M6 CLAYTON, Rev. John 1754-1843; Rev. William 1785-1838; Rev. John 1780-1865; Rev, George 1783-1862.The elder Rev John and his third son Rev. William, buried first at Bunhill Fields, were transferred here to Abney Park when the family tomb was brought here in 1857. The father was an Independent divine, pastor of The King's Weight House Chapel the City 1778-1826, William was pastor at Saffron Walden 1809-31 and later chaplain to the pupils at Mill Hill Grammar School.Rev. John was pastor of a chapel in the City and Rev. George of a chapel in Walworth.

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER: Polished red granite with pierced octagonal cross, n/N6 FLETCHER, Alexander, Rev. Dr. 1787-1860. Rising above all, against the luxuriant textures of a tall old swamp cypress, is the noble granite cross in memory of 'The Children's Friend', Rev Dr Alexander Fletcher1787-1860, of Finsbury Chapel, Finsbury Circus; a memorial paid for by his congregation.

PATH L: White marble neo-Grecian sarcophagus with splayed sides, n/F6
MATHER, Rev. James 1775-1840
Rev. Dr. Robert 1808-1877
The Rev. James Mather, Congregationalist minister of Upper Clapton Chapel, was the first to be interred at Abney Park Cemetery (3rd June 1840). His son, MATHER, Rev Dr Robert, Congregationalist missionary at Mirzapore, India 1838-73, is also buried here. He wrote several religious books and translated the bible into Hindustani.

Dr. WATTS' WALK: Simple Granite Obelisk w/K6 WELLS, Algernon 1793-1850. Simple, elementally proportioned headstone to a Congregationalist divine, pastor, and joint Secretary of the Congregational Union and the Colonial Missionary Society 1837-50.

DR. WATTS' WALK: Plain Pedimented Chest Tomb e/L6 PYE-SMITH Rev. Dr. John, FRS, FGS 1774-1851; Ebeneezer, FRCS 1807-1885. The Rev. Dr. John Pye-Smith was a notable Congregationalist theologian and scholar; minister at the Old Gravel Pit Chapel in Hackney 1811-50, and tutor at the dissenting college, Homerton College 1805-50. Practically self-taught, he rose to become the first Dissenter to be formally allowed to become a Fellow of the Royal Society, and also became a Fellow of the Geological Society. His ideas about geological time caused controversy amongst thoe who took the bible literally.

Menagerist

ROAD F : Sculptured Lion in White Marble, n/J5 BOSTOCK, Susannah 1865-1928; Frank 1866-1912. Menagerists whose life is commemorated by a spectacular sleeping lion; one of the best known landmarks in the cemetery.

Painter & Engraver

MOUNT ROAD: Self-effacingly plain headstone, E ranks/C7 CALVERT, Edward 1799-1883. Painter and wood engraver, part of a group of English romantic artists who gathered around Salmer palmer at Shoreham in the 1820's. A disciple of William Blake.His finest works include exquisite miniature wood engravings.

Sensory Sculpture for the Blind

PATH N: Sculptured figure in White Stone DELPH, Harriet 1862-1944; GARLIC, Francesca 1879-1949. Attractive sculptured figure to Francesca Garlic and Harriet Delph of Clapton Square, Hackney, erected in 1946. Who might the sculptor have been? Who were these two ?

City of London Alderman & Sheriff

ENTRANCE DRIVE: Imposing Domed Classical monument of White Marble n/J11 BRIGGS, George, JP 1848-1925. Monument in celebration of the distinguished City career as Alderman and Sheriff of the City of London and Member of the Court of Common Council.

Notable Women of Abney

LITTLE ELM WALK: e/B6 Plain Headstone GOSSE, Emily. In the far north is a simple headstone to the evangelist and naturalist Emily Gosse who, together with her husband Philip, introduced the Victorians to seashore natural history and developed the aquarium. Their son, Edmund Gosse became a famous literary figure and his works included the autobiographical 'Father ad Son' about Emily and her husband's strict religious upbringing.

