Sepulture in 1900 London: Cemeteries

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Arthur H. Beavan found this to say about London's cemeteries at the turn of the twentieth century in Imperial London, first published in 1901:

Not a cheerful subject is sepulture, but it has to be faced by public authorities, who view with dismay the enormous growth of London, and the ever-lessening space available for interments.

If cremation should ever become universal, the problem might easily be solved, but this desirable victory of sanitation over sentiment has not yet been attained, and the practice still lingers of hermetically sealing-up the dead, indefinitely postponing the natural resolution of frail humanity into its original elements.

Cremation is obviously the most scientific method of disposing of the dead in crowded cities, and nothing can be simpler.

A shell made of paper-pulp is carried direct from the hearse to the Crematorium, the doors of which are opened, and the coffin is gently rolled into the white heat within; the bell is tolled, and in the course of an hour and a half the remains are reduced to ashes, which are reverently collected and placed in an urn or casket, according to individual taste.

London cemeteries are always neat and orderly, some of them very pretty - the days of utter neglect are past - and even the disused ones are either turned into pleasant recreation-grounds, or kept trim and bright by the gardener's art.

Next: London's Cemeteries in 1900: Kensal Green