St Marylebone Cemetery was opened and consecrated on
13th March 1855 and the first interment was the next day. The site, at the time, covered some 47 acres although we suspect
the cemetery today is slightly smaller. The garden centre next door to the main entrance appears to of been built on what
was once cemetery land as the front boundary wall and railings are of the same Victorian type that fronts the Cemetery.
Formerly managed by St Marylebone Borough Council, it
later became the responsibility of the City of Westminster following the local government re-organisation in 1965. More recently
Westminster City Council re-acquired the cemetery in the early 1990's and it's name was formally changed to East Finchley
Cemetery.
To this day the cemetery only contains some 22,000 grave
plots with a limited amount of grave space still available. Maybe the much larger St Pancras & Islington Cemetery, which
is only a mile or so down the road and opened 3 years earlier, could be the reason for the modest interment rate. Never the
less the Cemetery is both beautiful and well maintained and is very well deserved of it's Green Flag awards in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and was also voted Cemetery of the Year in 2007.
The Cemeteries main entrance is through a small but impressive
stone arch with the cemetery lodge along side. Just inside the grounds the Anglican Church takes pride of place with a nice
lawned area and two Lebanese Cedar trees (planted in 1856) between it and the front boundary wall with ornate ironwork. Further
back near to the centre of the Cemetery is the non-conformist Chapel and not far away, and of almost equal proportions, is
the impressive Glenesk Mausoleum. Built in 1899 the Glenesk Mausoleum is an impressively sized gothic structure and is East
Finchley's only mausoleum. Unfortunately at present there is a 7 foot high metal mesh barrier preventing near access
and restricting the view. The reason for this is unclear but is probably due to unstable stonework.
Other monuments of distinction include the bronze tomb
of Thomas Tate, the memorial statues of Harry Dillon-Ripley and Sir Peter Nicol Russell and the monstrous tomb of Thomas Skarratt
Hall.
Notable burials
Sir Henry Bishop – Professor of
Music at Oxford and operatic composer
Leopold Stokowski – Conductor
Sir Robert Harmsworth – Newspaper
Publisher with a memorial by Edwin Lutyens
Lord Northcliffe – Founder of
the Daily Mail
Sir Joseph Chamberlain – Son of
Joseph Chamberlain and brother of Neville Chamberlain
Sir George Hayter – Queen Victoria’s
principal painter in ordinary
Melanie Appleby - one half of pop duo
Mel and Kim
Algernon Borthwick 1st Baron Glenesk
– Memorial chapel and Mausoleum
Thomas Henry Huxley – Scientist
Heath Robinson – Artist and cartoonist
Marie Studholme - Actress
George Walters - Sergeant in the 49th
Foot who won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Inkermann in 1854
Thomas Stevens - Cyclist, the first
one to circle the globe by bicycle
