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Notable Burials
There are thousands of people resting in the cemeteries. Here you will find information about a few of them.
William Henry Harris: The Sparkling Life of London’s Oldest Man and the Inventor of Tinsel
22 December 1935 William Henry Harris, London’s Oldest Man. He Invented “Tinsel” 1837-1939 A short stroll from Ladywell chapel, just past grave of Edward Ernest Dowson. lies the family grave of William Henry Harris. William was born in Deptford, on the 3rd of February 1837. His parents were John Harris (a coal porter) and…
The Atkins Siblings and the Guards Chapel Tragedy: Remembering the Largest V1 Bombing Loss of Life, 18th June 1944
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…
Nurse Sophie Hilling who gave her life for her country in the 1918 Flu Pandemic
{Picture, Caption: Nurses treating soldiers at a clearing station in France} Wedged between a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, John George Pattison and the famed educational pioneers the McMillan sisters on the Old Deptford Town Hall Board of Honour (unveiled in 1919) is the name of Sister Sophie Hilling A.R.R.C. Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing…
Grave of actor and comedian EDWARD LEWIS (1864-1922) restored
The FOBLC are pleased that The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America have been able to restore the final resting place of actor and comedian EDWARD LEWIS (1864-1922) who rests in Brockley Cemetery. {Picture, Caption: Edward Lewis (inset) and his restored grave at Brockley Cemetery.} Edward Lewis was born into a theatrical family and made…
Fernando Del Marmol – Accidental Death of a Cuban Anarchist
One wouldn’t expect to find a Cuban anarchist buried in the Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries but there is. Thank you to FOBLC stallwart Mike Guilfoyle for providing this fascinating account of one of the more unlikely people to be buried here. Fernando Del Marmol shares the same 2nd August birthdate as the celebrated Decadent Poet Ernest…
The Sensational Trapeze Artist Adelaide Macarte
A short distance from the entrance to Brockley cemetery aside a shady side path lies an imposing family headstone, topped with its ethereal angelic figure, on which the name Adelaide Macarte is inscribed. Although the lettering has faded the curious passerby can read on the inscription that Adelaide or Addie as she was also known,…
Rediscovering champion wrestler Jack Wannop, ‘The Most Popular Man in New Cross’
The grave of champion wrestler and boxer Jack Wannop, his wife Miriam, and two of their children, Thomas and Mary, can be found close to the Brockley Grove side of the cemetery, in plot Z/CON/128. They have no headstone. Wannop was well known across Britain and the United States in the 1880s and 1890s, when…
Genius, Madness and Murder – Richard Dadd and Ladywell cemetery
Located close to the outer pathway in Ladywell cemetery close to Ivy road lies a stooped family headstone amidst saturnine undergrowth. The interested passer by would need to approach much closer to discern the faded inscriptions to know that members of the Dadd family were interred here. {Picture, Caption: Richard Dadd working on his painting…
How Charles Penruddocke found notoriety in the Newgate Calendar
{Picture, Caption: Charles Wadham Wyndham Penruddock (artist’s impression) Source : Depart Hence and Sin No More. David Kidd-Hewitt (2018)} Located alongside the pathway close to the entrance to Ladywell cemetery is found a much faded headstone on which the keen observer can discern an inscription of the wonderfully named Charles Wadham Wyndham Penruddocke, born in Bath…
Gus Manning – German and US Soccer Star’s family grave found in Ladywell cemetery
{Picture, Caption: Dr ‘Gus’ Manning} Finding the graves of long lost luminaries buried in Brockley and Ladywell cemeteries has kept me busily engaged over periods of enforced Covid lockdown when headstone searches have not always been possible. But as all cemetery burials are now digitised (1858-1999) and available to view via the Deceasedonline.com website (there is a…
William Cuffay, Black Chartist leader and a family grave in Ladywell cemetery
{Picture, Caption: William Cuffay drawn in his cell in Newgate [National Portrait Gallery London]} William Cuffay was born in Gillingham in 1788 of an English woman called Juliana Fox and a man of African heritage, Chatham Cuffay who had been previously enslaved on the British Colony of St.Kitts. He was soon apprenticed to a tailor,…
Ernest Dowson grave unveiled
On Monday 2nd August there was a short ceremony at Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery to mark the restoration of Ernest Christopher Dowson’s grave on the 143rd anniversary of his birth. The original memorial has been restored as fully as possible and a new stone at the foot of the grave quotes two verses of his…
Remembering Decadent Poet Ernest Dowson (1867-1900)
{Picture} The Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London hosted the first International symposium on the poet, translator and novelist Ernest Dowson on a storm -tossed saturnine Friday 14th April 2016. Ernest Dowson who died in 1900 aged 32 is interred in Ladywell cemetery and his signature grave is a regular stopping point on guided walks (it…
A Local Cemetery Historian’s Retrospective
I thought that I would depart from my usual pattern of offering historical vignettes of some of the illustrious deceased buried in the two cemeteries and instead present the reader with some of my more memorable personal recollections, out of many, that have charted my time as a member of the Friends group and former…
Adeline Tanner’s moving story
Adeline Tanner died young, broken by the horrific experience of being sold abroad into prostitution. Her moving story from Victorian times finds uncomfortable parallels with present day accounts of human trafficking.
Inspector Secretan – The detective and the infamous outlaw Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly, famous outlaw and folk hero, grew up in Australia in the late 1800s. His life of crime began as a teenager stealing horses and later escalated to murder. Kelly and his gang soon had a price on their heads of £8,000 – today’s equivalent would be £732,600, which could be collected through his…
Coo, Pigeon Painter Edward Henry Windred joins our list of Notables
Continuing our series on notable people buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries, we here profile Edward Henry Windred (1875-1953) who was a renowned painter of racing pigeons in the 1920s and 1930s. In those days owners of prize winning pigeons often commissioned a painting of them to commemorate their victory. Windred was one of…
Unravelling the Mystery of Tannaker Buhicrosan buried Ladywell cemetery
{Picture, Caption: Drawing of a curiously reticent Tannaker Buhicrosan, c.1885 sporting a Chonmage- a traditional Japanese topknot haircut worn by men Source: Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News: (Wikipedia).} {Picture, Caption: Japanese Village, which was built in Hyde Park in 1885. Tannaker Buhicrosan had relocated 100 Japanese men women and children to London to populate his…
First to the Corinthians: the story of England goalie Harry Albemarle Swepstone
Thanks to Mike Guilfoyle for uncovering this story of a notable sportsman buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries Harry Albemarle Swepstone (1859-1907) who was born in Stepney, East London, made his England debut against Scotland in 1880. During this match he was beaten by a ‘cannon shot’ from the Scottish ‘Rooney’, Centre Forward George…
Christine de Montalk, Garibaldi and a brush with the Guillotine!
{Picture, Caption: Giuseppe Garibaldi 1807-1882, Italian general, politician and nationalist who played a pivotal role in the unification of Italy in his trademark poncho and brimless cap c.1864 Source : Wikipedia} {Picture, Caption: Garibaldi at the Crystal Palace. Published in the Illustrated London News, 23 April 1864. Source : Look and Learn / Bernard Platman…
From Russia with Talent: The Remarkable de Glehn Family
Located close to a pathway aside Brockley grove in Ladywell cemetery is the headstone of a truly remarkable emigre family of twelve children (and eight servants!) known as de Glehn. The family name changed to de Glehn from their former nobiliary particle von Glehn in outrage after the Germans seized Alfred de Glehn’s house in…
The Price Isn’t Right
Buried in the Brockley section, close to the Ivy Road footpath, lies Lt Gilbert Arthur Price, a British intelligence officer who died in a dramatic gun battle with the IRA on Dublin’s Talbot Street on October 14, 1920. {Picture} Republican leader Seán Treacy was also killed in the fight which was a key moment in Irish history,…
Elizabeth Watkins, Waterloo veteran (1810-1904)
Continuing our series on the remarkable people buried within the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries, we are very grateful to Brockley resident and amateur genealogist John Luke who has researched the remarkable story of Elizabeth Watkins, who is described on her gravestone as a ‘Waterloo Veteran’ though she could only have been five years old at…
Margaret McMillan, childrens champion (1860-1931)
Continuing our series on remarkable people buried in the Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries, Mike Guilfoyle has kindly supplied this piece about Margaret McMillan. Margaret was born in New York in 1860 but brought up in Inverness. After being educated in Germany and Switzerland, she worked as a Governess. Whilst living in London with her sister…
Jack London and the 1902 Cavilla family murders
Located amidst the bosky acreage of Brockley cemetery in an unmarked grave lies the last resting place of five members of the Cavilla family, whose lives were tragically ended in September 1902 in a brutal murder that shocked the nation. An unemployed house painter called Frank Cavilla, aged 34 years of Batavia road, New Cross,…
Charles Forjett and the Martyrs of Bombay
As you pass along the meandering pathway from the Dissenters Chapel and round the corner walking towards the wall of remembrance in Ladywell cemetery, you could so easily walk past without noticing the drab headstone which denotes that a former Commissioner of Police from 1855-1864 for India’s most populous city Bombay (known as Mumbai since…
The Family Graves of Charles Cain. Proprietors of the Deptford Show Ground, the last Permanent showground in London
{Picture, Caption: Charles and Hannah Cain in 1909 with sons Fred, Tom, Dave and Charles Junior (back row) and daughters Hannah, Daisy, Florence and Carolyn. (Copyright: Bell family archive)} The following words were written by Angela Catherine Cain, in reference to her new book, Deptford Show Ground – the last permanent fairground in London During…
Alexander Zass – The World’s Strongest Man and his Lost Lewisham Love
{Picture} Whilst poring over cemetery burial records on Deceased Online, I lighted on the scant archival details of what appeared a sad early death from August 1928 and became intrigued by what later turned out to be a misspelt surname. The burial record is that of a Blanche Minnie Millicent Zars (nee Leach) of Devonshire…
THE TRAGIC GENIUS OF PAINTER BEATRICE OFFOR (1864-1920) TO BE REMEMBERED IN CENTENARY EXHIBITION
{Picture, Caption: Beatrice Offor in her studio ( 1902)} Nestling under a shady canopy of bush aside one of the inner pathways in Ladywell cemetery lies the final resting place of Sydenham born artist, Beatrice Offor (the headstone denotes a Beatrice Beavan, beloved second wife of James Philip Beavan, of 8 Bruce Grove, Tottenham). Beatrice,…
A look back at the tragic sinking of the HMS Good Hope
With the hundred year anniversary fast approaching of one of Britain’s worst naval disasters, there is something quite mournful about the leaf covered wording on the side of the Hawkes family grave a few yards from busy Brockley Road. It records the death of Able Seaman Reuben Ernest Hawkes, son of George and Amelia of Woodpecker Road…
Tragic Tale of a Young Cyclist: Will Cornwell’s Untimely Death in 1923
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…
Mike Guilfoyle commemorative bench
On 15th March 2024, the commemorative bench for MIke Guilfoyle was welcomed to a spot overlooking the Ladywell Heroes Corner. Mike’s widow, Nana Anto-Awuakye, was joined by a deacon from St. Mary Magdalen RC Church, Mike’s siblings, friends from the local area and members of the Friends of Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries, in the ceremony.
London Epitaph Podcasts
A set of podcasts about people buried in the cemetery made by our good friend Mike Guilfoyle (1955-2023) who is sadly missed by his friends at FoBLC.
Brockley’s Jack the Ripper connection
Buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries lies Henry (or Harry) Cox (1859-1918). He was the City of London CID officer who was responsible for the surveillance of one of the Jack the Ripper suspects after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly. “The man we suspected was about five feet six inches in height, with…
Hiratio Henry Couldery: Victorian Painter
Buried in plot no. 1878 of Ladywell Cemetery lies Horatio Henry Couldery. Horatio Henry Couldery was born in Lewisham in 1832 and christened at St. Mary’s Lewisham on 23 December 1832. He was the fourth of nine children of Robert Hall Couldery, and Lydia Frances nee Ruegg. Horatio was originally apprenticed to a cabinet maker but…
A young girl is murdered – The true story of Jane Clouson
On April 25th 1871 Jane was discovered by a policeman, on Kidbrooke Lane, near-death; having been severely beaten. She managed to say the words “Edmund Pook” and “Oh let me die” before passing out. She was rushed to Guy’s Hospital but never regained consciousness. Jane died on April 30th, two days after her 17th birthday. A hammer was…
Famous People
It is difficult to choose a few persons from the many thousands buried in the cemetery but here are some notable burials. (Credit Wikipedia)
The 1924 Slade Green Factory Explosion
On Monday February the 18th 1924, 12 young women and girls and one male foreman, Edward Jones of Dalmain Road, Forest Hill, were killed while dismantling Verey Light cartridges on Slades Green Marshes. The factory of W V Gilbert had been contracted by the Government to dismantle and empty Verey Light cartridges, which were used…
Dr.Crippen murder trial witness buried in Ladywell cemetery
Located close to one of the inner pathways in Ladywell cemetery lies the final resting place of William James Spratling, sometimes referred to as W.J.Spratling. The cruciform headstone is often enveloped in shrubbery, so it needs a beady eye to spot it! Some while ago I discovered a fascinating link that W.J.Spratling had to Dr…
Tragedy on the evening train from Epsom Races
Imposing photograph of Boxer Joe Bowker full name Joseph Lord Bowker Salford born Joe Bowker (1881-1955) was a British boxer who was world bantamweight champion from 1904 to 1905. In 51 professional fights, he compiled a career record of 40 wins, 8 losses and one draw with two no-decisions. Fourteen wins came by knockout. British…
Magdala and the downfall of the barefoot Emperor
