FOWNC Newsletter No 41. May 2001.

Free to members. Price £1.00 to non-members

Chairman's Report - Bob Flanagan

All change at Lambeth! Just as we believed welcome stability had been introduced into the management of the cemetery, Lambeth Council in their infinite wisdom appear to have snatched it away. For the past 18 months Jane Warrener, as Head of Parks & Cemeteries, showed interest in the condition of the cemetery and worked with us, the Management Advisory Group, and the Scheme of Management Committee to implement long overdue change. Above all, she brought confidence to the relationship, a feeling that - at last - Lambeth Council did care about the cemetery. Just after Christmas it became clear that all was not well and we were informed, after her departure, that Jane had left the employ of the council as part of a 'restructuring exercise'.

Her successor, Mr Niall Bolger, has responsibility for the cemeteries bit of Parks & Cemeteries, but has other responsibilities including recycling. Parks have been placed under separate management and Cemeteries have been renamed 'Bereavement Services'. The Friends, the Scheme of Management Committee and the Advisory Group have all expressed dismay at the name change, but Mr Bolger has not been persuaded. Our objection is simple - Lambeth Council does not provide any 'service' for the bereaved (the role of the undertaker and others), other than burial space/grave maintenance and crematoria/commemoration facilities.

Concern over the name change is but one factor that has caused me to lose confidence in the future. It seems clear that Lambeth Council is reverting to its former stance and is unwilling to remain as a proactive and listening partner in the preservation and development of the cemetery.

Our thanks to Jane Warrener. She tried hard during her brief period in charge of Parks & Cemeteries to listen and to understand. She understood the pain felt by those who at suffered at Lambeth's hands in dealings over the cemetery and attempted to make amends. We wish her well for the future. Sadly Mr Ray Swetman, Acting Cemetery Superintendent since the middle of last year, has also moved on. Again we thank Ray for all his enthusiasm and hard work and wish him well for the future.

The repair to the Robson Road wall became a victim of Jane Warrener's hasty departure. Work has now commenced to place a series of metal ties (on the cemetery side of the wall) in order to prevent the wall from collapsing into the road. The work is scheduled to be complete by early June.

The other issue of concern has been the fate of the Vale Street depot site. We advanced the idea of the land being used in part as an extension to the cemetery, with part (that fronting the road) being available for a much-needed community facility. The Official to the Archdeacon, English Heritage, the Victorian Society, the Advisory Group, and the Scheme of Management Committee supported the idea in principle and urged Lambeth Council to review its decision to dispose of the land. Our thought is that some of the area could be used for new graves, thus providing the much vaunted 'service' to the community as well as a source of income, while the remainder could be utilized for a yard for the secure storage and servicing the cemetery's vehicles and mechanical equipment, and indeed the oil storage facility that is somewhat brutally (and presumably illegally) placed over private graves at present. This latter aim would be entirely complimentary to the findings of the Ecology & Landscape Study (about to be published) and deal with the several eyesores that currently litter the cemetery. Indeed, if properly designed (I would expect much interest in an architectural competition to design an extension to one of the World's major cemeteries - such an opportunity may never occur again) the resulting feature would be a major asset to the local community and to the Borough.

At the time of writing Lambeth remains adamant that Vale Street depot will be sold for commercial use in line with the Council's Unitary Development Plan. Mr Bolger has been unable to support our proposal (which presumably would be largely in line with the UDP as the cemetery is a commercial operation, at least in part), but has failed to give reasons or indicate how Lambeth intends to deal with the vehicle issue in the future. With the cemetery closed for new burials and there being no prospect of re-using graves until a new law has been passed through Parliament that applies to the unique situation at Norwood, it appears that Lambeth nevertheless still insists that burial space must be available within the borough. Thus, it can only be a matter of time before the Council comes under pressure to allow further burials at Norwood with its implied threat to all the historic monuments. Why cannot the folly of its latest action over Vale Street be seen before it is too late?

FOWNC News

Thanks to the members who responded to the questionnaire in which the idea was aired of a coach trip from West Norwood to another major cemetery. Unfortunately, only about fifteen or so members expressed positive interest, not enough to fill a coach economically. Some members have also suggested having a meeting in the summer, perhaps some sort of social event - another good idea, for which we welcome constructive plans and volunteers to help organise it! Note that we are trying two new 'area' tours this year (Ship path and Doulton path - see the calendar of events), although given the amount of rain we have had in the past year we may not be able to see very much. Note also that the National Federation of Cemetery Friends are holding their annual meeting at York Cemetery on Saturday 9 June - we are unsure as yet whether anyone from the committee will be able to attend.

Website News

The Council have at last published full details of all the illegally re-used graves at Norwood on a website as ordered by the Consistory Court. The website address is: http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/lcem/cgi-bin/Lcem.exe. There is a brief explanation of the background to the publication as well as the original grave owners and other details. There is also a link to our own website (see page 16 for the address) which in turn has links to other friends/cemetery sites, viz. Abney Park Cemetery Trust, Brookwood Cemetery Society, Friends of Highgate Cemetery, Friends of Nunhead Cemetery, Friends of the General Cemetery, Sheffield, the Friends of York Cemetery, and Kensal Green Cemetery (not the official FOKGC site). Our webmistress Rachel Ward has also found links to some other sites of general interest, a few of which are listed below (a few other links did not connect when I tried them - report any continuing problems to Rachel via our website).

Cemetery Records Online - http://www.interment.net//

An amazing, detailed resource for all those interested in cemeteries, burial records, monument inscriptions, etc. Has to be seen to be believed.

Highgate Cemetery - http://www.tales.ndirect.co.uk/

To quote Rachel Ward: 'Visually, a splendid site. The eeriest animated gifs I've ever seen, with text on interesting Victorians buried there and covered in a radio series called 'The Sexton's Tales.' The text is in appropriately lurid green and purple on a black background. Go there now!'

Key West (Florida) Cemetery Tour - http://www.keywest.com/cemetery.html

'Key West's historic 1847 Cemetery is located in the "dead" center of Old Town, bounded by Angela, Margaret, Passover Lane (appropriately named), Frances and Olivia. Moved to higher ground after the 1847 hurricane disinterred bodies from the first burial ground near the Southernmost Point, the whitewashed above-ground tombs and statues are fascinating. A stroll through this historic graveyard can tell as much about Key West's quirky character as any history lesson.'

Long Island (New York) Cemeteries - http://www.outeast.com/graveyard/graveyard3.html

An enigmatic site with some interesting snippets. The Sag Harbor website (http://www.sagharboronline.com/history_files/history.htm) has an entry on the 'old burying ground'.

Prague Home Page - http://www.pis.cz/npis/a/prague/pama/03.html

Again to quote Rachel, 'follow the links via the Prague Ghetto section for a HUGE but rather lovely picture of the Jewish cemetery'.

Victorian Cemeteries of London - http://www.gendocs.demon.co.uk/cem.html

A useful site, a condensed version of Hugh Meller's book with some extra snippets. Did you know that an Act of 1823 put an end to the practice of burying suicides in some public highway with a stake driven through them and directed that they be buried in the usual churchyard, but between the hours of 9 p.m. and midnight, and without rites of the Church. However, the compulsory dissection of murderers' bodies was not abolished until 1832, and hanging in chains lingered on until 1834?

Mrs Beeton and the Book of Household Management - Bob Flanagan

In 1834 Henry Dorling returned from London, where he had been serving a seven-year apprenticeship, and settled down to help his father William in the family business at Epsom. The Dorlings traded as booksellers, but were not above selling writing paper, lavender water, pianos and other items of a more miscellaneous description. William had acquired an Albion printing press for his original shop at Bexhill, and when this came to Epsom he used it to run off race cards for the Derby: hoping to improve this side of the business, he made sure Henry was apprenticed to a printer.

Henry brought a wife, Emily, from London: they had four children. In 1840 his business opportunity came when he was made Clerk of the Course for Epsom races. Preparing race cards had already made the Dorlings familiar with the world of trainers, bookmakers, stable-boys, and jockeys. Now Henry was in direct contact with the owners. He struck up a friendship with Lord George Bentinck, who was deep in a struggle to reform the racing underworld, and together the two of them planned 'to do something to pull Epsom racecourse together'.

Emily having died, in 1843 Henry married Elizabeth Mayson, the widow of his friend Benjamin. She brought four children of her own to the marriage, Isabella Mary (who was born at 24 Milk Street, Cheapside on 12 or 14 March 1836) being the eldest, so that accommodation in the Dorling premises was cramped. In 1845 Henry leased the Grandstand, a building that had been constructed fifteen years before by the Epsom Grand Stand Association and was now running at a loss. An offer of £1000 a year rent for it, together with Bentinck's endorsement of the enthusiastic lessee, decided the Association in his favour.

Henry bought a new printing press and moved his business to the Grandstand basement, leaving his father and sister Lucy to run the bookshop and stationers in the High Street. He began reforms to the building and the races, laying out a new Derby course in 1847 and building a new wing for the stand. And he sent his children off to live in this vast classical structure, sleeping in the smaller committee rooms and offices and romping around balconies intended to accommodate five thousand spectators. On race days, when the building returned to its original purpose, the children were packed off to Brighton.

By 1851 William Dorling had retired and Henry was head of the firm. He rented Ormonde House at the end of the High Street, using the northern wing as his bookshop and lending library. Here a growing family could live in style: Henry (like the Derby to which he owed his success) was becoming increasingly popular and respectable. The eldest children endured long dinner parties and filled in time with country walks. Isabella looked forward to fitting sessions with the dressmaker Miss Findlay - 'if you feel at all dull she amuses you with all sorts of poetry' - and to weekly piano lessons in London.

By the time that Isabella was courting her childhood friend Sam (Samuel Orchart Beeton, 1831-1877), the Dorling children had reached a formidable total of seventeen, and was eventually to become twenty-one. The courtship was carried on largely by letter, as there were few opportunities to meet. At the wedding there were eight bridesmaids in pale green, pale mauve or white: each of Isabella's sisters had contributed to her bridal costume. Presents were laid out between flowers in the reception room, the champagne flowed, and after a few hours she left Epsom at last, heading for Reigate to catch the honeymoon train.

When he was apprenticed in a City paper-merchant's office, Sam Beeton learnt to rise early and to work till late. He realised that cheap books and magazines were selling well, because growing numbers of people had been taught to read for the first time; he also realised that there were two gaps in the market - no-one was publishing anything specially aimed at women or children. In 1852 he began his publishing career with a best-seller, the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, which kept seventeen printing presses busy at the height of its popularity and earned enough to support his later journalism. Boase (Modern English Biography) records that Sam sailed to America to present Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe with a voluntary payment of £500.

At twopence a copy, Sam's Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine was the first cheap publication of its kind. He set the essay competitions; he commissioned columns on invalid care, pets and gardening; and he did his best with the correspondents to Cupid's Letter-Bag - this of course the precursor of the modern 'agony' column.

In 1855, in between persuading a male reader of the Englishwoman's that essay competitions would not make a girlfriend unacceptably clever, and launching the Boy's Own Magazine (articles on Benjamin Franklin, catching a crocodile, weapons of war and the Gunpowder Plot), Sam was courting Isabella. He had met her in London, and he continued to appear in Epsom at fortnightly intervals despite a cool reception by Henry Dorling. After their marriage at Epsom Parish Church on 10 July 1856, they returned from a Continental honeymoon in August to live in a large Italianate property at 2 Chandos Villas, on the Woodridings Estate at Hatch End, Pinner.

Within a few months Isabella had taken over the household hints and cookery columns in Sam's magazine, her first articles appearing in April 1857. She added a third column on childcare - after all, she had been accustomed to looking after a new brother or sister every year, and the arrival of her own first baby did not interrupt the flow of work. Within a month of her debut she had evolved a characteristic style - brief, blunt and clear, supported by epigrams or proverbs, but rejecting the flowery diction with which Sam spun out his editorials.

Sadly their first child Samuel Orchart died of croup in August 1857 aged 3 months. Nevertheless, Isabella spent three years planning the Book of Household Management, and in September 1859, the month their second son, also named Samuel Orchart, was born, the first of 30 parts of her famous book was published issued along with the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. Sam assured readers that every recipe had been personally tested, and offered gold and silver watches as prizes to those who could drum up more subscribers. Isabella, anxious to show some general knowledge, researched diligently into the number of sheep in England and the feasibility of making cloth out of Jerusalem artichokes.

