Gunnersbury Cemetery, also known as Kensington or New Kensington Cemetery, is a cemetery opened in 1929. Although it is owned and managed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,Official entry
on the Royal Borough's Libraries it is geographically located within the

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow () is a London borough in West London, England, forming part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 when three smaller borough councils (forming part of the former Middlesex County Council area) amalgamated under ...

, at 143 Gunnersbury Avenue in Acton.

History

A triangle of land between the Gunnersbury Avenue and the Great West Road, part of the Gunnersbury Park, was bought in 1925 from the Rothschild family by the

Royal Borough The following list of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom includes both those granted a royal title or status by express wish of a specific monarch, and those with prefixes or suffixes such as "King's" or "Regis" that relate to ...

. The cemetery was founded soon afterwards, in 1929, on the former parkland.Cemeteries services
, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Location and facilities

The cemetery is situated adjacent to Gunnersbury Park and covers about 8.9 hectares. It has numerous floral displays and shrubberies, and a chapel. The cemetery's buildings, including the chapel, are simple brick structures. A Garden of Remembrance serves as the place for the interment of

cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...

remains. There is also a Book of Remembrance for memorial inscriptions. Gunnersbury Cemetery is the location of the main office for both the Borough's cemeteries (the other being the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Cemetery, Hanwell Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Cemetery, Hanwell (aka Hanwell Cemetery) is located on the north side of the Uxbridge Road in Hanwell, London, England. History Although located in the London Borough of Ealing, this extramural cemetery w ...

A notable landmark at the cemetery is a monument, in the form of a black

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

, dedicated to the Polish victims of the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

. It was designed by Louis Fitzgibbon and Count Stefan Zamoyski. This monument was unveiled on 18 September 1976 amid considerable controversy. During the period of the Cold War, successive British governments objected to plans by the UK's Polish community to build a major monument to commemorate the massacre. The

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

did not want Katyn to be remembered, and put pressure on Britain to prevent the creation of the monument. As a result, the construction of the Katyn monument was delayed for many years.Katyn in the Cold War
Foreign and Commonwealth OfficeBrian Crozier

, National Observer, No. 44, Autumn 2000 > After the local community had finally secured the right to build the monument, no official government representative was present at the opening ceremony (although some members of parliament did attend the event unofficially). Gunnersbury cemetery also contains the graves of 49 Commonwealth service personnel of World War II.
CWGC Cemetery Report. There was a notable sculpture by Nereo Cescott in the cemetery, but it was destroyed by vandals prior to 1994.

Opening hours

Burials

Notable interments include: * A plot dedicated to the 24th Polish Lancers Regiment and their families * Luranah Aldridge, English opera singer. *

Denzil Batchelor Denzil Stanley Batchelor (23 February 1906 – 6 September 1969) was a British people, British journalist, writer, poet, playwright, wine expert and a radio and television broadcaster. Life and career Denzil Batchelor was born in Mumbai, Bomba ...

, British journalist, writer, playwright and broadcaster. *

Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski Generał Tadeusz Komorowski (1 June 1895 – 24 August 1966), better known by the name Bór-Komorowski (after one of his wartime code-names: ''Bór'' – "The Forest") was a Polish military leader. He was appointed commander in chief a day bef ...

, Polish general, during World War II, commander of the

Warsaw uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

and Polish Commander-in-Chief. Reburied in Powazki Military Cemetery,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, in 1994. *

Hugh Burden Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden''The Daily Telegraph'', 25 July 1962 (3 April 1913 – 16 May 1985) was a British actor and playwright. Hugh Archibald Nairn Burden was the eldest son of Harry Archibald Burden, a colonial official, and Caro Cecil ...

, British actor and playwright''London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer''
/ref> *

William Davison, 1st Baron Broughshane William Henry Davison, 1st Baron Broughshane, Order of the British Empire, KBE, Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA, Justice of the Peace, JP, Deputy Lieutenant, DL (1872 – 19 January 1953) was a British peerage, peer and Conservative P ...

* Charles Benjamin Dowse, 8th Bishop of Killaloe *

Matila Costiesco Ghyka Prince Matila Costiescu Ghyka (; born ''Matila Costiescu''; 13 September 1881 – 14 July 1965), was a Romanian naval officer, novelist, mathematician, historian, philosopher, academic and diplomat. He did not return to Romania after World ...

, Romanian prince, novelist, mathematician, historian, philosopher and diplomat *

George Humphreys Sir George William Humphreys KBE (1863–1945) was a British civil engineer. Humphreys was born in London in 1863. He became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) on 7 March 1908. He became a member of the council of that instit ...

, British civil engineer *

Robin Hyde Robin Hyde, the pseudonym used by Iris Guiver Wilkinson (19 January 1906 – 23 August 1939), was a South African-born New Zealand poet, journalist and novelist. Early life Wilkinson was born in Cape Town to an English father and an Australia ...

, New Zealand poet, novelist and journalist *

Harold Brownlow Martin Air Marshal Sir Harold Brownlow Morgan "Micky" Martin, (27 February 1918 – 3 November 1988) was an Australian bomber pilot and senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He took part in Operation Chastise, the RAF's "Dambusters" raid in ...

, Australian pilot on the Dambuster raid *

Charles Langbridge Morgan Charles Langbridge Morgan (22 January 1894 – 6 February 1958) was a British playwright and novelist of English and Welsh parentage. The main themes of his work were, as he himself put it, "Art, Love, and Death", and the relation between t ...

, British playwright and novelist * John Ogdon, English pianist and composer *

Vera Page Vera may refer to: Names * Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarr ...

, victim of an unresolved murder *

Carol Reed Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for '' Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), ''The Third Man'' (1949), and ''Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded the ...

, English film director *

Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich of Russia Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich of Russia ( – 18 June 1973) was a male line great-great-grandson of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and a nephew of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. He was the last male member of the Romanov family born in Imperial Russia.Kin ...

* Kazimierz Sabbat, Prime Minister and President of Poland in Exile * * Dr Hans Henrik Bruun, engineer, barrister * Matthew Smith, English painter *

Marda Vanne Marda "Scrappy" Vanne (born Margaretha van Hulsteyn;One source, a close friend, spells her name "Margueretha". 27 September 1896 – 27 April 1970) was a South African actress who found fame in London. Early life Margaretha was born in Pretoria, ...

, South African actress *

Aston Webb Sir Aston Webb (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in pa ...

, English architect

References

External links

Official entry
on the Royal Borough's Libraries
A map of the cemetery
{{Cemeteries in London 1929 establishments in England Cemeteries in London Parks and open spaces in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea