FOWNC Newsletter No 47. May 2003.

Free to members. Price £1.00 to non-members

Chairman's Report - Bob Flanagan

As often happens mixed news this time. Sadly the Greek section suffered a very bad episode of vandalism in February - some 25 standing crosses were either smashed in situ or broken off and 5 were arranged in the form of a large cross in front of St Stephen's Chapel. The police were informed immediately the damage was discovered by the cemetery staff. We offer our sympathies to the Greek Community. It would appear that police are treating the damage as a 'hate crime'. There must be concern too about the failure of TeamLambeth, the Council's security contractors, to observe the damage at the time, especially since some memorials have also been damaged along Lower Road (square 105/115) - presumably this occurred at about the same time as the damage in the Greek Section.

Much progress on other fronts thanks to the efforts of Project Officer Jill O'Meara supported by Gideon Taylor, Ken Dry, and Don Bianco. Firstly the badly-needed drainage survey has been commenced by contractor Atkins Water. CCTV investigations are planned on selected drains. A topographical survey of the site to establish site levels will follow. A priority is to attempt to improve the drainage in the eastern portion of the cemetery. Existing drainage records including public sewer records from Thames Water and Bazalgette original drawings held at the Metropolitan Archives have been studied, and calculations of expected rainfall run-off volumes and drainage behaviour for typical storm periods have been performed. Identification of legal and heritage issues inherent in any proposed drainage solutions will of course be needed.

Secondly, Dorothea Restorations have begun the renovation and repainting on the railings will be commencing works on the railings adjacent to Hubbard Road. The colour chosen, a shade of green, is based on an English Heritage of the existing paint layers and reflects the colour used when the railings were installed in 1837. It looks great!

After major scrub clearance work, monumental masons Stonewest have started surveying the area bounded by Steep Hill, Mantell Rise (the proposed name for the road up from the Mantell tomb to the crematorium) and the Garden of Remembrance on the site of the Episcopal Chapel for all memorials considered to be a serious Health & Safety risk in order to plan and the extent of stabilisation works to monuments in that area.

Further specific initiatives are the cleaning and restoration of the Grade II listed memorials to Benjamin Colls (grave 5,868, square 39) made possible by a photograph taken by the late Eric Smith and the Grissell monument (grave 1,669, square 63) facilitated by a photograph published by Lambeth in their 1970 booklet on the future of the cemetery. Work on the Colls monument will commence once proper procedures have been followed, that on the Grissell tomb will take more planning.

Work on two further tombs, that of the Jerrold family (grave 5,452, square 97) and that of John Henry Pepper (grave 23,229, square 23) is also planned. The cross surmounting the Pepper memorial was stolen in 1999 and whilst visiting the site to consider restoration it was found that the base too has now disappeared - this must have been taken to order by someone with a specific interest in Pepper. Fortunately we have a photographic record of the whole monument. The Jerrold monument was destroyed by Lambeth in 1986-7 and detailed drawings based on measurement of the underlying vault and such photographic records as we have (mainly Eric Smith again) have been prepared.

In the medium-term, commissioning consultants for a detailed study of the Catacombs and also a Landscape Historical survey is being considered. The former could include restoration as far as possible or the Bramah 1841 coffin lift. Archiving needs at WNC are also being considered. The requirement is to employ someone capable of working by themselves full time, using computer software/technology with the capability to ensure effective archiving. The procedure would be to take a digital image of the memorial and use a palm pilot to record the details of any inscription, and then download the information to a computer. Storing all of the available images of the memorials digitally would be an ideal way to archive this material. A further long-term aim, a Heritage Lottery Funding bid, is also being planned.  

And so to other news. Members with Internet access will be interested to know that FOWNC member Colin Fenn has placed some atmospheric photos of the cemetery on the web (). Monuments featured include Mrs Beeton, three Sir Henrys (Bessemer, Doulton, and Tate), and Anne Farrow. Finally, congratulatons to Archdeacon of Lambeth Nick Baines on his appointment as Bishop of Croydon. This will mean that a new Archdeacon will have to be appointed in due course - let us hope this will not lead to delay in getting the new harmonised cemetery regulations in place.

Dr James Henry Harmar Moxon (1847-1883) by Bob Moxon Browne

Newsletter 39 (September 2000) recorded the visit to the cemetery of 4 members of the Browne and Moxon families who were researching their family histories. In square 35 two monuments commemorate members of both families. In between (grave 17,170) lay a monument that had toppled forward and concealed its inscription. Intrigued, I had the monument restored to the perpendicular (and Valerie Browne Lester and I have adopted the grave). Our efforts have been rewarded because the inscription reads:

To the Memory of

JAMES HENRY HARMAR MOXON LLD.

of Trinity College, Cambridge

Second son of the late John Moxon

Born 12 August 1847, Died 25 May 1883

In the midst of life we are in death

Also of Henry James

Only and beloved son of the above

Who died in August 1909

Aged 34 years

"With Christ which is far better"

In loving memory of

Julia Isabel

Widow of above

James Henry Harmar Moxon

Died 9 August 1920

To guide us to our home above the Saviour came

Dr James Henry Harmar Moxon, the son of John Moxon of Hanover Terrace and Sarah Anne nee Drake from Devonshire, was born on 12 August 1847 at Soulden near Banbury. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He married Julia Isabel Parrot of Clapham in 1871. They had four children, born between 1872 and 1881, all baptised in Cambridge where Dr Moxon was Law Lecturer at his old college. The two daughters, Isabel and Florence, have separate memorials in the same plot.

In his 36th year, Dr Moxon lost his life by drowning. The Times of 24th May reported:

"DROWNED, Dr Moxon, of Trinity College, Cambridge, well known in aquatic and skating circles, has been accidentally drowned at Baitsbite, on the Cam. Until lately he was law lecturer at Trinity."

The report failed to mention that Dr Moxon was also the coach of the First Trinity Boat Club that won the Head of the River race in 1873.

Two days later, The Times gave further details of his death:

"Yesterday an inquest was held at the University Arms Hotel, Cambridge, by Mr Henry Gotobed, borough coroner, on the body of the late Dr Moxon, the circumstances of whose death have already appeared in these columns. After a protracted inquiry, the jury returned a verdict that "Deceased, while in a fit, was suffocated in a ditch."

John Moxon of Hanover Terrace (1788-1866) is also interred in the same plot. He was the second child of a Thomas Moxon of Twickenham and like his father was a successful financier and businessman, being instrumental in the foundation of the London and Westminster Bank (now Nat West) and a director of several railway companies. He and his wife had three other children in addition to James Henry. All of them, Anne Penrose, John and Eliza Georgina are buried in the same plot.

Figures

1. John Moxon of Hanover Terrace (by kind permission of Mrs S. Lowther-Pinkerton)

2. Dr JH Moxon (by courtesy of Mrs Sarah Hall)

3. The Moxon gravestone (line drawing by Don Bianco)

William Thomas Brande (1788-1866) by Frank James

Brande, professional chemist, was born on 11 February 1788 at 10 Arlington Street, London, the youngest of six children of Augustus Everard Brande (1746-1834), apothecary, and his wife Ann, née Thomas. Brande was a scion of a wealthy family of apothecaries with appointments to the Hanoverian and London Courts stretching back to near the beginning of the eighteenth century. Brande's father, born in Hanover (naturalised, 1784), was apothecary to Queen Charlotte, 1783-1801.

From about 1794 until 1797 Brande received a rudimentary classical education at a private school in Kensington, before attending Westminster School between 1797 and 1801 where he made fair progress in classical and general knowledge. In the latter year Brande's father retired from the Court and moved to Chiswick. There Brande met the chemist Charles Hatchett who had a small chemical manufacturing business. Hatchett was to exercise an immense influence over Brande's choice of career and its course. Hatchett had a private laboratory in Roehampton where he allowed Brande to assist him and to undertake his own chemical experiments. This inculcated in Brande a taste for chemistry which never left him. However, his father wished him to enter the Church which evidently Brande refused to do, preferring to enter medicine which was then the only place where chemistry could be pursued as a career. This decision may partly explain the rather strained relationship which Brande had with his family. For example his father in his will made much less provision for Brande than for his other children.

On 2 February 1802 he was indentured to his elder brother, Everard Brande (1776-1868), who was continuing the family business in Arlington Street. Although he served out the full period of his apprenticeship (which ended on 6 February 1810), he was allowed, following the Peace of Amiens (28 March 1802), to visit Hanover where he pursued scientific and linguistic studies at Göttingen and Brunswick. When the war recommenced (18 April 1803), Brande had difficulty returning to London; he escaped via Hamburg on a Dutch ship. By 1804 he had resumed working with his brother and in the same year he also commenced studying at the Anatomical School in Great Windmill Street and chemistry under George Pearson and Friedrich Accum at St George's Hospital. According to Brande at this time his brother 'threw every obstacle in the way of my chemical progress that was decently in his power'. Nevertheless, he 'found time ...... to read, and often to experiment in my bedroom late in the evening'.

Brande seems to have been introduced to Humphry Davy, who had just been appointed Professor of Chemistry at the newly founded Royal Institution, in 1801. On his return from Hanover, Brande renewed his acquaintance and 'as a result, his zeal in the pursuit of chemistry was greatly augmented'. From 1805 he attended Davy's lectures at the Royal Institution and occasionally absented himself from Arlington Street or Great Windmill Street in order to do so. In 1808 Brande and Davy were among the founders of the Animal Chemistry Club.

Despite his youth and family opposition, Brande was able to conduct original chemical research some of which was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Such was his ability that in 1808, four years after studying there, Brande began lecturing at Great Windmill Street. This gave him membership of the London lecturing empire and in the next few years he delivered lectures on pharmaceutical chemistry at the medical school in Cork Street and on materia medica for Pearson. In 1809 Brande was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1812 Davy resigned his Professorship of Chemistry at the Royal Institution (RI). Hatchett, who was a Manager of the RI, seems to have been influential in ensuring that Brande was invited to give a series of lectures on chemistry in 1812 and then in securing his appointment as Davy's replacement in 1813, at an annual salary of £200. Brande moved into the RI and later in the year was also appointed Superintendent of the House. Brande also replaced Davy in giving lectures on agricultural chemistry to the Board of Agriculture; Brande gave only one series as the Board was dissolved the following year. In 1813 he was also appointed Professor of Chemistry to the Society of Apothecaries.

Brande's meteoric rise within the London scientific community was confirmed during 1813 by his election to membership of the Royal Society Club and by the award of the Society's Copley Medal for a paper on experiments dealing with the alcoholic content of wine and other drinks. In 1816 he succeeded W.H. Wollaston, at the latter's suggestion, as one of the two Secretaries of the Royal Society, a position he held for the following ten years. His appointment to the RI marked an important change in his career. Unlike most other lecturers in the period who earned their living by giving itinerant lectures, as Brande had done from 1808, he was now permanently in an institution made famous by Davy and possessing the best equipped laboratory in Britain. This did not mean, however, that he ceased giving lectures elsewhere. For instance in 1819 he delivered the first lecture and course at the newly built London Institution which had been founded in imitation of the RI. He gave other courses of lectures there in later years.

By 1818, Brande was sufficiently financially secure to marry the younger daughter of his patron, Anna Frederica Hatchett. His marriage entailed him moving out of the RI. They first moved to Clarges Street and from 1824-28 they lived in Grafton Street. They had two sons and three daughters.

According to Brande's later recollection, 'from 1815-48, I also delivered a series of lectures and demonstrations on theoretical and practical chemistry in the Laboratory below [the Main Lecture Theatre]. They were intended for all denominations of students, and were given thrice weekly, from October to May. They were the first lectures in London in which so extended a view of chemistry, and of its applications, including technical, mineralogical, geological, and medical chemistry, was attempted'. These lectures were mainly attended by students from Great Windmill Street and, from 1828, from St George's Hospital. Initially he delivered these courses alone but with the help of Michael Faraday who as the Assistant Chemist at the RI was responsible, until 1825, for preparing and executing lecture demonstrations for Brande. In 1824 Faraday gave some of the lectures and from the following year the course was given jointly. In 1846 Brande tried to drop these lectures, but he was persuaded to continue, though at a reduced level. Brande also gave many courses of Saturday lectures on specific topics at the Royal Institution, delivered twenty eight Friday Evening Discourses between 1826 and 1852, and seven series of Christmas lectures between 1834 and 1851.

Brande's lectures at the Royal Institution served, at least initially, as the basis for his major publications. In 1817 he published Outlines of Geology (2nd edition 1829) while in 1819 his Manual of Chemistry appeared, both of which were based on lecture courses he had given at the Royal Institution. The Manual of Chemistry became a hugely successful and influential textbook and formed the model for many subsequent chemical textbooks by other authors. It went through English six editions by 1848 and was translated into several languages. He repeated the formula with his Manual of Pharmacy (1825), which had reached its 3rd edition by 1833. He followed these lecture-based publications with his Dictionary of Materia Medica (1839) and the highly successful Dictionary of Science, Literature, and Art (1842). This latter went through many editions and was still being published posthumously in 1875. His last major publication, Organic Chemistry (1854), was based on the last course of lectures that he delivered at the RI in 1852. The link between Brande's publications and the RI extended beyond publishing his lectures given there, but also in editing, between 1816 and 1830, the Quarterly Journal of Science. Though this was not an official publication of the RI, it was nevertheless closely connected with it. It contained original papers, details of lectures given at the RI, summaries of papers published in overseas journals, book reviews and provided a quick means for those associated with the RI to publish their results. Faraday helped Brande with editing it, including preparing summaries of papers and, when Brande was away, was completely in charge of it. It was a valuable general science journal at a time when there were very few of them.

Brande was active in promoting the study of chemistry. In 1836 he was one of the original members of the Senate of the University of London and in 1846 was appointed an examiner in chemistry, a post he retained until 1858. He was one of the founders of the Chemical Society in 1841 and was among its first Vice-Presidents, a post he held from 1841 to 1846. He was President from 1847 to 1849 during which period he oversaw the incorporation of the Society and commencement of publication of its Quarterly Journal.

In 1823 the government consulted Brande on the manufacture of iron and steel to be used as dies for coins at the Royal Mint. This was the start of his long association with the Mint in which, once again, Hatchett seems to have played some initiating role. Two years later Brande was appointed Clerk of the Irons and Superintendent of Machines. Though these posts involved much administrative work, they provided an annual income of £700 and accommodation at the Mint which the Brandes occupied after leaving Grafton Street. Following the Royal Commission of 1848, the organisation of the Mint was reformed and in early 1852 Brande was appointed at an annual salary of £900 to the newly created post of Superintendent of the Coining and Die Department a post he held until death. One of the requirements of the reformed Mint was that employees must have no other paid employment. So Brande had to resign his professorships at the Society of Apothecaries (of which he was Master for the year 1851-2) and the RI, though he was made an honorary professor there. He also had to cease consultancy work for the various London water companies. He had undertaken this kind of work for many years and in the preceding three years had played a major role in the extremely controversial issue of how to provide a new water supply for London.

His contribution to science and its practical application was recognised by the award of a DCL by the University of Oxford in 1853. Nevertheless, most of his contemporaries believed that Brande had not fulfilled his early promise. According to John Davy, Davy became 'very much disappointed' with Brande whom he believed to be 'mercenary and had no lofty views'. Brande was not a brilliant lecturer when compared with his predecessor at the Royal Institution, Davy, or with his successor Faraday. Yet these are hardly fair comparisons and the fact that he was able to sustain his lectures to medical students and others for more than thirty years certainly helped keep the RI in a reasonable financial state. A contemporary noted that Brande was 'distinguished for the clearness of his [lecturing] style, for the methodical arrangement of his matter, as well as for the admirable selection and performance of his experimental illustrations'. Nor, unlike Davy and Faraday, did he make any scientific discovery of major importance. Yet in the application of science to medicine, to water analysis, and to coining, Brande made a major contribution to bringing science and technology together in the nineteenth century.

Brande died on his 78th birthday at his country house in Tunbridge Wells on 11 February 1866 and was buried in at Norwood (1,177, square 98) in the grave originally established to his son Charles Chantry Brande, who died 1 June 1845 at the age of 21. His widow Anna Frederica (died 11 May 1881, aged 83) is also buried there. The inscription on the tombstone is now so badly weathered as to be hardly readable, but we recorded it some 10 years ago and hopefully the monument will be restored in due course.

Figures

1. This painting by Thomas Phillips RA (1770-1845) , ca. 1816, probably depicts WT Brande and Michael Faraday making Prussian Blue (reproduced for the Royal Society of Chemistry by kind permission of Dr Alfred Bader Hon FRSC - see for more details about this painting). The RSC Benevolent Fund has produced an Xmas Card of this painting - copies available via the FOWNC bookstall. [N.B. Henry Wyndham Phillips (1820-1868), portrait painter, the younger son of Thomas Phillips, is also buried at Norwood (Grave 11,677, square 60), but his monument has been destroyed.]

2. The Brande family tombstone at Norwood (line drawing by Don Bianco)

Book Review: Death and Architecture - James Stevens Curl. Sutton Publishing, 2002. Hardback, xxviii + 415 pp, 350 monochrome illustrations, £25. ISBN 0 7509 2877 8. Review by Bob Flanagan

Much has changed since this book was first published under the title A Celebration of Death. For starters heritage and professional bodies alike - even Parliament - have accepted the need to plan not only for the continued use of graveyards and cemeteries for their intended purpose, but also to safeguard what remains of our outstanding legacy of funerary monuments. Professor Curl, together with other pioneers in their respective fields such as Chris Brookes (who sadly died recently), Julian Litten, Eric Robinson, Brent Elliott, Roger Bowdler, and Gavin Stamp, must take much of the credit for renewing interest in funerary architecture in general and cemeteries in particular, especially the development and subsequent fate of early commercial cemeteries such as The Rosary, Norwich (1820s), and Kensal Green (1834), Norwood (1837), and Highgate (1839) in London.

But what of the present volume? It seems to be a reprint of the original - long out of print - with a new Preface, and thus hardly justifies the claim to be a new, revised edition. As befits a book from 1980 its format looks rather tired (the page size is slightly smaller than the original), but the content and good-quality illustrations are as engaging as ever. I can't do better than to quote from page 1 'The purpose of this book is to provide an introduction to funerary architecture, to cemetery design, and to memorials and monuments in the Western European tradition'. As such it succeeds admirably in my humble opinion, encompassing as it does ancient Egypt, Western European stone and bronze age burials, the Graeco-Roman world, funerary art of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and the rise of modern cemeteries. Due precedence is given to Dissenters' burial grounds (notably Bunhill Fields, before 1665 - also a very early example of active conservation, 1867). However, as Prof. Curl notes, the earliest modern cemeteries were laid out by Europeans in India, initially in the Islamic tradition. Perhaps the most notable monument from this period, the Oxinden Brothers' mausoleum at Surat (1660s), was followed by Hawksmoor's great mausoleum at Castle Howard (1731-42, now sadly out-of-bounds to ordinary mortals), probably the first monumental free-standing tomb built in Western Europe since Antiquity. And thus the move away from overcrowded churches and churchyards began, slowly at first and with much resistance from the clergy because of fears over loss of income from burial fees.