BRANCH E& F GREAT ELM WALK: Barly Legible Plain Headstone, n/E5 HILLUM, Mary 1759-1864. Mary Hillum died in her 105th year, having lived in the same house in which she had been born, having never travelled by omnibus or railway, and indeed never having ventured more than 15 miles from her home !

Politically Active People

PATH B: Stone Chest Tomb, e/L7 O'BRIEN, James Bronterre 1805-1864. A much revered Chartist leader and protagonist for socialism. O'Brien, the political activist, journalist, and intellectual leader of the Chartist movement was an Irish born graduate of Dublin University who completed law studies at Gray's Inn, London. He was an early advocate of land nationalisation who was imprisoned for 18 months in 1840 for 'seditious speaking' at a meeting in Liverpool.
During 1851 he became editor of the "Poor Man's Guardian", a radical newspaper of the day. In later life he lectured in London. After his death his influence was carried forwards by his followers into the 1870s socialist revival.

MOUNT ROAD: Plain neoclassical headstone, w/H7 HONE, William 1780-1842. Bookseller and author, with friends in literary circles, Hone was prosecuted for blasphemy in his "Political Litany". He was acquitted after a historic three-day trial. The huge £3,000 cost of his defence was met by public subscription. Charles Dickens attended his funeral at Abney Park.

Dr WATTS' WALK: White Stone Chest Tomb with Pediments at each end w/M6m MORLEY, Samuel, MP 1809-1886. MP for Nottingham and Bristol, and a campaigner for Nonconformist emancipation, slavery emancipation and other social and political causes, who endowed Morley College for adult education.

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER: Arcaded Gothic Shrine complete with Stone Ridge-roof, s/O6 RICHARD, Henry, MP 1812-1888. MP for Merthyr Tydfil 1868-88. Formerly Congregationalist minister of Marlborough Chapel, Old Kent Road, London 1835-50 who relinquished the ministry to become Secretary to the Society for Promoting Permanent and Universal Peace 1848-84, enabling him to concentrate on anti-war campaigns. Henry Richard's splendid shrine was erected by public subscription.

Musicians & Music Hall

LITTLE ELM WALK: Grey Granite Plinth with obelisk, e/C6 HUNT, C.W. -1904. Inscription reads: "He wrote many of the people's songs and one that during the Russo Turkish war of 1878 so stirred public enthusiasm as to greatly strengthen the policy of the government of the day and may therefore justly claim some influence on the disposal of power in Eastern Europe: not always Kings and Cabinets shall guide a people's fate, a rhyme may wreck an empire, a song may save a state".

NEW ROAD: Headstone with gabled top, n/Ranks/J8
LEYBOURNE, George 1842-1884; CHEVALIER Albert 1861-1923. Music Hall artiste alias 'Champagne Charlie', who lived and died in Islington. His daughter married Albert Chevalier in 1895. he is also buried here.

Cemetery Founders & Associates

DR. WATTS' WALK: Ornate baroque sarcophagus of stone mounted on four lion's paws, w/L6 JAY, John 1805-1872. Builder of the chapel at Abney Park Cemetery, under the direction of William Hosking.

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER: n/O6 Mausoleum ROGERS Dr.Nathaniel 1808-1884. This is the only personal mausoleum in Abney Park. Dr Rogers was a doctor of medicine who obtained his MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1832 - see 'UCL website for Dr Rogers' lecture notes'. He was a wealthy man and donated expensive stained glass memorial windows to the nationally important St.Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, and then ensured the Abney Park Chapel receieved equally impressive designs of the same quality, putting it on a par with the height of Anglican design. His mausoleum is perfectly aligned on the important axial vista between Abney House gate, Dr Watt's Monument, and the Abney Park Chapel's steeple, and even incorporates a through-view. That Dr Rogers' monument was permitted to be situated in such an axial location may be a reflection of a wish for visitors to be able to see through this monument to the chapel to which he contributed stained glass, and possibly also to his significance in non-denominational circles (Abney Park being a uniquely non-denominational cemetery and this being closely associated with Dr Watts' approach too). Certainly Nathaniel Rogers took this ecumenical approach in his lifetime, contributing stained glass windows to the Congregationalist Union Chapel at Highbury as well as to Anglican churches. At the union Chapel his gift of a rose window is situated above the organ; a gift to the chapel in 1876 designed by Frederick Jake that shows angels playing - see 'Union Chapel website'. Dr Rogers' donation to Westminster Abbey was of a small window in the east aisle of this transept, given in 1869 to represent the poets of the Old and New Testaments - see 'Westminster Abbey website'

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER: Imposing Polished Red Granite Obelisk Monument, s/N6 REED, Andrew Rev. Dr. 1787-1862. Imposing Celtic Cross in Grey Irish Granite, Ireland 1893, n/O6; REED, Talbot Baines 1852-1893; Andrew Holmes 1848-1892; Polished Grey Granite Obelisk Monument , n/N6 REED, Sir Charles, MP, FSA 1819-1881. The central feature on the south side of Abney House Corner is a slim red granite obelisk to the relentlessly philanthropic Dr Andrew Reed a notable Congregationalist and hymnwriter who founded five major charitable institutions including the London Orphan Asylum at Clapton. His son, Sir Charles became an eminent lay Congregationalist, printer, typefounder, educationalist, antiquary and member of the Liberal Party. He has the unique distinction of having been the first MP for Hackney 1868-74. A tireless improver, he also Chaired the School Board for London 1873-81 which provided the first publicly funded education for children who could not afford private schools in the capital and, being the first elected body for government in capital, was the fore-runner of the GLA.
Finding time amongst his many other duties, Sir Charles took a close interest in the development of Abney Park Cemetery, becoming a Trustee and Director of the original partially philantropic Joint Stock Company 1866-81, during which period he was appointed by the Corporation of London to Chair the Bunhill Fields Preservation Committee, Abney Park's predecessor a a place of burial for nonconformists in the capital. Two of his sons, Talbot Baines Reed a novelist whose best known book was "Fifth Form at St. Dominic's", and Andrew Holmes Reed, share a nearby memorial.

Landmarks

ENTRANCE DRIVE: Tall Column of White Marble, s/J11
KING, Robert Scarborough 1859-1860; Ethel Rosa d.1860. Surmounted by an urn, this imposing marble column forms a landmark in memory of Robert Scarborough & Ethel Rosa, two young children of Robert King who died within a fortnight of each other during October 1860.Their surviving sister, Mary Jane, married Frederick Janson Hanbury with whom she worked on botanical publications, contributing, on his death, an enormous herbarium for the British Museum.

Missionaries - London Missionary Society

PATH K: Headstone with kerb, s/E6 LEOTA [Missionary Grave]. In memory of Leota, native of the Island of Samoa in the south seas and a Christian evangelist who died in Hackney aged 40.

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER: ELLIS, Rev William (1804-72) Gardener, born into straightened circumstances, became a LMS missionary and ethnographic, topographical and botanical author of pioneeering studies of Polynesia and Madagascar much praised by the poet and author Southey. It is said, that he, more than any other missionary, changed the perception of missionaries, gaining enormous respect against their critics who portrayed them as naieve people by trying, through education, to raise the status of natives and slaves to equals with westerners. Became a Congregational minister in Hoddeston, Hertfordshire. See 'William Ellis (author)'

CEDAR CIRCLE: Mrs Williams Famous missionary wife sailing in the early C19th with her husband John Williams, to the South Seas; and working at times in the company of William Ellis and his wife. Her husband was killed and eaten by canibals. Their son, born in Polynesia, is interred here with her. Biographies have tended to concentrate on the husband's roles in such voyages and missions but the London Missionary Society sent out husbands and wives who both had to endure the many months at sea and work for the cause. See 'Mr & Mrs John Williams'

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER, branch A: MEDHURST, Rev, Dr Walter Henry (1796-1857) Congregational minister and famous missionary to China. Translated the bible into Mandarin. Wrote a Chinese-English dictionary. See 'Dr Medhurst'

GREAT ELM AVENUE: DAVIES, Rev. Evan (1805-64) Author of a biography of Rev. Samuel Dyer, missionary to the Chinese in Penang (Betel Nut Island) Malaysia. See 'Welsh Biography Online website'

Architects

PATH L: Rare wooden deadboard pegged in Arts & Crafts fashion e/M5 MATTHEWS, Joseph, FRIBA, FS 1838-1923. Architect and surveyor in practice in the City of London.

