Tottenham Cemetery is a large burial ground in

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

in the

London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of Haringey ( , same as Harringay) is a London boroughs, London borough in north London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation ...

, in

north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

, England. It was opened in 1858 by the Tottenham Burial Board to replace the churchyard of

All Hallows' Church, Tottenham All Hallows is an Anglican church in Tottenham, North London. It is one of the oldest buildings in the London Borough of Haringey, having been built as All Saints' Church in the 12th century, then re-dedicated as All Hallows in the 15th century ...

which had closed the previous year. The original five-acre site was not entirely consecrated, with two acres designated for non-Church of England burials.

Chapels

The cemetery contains two original chapels, one built for Anglican services and one for other denominations. The buildings were designed by the architect George Pritchett in an early Gothic style. They were constructed primarily of

Kentish ragstone Kentish ragstone is a hard grey limestone in Kent, England, drawn from the geological sequence known as the Hythe Beds of the Lower Greensand. For millennia it has been quarried for use both locally and further afield. Geology Ragstone occurs ...

, but include

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

dressings.

War graves

The cemetery contains the Commonwealth war graves of 293 service personnel of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, most of whom are buried in a war graves plot on the western side of the cemetery, backed by a screen wall listing those buried in the plot and elsewhere in the cemetery whose graves could not be individually marked. Most of the 212 war graves from

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

are scattered in the cemetery but 30 of them lie in a small plot facing the World War I plot. Those whose graves could not be individually marked are listed on supplementary panels on the screen wall.

Notable burials

* Robert Brett (1808–1874), an English surgeon and writer of devotional books, involved with the

tractarian movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Uni ...

. * John Eliot Howard (1807–1883), an English chemist of the nineteenth century, who conducted pioneering work with the development of

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg ...

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a British Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was bo ...

(1814–1900), a Gothic Revival architect (tomb now a listed monument) * Thomas Bidgood (1858–1925), an English conductor, composer and arranger (buried in an unmarked grave) * Alfred Edward Durrant VC ISM (1864–1933), an English recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

* Edward Henry "Ted" Willis, Baron Willis (1914–1992), a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

who was also politically active in support of the Labour Party *

Bernie Grant Bernard Alexander Montgomery Grant (17 February 1944 – 8 April 2000) was a British politician who was the Member of Parliament for Tottenham, London, from 1987 to his death in 2000. He was a member of the Labour Party. Biography Early ye ...

(1944–2000) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Tottenham, London, from 1987 to his death in 2000.
Bernie Grant Archive

Sources

* Fred Fisk ''The History of the Ancient Parish of Tottenham in the County of Middlesex, from early Druidical times, B.C. to A.D. 1923'' (Tottenham, 1923), pp. 145–6, 340 * Hugh Meller & Brian Parsons, ''London Cemeteries: an Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer'', 4th edition (The History Press, 2008)

References

External links

{{commons category, Tottenham Cemetery
Aerial view from 1935
from the English Heritage "Britain from Above" archive Cemeteries in London Tottenham 1858 establishments in England Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Haringey Religion in the London Borough of Haringey