Kensal Green's Catacombs

The Catacombs at Kensal Green Cemetery

Kensal Green Cemetery is distinguished by three catacombs for the deposit of lead-sealed, triple-shelled coffins and cremated remains. Catacomb A, beneath the North Terrace Colonnade is now sealed. Catacomb Z, beneath the Dissenters' Chapel at the eastern end of the cemetery, suffered significant bomb damage during World War II, and is also closed to further deposits.

Catacomb B, beneath the Anglican Chapel in the centre of the cemetery, has space for some 4000 deposits, and still offers both private loculi and shelves or vaults for family groups. The catacomb extends under the entire footprint of the chapel and its colonnades. There are six aisles, within which each vault is also numbered, running consecutively to number 216 at the south-western end of aisle 6.

The catacomb was once complemented by Monumental Chambers for the display of memorials to those who rested below, where flower beds now stand behind the chapel. A columbarium for the deposit of 'cinerary urns' (here, in an illustration from The Daily Graphic of 28 August 1892) was introduced after Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, Bt. KCSI (1829-1894), presiding over the trial of Dr. William Price in 1884, determined that cremation is not forbidden under English law. (Judge Stephen himself is buried with others of his distinguished family in Square 86 of the cemetery.)

Deposit within the catacombs of Kensal Green has always been more expensive and prestigious than burial in a simple plot in the grounds of the cemetery, although less costly than a brick-lined grave or mausoleum. Without the further expense and responsibility of a monument above the grave, the catacombs have afforded a secure, dignified and exclusive resting place for the well-to-do, particularly the unmarried, the childless and young children of those without family plots or mausolea elsewhere.

NOW RESTING IN CATACOMB B

Surgeon Sir Charles Aldis KCMG (1775-1863)
Diplomat Charles Arbuthnot PC (1767-1850)
Violinist George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower (1782-1860)
Physician John Clendinning FRS FRCP (1798-1848)
General The Hon. Sir Charles Colville (1770-1843)
Composer Sir Michael Andrew Agnellus Costa (1808-1884)
Shakespearean actor William Creswick (1813-1888)
Mayfair club proprietor William Crockford (1775-1844)
General Sir Moore Disney KCB (1766-1846)
William Vesey Fitzgerald, Baron Fitzgerald and Vesey (1783-1843)
John Fitzgibbon, 2nd Earl of Clare (d. 1851)
Alleyne Fitzherbert, 1st Lord St Helens (1753-1839)
Army surgeon Sir Charles Ferguson Forbes FRCP (1779-1852)
Traveller Jane Griffin, Lady Franklin (1792-1875)
Diplomat Sir James Gambier (1771-1844)
General Isaac Gascoyne (1770-1841)
Physician Samuel Jones Gee FRCP (1839-1911)
Surgeon James Gillkrest MD (1772-1853)
Vice Admiral Grace (d. 1859)
Physician and Italian patriot Augustus Bozzi Granville FRS (1783-1872)
Geologist George Bellas Greenough (1778-1855)
Surgeon George James Guthrie PRCS (1785-1856)
Royal lady-in-waiting Lady Anne Hamilton (1766-1846)
Sporting writer Peter Hawker (1786-1853)
Painters Georgina Jane Keate Henderson (1770-1850) and her son Charles Cooper Henderson (1803-1877)
Philanthropist Robert Hibbert (1769-1849)
Painter John Hollins ARA (1798-1855)
General Sir James Kempt GCB GCH (1776-1854)
Magistrate Allan Stewart Laing, model for Oliver Twist's Mr. Fang (1788-1862)
Physician Sir George William Lefevre (1798-1846)
The Hon. Augusta Leigh, Lord Byron's half-sister (c1782-1851)
Sculptor John Graham Lough (1806-1878)
General Sir William Lumley GCB (1769-1850)
Painter and Australian colonist William Thomas Lyttleton (1786-1839)
Royal Physician-in-Ordinary William MacMichael (1783-1839)
Tragedian William Charles Macready (1793-1873)
Antiquary Sir Frederick Madden FRS KH (1801-1873)
Admiral Sir Thomas Byam Martin GCB (1773-1854)
Hotelier James Edward Mivart (1781-1856)
Violinist Nicholas Mori (1796-1839)
Rt. Hon. William Pole Tynley Long-Wellesley, 4th Earl of Mornington (1788-1857)
General Sir George Murray KCB (1772-1846)
Vice Admiral James Noble (1774-1851)
Major General Sir Joseph O'Halloran GCB (1764-1843)
Bank of England Director and Governor John Horsley Palmer (1779-1858)
Architect Joseph Parkinson (1783-1855)
Art collector John Meeson Parsons (1798-1870)
Bankers Sir John Dean Paul, 1st Baronet (d. 1852) and Sir John Dean Paul, 2nd Baronet (1802-1868)
Chemist Jonathan Pereira FRS (1804-1853)
John Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Ponsonby GCB (1750-1855)
Admiral Sir Henry Prescott GCB (1783-1874)
Army surgeon Sir William Pym KCH (1771-1861)
Admiral Henry Raper (1767-1845)
Philanthropist Cordelia Angelina Read (1801-1871)
Inspector of Factories Alexander Redgrave (1818-1894)
Diplomat and sculptor George Rennie (1802-1860)
Dramatist Frederick Reynolds (1764-1841)
Magistrate Sir Frederick Adair Roe (1789-1866)
Writer Isabella Frances Romer (d. 1852)
Judge The Hon. Sir George Rose FRS (1782-1873)
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Charles Rowan KCB (1783-1852)
Physician Sir Charles Scudamore MD (1779-1849)
Sculptor and monumental mason Robert Shout (1763-1843)
Conductor Sir George Thomas Smart (1776-1867)
Lord Granville Charles Henry Somerset (1792-1848)
Actress and singer Catherine Stephens Countess of Essex (1794-1882)
Writer Louisa Stuart (1757-1851)
Diplomat Sir Charles Richard Vaughan (1774-1849)
Political writer Edward Wakefield (1771-1854)
Thomas Wakley FRCS, first editor of The Lancet (1795-1862)
Master of Royal Household Sir Frederick Beilby Watson KCH (1773-1852)
Publisher and bookseller George Byrom Whittaker (1793-1847)
Radical politician John Wilks (1776-1854)
Sir Nesbitt Josiah Willoughby CB KCH, Admiral of the White (1777-1849)
Engraver and portrait painter Thomas Wright (1792-1849)
General Edward Buckley Wynyard (1788-1864)