In March 1866 a British envoy had been dispatched to secure the release of a group of missionaries who had first been seized and held hostage when a letter Tewodros II had sent to Queen Victoria requesting munitions and military experts from the British, delivered by an envoy, Captain Cameron, had gone unanswered. They were…
The birth of the Ashes and a grave in Brockley Cemetery
On 29 August 1882 Australia defeated England in a cricket match played at the Kennington Oval.There was a great deal of dismay felt by the English about this loss and a few days later a mock obituary notice written by Reginald Shirley Brooks appeared in the Sporting Times which read: In Affectionate Remembrance of English…
R.B.Saxe -Author, Songwriter, Drummer
The fashionable Kit Cat Club in the Haymarket, which to many people epitomised the carefree days of the 1920s, was opened in the summer of 1925 and immediately became one of the most famous nocturnal haunts in London. Decked out with the last word in restaurant and dance floor equipment it was regarded as one…
From Boxer Bombs to the Rock of Ages
Image is of an execution of three Boxers during the 1900 Rebellion. (London Stereoscopic Company) The Boxer Rebellion, a bloody uprising in China at the turn of the 20th century against foreigners, is a relatively obscure historical event with far-reaching consequences that nevertheless is often remembered because of its unusual name. Who exactly were the…
The remarkable story of the author of The Seven Sisters of Sleep: The Celebrated Drug Classic
A copy of Mordecai Cooke’s drug survey The Seven Sisters of Sleep (1860) was deposited in the Bodleian Library Oxford. When Lewis Carroll also known as the Reverend Charles Dodgson visited the library. The book had a chapter on the Fly agaric (Hallucinogenic mushrooms) Lewis Carroll “would have been immediately attracted to Cooke’s Seven Sisters…
The tragic drowning of a mariner from the SS Great Eastern
Black & white photograph, features the ‘engineering giant’ Isambard Kingdom Brunel *, Henry Wakefield, J. Scott Russell and Lord Derby. Standing by the edge of a wooden pier, directing the launch of SS Great Eastern, 1858. Isambard Kingdom Brunel FRS * was an English civil and mechanical engineer, who is considered “one of the most…
A Poet and the makings of a Saint
Francis Bennoch, 1812-1890 by William Ridgway after Alexander Johnston. Source : The Victorian Web (National Scottish Portrait Gallery.) Lying aside one of the inner pathways in Ladywell cemetery close to the Wall of Remembrance is a toppled headstone whose inscription is partially obscured. The inscription is of a nineteenth century Scottish born poet and patron…
The Scandal that ended Governor Eardley- Wilmot’s career
Hobart Town chain gang’. Charles Bruce c.1831 Located close to one of the pathway intersections in Brockley cemetery lies an imposing cruciform headstone. Although some of the lettering has disappeared the uxorious epitaph speaks of the sudden loss of a beloved wife – Louisa Charlotte Mackenzie Wright who died in Deptford in April 1870 at…
Genius, Madness and Murder – Richard Dadd and Ladywell cemetery
Located close to the outer pathway in Ladywell cemetery close to Ivy road lies a stooped family headstone amidst saturnine undergrowth. The interested passer by would need to approach much closer to discern the faded inscriptions to know that members of the Dadd family were interred here. Richard Dadd working on his painting ‘Contradiction. Oberon…
Mr Hogg re-launches the Opium Eater
Thomas De Quincey was born in Manchester in 1785 to a prosperous linen merchant. As a young boy he read widely and acquired a reputation as a brilliant classicist. “That boy,” said his headmaster at Bath Grammar School, “that boy could harangue an Athenian mob, better than you or I could address an English one.”…
The Most Popular Man in New Cross’ – Rediscovering boxer-wrestler Jack Wannop and his pugilistic pals – Talk in the chapel in Ladywell Cemetery on Sunday 19th February at 2pm
Talk in the chapel in Ladywell Cemetery on Sunday 19th February at 2pm As a wrestler Jack Wannop had a remarkable impact on pioneering and popularising wrestling as a sport in London before its early-1900s golden age. New Cross might not be well-known as the ‘home’ of British wrestling or boxing, but back in the…
Annie Parker ‘Wayward Inebriate’ – record breaker with a hair raising talent!
Image from Workhouse Tales -The Daily Chronicle ( undated) The Habitual Drunkards Act of 1879 had enabled residential treatment as an alternative to prison for habitual drunkards, although its cost was prohibitive for many poor and working-class women. The 1898 Inebriates Act empowered local councils to establish and administer certified inebriate reformatories which were paid…
The Family Graves of Charles Cain. Proprietors of the Deptford Show Ground, the last Permanent showground in London
Charles and Hannah Cain in 1909 with sons Fred, Tom, Dave and Charles Junior (back row) and daughters Hannah, Daisy, Florence and Carolyn. (Copyright: Bell family archive) The following words were written by Angela Catherine Cain, in reference to her new book, Deptford Show Ground – the last permanent fairground in London During the 1820s…
Christine de Montalk, Garibaldi and a brush with the Guillotine!
Giuseppe Garibaldi 1807-1882, Italian general, politician and nationalist who played a pivotal role in the unification of Italy in his trademark poncho and brimless cap c.1864 Source : Wikipedia Garibaldi at the Crystal Palace. Published in the Illustrated London News, 23 April 1864. Source : Look and Learn / Bernard Platman Antiquarian From the moment…
Herbert Henry (H. H.) Niles (1891-1918)
The burial location (above|) and inscription (below) for Driver H. H. Niles Herbert Henry Niles and his parents Herbert Henry NILES (1891-1918) was one of seven children born into a fishing and seafaring family with origins stretching back to Devonport and Cornwall. At the time of his birth, the family were living in the Deptford…
Robert Wedderburn, Black Abolitionist family grave in Brockley cemetery
Robert Wedderburn was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1762, of an African mother named Rosanna who was enslaved and a Scottish born father James Wedderburn, a slave and plantation owner, the son of Sir John Wedderburn, who had been executed for treason following the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. After Rosanna had given birth to two…
Simon Bolivar, Captain Andrews and a game of chess
Simon Bolivar was a Venezuelan born military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Columbia,Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish colonial Empire. He is known colloquially as El Libertador or the Liberator of America. Equestrian portrait of Simon Bolivar – a painting by the Venezuelan artist…
Art, Loot and Empire: The Benin Bronzes
Located aside the pathway close to the thorn laden berm between the two Ladywell and Brockley cemeteries lies the recently discovered headstone of Charlotte Mabel Alleyne d.1961. Her grave now features as a stopping point for guided history walks. Mabel achieved a modest fame in the art world from her career as an artist and…
Fredrick William Winder (1817-1912) – An Old Thames Postman.
Browsing through old newspaper cuttings, seeking interesting stories on Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries, I struck gold with this interesting article on the life of Frederick William Winder, an old Thames Postman. Postman’s Adventurous life. The Funeral took place at Lewisham Cemetery on Saturday of Mr. Frederick William Winder, who has terminated a remarkable career at…
Greek-American Tycoon’s grave found in Ladywell cemetery!
