Patrick Napier

Both the Atkins, brother and sister, died on the 18th June 1944, in the bombing of the Royal Military Chapel Wellington Barracks. Known as the Guards Chapel. Bird Cage Walk, just a few minutes from Buckingham Palace. The worst loss of life cause by a V1 The Sunday morning service was packed with guardsman, their…

Will Cornwell, for whom the gravestone was initially erected, was killed whilst cycling home from work one April evening in 1923. He was the third son of Henry & Ada Minnie Cornwell who lived in Sangley Road, Catford, and who would later be buried beside him, and commemorated on his memorial.Will was born in Catford…

Introduction In the quiet surroundings of Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries, nestled on the path leading to the dissenters chapel, stands a headstone that bears witness to a powerful legacy. It marks the final resting place of Elizabeth Colgate, a remarkable woman whose activism in the Victorian era confronted two of society’s most pressing injustices—war and…

A few years ago I was given a very old family bible. In the back pages were detailed all its owners from 1724 to 1860 and this started my interest in discovering my family history. I’d heard various names mentioned in the past by my parents and grandparents but have to admit that I never…

Most readers will no doubt be very familiar with the 1719 story by Daniel Defoe of Robinson Crusoe, based as it was on the experiences of a Scottish sailor, Alexander Selkirk who survived for five years on a desert island. But buried in Brockley cemetery is a seafarer with an equal claim to such maritime…

Close to the entrance to Ladywell cemetery, amidst the tangle of summer undergrowth lies the Sprenger family headstone, on the base is inscribed ‘Olga Sprenger lost at sea, Singapore, February 1942. The daughter of Oliver and Charlotte Sprenger ( both buried here).’ With the VJ (Victory in Japan) commemorations freshly in mind, it seemed appropriate…

When setting out to try to locate the family headstone of the actor J.J. Dallas I did not envisage that of the many such cemetery forays aimed at finding the final resting places of some of the many half forgotten luminaries buried here, this search would provide a such a frisson of anticipation. The family…

Known as the Deptford Poisoner, Amelia Winters shocked late Victorian society with a string of brazen murders in order to claim their insurance. The fifth in a series of fascinating stories behind the epitaphs at Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery in South East London. Presented by FOBLC’s very own historian Mike Guilfoyle and made by Tempest…

Finding out recently from deceasedonline.com records that the famous Jamaican tenor and singing professor, Louis ‘Dri’ Drysdale, was buried in Ladywell cemetery was a particularly welcome if serendipitous discovery. Dri as he was popularly called died aged 49 years at his home on Westbourne Road, Forest Hill in March 1933. Although the whereabouts of his…

On the pathway adjacent to Ivy Road in Ladywell cemetery, mournfully cradled by wreaths of ivy, lies the family grave of Lance Corporal Frederick Ernest Debenham, 1894-1915 (1/20th London Regiment) killed on the first day of one of the most intense and bloody battles fought by the British Army in 1915 namely the Battle of…