London is dotted with famous burial spaces. These vary from Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral, where many of this country’s most notable people are buried, to the large Victorian cemeteries, which were opened in what was then the countryside surrounding London. It is probably fair to say that the best known of these is Highgate Cemetery, on Swain’s Lane, which runs south from Highgate Village.
Highgate Cemetery was opened in 1839. It was one of a number of large private cemeteries that were opened at around the same period – others include Kensal Green, the last resting place of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, which opened in 1833, and Brompton, opened in 1840, where Emmeline Pankhurst is buried. Highgate also has its fair share of notables, including Michael Faraday, the leading English scientist of the 19th century and William Friese-Greene, a photographic pioneer and inventor. Most famously of all, Karl Marx, the political philosopher and economist, is buried at Highgate. Many people visit the cemetery with the sole intention of visiting his monument. This is a pity, as there is so much else of interest to see.
As the population of London expanded in the first half of the 19th century, the graveyards attached to churches in what we now regard as Central London became increasingly crowded and insanitary, and new burial space was made available at comparatively rural sites such as Highgate. The cemetery originally consisted only of the land on the west side of Swain’s Lane – an area of 18 acres. Such was the frequency of burials, however, that in 1854, the London Cemetery Company, which then owned the cemetery, acquired another plot on the eastern side of Swain’s Lane, now known as the East Cemetery. There is no evidence that any burials took place in the Eastern Cemetery until the 1860s. There are now about 180,000 people buried at Highgate Cemetery in nearly 52,000 graves, and burials still take place.
For many years, the London Cemetery Company was a profitable enterprise. However, in the years after the Second World War, its profits began to decline swiftly, as demand for burial space fell. More people chose to be cremated rather than buried, and the Victorian cemeteries, formerly so fashionable, fell out of favour. Gradually, Highgate Cemetery fell into decay, and suffered greatly from the attentions of vandals. The cemetery is now owned and managed by a charity – the Friends of Highgate Cemetery. This charity was founded in 1975 when the then owner, Raybourne Ltd, was forced for economic reasons to shut down the West Cemetery. The Friends retain a small staff, but also depend on the efforts of volunteers. Among other things, the volunteers help maintain the appearance of the cemetery, and give guided tours to the cemetery’s many visitors. The fees paid by visitors are an important source of income for the cemetery.
One of the earliest decisions taken by the Friends was to create in the cemetery a managed woodland, rather than attempt to restore it to its earlier orderly, well-groomed condition. As a result, both the east and the west sides are now thickly wooded areas, and a haven for local wildlife. It is delightful to visit such a peaceful spot so close to the centre of London.
Visitors to the cemetery, of whom there are a great many, can visit both the west and the east sides, though access to the west is only by guided tour. In 2007, the Friends of Highgate Cemetery started running a limited number of guided tours of the east side also. Guided tours tend to focus on a number of areas – the history of the cemetery, the landscape and wildlife, the lives of eminent people buried at Highgate, and the work of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery. There are also many striking monuments, including that on the grave of William Friese-Greene (1855-1921).
Friese-Greene was born William Edward Greene in Bristol. He was apprenticed to a local photographer, Maurice Guttenberg, and developed a special skill in portrait photography. In 1874, he left to run his own studio, and in the same year, married Victoria Friese – a Swiss woman whose name he joined to his own. Two years later they had their only child, Ethel Adelaide. Friese-Greene enjoyed a high reputation as a photographer, opening two shops in Bristol, one in Plymouth and two in Bath—the family's new home.
Friese-Greene was a pioneer of new photographic processes, and patented numerous inventions. However, his ideas brought him little financial reward, and he neglected his business affairs to such an extent that he was sued for debt and imprisoned in 1891. The following year he was declared bankrupt. In the first decade of the twentieth century, his patented ideas included the electrical transmission of images (inspired by a meeting with Guglielmo Marconi), a chemically driven engine, and a gyroscopically controlled airship (which, according to his sons, was sold to the German government). However, he lacked the ability to profit from his inventions, and by 1910 was bankrupt again.
