Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

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Monuments and History

The Cemetery

The cemetery was laid out in a series of imaginary squares of equal size (see map) Each square contains a number of graves or burial plots, both private and public graves. The London Metropolitan Archives has copies of the actual squares which show the grave numbers on the squares. However the numbers of the graves do not run  in numerical order and if the square number is not known then all the maps have to be searched as there is no index.

Burials

All burials took place in either consecrated or unconsecrated ground. Those buried in consecrated ground would have been members of the Church of England and those buried in unconsecrated ground would have been non-conformists or other faiths .

Burials were also either in public graves or in private graves.

Private graves means that an individual or family bought a plot from the company the price determined the location, the size and the number of people that could be buried, and they could say who was buried there

Public Graves were the property of the company and were used to bury those whose families who could pay for a funeral but not a plot b.  Several persons, entirely unrelated to each other could be buried in the same grave within the space of a few weeks.

A grave number either from a memorial card or from a receipt will tell you if it is a public or private grave.

Private Graves have no letter e.g. 4567

Public Grave will usually have a letter attached e.g 56T or R5890

Records

The records of the City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery Company have been deposited in the London Metropolitan Archives. (Please note there are no records kept at the cemetery itself) See the LMA website for details of the actual records that they hold.

Using the Records

If you do not have the grave number you will need the date of death to consult either:

1. The burial registers of private graves;

If you wish to locate the plot on the ground, you will need to note the square number, and find the grave on the square plans noting how it lies in relation to paths, boundary walls, other plots and identifying features, and check the map of  the cemetery to find where the square is.

2. The burial registers of public graves;

(be warned that these microfilms are hardly readable) Once found in the burial registers of public graves it is important to note who else is buried in the grave (even if they are not your family) and the names of those  buried in adjourning graves on either side.

However public graves are not normally marked on the plans.

The East London History Society record memorial inscriptions in the Cemetery Park usually on the second Sunday of every month from 14:00 hrs. They have very limited resources for answering enquiries. Enquiries to help locate a grave once a grave and square number is known will be dealt with in due course but a quick answer is not guaranteed.

• E mail enquiries to the Friends will be replied to in due course -

thcemeterypark@yahoo.co.uk

•  Postal enquiries via the Friends will not be dealt with unless a

stamped address envelope is included: Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, c/o The Soanes Centre, Southern Grove, London E3 4PX

If you wish to visit the Cemetery Park to look for a grave on the second Sunday of the month and require help please let us know that you intend to come so that we may see if we have additional information that may help locate the grave – although there are no public graves maps we do have some  knowledge where they might be located  Please note the Cemetery is a beautiful tranquil place to be in, however the abundance of vegetation restricts searching for graves. It may be advisable to wait for the winter/spring months when more graves are visible.