All in all then, there is much in this book to interest anyone with an enquiring mind and I still recommend it as an engaging read. For the initiated, Prof. Curl continues in print: Victorian Celebration of Death (2001); Classical Architecture (2001); Art and Architecture of Freemasonry (2002); and Piety Proclaimed. An Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Religious Buildings in England (2002). He contributed to and edited Kensal Green Cemetery (2001), the first major monograph on any British cemetery.

Book Review - Paul Graham. Douglas Jerrold (1803-1857) by Michael Slater. Duckworth, 2002. Hardback, 351 pp, £25. ISBN 0 71562 28240.

Douglas Jerrold has long been consigned to the footnotes of the lives of other eminent Victorians. However, Prof. Slater has produced an enthralling biography in which the playwright, journalist, novelist, and wit at last emerges centre stage, as befits someone who made his public bow as a child in the arms of the great Edmund Kean in his father's theatre in Sheerness. In the 1850s Jerrold was regarded with Dickens and Thackeray as the three greatest comic writers in the language. The latter both acted as pall-bearers at his funeral at Norwood on 15 June 1857, together with Sir Joseph Paxton and his editor on Punch, Mark Lemon. As Michael Slater records, thousands attended. Indeed, the funeral rapidly got out of hand as sightseers scrambled for a vantage points. Jerrold's literary stature was such that, in the words of G.H. Lewes, his death 'created a great sensation all over England'.

Jerrold's life was an astonishing one even for the nineteenth century. After his theatrical debut he joined the Royal Navy aged 10. After leaving the navy he wrote plays for the London stage, including the phenomenally successful Black Eyed Susan. On taking up journalism he soon became the leading voice on Punch (1841), and there championed the cause of the poor and the oppressed. The last part of his literary career found him editing magazines and newspapers where the mere inclusion of his name on the masthead was sufficient to increase the circulation. The precariousness of success for a literary man, however, is emphasized by the fact that his debts forced him to flee to France several times to evade his creditors. On one occasion he was even imprisoned in the King's Bench and progressed through the Insolvent Debtors Court.

Prof. Slater quotes both contemporary and more modern criticism to explain why Jerrold's fame did not last. His need to provide regular and voluminous copy to the periodical press, combined with a lack of mental discipline and an over reliance on melodrama served to ensure that posterity has not been kind to him. Slater concludes that Jerrold's fame today rests on a handful of bon mots; Black Eyed Susan; Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures (most recently re-published in 2000 - see FOWNC Newsletter 40); and the fact that it was he who coined the name 'Crystal Palace.

Biography is currently big business. The serial biographer has emerged to meet an apparently insatiable demand for more and more lives of the famous. Writers hop promiscuously from subject to subject without ever revealing any great regard or true affection for their subjects. It is refreshing to read a biography where that is emphatically not the case. This has clearly been a labour of love for Prof. Slater. Even though, at times, critical of Jerrold, and well aware that his writings will never again come into public favour, there is immense respect and sympathy for Jerrold's achievements against all the odds of birth, wealth and influence. For anyone interested in early Victorian theatre or literature this book is an essential and rewarding read.

Members will see from the Events List Prof. Slater is to talk to members after the AGM in October about 'the Jerrold's of Norwood'. Others buried at Norwood whose lives intersected with that of Jerrold include Laman Blanchard, poet and 'beloved friend of his youth' whose interment was the reason Jerrold chose the cemetery for his own final resting place; Willert Beale, impresario and 'great friend'; George Bolwell Davidge, theatre manager for whom Jerrold toiled for little reward; Thomas Noon Talfourd, fellow playwright and friend; Alfred Henry Forrester (Alfred Crowquill), artist; and Jerrolds's own wife and children.