ROAD I: White Gothic Stone Chest Tomb, s/I9 ROBINSON, Samuel 1751-1833; Martha 1756-1836. Architect and surveyor who designed and founded the Retreat Almshouses in Hackney (1812). He also designed the Paragon and Homerton Dissenters' College (1823). He and his wife were originally buried in the Retreat's forecourt but were removed here with their white gothic stone chest tomb when the building was demolished in 1901.

Re-interments From Bunhill Fields & elsewhere

ROAD D: Severely Plain Stone Chest Tomb over family vault, w/M6 MILLS, John Remington 1798-1879. Possibly the least demonstrative millionaire's tomb in existence, reflecting John Mills' reticent and thrifty Puritan character. He became one of the wealthiest commoners in England, a millionaire before inheriting his brother's fortune. His tomb was brought here from the Nonconformist's earlier burial ground at Bunhill Fields, in 1856.

ROAD C: Table slab in granite BAGSTER, Samuel 1772-1851; Eunice 1778-1877. Samuel Bagster was founder of a publishing house in The City of London specialising in religious works. He was first buried at Tottenham Court Chapel in 1835, but his remains were afterwards transferred to this spot in Abney Park where his wife, who outlived him is also buried. She survived to the ripe old age of 99yrs!

People from Africa

MOUNT ROAD: Hedstone unidentified as yet (we will looks agin this winter !), e/I5 CAULKER, Thomas Canry 1746-1859. Son of Canrah Bah Caulker, King of Bompey (syn: Bumpe) in Sierra Leone, Western Africa - see 'raising funds for Bumpe today'. Sent to England in the early 1850s for an evangelical nonconformist Christian education; died at Canonbury in the care of Rev. Jacob Kirkman Foster. His father, ruler of an independent West African Kingdom, drew up an abolition agreement with British officials, later enacted by the British Parliament, to allow ships from his kingdom to be intercepted by the British navy to ensure their captains were not engaging in the transporting of slaves

Merchants

ROAD C: Rectangular Pedestal with Kneeling Female Mourner, w/J7 MECHI, Fanny 1799-1845. First wife of John Joseph Mechi of Stamford Hill, a City merchant turned agriculturalist of Bolognese extraction, who founded the Tiptree Hall Farm, Essex in 1841.

CHAPEL LAWN: Chunky, four-square Limestone Monument, n/G6 SPREAT, John 1799-1865. John Spreat was a prominent Congregational businessman with business interests in Manchester. His monument sits below the tall-form or cultivar Indian Bean tree behind Abney Park Chapel, and counts as the only design in the cemetery which was commissioned from a nationally renowned architect (the leading Quaker architect Alfred Waterhouse -1830-1905- who had been educated nearby at Grove House School in Tottenham). For Waterhouse, architect of such grand buildings as the Natural History Museum in South Kensington and Manchester Town Hall, this is clearly one of his smallest surviving commissions.

Welshman & Educationalist

PATH C: Worn, Half-missing Headstone with Kerb, n/L10 OWEN, Sir Hugh 1804-1881. Methodist philanthropist and longstanding advocate of access to higher education for nonconformists. Became the prime founder of Aberystwyth University (University College of Wales at Aberystwyth). A biography is published by the university.

Methodist Ministers

W. BOUNDARY ROAD: w/N5 Pedestal Monument PERKS, Rev. George, MA 1820-1877. President of the Wesleyan Conference in 1873, and Secretary of their Foreign Missionary Society.

ABNEY HOUSE CORNER: Pedestal Monument, [Fawcett-Pyle family vault] n/O6 FAWCETT-PYLE Rev. James 1841-1913; FAWCETT-PYLE nee LODDIGES, Evelyn 1844-1893. Elegant pink and grey polished granite memorial to Evelyn Fawcett-Pyle nee Loddiges and her husband, Rev. James Fawcett-Pyle, Wesleyan Minister. Evelyn was the daughter of the last of the famous line of nurserymen, Conrad Loddiges who is buried in Dr.Watts' Walk with his Susanna Bowes.

Medical Doctor

PATH T: Headstone with Kerb, n/E3 SIEVEKING Sir Edward, MD, FRCS, LLD 1816-1904; n/E3
SIEVEKING, Lady Jane 1825-1915. Cruciform Gothic Coffin Tomb, n/E3 SIEVEKING, Edward Henry 1816-1868; Emerentia Louisea Francisca 1789-1861. Sir Edward, author of several medical books and an excellent colour illustrator of anatomical figures was physician in ordinary to Queen Victoria 1888-1901. He later became physician extraordinary to the Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII 1873-1904. His wife, Lady Jane, is buried nearby. The parents of Sir Edward, Edward Henry and Emerentia Louisa Francisca, are also buried nearby. Emerentia was the daughter of Senator Meyer of Hamburg.

Scientists & Inventors

ROAD I: Stone Pedestal with Urn, n/H8 SWAN, John 1787-1869. Engineer and inventor of Hackney. Credited by his daughter as the originator of such revolutionary devices as the steamship screw propeller (1824) and the self acting chain messenger (1831) he never patented his inventions under his own name - they were published under the names of his superiors.

Eminent Scholar

Dr. WATTS' WALK: Plain Stone Chest Tomb, e/M6 SHARPE, Samuel 1799-1881. Eminent Egyptologist, author of The History of Egypt, and translator of numerous Hebrew texts.

Potters

For genealogical information for the Cole, Colley and Dean potters interred at Abney Park Cemetery please 'click this link'

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Publications Available from the Trust

A partial list of important burials (those researched and known by the mid 1980s) can be found in Paul Joyce's 'Guide to Abney Park Cemetery' which is available from the Visitor's Centre at £4; £6 surface mail included). Some additional burials of importance are shown on the map and poster: "A Selection of Burials of Famous and Notable People in Abney Park Cemetery" by David Solman which dates from the mid 1990s. Since that date literally scores of aditional burials of important people have come to light.

The Salvation Army "Work for all Social Campaign" raised money and campaigned vigorously for new co-operative farms in Britain, new housing in out-of-town "suburban villages" more widely available legal services "poor man's lawyers", new businesses in carpentry, tailoring, building and cobbling, and greater opportunities for emigration for the poor. Money poured in from many quarters following the publication of "In Darkest London and The Way Out" written by William Booth in 1890.

William Bramwell Booth, second General of the Salvation Army, was as equally strong willed, radical and unorthodox, as his parents. His publicising of the trade of buying and selling of children into prostitution in London met with official approbation. Deploring such bad publicity for the capital, the Attorney General zealously prosecuted him. Bramwell escaped a penal sentence but his colleague, the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, in which the trade had been exposed, was less fortunate.

Besides their campaigning work the Booths were fond animal-lovers. William Booth's house at Gore Road had a large garden in which the number of pets increased in relation to his son Bramwell's interest. Catherine Bramwell Booth recalled that "there were rats, mice, guinea-pigs, silkworms, cats and dogs, of course, always" and that mice shared Bramwell Booth's study and still interested him when sixty years old as much as when six! In Bramwell Booth's adult life every member of the household understood that living things were his special interest: he continued to take a particular interest in the first hatched chickens of the year, strange grubs in the vegetables and unidentified caterpillars found by the children !

Just as thousands had followed the procession for General William Booth's funeral at Abney Park Cemetery in 1912, so huge crowds gathered to pay their respects to the funeral of General Bramwell Booth in 1929. To accompany such a large event a platform was built in Abney Park Cemetery, upon which the service was led by Bramwell's daughter Catherine who died only recently, in October 1987 aged 104.