Brookwood Cemetery

A monument in Brookwood Cemetery

Brookwood Cemetery is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in western Europe.

History

Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, was established by the London Necropolis Company in 1849 to house London's deceased, since the capital was finding it difficult to accommodate its increasing population, both of living and dead. The cemetery is said to have been landscaped by architect William Tite, but this is disputed. By 1854, Brookwood was the largest cemetery in the world (it is no longer). Over 240,000 people have been buried there.

Brookwood originally was accessible by rail from a special station – the London Necropolis railway station – next to Waterloo station in London. Trains ran right into the cemetery on a branch from the South Western Main Line – the junction was situated just to the west of Brookwood station. The original London Necropolis station (near Waterloo) was relocated in 1902, but its successor was demolished after suffering bomb damage during World War II. There were two stations in the cemetery itself: North for non-conformists and South for Anglicans. Their platforms still exist. It is still possible to enter the cemetery directly from Brookwood station.

A military cemetery was added to Brookwood in 1917 and contains some of the dead from World War I and World War II. A military memorial was built in 1958. Memorialised here too is Edward the Martyr, King of England, whose relics are kept nearby in St Edward the Martyr Orthodox Church.

Brookwood Military Cemetery and memorials

Brookwood Military Cemetery covers about 37 acres (150,000 m²) and is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the United Kingdom. The land was set aside during World War I to provide a burial site for men and women of Commonwealth and American armed forces who died in the United Kingdom of wounds. It now contains 1,601 Commonwealth burials from World War I and 3,476 from World War II. Within this, there is a particularly large Canadian section, which includes 43 men who died of wounds following the Dieppe Raid in August 1942. Two dozen Muslim dead were transferred here in 1968 from the Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell Common. The cemetery also has 786 non-Commonwealth war graves, including 28 unidentified French. It also contains Polish, Czech, Belgian and Italian sections.

The United Kingdom 1914-1918 Memorial stands at the north-eastern end of the 1914-1918 Plot.

The Brookwood Memorial stands at the southern end of the Canadian section of the cemetery and commemorates 3,500 Commonwealth men and women who died during the Second World War and have no known grave. This includes commandos killed in the Dieppe and St Nazaire Raids; and Special Operations Executive personnel who died in occupied Europe.

The nearby Brookwood (Russia) Memorial was erected in 1983 and commemorates forces of the British Commonwealth who died in Russia in World War I and World War II.

Brookwood American Cemetery and Memorial

World War I Brookwood American Cemetery and Memorial, within the grounds of Brookwood Cemetery

This 4-acre (16,000 m²) site lies to the west of the civilian cemetery. It contains the graves of 468 American military dead and a further 563 with no known grave are commemorated. It is administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Close by are military cemeteries and monuments of the British Commonwealth and other allied nations.

Notable graves

• Muhammad al-Badr (1926–1996) was an Imaam of Yemen.
• Naji al-Ali (1937?–1987), Palestinian political cartoonist
• Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1872–1953), translator of the Quran
• Dodi Al-Fayed (1955–1997), film producer, (original burial site, subsequently moved to the Al-Fayed estate in Surrey)
• Alfred Bestall (1892–1986), author and illustrator of Rupert Bear
• Charles Bradlaugh (1833–1891), atheist and political activist ([1])
• Dugald Drummond (1840–1912), Scottish locomotive engineer
• Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon (1862–1931) baronet, sportsman and RMS Titanic survivor ([2])
• Dr Robert Knox (1791–1862), notable anatomist involved with the West Port Murders ([3])
• Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (1840–1899), Anglo-Hungarian orientalist ([4])
• Ross Lowis Mangles (1833–1905), the first civilian to be awarded the VC
• Margaret, Duchess of Argyll (1912–1993)
• Hamid Mirza (1918–1988), Heir Presumptive of the Qajar Dynasty
• Marmaduke Pickthall (1875–1936), Western Islamic Scholar
• William Robertson – Field Marshal Sir William Robert Robertson, 1st Baronet, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, DSO (29 January 1860 – 12 February 1933), Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from 1916 to 1918 during the First World War.
• John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), American artist ([5])
• Idries Shah (1924–1996), Sufi Master
• Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke (1811–1892), Statesman
• Sarah Eleanor Smith (née Pennington) (1861–1931) wife of the Captain of the Titanic Edward J Smith, buried a few feet from Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon
• Said Bin Taimur of Muscat (1910–1972), Sultan of Oman 1932–1970
• Sir Dorabji Tata (1859–1932), Indian philanthropist
• Edith Thompson (1893–1923), executed in Holloway prison in 1923 ([6])
• Rebecca West (1892–1983), novelist, feminist and journalist ([7])
• Alexander William Williamson (1824–1904), chemical theorist, originator of the Williamson ether synthesis, and head of the chemistry department at University College, London

See also

• List of famous cemeteries

Further reading

• Clarke, J.M. (1995). The Brookwood Necropolis Railway, Locomotion Papers No. 143. The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-471-7.
• Clarke, John M. An Introduction to Brookwood Cemetery 2nd Edition

Gallery

• 
  A very green cemetery
• 
  Some gravestones
• 
  WWII memorial to the missing
• 
  Avenue leading from Brookwood Cemetery

External links

• Brookwood Cemetery – Official website
• Brookwood Cemetery – History (The Brookwood Cemetery Society)
• The Cemetery Railway – History (The Brookwood Cemetery Society)
• Brookwood Cemetery – Brookwood War Memorial
• Brookwood Military Cemeteries – Images of all sections of the military cemetery and burial plots and memorials. Includes allied nationals, Chelsea Pensioners, QA Nurses as well as German and Italian plots.
• Brookwood Cemetery – Haunted Brookwood Cemetery
• BRH: Asides
• Map sources for Brookwood Cemetery
• Cemetery details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.