BACKGROUND

The public cemetery, as distinct from the churchyard, as a proper place for burial, originated in the Victorian period. Under common law every parishioner and inhabitant of a parish had a right to be buried in his or her parish churchyard or burial ground. There were few exceptions to this right of Christian burial.

In 1823 the practice of burying suicides in a public highway with a stake driven through them was abolished and instead it was decided they should be buried in the churchyard, but between 9pm and midnight, and without rites of the church. Compulsory dissection of murderers' bodies was not abolished until 1832, and hanging in chains lingered on until 1834.

Overcrowding causes health worries

By 1850 most London churchyards were so overcrowded that they posed a severe health risk to those people working or living nearby. Thousands of bodies were buried in shallow pits beneath the floorboards of chapels and schools and congregations and pupils had to breathe foul-smelling air.

The comparatively small number of gravestones in a churchyard can belie the number of bodies buried. The churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields was only 200 feet (60 metres) square yet, in the early 1840s, was thought to contain the remains of between 60,000 and 70,000 people.

During medieval times, burial was in shared plots. Victorians in the 19th century decided to give importance to how we treated the dead. They not only wanted individual graves but also to celebrate their achievements so suddenly most people got elaborate tombstones. A pressure group, the National Society for the Abolition of Burial in Towns, was established in 1845 and two years later the Cemeteries Clauses Act enacted general powers to establish commercial cemeteries. The legislation failed in its purpose and was followed by the Burial Act of 1852, which remained the principal piece of legislation on the subject until largely repealed in 1972.

The 1852 Act required the General Board of Health to establish cemeteries to deal with the problem and an immense number of parochial burial grounds, some open to all, others set apart for the use of special denominations, were opened in various suburban districts all over London. Burial grounds (as distinct from parish churchyards) were started by non-conformists in the 17th century; many more were established in the 18th century.

Public cemeteries arrive

The first public cemetery in London opened in 1833 in Kensal Green, a 79-acre site, which had separate chapels for Anglicans and Dissenters. Other landscaped public cemeteries were soon opened at West Norwood (1837), Highgate (1839), Abney Park, Brompton and Nunhead (all 1840) and Tower Hamlets (1841). Before the middle of the 19th century such cemeteries were generally run as commercial ventures, but after the passing of legislation in the 1850s enforcing the closure of urban churchyards, municipal cemeteries became the rule.

By the early 19th century the death penalty was falling out of favour and body snatching became a problem, the usual supply of corpses from the gallows having fallen significantly. It soon became so widespread that some graveyards, especially those near medical schools, were forced to install watchtowers. Others invested in a cage arrangement, called the mortsafe, to be padlocked across a new grave for a six-week period, by which time the decomposed body would be no longer worth snatching.

The Victorians were concerned about the threat to public health caused by outbreaks of cholera and the poor practice around disposal of dead bodies. Regulations were introduced requiring the construction of a brick chamber under the ground for the coffins.

The Cremation Society, formed in 1874, was supported by George Bernard Shaw, Anthony Trollope and John Everett Millais. Nowadays, cremations outnumber burials by four to one.

The idea of landscaped public cemeteries came from Italy, France and Sweden. The winding, tomb-lined avenues and well-contrived vistas of the landscaped cemetery at Pere-Lachaise in Paris were widely admired.

Today

Approximately 1,500 Brent residents die each year and the majority are cremations. However a significant number of funerals are burials in Brent cemeteries. Demand is relatively high with 25 percent of residents who died in 2011 buried in a Brent cemetery. Within Greater London burial represent 14 percent of all funerals.

DEVELOPMENT OF A CEMETERY

Summary

In 1855 Paddington Burial Board built a public cemetery on about 10 hectares of land in what was then rural Willesden. Thomas Little, who had designed the chapel for Nunhead Cemetery in Southwark, laid out a series of paths in the shape of a horseshoe. Trees were planted along the paths, lodges built on either side of the entrance, and two Gothic-style chapels erected in the centre of the cemetery grounds. When the cemetery was laid out in 1855 it stood in a rural landscape; it is now a green open space in the midst of urban development.

In 1986 the City of Westminster sold the cemetery to the London Borough of Brent in whose management it continues (2000). Paddington Cemetery received a Special Commendation in the 'Cemetery of the Year Awards' in 1999, the cemetery office being praised for their work in reinstating the cemetery from closed status to local use.

From 1855 to now

Paddington Cemetery is an early and expansively-designed cemetery which opened in 1855 after Paddington Burial Board purchased 24 acres of rural land in Willesden, 5.8km north-west of central London. It was one of the first to be opened by the Burial Board set up following the 1852 Metropolitan Interment Act to address the problems of urban churchyards.

