Warriston Cemetery lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and occupies around 14 acres (5.7 ha) of land on a slightly sloping site. It contains many tens of thousands of graves, including notable Victorian and Edwardian figures, the most eminent being the physician Sir James Young Simpson.
It is located on the north side of the Water of Leith, and has an impressive landscape; partly planned, partly unplanned due to recent neglect. It lies in the Inverleith Conservation Area and is also a designated Local Nature Conservation Site. The cemetery is protected as a Category A listed building.
In July 2013 the Friends of Warriston Cemetery was inaugurated to reveal the heritage and to encourage appropriate biodiversity.
Designed in 1842 by Edinburgh architect David Cousin, the cemetery opened in 1843: the first interment was towards the east, Margaret Barker, who was buried on 3 June 1843.
It was the first garden cemetery in Edinburgh, allowing the simplistic original title of The Edinburgh Cemetery, and provided a model for several other Scottish cemeteries. In its own right it was broadly based on ideas first introduced at Kensal Green Cemetery in London. Designed elements include a neo-Tudor line of catacombs. Their length was doubled in 1862 by architect John Dick Peddie. The chapel that once stood on top of the catacombs was removed in the 1980s.
Soon after instigation (in 1845) the cemetery was divided by the Edinburgh Leith and Newhaven Railway which was built east to west through its southern half. A tunnel was added, with Gothic archways at its mouths, to link the north and south sections, but the south being smaller, was the inferior area from this date onwards. The embankments of the railway have been partly removed following its closure in the 1950s, and the line is now a public walkway.
In 1929 the Edinburgh Cemetery Company expanded their business into the new field of cremation, converting East Warriston House (1818) into Warriston Crematorium on an adjacent site to the east. The architect was Sir Robert Lorimer, hence the title Lorimer Chapel for the main chapel. The crematorium was extended to the west in 1967 by the architect Esme Gordon. The cemetery lodge to the north-west dates from 1931 and was designed by architect J.R.McKay.
The cemetery was in private ownership until 1994, when it was compulsorily purchased by the City of Edinburgh Council. The long task of restoring the heavily overgrown and vandalised cemetery has begun, but still has far to go. Currently only the upper (westmost) section is maintained. Many sections are now so densely overgrown that the stones are no longer visible and are simply bumps in the green undergrowth.
The Robertson mortuary chapel was erected in 1865 for Mary Ann Robertson (1826–58), daughter of Brigadier-General Manson of the Bombay Artillery. The white marble shrine contained a sculpture of a reclining female figure, and was topped by a red glass roof, leading to the local nickname, the Tomb of the Red Lady. The monument was heavily vandalised and had to be demolished in the late 1980s.
Sir James Young Simpson's grave remains visible but the lower section has been infilled with earth to provide space for further burial.
Several eminent sculptors work is found in the cemetery, including a fine portrait of William Young, horticulturist (1816–1896) by William Birnie Rhind, a monument to Robert Bryson by Thomas Stuart Burnett, and a wealth of fine ornate Celtic crosses by the McGlashens. A sizeable arched pedestal to the Rev. James Peddie (died 1845) by John Dick Peddie is also of note.
