Gone – and almost, but not quite, forgotten

Posted by Verity on September 30, 2024 in Black lives matter, feminism, History, society, Women's equality issues | 4 comments

The volunteer leading the visit was a bit apologetic. Her colleague, who was the real expert, wasn’t well today, so she herself would be our guide on the tour of West Norwood Cemetery, and it would just be a twenty-minute skip through the graves rather than the full-length version. Forty-five minutes later we were still drinking in the pleasing autumn melancholy, wandering along muddy paths and admiring the lavishness of Victorian funerary art.

West Norwood Cemetery, originally the South Metropolitan Cemetery, is one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ private cemeteries opened in the nineteenth century to mitigate the overcrowding in London’s churchyards.

These were the most fashionable places for Victorians to bury their dead, and the illustrated guide to the West Norwood one contains no shortage of illustrious moustachioed gents who now occupy plots along its winding paths and among the dense thickets of vegetation, such as William Burges (1827–1881), the architect of Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch; Sir Henry Tate (1819–1899), the philanthropic owner of the sugar business, who gave us the Tate Galleries and golden syrup, among other things; and civil engineer James Greathead (1844–1896), whose tunnelling shield was used in the construction of the Blackwall Tunnell, Rotherhithe Tunnel, and much of the District Line.

But if you look hard enough, as dames are wont to do, you can find some female denizens of this oasis of repose.

The grave of polymath Alma Jean Henry (1934–1999) is one of the more recent ones. After achieving stardom as a young vocalist (14!) on Trinidad radio, she moved to England, where she studied science, education, pharmacy and music. She became head of science at what is now Burntwood School for Girls in Wandsworth, yet at the same time continued to be a renowned contralto, giving concerts around the world to fund her charity work. She appeared as a soloist at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Her legacy is the Alma Jean Henry Charitable Trust, which supports projects in education and for the homeless.

Ballerina Katti Lanner (1829–1908) is commemorated by a simple stone cross, in marked contrast to her stellar career. By 1873 she had an international reputation, and had appeared in Russia, Scandinavia, Paris Portugal and New York, sometimes at the head of her own company. On retiring from dancing, she produced ballets and pantomimes at the Drury Lane Theatre, and in 1887 was appointed ballet mistress at the Empire Theatre, a role she carried out with distinction until 1907 (when she was 78), the year before her death. She is the first woman in the UK to have made a career as a choreographer.

Probably the most famous person to be buried at West Norwood Cemetery, in terms of name recognition by the ‘man on the Clapham omnibus’ (since we are in South London) is Mrs Beeton. Yet Isabella Beeton’s grave typifies how women’s history gets swept under the carpet. The wording on the grave she shares with her husband says it all .

This is a woman who died of puerperal fever at the age of 28, but is credited with shaping the identity of middle-class Victorians. Contributing to her husband’s publication The Englishwoman’s Domestic magazine, she translated French fiction and wrote a cookery column. It’s true the recipes themselves were not hers, either taken from other books or sent in by readers, but it was she who standardised the presentation into the format we are familiar with today, and added details such as cost per portion and the seasonality of the produce. Her advice on family health and household management has stood the test of time. Her book – the compilation of 24 of her articles from the magazine – sold 60,000 copies in the year of its publication (1861) and remains in print.

Given this, you would have though she could have her own over-the-top grave, watched over by a sorrowful stone angel with soaring wings, and garlanded with fruit and flowers to represent her inestimable guidance on these matters.