Charlton Cemetery Explained

Charlton Cemetery
Established:	1855
Location:	Cemetery Lane, Charlton, Royal Borough of Greenwich, SE7
Country:	England
Coordinates:	51.481°N 0.0494°W
Type:	Public
Owner:	Royal Borough of Greenwich
Size:	15acres

Charlton Cemetery is a cemetery, opened in 1855, covering 15 acres of ground in Charlton, south-east London. Situated in Cemetery Lane to the east of Charlton Park, the cemetery has retained its Victorian layout, and features two 19th-century chapels and numerous military graves.^[1]

It was originally created as a "Gentleman's Cemetery" by Charlton Burial Board on eight acres of land that were formerly part of the estate of Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson. A further seven acres was added in the 20th century. The two chapels are both 19th-century: the Church of England chapel is Early English style and has a stained glass west window (showing the Entombment) presented in 1865 by the local vicar; the Roman Catholic Chapel is in Decorated style.^[2]

Graves

• Peter Barlow (1776–1862) – mathematician
• William Henry Barlow (1812–1902) – civil engineer (and son of Peter Barlow)
• Sir Geoffrey Callender (1875–1946) – the first director of the National Maritime Museum
• George Cooper (1844–1909) – London politician, Member of Parliament for Bermondsey
• William Clark Cowie (1849–1910) – Scottish engineer, mariner, and businessman, and administrator of Borneo
• Sir William Cunningham Dalyell of the Binns, 7th Baronet (1784–1865) – who fought in the Napoleonic Wars
• Lt-Gen Sir William Dobbie (1879–1964) – veteran of the Second Boer War, and First and Second World Wars, and Governor of Malta
• Frederick Hobson Leslie (1855–1892) – actor and comedian, best known for using the pseudonym "A. C. Torr"

Frederick Hobson Leslie is not buried in Charlton cemetery. I went there on the 24th of July 2024 and the attendant looked for his name in the cemetery records. Leslie may be at St Luke's church Charlton.

• Jeffery Allen Marston (1831–1911) CB, Hon FRCS – Principal Medical Officer to the Indian Army, honorary surgeon to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII
• Thomas Murphy (d 1932) – former owner of Charlton greyhound track (his memorial features two sleeping greyhounds)
• General Sir Charles Edward Nairne (1836–1899) – Commander-in-Chief, India.
• Admiral Sir Watkin Owen Pell (1788–1869) – served on a number of ships 1799 to 1841, superintendent of several dockyards 1841 to 1845, and commissioner of Greenwich Hospital
• Admiral George Perceval, 6th Earl of Egmont (1794–1874) – a midshipman at the Battle of Trafalgar at age 11
• Helen Margaret Spanton (1877–1934) – artist and suffragette
• William Silas Spanton (1845–1930) – artist and photographer
• Sir John Maryon Wilson (1802–1876) – brother of Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson; involved in the preservation of Hampstead Heath^[3]
• Rachel O. Wingate (1901–1953) – linguist and missionary. The cemetery also contains a memorial to her brother Major General Orde Wingate (1903–1944) – head of the 'Chindits' in Burma – who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, United States

The cemetery also contains the marked graves of 56 Commonwealth service personnel from the First World War (plus a memorial to two sailors and two soldiers in unmarked graves), and a further 55 from the Second World War. A War Cross faces the entrance to the cemetery.^[4]

Gallery

Notes and References

1. Web site: Royal Borough of Greenwich – London. Deceased Online. 30 January 2014.
2. Web site: Charlton Cemetery. London Gardens Online. 31 January 2014. 1 February 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140201205834/http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.asp?ID=GRN010. dead.
3. F. M. L. Thompson . Francis Michael Longstreth Thompson . 3 January 2008 . Wilson, Sir Thomas Maryon, eighth baronet (1800–1869) . 10.1093/ref:odnb/50157 .
4. Web site: Charlton Cemetery, Greenwich. Find A Cemetery. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 31 January 2014.