Located close to the Cross of Sacrifice in Ladywell cemetery is the final resting place of a truly remarkable man who ‘spoke twenty languages’. Indeed Nicholas John Coundouris who died in 1929 whilst residing in Forest hill is perhaps the only Greek-American buried in the cemetery? His gnarled cruciform headstone is presently entwined in summer…
Burt Lancaster, Zulu Dawn and Colonel Durnford link uncovered in grave find in Brockley cemetery
Burt Lancaster as Colonel Durnford. In the film Zulu Dawn he used an authentic break frame Webley revolver. He had to do all this acting and action with a crippled left arm and he devised a way he could handle and reload this type of weapon.. He proved a fit and skilful rider and comes…
Adelaide Clunies-Ross, the Cocos Islands and Joshua Slocum the first person to sail solo around the world
The Cocos Keeling Islands -‘ extraordinary rings of land which rise out of the ocean’ (Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle), are situated in the Indian Ocean about 700 miles S.W. from Sumatra and 1200 miles from Singapore. ‘If there is a paradise on this earth, it is the Cocos Islands.” Captain Joshua…
Culloden, Thomas Hastie Hay, a public beheading and the last battle to be fought upon British soil
A recent and striking discovery of a familial link to the last battle to be fought on British soil at Culloden moor, which is located close to Inverness, on the 16 April 1746, was uncovered when tracing the ancestral links to a Glasgow born oil company merchant called Thomas Hastie Hay ( d.1891) whose headstone…
Thomas Blackstone Churcher and the Murder of Hariett Monckton
One of the undiluted pleasures of inquisitive cemetery research is lighting upon a serendipitous burial find with a compelling historic backstory in an area of the cemetery, this time close to the Ladywell chapel, I thought I had already fully explored! Foblc Vice-Chair Mike Guilfoyle aside the Churcher family headstone in Ladywell cemetery. Such was…
Lieutenant Gilbert Price, a pivotal figure in the Anglo-Irish War of Independence Talbot Street gunfight, is remembered in the latest podcast by Mike Guilfoyle
This bonus podcast by Mike Guilfoyle tells the forgotten story of Lieutenant Gilbert Price and his pivotal role in one of the most memorable and bloody events of the Anglo-Irish War of Independence – the dramatic Talbot Street gunfight and the killing of Republican leader Seán Treacy. You can stream this on the Tempest website https://www.tempestproductions.net/podcasts/episode/91435d12/london-epitaphs-12-lieutenant-gilbert-price or on…
Love, Life & Death: The Art of Beatrice Offor – Talk by Deborah Hedgecock, Saturday 12th March at 2.15pm
On Saturday 12th March at 2.15pm there will be a talk by Deborah Hedgecock, Curator, Bruce Castle Museum, Tottenham, London on Love, Life & Death: The Art of Beatrice Offor Beatrice Offor (1864-1920) was an extraordinary painter of women. Born in Sydenham, she was one of the first women at the Slade School of Art. There…
Laura Mordaunt-Chapman’s shocking murder is the subject of the latest podcast by Mike Guilfoyle
The shocking murder of a wealthy widow in 1936 is investigated by the greatest crime-solving minds of the time. Yes it’s the latest podcast by Mike Guilfoyle with Tempest Productions An unremarkable gravestone in Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries yields a gruesome murder. Local historian Mike Guilfoyle hosts this bonus true crime edition of London Epitaphs, recounting…
Have Your Say in the Restoration of Nunhead Cemetery East Lodge
The Friends of Nunhead Cemetery (FONC) and Southwark Council have developed a survey to find out your views on the proposed facilities and activities which they would like to make available in the restored The East Lodge. They are keen to get as much feedback as possible on this amazing project and the survey is…
George Maydwell Holdich and the haunted church organ of Wiggenhall
The final resting place of the famous Victorian organist and organ builder George Maydwell Holdich lies close to the pathway alongside the boundary wall in Ladywell cemetery with only the residual border containing a faded inscription on a curbstone visible to the knowing observer. George Maydwell Holdich [The only known photograph of George is from…
The grave of Inventor Alfred Charles Brown located in Ladywell cemetery
One of the singular delights of undertaking cemetery research are those serendipitous moments of discovery when the headstone of a long forgotten luminary is located. Such was the experience of finding the broken headstone of Alfred Charles Brown ‘ Inventor of the London fire alarm’ in Ladywell cemetery. Born in Holborn in 1858, Alfred Charles…
Dudley Granville Brown World War One fighter pilot
Dudley Granville Brown was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot who died in December 1918 when his plane crashed. Unlike most casualties of war, he is honoured in the Ladywell section of Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries with a grand civil memorial. Dudley Granville Brown World War One fighter pilot (photo courtesy of Findagrave) Dudley Granville…
Elizabeth Colgate: Victorian Peace Pioneer & Reformer
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…
Gus Manning – German and US Soccer Star’s family grave found in Ladywell cemetery
Dr ‘Gus’ Manning Finding the graves of long lost luminaries buried in Brockley and Ladywell cemeteries has kept me busily engaged over periods of enforced Covid lockdown when headstone searches have not always been possible. But as all cemetery burials are now digitised (1858-1999) and available to view via the Deceasedonline.com website (there is a…
Elizabeth Colgate (1834-1918) pacifist and anti-slavery campaigner
On the Ladywell entrance path to the dissenters chapel in Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries stands the headstone of Elizabeth Colgate. It can be seen from the main path towards the left just before you reach the chapel. The headstone commemorates a remarkable political and social activist of the Victorian era who campaigned against the key…
Unearthing Elias Ford: A Victorian Police Hero’s Legacy
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…
Elias and Frances Ford: great-great-grandson traces his family’s history
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…
Captain William Veale 1791-1867 ‘The Deptford Robinson Crusoe’
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 posterity…
Captain William Veale: The Deptford Robinson Crusoe Who Survived Shipwreck and Sailed the World
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…
The link between Napoleon and Captain James McTernan, buried in Brockley Cemetery
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On the bicentenary of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death in exile on St Helena, FoBLC vice-chair Mike Guilfoyle explores his link to Royal Naval surgeon Captain James McTernan, buried in Brockley Cemetery South London Press (p31, May 14th 2021 edition) Captain James McTiernan is not the only person with a link to Napoleon buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries. …
Captain Sergei Ulyanin inventor of the original drone
The Russian aviator, inventor of a 19th Century ‘drone’ who turned them into vital reconnaissance during the First World War, is one of the more important and unusual people buried in the Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries. We have previously featured Captain Sergei Ulyanin on this website and he is now the subject of a feature…
150th anniversary of Jane Clouson’s death
On the 150th anniversary of Jane Clouson’s death, FOBLC’s Mike Guilfoyle has written for the South London Press (p32) about her tragic death which became a cause celebre of Victorian London. One of the most famous and most visited graves in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries, Jane Clouson’s unsolved murder was recounted in this moving account…
Charles Forjett and the Martyrs of Bombay
As you pass along the meandering pathway from the Dissenters Chapel and round the corner walking towards the wall of remembrance in Ladywell cemetery, you could so easily walk past without noticing the drab headstone which denotes that a former Commissioner of Police from 1855-1864 for India’s most populous city Bombay (known as Mumbai since…
Captain Syder and The Pirates of the South China Sea
Located alongside one of the circular pathways in Ladywell cemetery perched at a perilous angle lies a family headstone whose inscription is all but weathered away. In a serendipitous moment when undertaking tombstone research the sunlight caught the stone and the bare outline of the word ‘Pirates’ was briefly visible! Other lettering revealed the name…
How Charles Penruddocke found notoriety in the Newgate Calendar
Charles Wadham Wyndham Penruddock (artist’s impression) Source : Depart Hence and Sin No More. David Kidd-Hewitt (2018) Located alongside the pathway close to the entrance to Ladywell cemetery is found a much faded headstone on which the keen observer can discern an inscription of the wonderfully named Charles Wadham Wyndham Penruddocke, born in Bath in…
THE DEPTFORD SEA CAPTAIN WHO MAY HAVE INSPIRED MOBY DICK
One of the most fascinating cemetery links with its rich maritime heritage is recounted in the remarkable journal of Thomas Reed Stavers (1798-1867) which is available to view online South Sea Whaling painting (New Zealand history) With the fine spectacle of whaling ships sailing from the port of London from the 16th century onwards, Thomas…
Grave of the Artist William Shakespeare Burton discovered in Ladywell cemetery!