George Aikman (1830–1905) artist and engraver
Joseph Anderson (antiquarian) (1832-1916) keeper of the National Museum of Antiquities, and his son David Anderson, Lord St Vigeans
Robert Rowand Anderson (1834–1921) architect
John Hutton Balfour (1808–1884) botanist
Dr William Beilby (1783-1849) physician
Adam Black (1784–1874), publisher, Lord Provost and Member of Parliament for Edinburgh
Samuel Blackburn (1813–1856) portrait artist
Hippolyte Blanc (1844–1917), architect
William Graham Boss (1883–1927) stained glass designer
John Crawford Brown (1805-1867) landscape artist
William Alexander Bryson FRSE (died 1906) creator of the public electric lighting system in Leith in 1897 (one of the first in the world) - stone vandalised
Alexander Buchan (meteorologist) (1829–1907), creator of the map-based weather forecast
Sir John James Burnet (1857–1938), architect
William Archibald Cadell FRSE (1775–1855) historian, mathematician and owner of the Carron Company
James Cadenhead (1858–1927) artist
Dr Colin Cadman (1916–1971), plant pathologist and mycologist
Robert MacFarlane Cameron (1860-1920) architect
Lorne MacLaine Campbell (1902–1991) Victoria Cross recipient
Sir Thomas Clark (1823–1900), Lord Provost of Edinburgh (1865–1888)
Prof Arthur Connell (1794–1863), FRSE
Alexander Hunter Crawford (1865-1945) architect
John Cumming (artist) (1824–1908) father of William Skeoch Cumming
James Currie (shipowner) (1863-1930), owner of the Currie Line
Sir David Deas (1807–1876), naval physician, with his architect son, Francis William Deas (1862–1951)
George Deas, Lord Deas (1804–1887)
Sir David Dumbreck (1805-1876) memorial only
John Gillison Dunbar (1874–1958) creator of Dunbar's lemonade
Thomas Duncan (painter) (1807–1845)
David Dundas, Lord Dundas (1854–1922) law lord
Robert William Dundas, MC, Legion of Honour, (1881–1928) military hero and solicitor, co-founder of Dundas & Wilson
Elizabeth Marianne Erskine (1871-1942) early female surgeon
David Talyor Fish FRHA (1824–1901) botanist
Robert Gavin (1827–1883) artist
Robert Gibb (1845–1932), artist, most remembered for the painting The Thin Red Line (unmarked grave)
Robert Fleming Gourlay (1778-1863) Scottish-Canadian politician
Frederick Richard Graham-Yooll (d.1931) inventor
Andrew Grant (MP) (1830–1924) Liberal politician
Very Rev James Grant DD FRSE (1800-1890) Director of Scottish Widows 1840 to 1890 and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1854, father of above Andrew Grant
Sir Louis Stewart Gumley (died 1941), Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1935–38
Samuel Halkett (1814–1877) librarian and author
Sir George Harrison (1812–1885), Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1882-5
Sir George Harvey (1805–1876) artist.
David Ramsay Hay (1798-1866) artist and author
Alexander Henry (1818–1894), gunsmith, First Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer, JP and Edinburgh Town Councillor
James Howie (1845–1910) photographer
John Howkins (civil engineer) (1840-1966)
William Hurst (civil engineer) (1810-1890) Scottish engineer linked to the early development of railways
Cosmo Innes (1798–1874) judge, author and antiquarian. A member of the Edinburgh Calotype Club one of the world's first photographic societies
Professor Robert Jameson (1774–1854), naturalist and mineralogist
Feliks Janiewicz (1762–1848), Polish composer and violinist in exile
James Jardine (1776–1858) civil engineer
Alexander Keiller (1811–1892), physician and obstetrician; introduced gynaecological teaching into the Edinburgh Medical School
Philip Kelland (1808–1879), English mathematician
Count Walerian Krasiński (1795–1855), Polish Calvinist politician, nationalist and historian
Robert Scott Lauder (1803–1869), artist (monument by John Hutchison)
James Eckford Lauder (1811–1869), artist, buried with his older brother Robert Scott Lauder
Charles Lees RSA (1800–1880) artist
Professor David Low (1786–1859), agriculturalist
Charles Somerville MacAlester (1797-1891) - grave vandalised
Horatio McCulloch (1806–1867), artist (monument by John Rhind)
Robert MacFarlane, Lord Ormidale (1802–1880) judge
Stewart McGlashan (1807–1873) sculptor
Prof William Ramsay McNab (1844–1889), botanist (memorial on parents' grave)
Duncan McNeill, 1st Baron Colonsay and Oronsay (1793–1874), advocate and Tory politician; Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session (1852–1867)
Sir Richard Mackie (1851–1923) Provost of Leith, 1899 to 1901
Sir James David Marwick (1826-1908)
John Menzies (1808–1879), founder of the national newsagent chain bearing his name
Thomas Menzies (1847–1901), major shipbuilder in Leith
Prof Thomas Hugh Milroy LLD FRSE (1869–1950) physiologist, organic chemist and Vice President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Hugh Morton (1812–1878) civil engineer
