Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Key Hill Cemetery

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Established
  
1836

Country
  
England

Founded
  
1836

Location
  
Hockley, Birmingham

Website
  
fkwc.org

Key Hill Cemetery s0geographorgukgeophotos01291012910808da2

Burials
  
Joseph Chamberlain, Alfred Bird, George Dawson

Similar
  
Witton Cemetery, Edgbaston Pool, Aston Reservoir, Adderley Park, Bartley Reservoir

The haunted necropolis of key hill cemetery


Key Hill Cemetery, (OS grid reference SP059882), originally called Birmingham General Cemetery, a nonconformist (non-denominational) cemetery, is the oldest cemetery (not being in a churchyard) in Birmingham, England. It opened on 23 May 1836. Located in Hockley, the city's Jewellery Quarter, it is one of two cemeteries there (the other being Warstone Lane Cemetery, opened in 1847, and originally reserved for members of the established Church of England). The principal entrance is on Icknield Street (to the west), with a secondary entrance on Key Hill (to the north). The cemetery contains the graves of many prominent members of Birmingham society in the late 19th century, to the extent that in 1915 E. H. Manning felt able to dub it "the Westminster Abbey of the Midlands".

Contents

Key Hill Cemetery MAP Famous graves of Key Hill Cemetery in the Jewellery Quarter

It is no longer available for new burials.

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History and description

Key Hill Cemetery FileKey Hill Cemetery Jewellery Quarter geographorguk

The cemetery was originally laid out for the Birmingham General Cemetery Company by local architect Charles Edge (d.1867). Many of its fittings and memorials are of architectural and artistic merit. The railings and entrance gates with imposing piers (all by Edge) are Grade II listed. The Greek Doric chapel, also by Edge, has been demolished. The cemetery is itself listed Grade II* on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. A campaign group, the Friends of Key Hill & Warstone Lane Cemeteries, lobbies to have the cemetery restored. The entrance piers and gates on both Icknield Street and Key Hill have been restored in recent years.

Burials

Key Hill Cemetery New garden of memory plan for historic Warstone Lane Cemetery in

A comprehensive record of memorial inscriptions of existing memorials (and of some of those removed by Birmingham City Council) may be consulted through the Jewellery Quarter Research Trust's website.

Notable people buried in the cemetery include:


  • Marie Bethell Beauclerc (1845–1897): first female reporter (i.e. Pitman shorthand recorder) in England; pioneer in teaching of shorthand and typing in Birmingham; first female teacher in an English boys' public school (Rugby). Plot 961.I.
  • Alfred Bird (1811–1878): chemist and inventor of egg-free custard and baking powder. Plot 164.H.
  • Joseph Chamberlain, senior (1796–1874): shoe manufacturer and Master of the Cordwainer's Company of London; father of the statesman Joseph Chamberlain. Plot 622.K.
  • Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914): politician and statesman, Mayor of Birmingham 1873–6, Member of Parliament 1876–1914; with his first two wives, Harriet (d. 1863) and Florence (d. 1875). Plot 610.K.
  • John Henry Chamberlain (1831–1883): architect. Plot 701.K.
  • Richard Chamberlain (1840–1899): Mayor of Birmingham 1879–80; Liberal and Liberal Unionist MP for Islington West 1885–92; younger brother of Joseph Chamberlain. Plot 620.K.
  • Robert Lucas Chance (d. 1897): director of Chance Brothers, glass makers of Smethwick. Plot 902.K.
  • Dr Robert William Dale (1829–1895): Congregationalist preacher and reformer. Plot 637.K.
  • George Dawson (1821–1876): nonconformist preacher and reformer. Plot 507.O.
  • George Edmonds (1788–1868): teacher, lawyer, scholar, radical and journalist. Plot 161.P.
  • Joseph Gillott (1799–1872): pen manufacturer. Plot 374-375.E.
  • William Harris (1826–1911): Liberal Party politician and strategist, architect, and writer. Plot 1.C.
  • James Hinks (d. 1905): developer and manufacturer of oil lamps (the company was run by his brother, Joseph Hinks). Plot 389.P.
  • John Alfred Langford (1823–1903): journalist, poet, political activist and antiquary. Plot 169.R.
  • Harriet Martineau (1802–1876): author; buried beside her mother, Elizabeth Martineau, née Rankin (1771–1848); Elizabeth is the ancestor of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Plot 790.I.
  • Robert Martineau (1798–1870): Mayor of Birmingham 1846, JP, Bailiff of Lench's Trust. Plot 790.I.
  • Robert Francis Martineau (1831–1909): JP, Secretary of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, council member of Mason's College and then University of Birmingham. Plot 790.I.
  • Sir Thomas Martineau (1828–1893): Mayor of Birmingham 1884–7. Plot 134.K.
  • Constance Naden (1858–1889): poet, philosopher, and science student. Plot 460.P.
  • A. Follett Osler (1808–1903): glass manufacturer, developer of time-pieces. Plot 611.K.
  • Joseph Powell Williams (1840–1904): Liberal and Liberal Unionist MP for Birmingham South 1885–1904. Plot 917.K.
  • Samuel Timmins (1826–1902): Shakespearean scholar and antiquarian. Plot 712.K.
  • John Skirrow Wright (1822–1880): reformer and MP. Plot 218.E.
  • Edwin Yates (c.1820–1874): Mayor of Birmingham 1865. Plot 426.K.

    • War Graves

    There are 46 Commonwealth service war graves in the cemetery, commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 38 from the First World War (mostly in section L, none marked by headstones) whose names are listed on a Screen Wall memorial; and eight from the Second.

    References

    Key Hill Cemetery Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA