| Woking Crematorium | |
|---|---|
 Woking Crematorium in 2018 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Crematorium |
| Address | Hermitage Road |
| Town or city | Woking |
| Country | England |
| Opened | 1878 |
Woking Crematorium is a crematorium in Woking, a large town in the west of Surrey, England. Established in 1878, it was the first custom-built crematorium in the United Kingdom and is closely linked to the history of cremation in the UK.
The crematorium is in Woking, just outside St John's Village on Hermitage Road. Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is nearby but operated separately.
Woking Crematorium was founded in 1878, when a piece of land close to St John's Village was bought by Sir Henry Thompson. He was a surgeon and Physician to the Queen. In 1874, he was a founder and first president of the Cremation Society of Great Britain. The acre of land on which the crematorium was to be established was purchased from the London Necropolis Company with the aid of subscriptions (at £200 each). [1] It was both secluded yet readily accessible, as a train-service, suitable for the conveyance of the dead, already ran between London Waterloo Station and Woking. [2] The cremator was constructed by Professor Paolo Gorini of Lodi, Italy. It was not initially enclosed in a building but stood free in the crematorium grounds.
The new crematorium was first tested on 17 March 1879, when the body of a horse was cremated. The inhabitants of Woking showed strong antipathy to the crematorium and appealed to the Home Secretary, Sir Richard Cross, to prohibit the use of the building. Only after cremation had been declared legal in February 1884 during Dr. William Price's trial, could the Woking facility begin to operate. [2]
On 26 March 1885, the first official cremation in the UK took place in Woking. The deceased was Mrs Jeannette C. Pickersgill, whom The Times described as "a well-known figure in literary and scientific circles". By the end of the year, the Cremation Society of Great Britain had overseen two more cremations, a total of 3 out of 597,357 deaths in the UK that year. [1]
In 1886 ten bodies were cremated at Woking Crematorium. During 1888, in which 28 cremations took place, the Cremation Society planned to provide a chapel, waiting-rooms and other amenities there. The subscription list was headed by the Dukes of Bedford and Westminster. The Duke of Bedford later donated money to complete the buildings and to purchase ground adjacent to the property. The buildings were designed by an ecclesiastical architect in the character of English thirteenth-century Gothic. The churchlike appearance was intended to make the building look reassuring to the public at a time when cremation was an alien custom. [3] The chapel was available for use in January 1891. [2]
In 1892, 104 cremations were carried out at Woking. [2] In 1902, the first crematorium was opened in London (Golders Green Crematorium). By 1911, the original one-acre site at Woking was extended to 10 acres and a Garden of Remembrance added. [2]
Elected president of the Cremation Society in 1921, the 11th Duke of Bedford had the original cremator from Woking transferred to a new chapel at Golders Green Crematorium, where it was later used for his own cremation in 1940.
Among those cremated here are:
Thirteen holders of the Victoria Cross are recorded to have been cremated here. [6]
There were 135 Commonwealth service personnel from both World Wars cremated here. A memorial panel fixed onto the wall of the columbarium by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists the names. Numbers after some entries indicate niches in the columbarium, in other cases the ashes were scattered. [7]
Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000, and the crematorium was opened in 1902 by Sir Henry Thompson.
Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning.
The London Necropolis Company (LNC), formally the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company until 1927, was a cemetery operator established by Act of Parliament in 1852 in reaction to the crisis caused by the closure of London's graveyards in 1851. The LNC intended to establish a single cemetery large enough to accommodate all of London's future burials in perpetuity. The company's founders recognised that the recently invented technology of the railway provided the ability to conduct burials far from populated areas, mitigating concerns over public health risks from living near burial sites. Accordingly, the company bought a very large tract of land in Brookwood, Surrey, around 25 miles (40 km) from London, and converted a portion of it into Brookwood Cemetery. A dedicated railway line, the London Necropolis Railway, linked the new cemetery to the city.
Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
A columbarium is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin columba (dove) and originally solely referred to compartmentalized housing for doves and pigeons, also called dovecotes.
West Norwood Cemetery is a 40-acre (16 ha) rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and ecological interest.
Elizabeth Russell, Duchess of Bedford VA was the daughter of the 5th Earl De La Warr and his wife Lady Elizabeth Sackville.
London Necropolis railway station was the terminus at Waterloo, London, of the London Necropolis Railway. The London Necropolis Railway was opened in 1854 as a reaction to severe overcrowding in London's existing graveyards and cemeteries. It aimed to use the recently developed technology of the railway to move as many burials as possible to the newly built Brookwood Cemetery in Brookwood, Surrey. This location was within easy travelling distance of London, but distant enough for the dead not to pose any risk to public hygiene. There were two locations for the station; the first was in operation from 1854 to 1902, the second from 1902 to 1941.
Francis Charles Hastings Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford KG was an English politician and agriculturalist.
Herbrand Arthur Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, was an English politician and peer. He was the son of Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Sackville-West, daughter of George Sackville-West, 5th Earl De La Warr.
Cremation is a method used to dispose of the deceased in the Christian world despite historical opposition to the practice.
Florence Emily Dugdale was an English teacher and children's writer, who was the second wife of the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy. She was credited as the author of Hardy's posthumously published biography, The Early Life and Later Years of Thomas Hardy, although it was written by Hardy himself in his old age.
Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in southwest London is located in Putney Vale, surrounded by Putney Heath and Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. It is located within 47 acres (19 ha) of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938. The cemetery was originally laid out on land which had belonged to Newlands Farm, which was established in the medieval period.
Southern Cemetery is a large municipal cemetery in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the city centre. It opened in 1879 and is owned and administered by Manchester City Council. It is the largest municipal cemetery in the United Kingdom and the second largest in Europe.
The City of London Cemetery and Crematorium is a cemetery and crematorium in the east of London. It is owned and operated by the City of London Corporation. It is designated Grade I on the Historic England National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Honouring individuals buried in Westminster Abbey has a long tradition.
Karori Cemetery is the second-largest cemetery in New Zealand. It opened in 1891, and is located in the Wellington suburb of Karori.
Birmingham Crematorium is a Protestant crematorium in the Perry Barr district of Birmingham, England, designed by Frank Osborne and opened in 1903. A columbarium was added in 1928. The crematorium is now owned and operated by Dignity plc.
St Michael's Church at Chenies, Buckinghamshire, is a Grade I listed Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Oxford in England. It is not of great architectural interest but stands in an attractive position in the Chess Valley near the Chenies Manor House. The church is famous for its Bedford Chapel, the mausoleum of the Russell family which is private and not open to the public.
The Cremation Society of Great Britain was founded in 1874 to promote the use of cremation as an alternative means of dealing with the bodies of the dead instead of burial which until then was the only option. Today the society is a registered charity and is not conducted for profit.
Media related to Woking Crematorium at Wikimedia Commons51°18′42″N0°36′10″W / 51.3118°N 0.6027°W
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