It was with mounting anticipation that I searched for the last resting place of the artist William Shakespeare Burton (d.1916) on a rainy day in Ladywell cemetery. The burial record, accessed via deceased online after many serendipitous forays into past cemetery lives research, indicated that the grave number was F/229 and although this notation was…
Bringing in the New Year with Charles Dickens
The cruciform headstone of Marianne Layard (d.1879 whilst living in Blackheath) lies undisturbed aside a shady inner pathway in Ladywell cemetery. The Layards were a distinguished Huguenot family including two members with entries in the Dictionary of National Biography (Sir Austen Henry Layard included here and Daniel Peter Layard d.1802). Photo of Marianne Layard…
William Muir and the World’s first Railway death
Nestling at an angle in Brockley cemetery lies the peeling headstone of the Scottish born engineer and inventor William Muir (1806-1888) who achieved an enviable reputation as a leading manufacturer of machine tools and lathes, helping to erect the Britannia works in Manchester as William Muir & Co. This at a time of massive Victorian…
Serjeant Thomas Charles Joslin: a Soldier of the Great War.
The Grave of Thomas Charles Joslin lies a short walk from the entrance to Brockley Cemetery along a shady side path. 1881 -Thomas Charles Joslin was born in Holborn, London, on the 12th July 1881 to parents Thomas Joslin, a Gold Refiner by trade and his Mother Ellen Joslin nee Dawe. 1903 – Thomas enrolled…
The de Carvalho Brothers from Brazil who faced the firing Squad
Aside one of the inner pathways in Ladywell cemetery lies a cruciform shaped headstone. One of those remembered on one side of the headstone had an illustrious history as a naval architect and inventor, before becoming a political prisoner who died in broken spirits whilst living exile in London in 1898. His last recorded address…
Sir John Simon, (10 October 1816 – 23 July 1904) health reformer and chief medical officer
Sir John was a surgeon and public health reformer whose work to improve the hygiene of city life helped establish modern standards of public health service. In an article for the South London Press, FoBLC historian Mike Guilfoyle has written about his story and its relevance to our current Covid crisis, you can read it here. …
Gertrude Anna Middleton O.B.E – The Recent Discovery of a Heroine of the Great War in Ladywell Cemetery
Gertrude Anna Middleton O.B.E. Or Gertie as she is known on her headstone. A grave that has been passed by many over the years without giving a second glance. For what you see from the pathway is her mother Emma, look to the other side and you will find Gertie with her father Henry Milnes…
OLGA SPRENGER AND THE SINKING OF THE SS VYNER BROOKE
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…
THE LEWISHAM PLAYBOY AND HIS FATAL ATTRACTION
Located underneath a sylvan canopy in one of the inner pathways of Ladywell cemetery lies the final resting place of Valentine Gadesden. The sadly broken headstone is just visible and is inscribed with his date of death – September, 1896 – and his place of death – Bad Nauheim (the German health spa town made…
Dallas Actor’s Grave Found In Cemetery
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…
Lion of Kent’s Grave Discovered in Ladywell Cemetery
EDGAR’ NED’ WILLSHER (1828-1885) For some years now one of the unrealised ambitions of the more active tombstone hunters of the friends group has been to locate the final resting place of the Kent and England cricketer Edgar ‘Ned’ Willsher (1828-1885) who was to write his name into cricketing history as the catalyst for the…
Nurse Sophie Hilling who gave her life for her country in the 1918 Flu Pandemic
Nurses treating soldiers at a clearing station in France Wedged between a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, John George Pattison and the famed educational pioneers the McMillan sisters on the Old Deptford Town Hall Board of Honour (unveiled in 1919) is the name of Sister Sophie Hilling A.R.R.C. Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Reserve :…
“The Island” Transformed
On the weekend of 14th & 15th March 2020, a group of five volunteers from the Friends’ group re-kerbed what has become known as “The Island” in Ladywell Cemetery. This originally was an ornamental oval which had become overgrown. With the agreement of Bereavement Services, the Friends volunteers have worked on this site for three…
Polish Underground Leader Mieczyslaw Thugutt (1902- 1979) Sent Friend a Food Parcel in Auschwitz With Tragic Consequences
Located in the former Roman Catholic section of Brockley cemetery near to the Brockley road boundary lies the Thugutt Family grave. There is a small presence of graves from the Polish diaspora within this area of the cemetery. When Mieczyslaw Thugutt died in exile at Wickham Road, Brockley aged 76, his ashes were interred here.…
Victorian Comic performer John Baldwin Buckstone is the star of the final episode of the first series of podcasts by Mike Guilfoyle
John Baldwin Buckstone John Baldwin Buckstone enjoyed enormous fame at the height of his career – an adored comic performer, a great friend of Dickens, a prolific writer for the stage and a successful impresario – but his gravestone was paid for by donations from close friends who had seen his fortunes dwindle. Learn about…
Adeline Tanner’s moving story is the subject of the latest podcast by Mike Guilfoyle
Adeline Tanner died young, broken by the horrific experience of being sold abroad into prostitution. Her moving story from Victorian times finds uncomfortable parallels with present day accounts of human trafficking.
Victims of major global disasters, including the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania and the Lewisham rail crash of 1957, remembered in the latest podcast by Mike Guilfoyle
Local historian Mike Guilfoyle recounts the deeply tragic stories of some of the victims of major global disasters, including the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania and the Lewisham rail crash of 1957. London Epitaphs tells the forgotten stories behind the inscriptions at Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery in South London and is made by Tempest Productions.
British cinema pioneer Leslie Eveleigh is the subject of the 7th podcast by Mike Guilfoyle
Leslie Eveleigh was a pioneer of British cinema but is largely forgotten now. This new podcast episode of London Epitaphs brings to light for the first time a fascinating career that helped mould the early days of this country’s film industry. London Epitaphs is made by Tempest Productions and is presented by FOBLC local historian…
Famous Jamaican tenor Louis Drysdale is the subject of the 6th podcast by Mike Guilfoyle
The famous Jamaican tenor Louis Drysdale is the subject of the 6th podcast by Mike Guilfoyle. Louis came to England from Jamaica with little more than a love of music and a great voice. After training at the Royal College of Music he went on to become an internationally admired singing tutor, sought out by…
The medals awarded to Gunner Arthur Howard, one of the heroes of Rorke’s Drift, have gone on sale for £50,000
The medals awarded to Gunner Arthur Howard, one of the heroes of Rorke’s Drift who lies buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries, have gone on sale for £50,000 according to the Daily Mail Gunner Arthur Howard’s South Africa 1877-79 medal is being sold at auction In September 2012 a new headstone for Gunner Howard…
The Deptford Poisoner, Amelia Winters, is the subject of the 5th podcast by Mike Guilfoyle
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…
Mary Ann Bevan: the Ugliest Woman in the World.
In the 1920s, Mary Ann Bevan was known as the Ugliest Woman in the World but the story of how she came by the title is a tragic one. The third in a new series of true stories based on the gravestones of Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery in South East London. Read and researched by Mike Guilfoyle…
Mary Ann Bevan: the Ugliest Woman in the World. The latest instalment of London Epitaphs, a collection of fascinating short podcasts based on the headstones of Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery
In the 1920s, Mary Ann Bevan was known as the Ugliest Woman in the World but the story of how she came by the title is a tragic one. The third in a new series of true stories based on the gravestones of Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery in South East London. Read and researched by…
Larry Donovan,champion bridge jumper: the second in a series of podcasts narrated and researched by Mike Guilfoyle
Larry Donovan was the self-styled champion bridge jumper of the world, but his pursuit of fame through aerial stunts became a dangerous obsession. The second in a new series of true stories based on the gravestones of Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery in South East London. Read and researched by Mike Guilfoyle and made by Tempest…
Jane Clouson’s tragic story is the subject of this new podcast episode narrated by Mike Guilfoyle
In this podcast FOBLC historian Mike Guilfoyle tells the extraordinary story of Jane Clouson the 17 year old maid buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries, whose murder became a legal cause celebre following the controversial acquittal of the accused, the wealthy Victorian gentleman Edmund Pook. This recording was produced by Mark Lingwood, Tempest Productions. For…
FROM BROCKLEY TO BOOT HILL : APACHE CHIEF GERONIMO AND THE KILLING OF EDWARD WENTWORTH LYON.
The family grave of Arthur Wentworth Lyon lies in Ladywell cemetery. Although a challenge to locate amidst the tumble of broken headstones and gnarled vegetation in Ladywell cemetery, the faded remnants of the grave surround that holds the mortal remains of Arthur Wentworth Lyon (1852-1935) also holds a truly fascinating family history. Arthur spent periods…
In memory of civilians who lost their lives through enemy air raids in Deptford, Hither Green and Sydenham in World War l
There will be an exhibition at the Deptford Lounge, Giffin Square, SE8 4RJ, Monday 10th December – Saturday 12th January in memory of civilians who lost their lives through enemy air raids in Deptford, Hither Green and Sydenham in World War l On display will be the information panels about the Hither Green, Sydenham and…
Thomas Archie Challis MC (1893 to 3rd Nov 1918), 2nd Lieutenant 13th Tank Corps, A Coy
Thomas Archie Challis was born in Walworth in 1893 to parents Charles and Rosa. He had two elder brothers – William and Charles, a younger brother Harold and sister Isabel. Charles, Thomas’ father worked as a general labourer and then as a sewerman or flusher for London County Council. Thomas is recorded as living at…
Remembering Private Elkins, torpedoed on the R.M.S Leinster 10th October 1918 in ‘ Ireland’s worst maritime disaster’
Located on the berm that lies between the two cemeteries on the Ladywell side pathway is found the Elkins family grave. Private Thomas Elkins ( Middlesex Yeomanry) aged 36 years, Husband of Mabel Duncan Elkins, 39, Byne Road, Sydenham, was aboard the Royal Mail Ship ( RMS) Leinster when it was sunk by a German…
Death of a Local Hero : Major Charles Edward Fysh DSO MC and Bar. Killed in Action on the Marne, France July 28th 1918
Major Charles Edward Fysh (1894-1918) Located alongside one of the inner pathways in Ladywell cemetery lies the headstone (see photograph below) on which the name of Major Charles Edward Fysh is inscribed with those of his parents. He was with British troops taking part in Marshal Foch’s large scale and highly successful counter offensive of…
Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson’s Ladywell Cemetery link
The news on May 24th 2018 that President Donald Trump had posthumously pardoned Jack Johnson, boxing’s first black heavyweight champion, for a’ racially motivated injustice’ when the Boxer was imprisoned in 1913 gives us this opportunity to reveal a fascinating historical cemetery link. Located at the apex of an inner pathway in Ladywell cemetery lies…
Louis ‘Dri’ Drysdale: Celebrated Jamaican Tenor Buried in Ladywell Cemetery
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…
Lance Bombardier Sydney James Hedger- ‘ Died for his Country’- Dunkirk 1st June 1940 aged 21 years
British troops line up on the beach at Dunkirk to await evacuation. Located amidst a cluster of graves in Brockley cemetery lies the gothic shaped family headstone of the Hedger family. The stark details of Sydney James Hedger’s sacrifice, lettered on the headstone, having been wounded at Dunkirk tell the viewer that ‘ he died…
A Tribute to Second Lieutenant Hugh Gordon Langton- killed at Passchendale October 25th 1917
One of many iconic images of the Passchendaele battlefield in 1917 Passendaele (Passendal) is a small village five miles north-east of Ypres in Belgium and is the name by which the final stages of the Third Battle of Ypres are better known. Along with the Somme, it has come to symbolise the Great War for…
Grave of Circus Star SAMUEL LOCKHART restored
The FOBLC are pleased to announce the recent restoration of the Lockhart Family headstone in Brockley cemetery. Samuel Lockhart was an accomplished clown and father of George and Samuel Lockhart, who became famous elephant trainers in the Victorian era. Thank you for the continuing commitment the Music Hall Guild has towards such historic restorations…
Private Joseph Byrne (1897-1915) the first soldier to die at Lewisham Military Hospital remembered at Brockley Max Festival
A moving tribute song was performed by the group 1965, a Folk and Roots duo, joined by friends as part of the 2017 Brockley Max festival . The song was written by a band member whose relative fought in the Dublin Fusiliers in the First World War and who was inspired to perform it in…
Frederick Innes OBE (1864-1921): Silvertown Explosion 1917
Contemporary newspaper illustration of the Silvertown explosion Close to the Ivy Road pathway in Ladywell cemetery enveloped in its chitinous grassy embrace lies the Innes family grave of Frederick Innes, who died aged 57 years on the 14th December 1921. Grandfather to FOBLC stalwart Ron Innes, Frederick was intimately connected to the biggest explosion ever…
Private Graham Charles Hines Bulford (1895-1916): Soldier killed at the Somme
Part hidden by a spangle of dotted vegetation in a grove alongside one of the inner pathways close to the boundary between the two cemeteries lies the Bulford family grave. The son of Charles and Ada Bulford of 57 Adelaide Avenue, Brockley (lying opposite the green expanse of Hilly Fields) Graham’s name appears in a…
Jane Clouson Book Reading by Paul Thomas Murphy
Paul Thomas Murphy’s new book about the extraordinary murder of Jane Clouson conclusively identifies the killer’s true identity. The FOBLC is proud to be hosting a reading of a new book about Jane Clouson, ‘Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane’ on Saturday 16th July from 2.30pm – 4pm at the Chapel in Ladywell Cemetery.…
