Cremation Society of Great Britain
Encyclopedia
The Cremation Society of Great Britain is an special interest organisation
that advocates cremation
in the United Kingdom
.
. In 1869 the idea was presented to the Medical International Congress of Florence by Professors Coletti and Castiglioni "in the name of public health and civilization". In 1873 Professor Gorini of Lodi
and Professor Brunetti of Padua
published reports or practical work they had conducted. A model of Professor Brunetti's cremating apparatus, together with the resulting ashes, was exhibited at the Vienna Exposition in 1873 and attracted great attention, including that of Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet
, a surgeon and Physician to the Queen
Victoria, who returned home to become the first and chief promoter of cremation in England.
Sir Henry Thompson's main reason for supporting cremation was that "it was becoming a necessary sanitary precaution against the propagation of disease among a population daily growing larger in relation to the area it occupied". In addition, he believed, cremation would prevent premature burial, reduce the expense of funerals, spare mourners the necessity of standing exposed to the weather during interment, and urns would be safe from vandalism. On 13 January 1874, some advocates of cremation held a meeting at Thompson's house in London
and formally founded the "Cremation Society of Great Britain" which was "organised expressly for the purpose of obtaining and disseminating information on the subject and for adopting the best method of performing the process, as soon as this could be determined, provided that the act was not contrary to Law".
on which the crematorium was to be established was bought by Sir Henry Thompson. The acre of land was purchased with the aid of subscriptions (at £200 each) from the London Necropolis Company
. Professor Gorini was invited to visit Woking and supervise the erection of his cremation apparatus there. It was first tested on 17 March 1879, when the body of a horse was cremated. The inhabitants of Woking showed strong antipathy to the crematorium and appealed to the Home Secretary
, Sir Richard Cross
, to prohibit the use of the building. Only after cremation had been declared legal in February 1884 during Dr. William Price's trial, the Woking facility could begin to operate.
On 26 March 1885, the first official cremation in the UK took place in Woking. The deceased was Mrs Jeannette C. Pickersgill
, whom The Times
described as "a well-known figure in literary and scientific circles". By the end of the year, the Cremation Society of Great Britain had overseen two more cremations, a total of 3 out of 597,357 deaths in the UK that year.
In 1886 ten bodies were cremated at Woking Crematorium
. During 1888, in which 28 cremations took place, the Cremation Society planned to provide a chapel, waiting rooms and other amenities there. The subscription list was headed by the dukes of Bedford
and Westminster
. The 9th Duke of Bedford
later donated further money to complete the buildings and to purchase further ground adjacent to the property.
. Four years later similar action was taken in Liverpool
where the fourth crematorium in Great Britain was established. 1900 saw the opening of the first municipal crematorium at Hull
and in 1902 Golders Green Crematorium
became the first crematorium in London. Since November 1902 more than 300,000 cremations have taken place at Golders Green, far more than any other British crematorium.
In 1905 the famous actor Sir Henry Irving
was cremated and his ashes buried in Westminster Abbey
, thereby becoming the first person ever to be cremated prior to interment at the Abbey. This marked a milestone as after the death of the famous botanist Sir Joseph Hooker
in December 1911, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey chose to offer Hooker a grave near Charles Darwin
's in the nave
but also insisted that he be cremated before. His widow however declined and so Hooker's body was buried in the churchyard of St. Anne's Church, Kew
.
Until the beginning of the First World War, the number of cremations carried out at the crematoria in Britain (by then thirteen) grew steadily. In 1911, the annual figures reached 1,000 for the first time, and of this number, 542 were now cremated at Golders Green. By the end of 1914 the national figure was 1,279. Cremation began to receive further public attention when it was used for the funerals of a number of celebrities in the UK. In 1917 Princess Louise, Duchess of Connaught became the first member of the British Royal Family
to be cremated. The procedure of burying ashes in an urn was still unfamiliar at the time, and her urn was transported in an ordinary coffin during the funeral ceremonies. Other important public figures cremated then were Admiral of the Fleet
John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher in 1920 and Field Marshal
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres
in 1925.
s Ramsay McDonald, Bonar Law and Neville Chamberlain
. The first Welsh crematorium was built at Pontypridd
in 1923. In 1932 the Cremation Society ceased to be a cremation authority when ownership of Woking Crematorium
was transferred to the London Cremation Company, which was the authority controlling Golders Green Crematorium
. Until 1933 there had been a total of 16,312 cremations in the UK, and in 1934 alone there were 8,337. 1936 saw the last funeral at Westminster Abbey
to be conducted without cremation. St Paul's Cathedral
soon followed Westminster's example, and as it became a common practice to bury national figures only after they had been cremated, this had an immense effect on public opinion.
Between 1936 and 1939, new crematoria opened in Blackpool
, Dundee
, Charing in Kent, Streatham, Harrogate, Norwich, Islington, Birmingham, Croydon, St. Marylebone, Cheltenham, Bournemouth, Aberdeen, Wandsworth, Leeds, Rochdale, Enfield, Paisley, Cambridge, Mortlake, Leith, Oxford, Weymouth, Kensal Green and Northampton.
In 1944 the body of Dr. William Temple
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
was cremated at Charing Crematorium in Kent. He was the first Primate of All England to be cremated, followed by the cremation of his predecessor Cosmo Gordon Lang in 1945. These two funerals marked how this practice had by now become accepted within the Church of England.
By the end of the 20th century, over 240 crematoria were in use in the United Kingdom. In 2000, over 70% of the deceased were cremated (437,609 out of 611,960 deaths), making this one of the highest percentages of cremations in the European Union
.
Special Interest Group
A Special Interest Group is a community with an interest in advancing a specific area of knowledge, learning or technology where members cooperate to effect or to produce solutions within their particular field, and may communicate, meet, and organize conferences...
that advocates cremation
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
The beginnings
Cremation was not legal in Great Britain until 1885, but interest in this form of burial emerged during the second half of the 19th century from ideas that reached the country from ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. In 1869 the idea was presented to the Medical International Congress of Florence by Professors Coletti and Castiglioni "in the name of public health and civilization". In 1873 Professor Gorini of Lodi
Lodi
-Places:In Canada:* Lodi, Ontario, a community in North Stormont, OntarioIn Italy:* Lodi, Lombardy, in the Province of Lodi of the Lombardy region** The Treaty of Lodi, 1454 between Italian city-states** The Battle of Lodi, 1796 in Lodi...
and Professor Brunetti of Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
published reports or practical work they had conducted. A model of Professor Brunetti's cremating apparatus, together with the resulting ashes, was exhibited at the Vienna Exposition in 1873 and attracted great attention, including that of Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet
Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet
Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet FRCS , British surgeon and polymath, was born at Framlingham, Suffolk.-Medical career:...
, a surgeon and Physician to the Queen
Physician to the Queen
Physician to the King and Physician to the Queen are titles of the physician who is chief officer of the Medical Household of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom...
Victoria, who returned home to become the first and chief promoter of cremation in England.
Sir Henry Thompson's main reason for supporting cremation was that "it was becoming a necessary sanitary precaution against the propagation of disease among a population daily growing larger in relation to the area it occupied". In addition, he believed, cremation would prevent premature burial, reduce the expense of funerals, spare mourners the necessity of standing exposed to the weather during interment, and urns would be safe from vandalism. On 13 January 1874, some advocates of cremation held a meeting at Thompson's house in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and formally founded the "Cremation Society of Great Britain" which was "organised expressly for the purpose of obtaining and disseminating information on the subject and for adopting the best method of performing the process, as soon as this could be determined, provided that the act was not contrary to Law".
The first crematorium
The first duty of the Cremation Society was to ascertain whether cremation could be legally performed in the country, and then to construct a first crematorium. In 1878, a piece of land in WokingWoking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
on which the crematorium was to be established was bought by Sir Henry Thompson. The acre of land was purchased with the aid of subscriptions (at £200 each) from the London Necropolis Company
London Necropolis Company
The London Necropolis Company , formally the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company until 1927, was a cemetery operator established by Act of Parliament in 1852 in reaction to the crisis caused by the closure of London's graveyards in 1851. The LNC intended to establish a single cemetery...
. Professor Gorini was invited to visit Woking and supervise the erection of his cremation apparatus there. It was first tested on 17 March 1879, when the body of a horse was cremated. The inhabitants of Woking showed strong antipathy to the crematorium and appealed to the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
, Sir Richard Cross
R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross
Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross, GCB, GCSI, PC, FRS , known before his elevation to the peerage as R. A. Cross, was a British statesman and Conservative politician...
, to prohibit the use of the building. Only after cremation had been declared legal in February 1884 during Dr. William Price's trial, the Woking facility could begin to operate.
On 26 March 1885, the first official cremation in the UK took place in Woking. The deceased was Mrs Jeannette C. Pickersgill
Jeanette Pickersgill
In 1885 Jeanette Pickersgill became the first person to be officially cremated in the United Kingdom when she was cremated at Woking Crematorium in Woking, Surrey. The The Times described her as "a well-known figure in literary and scientific circles"...
, whom The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
described as "a well-known figure in literary and scientific circles". By the end of the year, the Cremation Society of Great Britain had overseen two more cremations, a total of 3 out of 597,357 deaths in the UK that year.
In 1886 ten bodies were cremated at Woking Crematorium
Woking Crematorium
Woking Crematorium is a crematorium in Woking, a large town in the west of Surrey, England. Established in 1878, it was the first custom-built crematorium in the United Kingdom and is closely linked to the history of cremation in this country.-Location:...
. During 1888, in which 28 cremations took place, the Cremation Society planned to provide a chapel, waiting rooms and other amenities there. The subscription list was headed by the dukes of Bedford
Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford
Francis Charles Hastings Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford KG was an English politician and agriculturalist.-Life:...
and Westminster
Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster
Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster KG, PC, JP , styled Viscount Belgrave between 1831 and 1845 and Earl Grosvenor between 1845 and 1869 and known as the 3rd Marquess of Westminster between 1869 and 1874, was an English landowner, politician and racehorse owner.He inherited the estate of...
. The 9th Duke of Bedford
Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford
Francis Charles Hastings Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford KG was an English politician and agriculturalist.-Life:...
later donated further money to complete the buildings and to purchase further ground adjacent to the property.
Early 20th century
In 1892, 104 cremations were carried out at Woking. The same year, the first provincial crematorium was opened in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. Four years later similar action was taken in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
where the fourth crematorium in Great Britain was established. 1900 saw the opening of the first municipal crematorium at Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
and in 1902 Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000, and was opened in 1902 by Sir Henry Thompson....
became the first crematorium in London. Since November 1902 more than 300,000 cremations have taken place at Golders Green, far more than any other British crematorium.
In 1905 the famous actor Sir Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
was cremated and his ashes buried in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, thereby becoming the first person ever to be cremated prior to interment at the Abbey. This marked a milestone as after the death of the famous botanist Sir Joseph Hooker
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
in December 1911, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey chose to offer Hooker a grave near Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's in the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
but also insisted that he be cremated before. His widow however declined and so Hooker's body was buried in the churchyard of St. Anne's Church, Kew
St. Anne's Church, Kew
St Anne's Church, Kew is the parish church of Kew, London, situated on Kew Green.-History:Originally built in 1714, on land given by Queen Anne as a church within the parish of Kingston, St. Anne's Church has been extended several times since, as the settlement of Kew grew with royal patronage. In...
.
Until the beginning of the First World War, the number of cremations carried out at the crematoria in Britain (by then thirteen) grew steadily. In 1911, the annual figures reached 1,000 for the first time, and of this number, 542 were now cremated at Golders Green. By the end of 1914 the national figure was 1,279. Cremation began to receive further public attention when it was used for the funerals of a number of celebrities in the UK. In 1917 Princess Louise, Duchess of Connaught became the first member of the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
to be cremated. The procedure of burying ashes in an urn was still unfamiliar at the time, and her urn was transported in an ordinary coffin during the funeral ceremonies. Other important public figures cremated then were Admiral of the Fleet
Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)
Admiral of the fleet is the highest rank of the British Royal Navy and other navies, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-10. The rank still exists in the Royal Navy but routine appointments ceased in 1996....
John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher in 1920 and Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC , known as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a British and Anglo-Irish officer...
in 1925.