The work was a success even before it came out in one complete volume in 1861, by which time Mrs. Beeton was working at her husband's offices in the Strand, commuting by rail from Hatch End station each day. The book contained nearly 100 recipes for soup, 200 for sauces and 128 for fish as well as items on etiquette, running the home, dinner parties, hiring and firing servants and their rates of pay. There were coloured engravings on nearly every page.

Meanwhile arrangements had been made for including fashion plates in the magazine. These were to be produced in Paris, so Isabella and Sam set off to interview contacts there. For every outfit illustrated in the plates, a pattern was supplied on request, ready cut and tacked. In 1861 she was called in to edit women's features for a new venture, the Queen.

The Beetons left Pinner for Greenhithe in the autumn of 1861. In December of that year their son was taken ill with scarlet fever while on holiday in Brighton. He died on New Year's Eve. Isabella gave birth to a further son, Orchart, on New Year's Eve, 1863. In 1864 Isabella helped plan a girl's magazine, the Young Englishwoman, and early in 1865, while correcting proofs for the Dictionary of Cookery, gave birth to her fourth child, Mayson Moss. Eight days later, on 6 February 1865, she died of puerperal fever at their home in Greenhithe and so we suspect it was that she joined her second child Samuel Orchart in the family grave at Norwood. She was only 28 years old.

Isabella was not an innovator. Most of her recipes, all 2,751 of them in the Book of Household Management, came from earlier books. Although she tested all the recipes herself, her only innovation was the idea of listing ingredients at the head of each dish. Other people were also writing guides to the kitchen. There was a ready market for these among the middle classes, since young women were now expected to break ties with their own family when they went to build a new suburban home. Nervous newly-weds, managing house for the first time, had only to refer to the right page of Mrs. Beeton for instructions on how to pay morning calls or fix the duties of a housemaid.

Isabella and Sam Beeton worked together, but this was traditional. Women of her generation had few rights (something her husband cared about more than she did) but they were expected to work. As elsewhere, one in ten traders in Isabella's Epsom was a woman - waggoners and a blacksmith as well as dressmakers. Her aunt Lucy ran the Post Office for 34 years and on retirement handed it on to her daughter. It was assumed that a wife would help run her husband's shop or workyard, and Isabella simply treated Sam's publishing office at Bouverie Street in the same way.

The Book of Household Management was the best-organised publication of its kind. There had been other works on the same subject - the first guides on how to run a household were composed in the Middle Ages - but none of them had the same cool efficiency. Isabella had watched her mother cope with eighteen children and her father manage 250,000 racegoers, and she knew the secrets of organisation. These are to get up early, moderate your feelings, understand accounts, cost and plan each item in advance, and allocate clear duties to your servants.

Apart from some training in German pastry-making, which she received at finishing school in Heidelberg, and some subsequent lessons at Barnards the confectioners in Epsom, Isabella had never needed to do the cooking herself. For the book, she worked out what was necessary and then went through, testing, with a new recipe each day. Only one recipe in the book (from the Baroness de Teissier at Woodcote Park) has an Epsom connection, and there is no local interest evident in the anecdotes that pad its pages. All this research was done in three years of hard work at Pinner. During the exceptionally hard winter of 1858, Isabella had even found the energy to open a soup kitchen at her house for the many poor children of Hatch End and Pinner.

After Isabella's death Sam was a broken man, wracked by consumption (his mother too died of tuberculosis), his troubles exacerbated by the crash of a bank in which he was a depositor. He sold his stock and copyrights for £1,900 to Ward, Lock & Tyler in 1866, but became a publisher again in 1877 shortly before his death in a sanatorium, Sudbrook Park in Richmond, on 6 June in that same year. He now lies in the family grave (grave 8,348, square 64) at Norwood. The surviving tombstone was erected in the 1930s by her children Orchart (1863-1947) and Sir Mayson Moss (1865-1947), the 'original having fallen into disrepair'. Their first house at Hatch End, Pinner, too has gone, destroyed by bombing in September 1940. The site is now occupied by a parade of shops. However, they are still remembered in the name of a nearby road, Beeton Close.

There are three frequently asked questions (FAQs in modern parlance) concerning the Beeton grave. What did the original monument look like, why is the grave not by a path, and why did Sam and Isabella choose Norwood for the burial of their infant children when they lived at Pinner? Well, surprisingly for such a now famous grave we don't know what the original tombstone looked like or what it was made of, let alone what inscription it bore, although the phrase 'wife and fellow worker in many of his literary enterprises' has been cited in one article. Perhaps a photo, drawing, or even a simple description will turn up sooner or later. The grave, like the Grade II* listed Behrens tomb, was originally right by the side of one of Tite's curving gravel carriage roads which ran from opposite the site of the Dissenters' Chapel to the Southern boundary road, near to the present 'roundabout'. It was thus originally in a prominent (and thus relatively expensive) position near to the Episcopal Chapel.

An adjoining grave (grave 3956, square 63) is the grave of Sam's father Samuel Powell Beeton, a Milk Street publican (buried 6 July 1854, aged 50). The original monument, a small obelisk, still survives on the north side of the newly-reopened portion of Ship Path opposite Thomas de la Garde Grissell's fantastic iron monument. We suspect that Isabella and Sam's first child (Samuel Orchart, May-July 1857) is buried in this vault and this presumably explains the choice of Norwood for the purchase of a grave for the burial of their second child. More research is needed to clarify what actually happened. We do not know where Orchart and Sir Mayson Beeton are buried.

Acknowledgement: The basis of this article was first published as part of the Bourne Hall Outreach Programme, an informal partnership between the Bourne Hall Museum and Epsom and Ewell on the Internet (www.epsom.townpage.co.uk/bhmbeeton.htm) and has been adapted with permission. The standard (albeit very wordy) work on the Beetons is Sarah Freeman's Isabella and Sam - The Story of Mrs Beeton (London: Gollancz, 1977).

Legends to Figures

1. Mrs Beeton

2. The agent's catalogue description of the Beeton's house in Pinner

CHANDOS VILLAS

Lobby and Entrance Hall, Dining Room 16ft. by 16ft. 9in., Drawing Room, 17ft. 6in. by 15ft. 6in., 5 Large Bed Rooms, 2 Water Closets and Domestic Offices.

Ground 50 feet front, depth 250 feet.

RENT £50 PER ANN.

3. A page from the Book of Household Management

4. The present Samuel Orchart Beeton family monument at Norwood (line drawing by Don Bianco)

5. Samuel Powell Beeton's monument at Norwood (line drawing by Don Bianco)

Robert Francis Fairlie (1831-1885) - Bob Flanagan

Some 18 months ago we were surprised to learn that we had been left an unconditional legacy (£2,000) by a member, Mr Michael Seymour. Mr Seymour was Hon. Curator of the Festiniog Railway Co. Museum and Archives, and Chair of the Festiniog Railway Society Heritage Group. In 1991 he had been in contact with our founder Chairman Nicholas Reed about the fate of the railway engineer Robert Fairlie's monument at Norwood (grave 20,788, square 21). The tombstone, a tall headstone facing the Eastern cemetery path, is fortunately still extant, although it lies in an area scheduled for 'lawn conversion' before we managed to halt this policy in 1991.

In 1864 Fairlie invented the doubleboiler doublebogie locomotive (boiler at each end, cab in middle, swivelling bogie carrying driving wheels under each boiler). This was designed for use on narrow gauge lines with sharp curves and steep gradients and enabled heavier loads to be pulled. They were much used overseas and on the Festiniog Railway where some are still working. Since Mr Seymour was obviously very interested in Fairlie, your committee feel that restoration of his monument would be an appropriate use of Mr Seymour's legacy. Any money left over will be put towards other conservation tasks.

Robert Francis Fairlie was born in Scotland in March 1831 of an engineering family, and received his training as a locomotive engineer at Crewe and Swindon. In 1853 he was appointed to the position of Engineer and General Manager of the Londonderry & Coleraine Railway, and afterwards went to India on the Bombay & Baroda Railway. He married the daughter of George England, of the Hatcham Ironworks at New Cross, in 1862 and soon became established as a railway consultant with offices at 56 Gracechurch Street, London E.C., and was concerned with railways then under construction in South America and India. He was invited to Venezuela to design construct railways in 1873, but was compelled by 'jungle fever' to return to England in the following year.

In 1864 Fairlie published a 36-page pamphlet, with 13 illustrations, entitled 'Locomotive Engines' in which he expounded, by means of a dialogue between an engineer and a writer, the supposed shortcomings of steam locomotives of conventional design. He then proceeded to show how his newly conceived ideas for an articulated locomotive would overcome all objections, by the superior steam generating capacity of the twin boilers, the use of all wheels for adhesion; the ability to traverse sharp curves, the abolition of turntables, etc.

A few locomotives had been designed on the principle of a double boiler mounted on two power-bogies some years before Fairlie's endeavour. These were Horatio Allen's three 2-2-2-2 locomotives built at the West Point Foundry, New York, in 1831; the 0-4-4-0 Semmering Contest locomotive Seraing built at the Cockerill Works at Seraing, Belgium, in 1851; and the Thouvenot design, French Patent No. 59,773 of 1863. However, it seems that Fairlie may have been more influenced by Archibald Sturrock's locomotives with steam tenders, and by the back-to-back tank locomotives built by R. Stephenson & Co in 1856 for the Great Indian Peninsular Railway Ghat inclines, than by any prior knowledge of the Seraing. Fairlie appears to have had a great appreciation of the value of publicity in business and loudly proclaimed the virtues of his new locomotive, with the result that over the years he has been regarded rather as a propagandist, but his thinking was in many ways ahead of his time.

Fairlie took out British Patent 1210 on 12 May 1864 for 'Improvements in Locomotive Engines and Boilers', involving a new system of articulated locomotive that differed in many respects from the Seraing locomotive. The patent specification extends to fourteen pages, with three large folding plates of twenty-one drawings. However, the general arrangement drawing (Figure 1) exhibits the classic features that later became associated with all Fairlie locomotives, together with some unusual details that were never used in practice.

In addition to the double boiler with central fire-box and two smokeboxes, the patent also covered the possible use of an upper and lower series of tubes in the boiler barrels, the first series leading from the firebox to each smokebox in the normal way, while the upper series were to have led the gases back to a smoke chamber situated over the firebox; this chamber being in communication with a central chimney. No Fairlie locomotives were ever constructed with these return tubes and central chimney. Although the double boiler was one of the main features of the original patent, it was not an essential one, and Fairlie himself prepared designs for single-boiler tank locomotives with one powerbogie and a normal trailing bogie, and a design for a proposed locomotive with a single boiler and two power-bogies.

The double-boiler locomotive, with two power-bogies, was a design from which, by the early 1870s, a great performance was expected, and after the famous trials on the narrow-gauge Festiniog Railway with Little Wonder in 1870, the Fairlie principle was widely acclaimed and a big demand for these locomotives was anticipated from overseas railways. However, the Fairlie locomotive possessed several disadvantages. Limited quantities of fuel and water could be carried, and repair and maintenance of the double boiler were more costly than for a single boiler, although this disadvantage was compensated for to an extent by the fact that the tube heating surface is more efficient than in an ordinary locomotive boiler having the equivalent heating surface. For example, two sets of tubes, each 8 ft 6 in long, are more efficient than one set 17 ft long, with the same heating surface. Lastly the type lacks stability at high speeds and this limited its use to lines where such speeds were not required. On steeply graded railways with sharp curves the design achieved some success, and under such conditions a number of these locomotives continued to give satisfactory service for many years. But quite a number of the early Fairlies often failed to live up to their first magnified prestige, probably due to poor maintenance facilities overseas, and there were recurring troubles with the original designs of articulated steam pipes, and so the engines were often withdrawn from service after only a few years' work.

From 1865-1911 Fairlie locomotives were built by ten British and three Continental firms, and in two railway workshops, for use in for England, Wales, Ireland, Canada, Colorado, Mexico, South America, Cuba, New Zealand, Australia, Cape Colony, India, Burma, Norway, Sweden, France, Luxembourg, Saxony, Portugal, and Russia. The two most successful applications of the Fairlie principle were on the Trans-Caucasian railway system in Russia, where 45 such locomotives were used, chiefly on the Souram inclines, and on the Mexican Railway, on the main line of which, between Cordova and Bocca del Monte (108 miles), no other form of steam locomotive was used over a period of fifty-three years, until the Arizoba-Esperanza section of the line was electrified in 1924.

For obvious reasons, the Fairlie locomotive was never seriously considered by the railways of Britain, there being neither the gradients nor severe curves to warrant extended use of such a heavy and specialised design, and the eight railways which did acquire examples were all, with one exception, minor companies. Only for the unusual operating conditions existing on the narrow-gauge Festiniog Railway in North Wales has the Fairlie principle justified its use in this country.

Acknowledgement: R.A.S. Abbott. The Fairlie Locomotive. Newton Abbott: David & Charles, 1970.

Legends to Figures

1. Patent specification drawing of Fairlie double-boiler locomotive, 1864 (R.A.S. Abbott. The Fairlie Locomotive. David & Charles, 1970)

2. Robert Francis Fairlie (R.A.S. Abbott. The Fairlie Locomotive. David & Charles, 1970. Acknowledged to M Seymour)

3. Robert Fairlie's tombstone at Norwood (line drawing by Don Bianco)

Book Review: Paul Graham

Deborah Cadbury, The Dinosaur Hunters, Fourth Estate, London, 2000, Hardback, ISBN 1 85702 959 3, £15.99.

Gideon Mantell is the tragic hero of this riveting account of the rivalries between nineteenth century scientists who were seeking to make sense of the fossil record of long extinct creatures that was almost daily being uncovered. Mantell's struggle to overcome his humble origins and modest education to win a place amongst the scientific elite, whilst fulfilling a heavy workload as a doctor, is sympathetically told. To this end he sacrificed his marriage, by filling much of the marital home with prehistoric bones, his health, his finances and his peace of mind. Even the discovery and naming of a giant herbivorous lizard, Iguanodon, failed to earn Mantell the recognition he deserved from the metropolitan learned societies.

If Mantell is the hero, the arch villain is undoubtedly the brilliant but ruthless Richard Owen. He is described as being 'instinctively predatory' and he was not above appropriating the work of others to further his own reputation. Owen used his position of influence to ensure that his rivals for scientific eminence remained in his shadow. Chief amongst these was Mantell, who described his rival as 'dastardly and envious'. T.H. Huxley observed 'with what an intense hatred Owen is regardedÉ with Mantell the arch hater'.

Science is mixed with the tragic story of Mantell's private life. His fossil museum in Brighton failed and he had to sell his unique collection to the British Museum, where it eventually fell into the hands, and aided the work, of Owen. In 1839 his wife finally left him and his favourite daughter, Hannah, died and was buried at West Norwood. In 1841 occurred the carriage accident beside Clapham Common that severely damaged Mantell's spine and left him with excruciating back pain that could only be allayed by recourse to increasing amounts of opiates.

In 1852 Mantell was invited to oversee the recreation of models of dinosaurs in the grounds of the Crystal Palace. His illness forced him to decline the offer and the prestigious task, inevitably, fell to Owen. After a fall at his Clapham home, Mantell overdosed on opiates and died. He was buried next to Hannah in West Norwood, or at least most of him was. A post-mortem revealed the extent of his spinal deformity. In a final irony, the damaged lower spine was sent to Owen's Royal College of Surgeons where it was preserved in a bottle and displayed for over a century until presumably destroyed in the Blitz. Mantell died a biter and disappointed man. At his express request, no one was invited to his funeral.

Being selected as a Radio 4 book of the week in October will justifiably enhance the sales of this splendid work. The book will be found on the popular science shelves of the bookshop. Ms Cadbury wears her learning lightly and no detailed knowledge of the science is necessary to enjoy what is essentially the compelling story of a bitter struggle between two brilliant men for intellectual dominance in a fledgling subject.

Review of Recent FOWNC Events - Jill Dudman

FOWNC Chairman Bob Flanagan's work takes him to many parts of the world, and he always makes a point of fitting in visits to local cemeteries and carrying out as much photography as time allows. Members have in the past been treated to several splendid shows of his resulting slides, and the meeting on 17 February was no exception. The main focus this time was the Indian capital of New Delhi, and we were particularly delighted to welcome a small group of members of the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA), who were able to fill in background information about the monuments shown in Bob's slides. He then moved on to European cities, including Berlin, Helsinki and Venice, presenting some fascinating contrasts.

William Thomas Brande, an important yet comparatively little known figure in 19th century science, was the subject of the lecture on 17 March by Dr Frank James, Reader in History of Science at the Royal Institution. Born in 1788, Brande was descended from a Hanoverian family who came over with the monarchy and settled in England. From an early age he was full of enthusiasm for chemistry, despite his father's wish that he should enter the church. After training as an apothecary, he began writing and lecturing, with the remarkable achievements of becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 21 and receiving the Copley Medal of the Society at 25. Friendship with Sir Humphry Davy led to Brande being appointed Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution in 1813, a post he held for over 40 years, working alongside Michael Faraday. Although not achieving lasting fame from major scientific discovery, Brande wrote several important text-books and dictionaries. Duties at the Royal Mint finally led him to take a senior position there and leave the RI in 1854. On his death on 11 February 1866 he was buried at Norwood (grave 1177, square 98), where his monument survives although badly weathered. In his will he stated 'I desire to be buried as economically as may be in the Grave in the Cemetery at Norwood wherein are deposited the remains of my late son Charles Chantrey Brand'.

Forthcoming FOWNC Events - May-August 2001

General tours will be held on the first Sunday of each month (6 May, 3 June, 1 July and 5 August). Special tours will be held as detailed below. All tours start at 14.30 at the Cemetery main gate off Norwood Road, and they last for 2 hours or so. There is no formal charge but we welcome donations of Ï1 per person (Ï0.50 concessions) towards conservation projects.

Sunday 20 May: Special Tour - The Ship Path - an exploration

This area of pristine Victorian cemetery landscape, taking its name from the superb Grade II listed ship monument of Captain Wimble, is currently the subject of a special study, and a leaflet detailing the most notable tombs is in course of preparation. Please come and join with us in looking at many monuments which general tours have no time to include, and make your suggestions for additions to the leaflet.

Sunday 17 June: Special Tour - The Doulton Path - an exploration

Another area of relatively undamaged Victorian cemetery landscape that takes its name from the exquisite Grade II listed terracotta mausoleum of Sir Henry Doulton. It has become sadly overgrown in the past few years (indeed part of the path has resembled a bog in winter!). The monuments of many eminent persons are hardly accessible, but we shall look at as many as possible.

At the request of Friends of Nunhead Cemetery, we shall be running a tour of West Norwood Cemetery for a party from their society on Saturday 30 June, starting at the main gate at the earlier time of 14.00 - FOWNC members will also be very welcome to join in.

Other Events

Nunhead Cemetery Open Day - Saturday 19 May 2001 - 11.00-17.00. Linden Grove, SE15

As usual the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery are arranging a wide variety of events with something for everyone. Children look forward to badge making and the celebrated 'bug hunt', local history enthusiasts enjoy the genealogy exhibitions and the Victorian promenade theatre; while the natural splendours of the cemetery are there for all to see. Guided tours will also be available. Contact: Jeffrey Hart (020 8694 6079).

Kensal Green Cemetery & West London Crematoriun Open Day - Saturday 21 July 2001 - 10.00-17.00. Kensal Rise, W10.

A major annual event with many attractions. Further details of this and other FOKGC lectures and events from Robert Stephenson (020 7386 8140).

FOWNC Committee - May 2001

Chairman & Publications Officer:

Bob Flanagan, 79 Durban Road, London SE27 9RW (Tel: 020 8670 3265)

General Secretary & Tours Organiser:

Jill Dudman, 119 Broxholm Road, London SE27 0BJ (Tel: 020 8670 5456)

Hon. Treasurer:

George Young, 12 Swinburne Court, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8EP (Tel: 020 7274 5267)

Membership Secretary:

Rosemary Comber, 63 Bradley Road, London SE19 3NT (Tel: 020 8653 2741)

Conservation Coordinator:

Paul Graham, Flat 4, 9 St Andrews Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 4DT (Tel: 020 8287 6976)

Publicity Officer:

Pam Gray

The FOWNC Newsletter is published three times a year by the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery, 79 Durban Road, London SE27 9RW.

Registered Charity No 1063450. Member of the National Federation of Cemetery Friends

Website: http://www.anoraque.demon.co.uk/fownc/index.htm

If you would like further information about the Friends, please contact the Membership Secretary (address above). The annual subscription is £3. Copyright FOWNC, May 2001.