‘Gentlemen , when the barrage lifts’ –Rifleman Kenneth Middleton Davies QVR, killed first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Situated aside the inner pathway close to Brockley Grove lies a forlorn cross which contains the evocative lettering ‘the barrage lifts’ and tells the onlooker that Rifleman Kenneth Middleton Davies, of the Queens Victoria Rifles or ‘Old Vics’ was killed in action aged 24 years in France on the first day of the Battle of…
Chief Electrical Artificer Charles Thomas Stringer remembered 100 years on from sinking of HMS Hampshire
Stringer family grave in Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries. Photo courtesy of Billion Graves Amidst the untidy contours of meadow grass close to the Brockley Road boundary lies the modest headstone of the Stringer family. It was a serendipitous discovery that led to the realisation that Charles Thomas Stringer with the rank of Chief Electrical…
Battle of Jutland centenary: Able Seaman Arthur Mark Lane ( 1893-1916)
Destruction of the British Armoured Cruiser HMS Black Prince during the night of 31st May 1916 at the Battle of Jutland: painting by German artist Willy Stower. On the boundary between the two cemeteries aside a roughly trodden pathway lies a faded headstone inscription that reminds the onlooker of one of the last fateful engagements during the greatest…
The Somme Revisited
On Monday 25th April I accompanied three of my FOBLC colleagues Geoffrey Thurley (the Chair), Mick Martin and Peter Mealing (the driver) across the channel, following the route that General De Gaulle once called the ‘fatal avenue’, the sweep of low lying country in Northern France heading towards the much visited Somme battlefield (the Somme is the name…
THE DAY TSAR NICHOLAS II MET BROCKLEY AVIATOR
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Russian aviator and inventor Captain Sergei Alexandrovich Oulianine (aka Ulyanin) 1871 -1921 Part hidden off the pathway heading towards the near seamless boundary between Ladywell and Brockley cemeteries, topped by a broken cruciform headstone, lies the final resting place of the distinguished Russian aviator and inventor Captain Sergei Alexandrovich Oulianine (aka Ulyanin) 1871-1921. He lies…
War poet David Jones commemorated with maroon plaque
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The unveiled plaque to David Jones On Wednesday 2nd December at 67 Arabin Road, SE4 there was an unveiling of a maroon plaque to commemorate the Great War poet, soldier and artist David Jones (1895-1974), who is buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries. Born in Brockley in 1895 he served in the Royal Welsh…
Lance Corporal Debenham, killed in action 100 years ago at the Battle of Loos
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…
Welcome To Hell: The battle for Lone Pine
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PRIVATE HAROLD GREENAWAY AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY KILLED IN ACTION 7th AUGUST 1915 GALLIPOLI On the pathway heading away from the Ladywell Chapel just before the wall of remembrance (Heroes Corner) lies the family grave of Private Harold John Greenaway who was killed in action on Saturday 7th August during the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign of 1915. Born in…
Elizabeth Watkins, Waterloo veteran
With the 200th anniversary of Waterloo it is time to celebrate the incredible life of Elizabeth Watkins, the last survivor of the battle who died aged 94 and is buried in the Brockley & Ladywell cemeteries. Elizabeth Watkins, photo taken 1904, 89 after the Battle of Waterloo Elizabeth was only 5 years old when she…
‘WILFUL MURDER’ : THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA – MAY 7th 1915
‘ The departure of the Lusitania on her last fateful voyage, New York, New York, May 1915. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images) Photo: Library of Congress It was with a considerable frisson of excitement that I chanced, when looking at unrelated family headstones, upon the overgrown lettering at the foot of a family grave in Brockley cemetery (close to the…
A Day of Surprises: Henry Williamson’s account of the Christmas Truce
The Christmas Truce portrayed rather romantically by the Illustrated London News in January 1915 On Boxing Day 1914, Pte. 9689 of the London Rifle Brigade, wrote to his mother Mrs Williamson at ‘Eastern Road, Brockley, S.E.’ : “Dear Mother, I am writing from the trenches. It is 11 o’clock in the morning. Beside me is…
Director Derek Shiel to introduce screening in chapel of his film – David Jones: Innovation & Consolidation
FOBLC are pleased to welcome Derek Shiel, director of the film to introduce and discuss the work of David Jones DAVID JONES: INNOVATION & CONSOLIDATION The third film of Derek Shiel’s wonderful trilogy takes David Jones from the Second World War up to the time of his death in 1974 at Calvary Nursing Home in Harrow. This deals with Jones…
The WW1 scandal of the sinking of Submarine E13
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Following the recent cutting back of overgrowth by Bereavement Services employees in the Ladywell section of the cemetery we were particularly pleased to be able to locate the family grave of Able Seaman Alfred J Payne. The grave lies a few yards from the path that runs alongside the boundary with the Brockley side. In the early hours of August…
‘Gentle Courage’: Gertrude Eliza Williamson
The grave of Gertrude Eliza Williamson lies in the Ladywell section of the Brockley & Ladywell cemeteries. It is a simple grave which many people will have walked past without a second glance and the faded inscription on the headstone gives little away. The words ‘my dear wife’ indicate that Gertrude was married, but her…
David Jones Between the Wars: The Years of Achievement
The David Jones Society has commissioned another film about the poet David Jones who lies buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries. Beginning with Jones’s conversion to Roman Catholicism and his joining the Ditchling community in 1921, the film traces his various sojourns in England, Wales and France. Through interviews with scholars, artists, writers and…
Francis Paget Hewkley: awarded Military Medal for bravery at the Somme
Many thanks to Stuart Hallifax who has written a great piece on Francis Paget Hewkley in his Great War London blog. Hewkley was brought up in London, emigrated to Australia in 1912 and then enlisted a signalman in the Australian infantry. He served at Gallipoli before transferring to the Western Front where he won a Military Medal for…
British Lion and Great War hero
The somewhat run down family grave of Forest Hill Wine Merchant Bruce Beveridge Todd and his wife Phoebe lies next to the Dissenter’s Chapel in the Ladywell section of the cemetery. However that of their son Alexander Findlater Todd born 20 th September 1873 , known as ‘Fin’ to his friends, is sadly missing from…
Rev John Innocent (1829-1904) – Methodist Missionary to China and Friend to General Gordon
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The Reverend John Innocent (1829-1904) was a trail blazing Methodist Missionary to China and friend to General Gordon. Many thanks to Mike Guilfoyle for the following account. Born in 1829 in Sheffield John Innocent was sent to work as a grinder aged 16 years and made up for his lack of formal schooling by attending night school.…
January 2013 update
NEXT MEETING on TUESDAY 15th JANUARY at 7.30pm. This is a GENERAL MEETING at which decisions are taken by all members present, not just committee members. Items to be discussed and voted on will include a Health & Safety Policy and whether the Friends should affiliate to Voluntary Action Lewisham. Also to be discussed will…
Commander Archibald Buckle’s grave in Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries restored
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The grave of World War 1 hero Commander Buckle in Brockley Cemetery has been refurbished by members of the British Army Association. Sir Winston Churchill has referred to Buckle as one of the “salamanders born in the furnace,” who survived “to lead,to command, and to preserve the sacred continuity”. His history has been featured on…
Dedication of Gunner Howard memorial
The dedication to Gunner Howard was attended by Lewisham Mayor Sir Steve Bullock, as well as the organiser Cpl. Tim Needham and Prince Shange, the direct descendent of the leader of the Zulu forces at Rorke’s Drift.
Dedication of memorial to Rorke’s Drift veteran, Gunner Arthur Howard
On Sunday 16th September, there will be a dedication of memorial to Gunner Arthur Howard at Brockley Cemetery. The event will take place from approximately 11:30am to 12:15pm. The initiative to fund the headstone was that of Corporal Bugler Tim Needham, Royal Marines, who started a campaign to have the defenders of Rorke’s Drift memorialised. …
Jane Clouson memorial
Jeff Hart led a well attended tour of the cemeteries last Saturday. One of the highlights of any visit is the Jane Clouson memorial.
George Lacy Hillier: Amateur Cycling Champion at ALL(!) distances, 1881.
As the Tour De France begins, the FOBLC remembers George Lacy Hillier who was the cycling superstar of his time. He was born in Sydenham in 6/6/1856. The attached a picture of him, was taken about 1878, when he lived in Chichester and raced for the Chichester and District Bicycle Club. Among various honours, he…
First to the Corinthians: the story of England goalie Harry Albemarle Swepstone
Thanks to Mike Guilfoyle for uncovering this story of a notable sportsman buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries Harry Albemarle Swepstone (1859-1907) who was born in Stepney, East London, made his England debut against Scotland in 1880. During this match he was beaten by a ‘cannon shot’ from the Scottish ‘Rooney’, Centre Forward George…
The 100th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the SS Yongala and its Brockley connection
It’s exactly 100 years today since the coastal trading ship SS Yongala sank in a tropical cyclone off the coast of Queensland, Australia on March 23rd 1911. The disaster became known as the ‘Townsville Titanic’ as all 122 passengers and crew were lost. The only body recovered was that of a racehorse called ‘Moonshine’ washed…
Lewisham Zeppelin raid appeal
Below is the text of a letter from the FOBLC published in the Wednesday December 15th issue Lewisham Mercury Dear Editor, Following the successful ‘Up the Line’ remembrance event in Brockley & Ladywell Cemetery ( Thursday 11th November), friends of the cemetery expressed an interest in restoring the broken memorial to the civilian victims of…
Hash discovered buried in Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries
FOBLC stalwart Mike Guilfoyle’s investigations into the great and good buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries have uncovered another gem, the founder of ‘Hashing’. Before going any further we should explain that the ‘Hash’ in question is not the illegal substance but The Hash House Harriers whose founder A.S.Gilbert lies buried in the Brockley…
Tome of the unknown soldier
The World War 1 poet David Jones, who lies buried in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries, is the subject of an article in the New Statesman by David Wheatley. To read more click here In responsse FOBLC member and literary expect Mike Guilfoyle has written the following letter to the New Statesman commenting on this…
Ernest Dowson Event
There will be an unveiling of the restored grave of Ernest Dowson on Monday August 2nd at 2pm at his graveside in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemetery. There will be an introduction and a reading by Jad Adams, Author of the biography ‘Madder Music, Stronger wine: The Life of Ernest Dowson, Poet and Decadent’ followed…
David Jones: war poet and genius: by Mike Guilfoyle
It is humbling to think that this ‘modern genius’ at once painter, poet, essayist, and engraver’ lies almost unknown in the Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries(close to the graves of Ernest Dowson & Fernando Del Marmol) even though David Jones is critically acclaimed as one of the five greatest modern writers along with Eliot, Joyce, Woolf…
RIP David Platt, FOBLC Treasurer
It is with great sadness that the FOBLC has learnt of the sudden death of David Platt. Recently elected as our Treasurer, David was an active member of the FOBLC with a particular interest in researching the stories behind some of the war dead buried in our cemeteries. David had been currently involved in assisting…
The story of WW1 Ace Walter Southey
We thank Kelvin Adams for bringing to our attention another war hero who is buried in the Brockley and Ladyell Cemeteries. He has kindly provided the following account. Captain Walter Alfred Southey, legendary RFC and RAF fighter ace, was sometimes known as Peter Southey. He was awarded the D.F.C. plus bar. Originally 19th Royal Fusiliers.…
The Martin Family
Helen Hancock has kindly supplied this account about her great grandparents who are buried in Brockley cemetery. She has been researching their lives for the last 8 years and contacted the FOBLC in order to obtain a photo of their graves. THE MARTIN FAMILY My father’s maternal grandparents are buried at Brockley, Plot X883. They…
Horatio Henry Couldery: 1832-1918
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Buried in plot no. 1878 of Ladywell Cemetery lies Horatio Henry Couldery. He was one of the best known Victorian painters and the FOBLC has been contacted by his great granddaughter Rosemary James with this account of his life. Horatio Henry Couldery was born in Lewisham in 1832 and christened at St. Mary’s Lewisham on…
Commander A W Buckle DSO,RNVR
Continuing our series on war heroes buried in the Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries, David Platt and Michael Martin have written this account of the life of Commander Buckle Located in the Brockley section of the Cemetery is the headstone of Archibald Walter Buckle. He rose from a private to command the Anson Battalion in the…
Ernest Dowson
FOBLC member Mike Guilfoyle is campaigning to get Lewisham council to recognise one of its most remarkable residents by naming a street after Ernest Dowson. Here Mike writes about the ‘decadent’ poet who lies buried in the Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries, with a bottle of absinthe by his grave to keep him company. One of…
Major Leslie Andrews
During the recent volunteer work day clearing up invasive saplings, two FOBLC members, David Platt and Michael Martin, who both have a deep interest in the Great War and the graves of the soldiers who fought in it, literally stumbled upon a grave covered in ivy. Uncovering it they found the following inscription which they…
The true story of Jane Clouson, by her cousin
One of the most interesting graves in the Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries is that of Jane Clouson, a 17 year old girl whose murder in 1871 aroused great controversy in Victorian London. The FOBLC has been contacted by her surviving cousin John Hancock, who has written this moving account of her tragic tale. The Eltham…