Thomas Little, who had designed the chapel for Nunhead Cemetery in Southwark, laid out a series of paths in the shape of a horseshoe, a design that is intact although the circular and semicircular areas planted with trees and plants no longer exist. Trees were planted along the paths, chiefly lime and plane, and there are many specimen trees remaining from the original planting including oak, lime, horse-chestnut, yew, field maple, London plane and Scots pine. In addition at least one oak tree dating from before the cemetery was laid out remains. There are 500 mature trees, formal bedding schemes and lawns, as well as wildlife areas with a variety of wild flowers.

Listed chapels

Two Grade II listed Gothic-style chapels erected in the centre of the cemetery are constructed from Kentish ragstone and linked by arches. The chapel to the west was the Church of England chapel, the other for Nonconformists.

In 1986 the City of Westminster sold the cemetery to the London Borough of Brent, which now manages it. The cemetery received a Special Commendation in the 'Cemetery of the Year Awards' in 1999, the cemetery office being praised for their work in reinstating the cemetery from closed status to local use. When the cemetery was laid out in 1855 it stood in a rural landscape; it is now a green open space in a busy urban area.

The boundary is principally marked by the original high brick wall combined with lines of trees or shrubbery. Along the north boundary the original wall has been partially replaced by the brick walls of new houses. In the eastern corner is an area known as God's Acre and a stone cross commemorates those buried here. This is now overgrown and part of the Nature Area comprising woodland with mature trees.

THE DESIGN IN DETAIL

Major features

The main entrance is situated at the north corner of the site, giving access from the south-west side of Willesden Lane. It consists of a wrought-iron gate with flanking pedestrian gates in a semicircular forecourt. The brick gate piers, which have draped stone urns on top, are continued to either side by one-metre curving brick walls set with small iron railings. On the western gate pier are two plaques: one records the site's commendation in the 'Cemetery of the Year Awards' in 1999, while on the other the site's name is imprinted.

Two Gothic-style lodges (built 1855) now in private use, stand adjacent to each side of the main entrance. The main drive leads about 170m south-west from the entrance to the chapels, crossing the paths of the perimeter, middle, and inner semicircles of the horseshoe design. Three minor entrances are marked by iron doors providing access to Salusbury School while the other two open onto sites on Salusbury Road. An iron gate in the north corner provides access from Tennyson Road via a housing development.The two chapels (listed grade II) stand towards the centre of the site and provide the centrepiece of the cemetery layout. These twin chapels, linked by two porte-cochères, were designed by Thomas Little in C13 Gothic style and constructed from Kentish squared ragstone. The chapels were originally designed for Anglicans (to the west) and Nonconformists (to the east).

The layout

Paddington Cemetery is designed in a near-symmetrical grid-pattern about a north-west/south-east axis. The path layout forms a horseshoe shape, open to the south-east, with three semicircular drives to the north-west of the chapels, and to the south-east straight paths leading to the south-east boundary. Between these main walks are minor paths in a grid-pattern. In the north-west part three radial main paths extend from the chapels in the centre, the north-east one being the approach from the main entrance. The main internal views of the cemetery focus on the chapels, while minor views following the straight paths south-east of the chapels terminate either at a stone cross or in the cemetery's landscape.

The concentration of graves is higher in the north-western half than in the south-eastern half of the cemetery, the former part containing the grander of the old tombs and most of the modern graves, while the latter part consists of areas with old graves and urns. The urnfields to the south-east of the chapels are situated on hilly ground enclosed by evergreens. The cemetery is planted with about 500 mature trees including oak, ash, horse chestnut and cedars. The outer perimeter semicircle is now combined with a row of mature limes. The perimeter path survives except in the east and south-east, but the rond points do not.

God’s Acre

The south-eastern perimeter path now runs north of the area known as God's Acre; it is not clear when the eastern corner ceased to be used for burials and finally became overgrown. The north-west/south-east axis, which starts at two old tombs on the north boundary, terminates at a stone cross on the south-east boundary after passing under the central belfry between the chapels. The stone cross is a memorial to those who lie in God's Acre but whose names are unrecorded.

God's Acre forms a strip about 30m wide along the east and south-east boundaries which includes the nature area. This contains many mature trees which are complemented by underplanting to create a natural woodland setting. Only a few graves arranged in two parallel rows remain in this part of the ground. A war memorial lies about 20m west of the western entrance lodge. This occupies a small rectangular area adjacent to the formal rose beds south-west of the lodge. It is unusual in not having the conventional cross of sacrifice that one tends to see in most city cemeteries where there is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission section.

There are 207 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-1918 war here, 130 of them in a service plot (denoted in the entries as SP) and a screen wall memorial commemorating 50 members of the forces whose graves are not marked by headstones. There are four Commonwealth burials of the 1939-1945 war and 43 non-war service burials. Among the names are most if not all the 338 civilian casualties of WWII, but these are simply extracted via CWGC from the coroner's reports for Paddington Metropolitan Borough and it is by no means certain that they are interred here. To the west of the war memorial is the service yard. Salusbury School, in partnership with the cemetery service, has created an environmental study area at the back of the cemetery.

The cemetery is listed Grade II because it is a fine early example of a High Victorian (1855) public cemetery is one of the first public cemeteries to be opened after the Metropolitan Interment Act of 1850.

Some classic Victorian grave architecture can be seen including that typical of the Greek and Roman mausoleum, Classic Celtic crosses, snake decorations and laurel wreaths, the last three emphasising the circle of life, lives being cut short and the fearsome darkness of death.

Some memorials worth noting

Goetze memorial, around 1911. By Kelly, monumental masons, incorporating figural elements ascribed to Alfred Gilbert. Pink granite Celtic cross on a two-stage base, with a pair of coped ledgers in front, set within a kerb of granite with cast bronze railings. High relief on centre of cross depicts a pair of angels with entwined wings, carrying aloft a naked figure representing the soul. The railings are decorated with curving arabesque decoration with circles to the centre of each face. At the corners are square colonnettes bearing allegorical cowled figures depicting the Christian virtues.

This memorial commemorates James Goetze (d.1877) and his wife Rosina (d.1911), and was erected by their son, the painter and patron Sigismund Goetze (1866-1939). Goetze was an associate of Alfred Gilbert, the pre-eminent sculptor of his day, and the allegorical figures are related to his similar figures executed in 1892-1900 for the memorial candlestick to Lord Arthur Russell at Chenies, Buckinghamshire. An outstanding example of outdoor funerary sculpture of its day, compellingly ascribed to Gilbert. This in Grade II listed separately from the cemetery listing.

Jabez Burns, temperance reformer and preacher (December 18, 1805 – January 31, 1876) was an English nonconformist and Christian philosophical writer and one of the first clergymen to preach teetotalism from the pulpit. Born in Oldham, Lancashire, where his father was a chemist, he was educated at Chester and the grammar school at Oldham, which he left to engage in commercial pursuits at York and Bradford. For three years he managed a bookselling business at Keighley. His mother, who died in his early childhood, was a Wesleyan, and named him after Dr. Jabez Bunting.

Burns joined the Methodists, and at 16 and delivered his first public address in a Methodist house near York. In 1824 Burns married Jane Keighley and in 1826 left for London. Here in the midst of hardship he commenced his career as a religious writer with his compilation of the Christian's Sketch Book (1828). After a few months spent in mission work in Scotland 1829, he was from 1830 to 1835 pastor of a chapel in Perth. He travelled around the country during this period, preaching on temperance. In May 1835 he took the role of pastor of the baptists in Ænon Chapel, New Church Street, Marylebone, and moved with his family to London. His congregation at first was small, but owing to his enthusiasm it increased so much that twice in the first 25 years of his ministry at Paddington it was found necessary to enlarge the building in which it worshipped.

He visited USA in 1847 as a delegate from the General Baptist Association and also in 1872. His "Retrospect of a Forty Years' Ministry," published in 1875, gives an interesting description of the modern progress of religion, temperance and philanthropic enterprises. Jabez Burns was a pastor who understood the role and value of mothers. He knew from personal experience the power of a godly mother and was passionate about his concern that his generation would value and cherish the high calling of motherhood. “Our day is reaping what it has sown for many years. It has been nearly two generations that have sown the seeds of radical feminism, and we have been reaping the bitter and ugly fruits in our day. It is our desire that the Lord will use a book like this to restore to women a proper view of their highest calling, the calling of motherhood.”

Burns had much influence as a preacher and public speaker, especially on temperance. He is said to have been the first clergyman of any denomination to preach teetotalism from the pulpit. He delivered 35 annual temperance sermons, beginning 16 December 1839. He was very efficient as a preacher and public speaker and highly esteemed. He died at home in Porteus Road, Paddington, on 31 January 1876 aged 70.

Daniel Aloysius Maher (1881 in Hartford, Connecticut – November 9, 1916, London, England) was an American Hall of Fame jockey who also became a champion jockey in Great Britain. Danny Maher launched his career at 14, weighing 65 pounds. Three years later, in 1898, he topped America’s jockey's list. Maher was best known in the United States for winning the Metropolitan Handicap on Ethelbert (1900), the Brooklyn Handicap and Toboggan Handicap on Banaster (1899), the Champagne Stakes on Lothario (1898), and the Ladies Handicap on Oneck Queen (1900). He was America's leading jockey in 1898.

Anti-gambling sentiment and restrictions on racing led Maher and other jockeys to leave America for Europe where they quickly made their mark on European racing. In England, Maher won 1,421 races with 25 percent of his mounts. He won his first English Classic on Aida in the 1901 1,000 Guineas. In 1903, he won two-thirds of England's Triple Crown with Rock Sand. He also won the Epsom Derby three times (1903, 1905, 1906), five Eclipse Stakes (1902, 1904, 1906, 1909, 1910), and won the Ascot Gold Cup twice (1906, 1909). He was Britain's leading jockey in 1908 and 1913, the year he obtained British citizenship.

Maher died at the age of 35 of consumption. In 1999, the Racing Post ranked Maher as third in the list of the top 50 jockeys of the 20th century.