West Norwood Cemetery - Interments and Memorials

Interments and Memorials

A War Memorial in the form of a Cross of Sacrifice is the first memorial a visitor encounters, between the main gate and the inner gate. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 136 Commonwealth burials of the Great War and 52 of World War II, plus 18 cremations. There is also one Belgian war burial and two Greek civilian victims of the RMS Lusitania. There are many Anglo-Indian Army officers buried in various parts of the cemetery. Spencer John Bent, Victoria Cross recipient for action in World War I, who was cremated here, is commemorated in a garden of remembrance.

More than 200 people in the cemetery are recorded in the Dictionary of National Biography. The Friends of West Norwood Cemetery have recorded and compiled biographies for many more of these with:

• a large number of inventors, engineers, architects, and builders, such as Sir Hiram Maxim, inventor of the automatic machine gun, Sir Henry Bessemer, engineer and inventor of the famous steel process, James Henry Greathead who tunnelled much of the London Underground, William Burges and Sir William Tite, gothic architects

• many artists and entertainers, including: David Roberts, artist, William Collingwood Smith, painter, Joseph Barnby, composer and resident conductor at the Royal Albert Hall, Katti Lanner, ballet dancer, and actors E. J. Lonnen, Patsy Smart, Maria Zambaco and Mary Brough.

• many notable medics, such as: Dr William Marsden, founder of the Royal Free Hospital and The Royal Marsden Hospital, Dr Gideon Mantell, the geologist and pioneering palaeontologist, and Sister Eliza Roberts, (Florence Nightingale's principal nurse during the Crimean War)

• many sportsmen, including C. W. Alcock, founder of Test cricket and the FA Cup, Georg Hackenschmidt, Anglo-Russian professional wrestler.

There are also many notables of the time, such as Sir Henry Tate, sugar magnate and founder of London's Tate Gallery, Arthur Anderson, co-founder of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, Paul Julius Baron von Reuter, founder of the news agency, and the Revd. Charles Spurgeon, Baptist preacher, Isabella Beeton (the famous cookery writer), who died at 28 in childbirth, Lloyd Jones (socialist), Co-operative Society activist, to name but a few.

The Greek diaspora is well represented, including the Ralli family, Panayis Vagliano, Rodocanachi family, and Princess Eugenie Palaeologue.