Famous London cemeteries

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Bunhill Fields

Highgate Cemetary

Kensal Green Cemetary

There are many cemeteries in London but three are of particular interest due to the number of notable people buried in them (see the list). Bunhill Fields was a cemetery opened towards the end of the 17th century providing burial plots for Nonconformists. Situated just north of the City of London the four acre site houses the graves of three major literary figures. The cemetery stayed in use until the middle of the 19th century. In 1832 Kensal Green Cemetery was the first of seven major new cemeteries to be built in London over the following decade. A response to the burgeoning population of the capital, these private cemeteries soon replaced the inner city churchyards which had become overcrowded and the source of disease and epidemics. Situated in west London, Kensal Green soon became one of Victorian London's most fashionable burial grounds, especially after the funeral there in 1843 of Augustus Frederick, the Duke of Sussex and son of George III and Queen Charlotte, who became the first member of the royal family to be buried in a public cemetery. His sister, Princess Sophia, wanting to be buried near her brother, was also buried there in 1848. The cemetery contains the graves of many other notable people. The third of the seven new London cemeteries opened in 1839 and became the most famous. Highgate Cemetery also became fashionable with the Victorians and was the chosen burial ground for many people of note, including its most famous resident: Karl Marx. The other five major London cemeteries which opened at the time were: West Norwood Cemetery (1837), Abney Park Cemetery (1840), Nunhead Cemetery (1840), Brompton Cemetery (1840), and Tower Hamlets Cemetery (1841). Here is a selection of some notable people buried or interred at Bunhill Fields, Highgate and Kensal Green.
Bunhill Fields
John Bunyan Writer	died 1688		Portrait
George Fox Founder of the Quakers	died 1691		Portrait
Daniel Defoe Writer	died 1731		Portrait
William Blake Artist and poet	died 1827		Portrait

Highgate Cemetery
Michael Faraday Chemist and physicist	died 1867		Portrait
George Eliot Writer	died 1880		Portrait
Karl Marx Political philosopher	died 1883		Portrait
Christina Rossetti Poet	died 1894		Portrait
Ralph Richardson Actor	died 1983		Portrait
Douglas Adams Writer	died 2001		Portrait
Beryl Bainbridge Novelist	died 2010		Portrait
Alan Sillitoe Writer	died 2010		Portrait
Malcolm McLaren Rock manager, designer, musician	died 2010		Portrait
George Michael Singer-songwriter	died 2016		Portrait

Kensal Green Cemetery
Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex Son of George III	died 1843		Portrait
Princess Sophia Daughter of George III	died 1848		Portrait
Marc Isambard Brunel Civil engineer and inventor	died 1849		Portrait
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Civil engineer and inventor	died 1859		Portrait
William Makepeace Thackeray Writer	died 1863		Portrait
Charles Babbage Mathematician and computing pioneer	died 1871		Portrait
Anthony Trollope Writer	died 1882		Portrait
Wilkie Collins Writer	died 1889		Portrait
Charles Blondin Tightrope walker and acrobat	died 1897		---
Ingrid Bergman Actress	died 1982	See Note 1	Portrait
Freddie Mercury Singer-songwriter	died 1991	See Note 1	Portrait
Fred Zinnemann Film director	died 1997	See Note 1	Portrait
Iris Murdoch Writer	died 1999	See Note 1	Portrait
Joe Strummer Singer-songwriter	died 2002	See Note 1	Portrait
Harold Pinter Nobel-prize winning playwright	died 2008		Portrait

Notes

1. According to the Kensal Green Cemetery website although cremated at the cemetery their ashes were interred or scattered elsewhere.

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