Charles Murray, Lord Murray (1866-1936) law lord
Charles Neaves, Lord Neaves (1800–1876) Scottish judge
Patrick Neill (naturalist) (1776–1851)
William Nicol (1770–1851), physicist and geologist
Alexander Nicolson (1827–1893) scholar and mountaineer
Cpt John Orr (d.1879) who fought at Waterloo
George Outram (1805–1856), humorist and editor of the Glasgow Herald
Walter Gray Pattison (1829-1890) whisky distiller and blender (in "secret garden")
Sir William Peck (1862–1925), astronomer
Alexander Peddie (1810–1907), physician and author
John Dick Peddie (1824–1891), architect (see above)
James Pocock (1777-1857) veteran of the Battle of Waterloo
James Pringle (1822–1886), businessman and Provost of Leith (1881-6)
Harold Raeburn (1865–1926), mountaineer
Richard Ramage (1834–1920) co-founder of Ramage & Ferguson shipbuilders in Leith
Alexander Ramsay (1777–1847), architect
John Rhind (1828–1892), sculptor (also his sons William Birnie Rhind and Thomas Duncan Rhind in the same plot)
William Robertson FRSE (1818–1882), physician and statistician
John Merry Ross LLD (1833-1883) author
John Sheriff ARSA, artist
John Siveright (1779–1856), of the Hudson's Bay Company
Sir James Young Simpson (1811–1870), pioneer of anaesthetics
John Smart (landscape artist) (1838–1899)
Alexander Smith (1829–1867), Scottish poet
John Smith (1825–1910), surgeon and dentist, FRSE, FRCS, founder of the Edinburgh Dental Hospital, Queen Victoria's dentist
Malcolm Smith (Scottish politician) (1856–1935), MP plus Provost of Leith 1908–17
Prof Charles Hunter Stewart FRSE (1854-1924) public health expert
James Hutchison Stirling (1820-1909) philosopher
Admiral Pringle Stoddart (1768-1848)
Sir John Struthers (1823–1899), surgeon and anatomist
John Stuart (genealogist) (1813-1877)
Captain Francis Stupart (Scots Greys), Cavalry Officer who fought in the Battle of Waterloo
William Swan (physicist) (1818-1894) FRSE (in "secret garden") discoverer of the Swan band
Sir William Taylour Thomson (1813-1883) military officer and diplomat (a noteworthy double sarcophagus paired with his wife)
Thomas Jameson Torrie (died 1858), advocate, geologist, mineralogist and botanist
Sir John Batty Tuke (1835–1913) eminent psychiatrist
George Waterston (1808-1883) stationer, founder of Waterstons Bookshop
William Williams (1832–1900), Welsh veterinary surgeon, founder of the Dick Vet College
The crematorium is on a separate site, east of the main cemetery. It has several areas of remembrance, the oldest being the oak panelled rooms in the basement. To the north there is both a Rose Garden and Water Garden holding memorials. The Book of Remembrance is opened to the date each day, for those marking the anniversary of a death. A computerised version of the Book of Remembrance is also available, enabling other dates to be viewed.
Alfred Adler (1870–1937), Austrian psychotherapist and founder of the school of individual psychology. Moved April 2011 to Austria
Sapper Adam Archibald (1879–1957), VC recipient World War I
Captain Charles George Bonner (1884–1951), Royal Navy Victoria Cross recipient World War I.
Anthony Chenevix-Trench (1919–1979), Headmaster of Eton and Fettes Colleges
Brigadier Arthur Edward Cumming (1896–1971), VC recipient, Malaya, World War II
Frederick Gardiner (radiologist) FRSE (1874-1933), dermatologist and x-ray pioneer/martyr
Andrew Gilzean (1877–1957) MP
Tom Hart (1922–1982) chairman of Hibernian Football Club
Sir Robert Lorimer (1868–1929), architect. One of the first cremations, his ashes are buried with his parents at Newburn in Fife.
Lieutenant David Lowe MacIntyre (1895–1967), Army VC recipient, World War I
Ebenezer James MacRae (1881–1951), City Architect for Edinburgh
Sir Frank Mears (1880–1953) architect and town planner
Don Revie (1927–1989), English footballer and manager
Captain Henry Peel Ritchie (1879–1958), Royal Navy VC recipient, East Africa, World War I
Drum-Major Walter Potter Ritchie (1892–1965), VC recipient, Battle of the Somme, World War I
Sir Charles Laing Warr (1892–1969), Minister of The High Church of St Giles, Edinburgh, and Dean of the Thistle and Chapel Royal Scotland (1926–1969)
Warriston Cemetery contains 100 graves of Commonwealth service personnel, 72 from World War I and 27 from World War II, besides a grave of a Belgian soldier. The cemetery also contains a CWGC memorial, at the end of the columbarium, in the form of panels listing 142 Commonwealth service personnel of World War II who were cremated here.
Among trees of note in Warriston Cemetery are two purple-leaved elms, one of the rarest of pre-Dutch Elm Disease cultivars, a rare Webb's Elm, and three mature Guernsey Elms.