Review of Recent FOWNC Events - Jill Dudman

On 8 February Patricia Knowlden, from the Bromley Borough Local History Society, gave us a very informative talk on the electrical engineer Alexander Muirhead FRS (1848-1920), whose family monument at Norwood is a very fine granite obelisk. Patricia has made a study of his life and work, and wrote an article about him in a booklet on Bromley local industry published a few years ago. Muirhead was born in Scotland and, although hindered by deafness in one ear from childhood, gained a BSc in chemistry and a Doctorate in electricity from London University. First joining his father's telegraph instruments firm, he invented a system of duplexing to increase the capacity of cables. He was later able to set up his own company and laboratory, and carried out much research into wireless telegraphy with Oliver Lodge. From 1895 the Muirhead factory was at Elmers End (it's now in Penge), and FOWNC member Ron Smith concluded the afternoon with his happy reminiscences of working there as a boy apprentice around 1960.

We were treated to a splendid entertainment on 15 March by Terry and Amanda Lomas, from the British Music Hall Society. Using a pair of projectors to display side-by-side views of portraits and gravestones, Terry gave a survey of many notable music hall and variety personalities buried in cemeteries in the London area. The BMHS (President: Roy Hudd) are very active in restoring monuments which have fallen into dilapidation, for example that of George Leybourne ('Champagne Charlie') at Abney Park. Also buried in that cemetery are G W Hunt, composer of 'By Jingo', sung by Norwood's G H Macdermott, and Albert Chevalier, whose piano accompanist Alfred West lies at Norwood. Closer to home, Lambeth cemetery has Dan Leno, Streatham Park has Gus Elen and Will Hay, and Nunhead has Jenny Hill and Alfred Vance. The presentation was interspersed throughout with songs, including the two above sung by Terry and 'The boy in the gallery' sung by Amanda, with the audience joining in the choruses.

Photo caption: Terry and Amanda Lomas, in period dress

Forthcoming FOWNC Events - May-August 2003

General tours will be held on the first Sunday of each month (4 May, 1 June, 6 July and 3 August). All tours (including the special tour below) start at 14.30, at the Cemetery main gate off Norwood Road, and last for about 2 hours. There is no formal charge but we welcome donations of £1 per person (£0.50 concessions) towards conservation projects.

Sunday 22 June: Special Tour - The uses and folklore of plants - Roy Vickery

A joint event with the South London Botanical Institute, looking at nature aspects of the cemetery landscape.

Other forthcoming events

Victorian Society

Saturday 7 June, 9.30-17.15: Cemeteries, death and remembrance. A Victorian Society study day at the Art Workers' Guild, 6 Queen Square WC1, in memory of Prof. Chris Brooks, author of the classic book 'Mortal Remains'. Speakers Roger Bowdler, Julian Litten, Hugh Meller, Brent Elliot, Maggie Goodall, Hilary Grainger, John Turpin, Peter Faulkner. Tickets £35 (includes coffee, lunch and tea) + SAE from the Victorian Society, 1 Priory Gardens, London W4 1TT.

19 June. Evening Walk in South Streatham. Brian Bloice & John Brown. Meet Norbury Station, 18.30. £7 on day, £5 in advance.

John - can be omitted if insufficient space

Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery

Lectures: 7.00 for 7.30pm - All welcome. The Dissenters' Chapel, Kensal Green Cemetery W10 - Entrance from Ladbroke Grove only

Tuesday 20th May 2003 - Lecture. The Heraldic Funeral - Dr Julian Litten

Tuesday 17th June 2003 - Lecture. Blondin: The Man Who Walked Across Niagara - George Speaight

Saturday 5th July 10.00 - 5.00pm. Open Day - Kensal Green Cemetery & West London Crematorium

Tuesday 19th August 2003 - Lecture. Highgate Cemetery: Past, Present & Future - Jean Pateman

Details of other Cemetery Friends events can be found by following the links from our website (details below).

FOWNC Committee &endash; May 2003

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 2003.