Charlton cemetery

Charlton cemetery, with grave to Admiral Sir Watkin Owen Pell in the foreground.

This article is about the cemetery in south-east London; another Charlton Cemetery is located in Dover.

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 "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 FRS - gravestone in Charlton cemetery, London SE7

The graves and memorials include:

• Peter Barlow (mathematician) (1776-1862), and his civil engineer son William Henry Barlow (1812-1902).
• Sir Geoffrey Callender, the first director of the National Maritime Museum
• George Cooper (1844-1909) - London politician
• William Clark Cowie (d 1910) - administrator of Borneo
• Sir William Dalyell - 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
• Frederick Hobson Leslie (1855-1892) - Actor and comedian
• 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
• Admiral George Perceval, 6th Earl of Egmont - a midshipman at the Battle of Trafalgar
• Sir John Maryon-Wilson - instrumental in the preservation of Hampstead Heath^[2]
• 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, Washington, U.S.A.

The cemetery also contains the marked graves of 56 Commonwealth burials 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.^[3][4]

References

Coordinates: 51°28′52″N 0°02′58″E / 51.4810°N 0.0494°E / 51.4810; 0.0494