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 a "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 (1776-1862) – mathematician, and his civil engineer son William Henry Barlow (1812-1902).
• Sir Geoffrey Callender (1875-1946) – the first director of the National Maritime Museum
• George Cooper (1844-1909) – London politician, Member of Parliament for Bermondsey
• William Clark Cowie (1849-1910) – Scottish engineer, mariner, and businessman, and administrator of Borneo
• Sir William Cunningham Dalyell of the Binns, 7th Baronet (1784-1865) – 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, and Governor of Malta
• Frederick Hobson Leslie (1855-1892) – actor and comedian, best known for using the pseudonym "A. C. Torr"
• 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 (1788-1869) – served on a number of ships 1799 to 1841, superintendent of several dockyards 1841 to 1845, and commissioner of Greenwich Hospital
• Admiral George Perceval, 6th Earl of Egmont (1794-1874) – a midshipman at the Battle of Trafalgar at age 11
• Sir John Maryon–Wilson (1802-1876) – 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