The inter-war period
In the inter-war period, cremation received further prominence through the funerals of Prime MinisterPrime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
s Ramsay McDonald, Bonar Law and Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
. The first Welsh crematorium was built at Pontypridd
Pontypridd
Pontypridd is both a community and a principal town of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales and is situated 12 miles/19 km north of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff...
in 1923. In 1932 the Cremation Society ceased to be a cremation authority when ownership of Woking Crematorium
Woking Crematorium
Woking Crematorium is a crematorium in Woking, a large town in the west of Surrey, England. Established in 1878, it was the first custom-built crematorium in the United Kingdom and is closely linked to the history of cremation in this country.-Location:...
was transferred to the London Cremation Company, which was the authority controlling Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000, and was opened in 1902 by Sir Henry Thompson....
. Until 1933 there had been a total of 16,312 cremations in the UK, and in 1934 alone there were 8,337. 1936 saw the last funeral at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
to be conducted without cremation. St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
soon followed Westminster's example, and as it became a common practice to bury national figures only after they had been cremated, this had an immense effect on public opinion.
Between 1936 and 1939, new crematoria opened in Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, Charing in Kent, Streatham, Harrogate, Norwich, Islington, Birmingham, Croydon, St. Marylebone, Cheltenham, Bournemouth, Aberdeen, Wandsworth, Leeds, Rochdale, Enfield, Paisley, Cambridge, Mortlake, Leith, Oxford, Weymouth, Kensal Green and Northampton.
In 1944 the body of Dr. William Temple
William Temple (archbishop)
William Temple was a priest in the Church of England. He served as Bishop of Manchester , Archbishop of York , and Archbishop of Canterbury ....
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
was cremated at Charing Crematorium in Kent. He was the first Primate of All England to be cremated, followed by the cremation of his predecessor Cosmo Gordon Lang in 1945. These two funerals marked how this practice had by now become accepted within the Church of England.
After the Second World War
Until 1946 there had been some 50,000 cremations in the UK, also at this time 58 crematoria were in operation and even this number was insufficient to meet the growing demand. Between 1951 and 1954 new crematoria were opened at Birmingham, Kingston-on-Thames, Skipton, Middleton, Gloucester, Southend-on-Sea, Dukinfield, Oldham, Cardiff, East London, Wolverhampton, Grimsby, Bolton and South West Middlesex. On 14 January 1957, the 100th crematorium in the UK was opened at Salford. Further crematoria followed in the same year at Colwyn Bay, Birtley, New Southgate, South Essex, Craigton, Colchester, Nuneaton and Ruislip, and twelve more were added in 1958. The steady rate of growth quickened into a period of rapid expansion form 1960 onwards. 30 new crematoria were opened during 1960 and 1961 alone. In the succeeding years 11 were added in 1962, five in 1963, five in 1964, two in 1965, 12 in 1966, two in 1967 and four in 1968, including the 200th at Worthing.By the end of the 20th century, over 240 crematoria were in use in the United Kingdom. In 2000, over 70% of the deceased were cremated (437,609 out of 611,960 deaths), making this one of the highest percentages of cremations in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
Presidents
- 1874–1904 Sir Henry Thompson, 1st BaronetSir Henry Thompson, 1st BaronetSir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet FRCS , British surgeon and polymath, was born at Framlingham, Suffolk.-Medical career:...
(1820–1904) - 1904–1921 Sir Charles CameronSir Charles Cameron, 1st BaronetSir Charles Cameron, 1st Baronet was a Scottish doctor, newspaper editor and an advanced Liberal politician....
, 1st Baronet (1841–1924) - 1921–1940 Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of BedfordHerbrand Russell, 11th Duke of BedfordHerbrand Arthur Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford KG KBE DL LLD FRS FSA was the son of Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford.-Family:...
(1858–1940) - 1940–1955 Thomas Horder, 1st Baron Horder (1871–1955)
- 1955–1960 James Grimston, 5th Earl of Verulam (1910–1960)
- 1960–1968 Sir John Cameron, 2nd Baronet (1903–1968)
- 1970–1982 Anthony Greenwood, Baron Greenwood of Rossendale (1911–1982)
- 1982–1990 Frank Shaw Marshall, Baron Marshall of Leeds (1915–1990)
- 1992– date Richard Grey, 6th Earl GreyRichard Grey, 6th Earl GreyRichard Fleming George Charles Grey, 6th Earl Grey is the 6th and current Earl Grey, succeeding his second cousin twice removed Charles Grey, 5th Earl Grey, in 1963. He married Margaret Ann Bradford in 1966 but they divorced in 1974; later the same year he married Stephanie Caroline...
(* 1939)