In 1921, Friese-Green attended a major meeting of film distributors, where he made a speech, in which he considered what a film of his life might be like, and whether it would be accurate. He died suddenly a few minutes later. His purse contained 1s 10d – apparently all the money he had. The film industry gave Friese-Greene a big funeral, which took place on 13 May 1921. The monument on his grave was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the leading architect of the day. Clearly visible from the road running alongside the cemetery, the monument is inscribed with the words ‘the inventor of kinematography’.
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When Highgate Cemetery opened, much of the land was consecrated by the then Anglican Bishop of London, and reserved for the burial of members of the established church – the Church of England. The remaining land was not consecrated, and was used for the burial of ‘Dissenters’ – a term usually understood to refer to members of Protestant churches other than the Church of England. One of the most notable dissenters buried at Highgate Cemetery is Michael Faraday, the leading English scientist of the nineteenth century.
Faraday was born at Newington Butts, Surrey, in 1791. Little is know of his early life. In 1805, he was indentured for seven years to George Riebau, as an apprentice bookbinder. During his apprenticeship, Faraday developed a great interest in chemistry, and in 1812, the year his apprenticeship ended, William Dance, a customer of Riebau’s, gave Faraday tickets to attend four lectures to be delivered by the professor of chemistry at the Royal Institution, Humphry Davy. Such was his interest in chemistry, that by the end of his apprenticeship, Faraday resolved to abandon his work as a bookbinder, and sought a scientific career. He found employment as Davy’s amanuensis after the latter’s sight was affected in a laboratory explosion. In February 1813, William Payne, the laboratory assistant at the Royal Institution, was sacked following a fight in the lecture theatre. Faraday was appointed as his replacement. He moved into the Royal Institution, and began another apprenticeship - in chemistry.
Faraday was a lifelong member of the Sandemanian sect. The Sandemanians were the English branch of a sect known in Scotland as the Glasites. Their founder John Glas (1695-1773) founded a series of congregations in Scotland. His son-in-law Robert Sandeman (1718-1771) took the movement to England and across the Atlantic.
Wikipedia includes a brief account of the beliefs and practices of the Glasites/Sandemanians. Among other things it is stated that ‘…In their practice the Glasite churches aimed at a strict conformity with the primitive type of Christianity as understood by them. Each congregation had a plurality of elders, pastors, or bishops, who were chosen according to what were believed to be the instructions of Paul, without regard to previous education or present occupation, and who enjoy a perfect equality in office……The accumulation of wealth they held to be unscriptural and improper, and each member considered his property as liable to be called upon at any time to meet the wants of the poor and the necessities of the church.’
The Sandemanians also distanced themselves from party politics, and Faraday himself was careful not to become embroiled in them. As he owned neither house nor land, he never had the vote. In 1832, he and his brother Robert were appointed deacons in the London Sandemanian church. This position entailed dealing with the physical needs of the community such as visiting the sick and poor and running the church building. Faraday took his duties seriously, and for instance, cancelled a series of lectures in 1837 so that he could care for his brother-in-law, who was seriously ill. He frequently preached and conducted baptisms, and held the position of elder in the London Sandemanian church until he laid down the office on 5 June 1864.
As the years passed, and his health declined, Faraday spent more time at a grace-and-favour residence granted to him by Queen Victoria in 1858. He died there on 25 August 1867, and five days later was buried in the Sandemanian plot at Highgate.
In addition to the people I have mentioned, George Eliot, 19th century novelist, is buried at Highgate, as are Charles Cruft, initiator of the famous dog-shows, and Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy. The cemetery is open every day of the year except Christmas Day and Boxing Day: from 10-4 November to March, and from 10-5 April – October. At week-ends, guided tours take place every hour on the hour. The cemetery website is most informative, or you may like to ring the cemetery on 020 8340 1834 for further information.
Sources: The main sources I have used, apart from those acknowledged above, are the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography articles on Friese-Greene and Faraday.