Are We Dying to Get In

Since before we were fully human we have buried on dead and paid homage to them. The fine Neanderthal skeletons that we unearth are the result of this burial. We now know that Homo sapiens neanderthalensis buried their dead in the foetal position (Knees up against chest) and covered the body with flowers for we have the pollen left over on the bones to prove it. All this was over one hundred thousand years ago.

Burial is the most obvious form of disposal of the dead but not all societies have practised it. The Parsees of India place their corpses on towers just as their Zoroastrian ancestors did in Persia 2,500 years ago. Vultures then consume these bodies. Their Hindu neighbours cremate their dead and scatter the ashes in the Indus. Epyptians preserved the body by embalming and some New Guinea tribes eat parts of their dead relatives as a mark of respect. However burial is the commonest form of disposal of the dead throughout the world though now cremation is rapidly catching up.

Municipal Cemeteries

Municipal Cemeteries existed in Roman Britain. On Derby Racecourse, libation amphor, the urn in which the cremated remains were buried have been discovered. They would often have a small wine jar above for visitors to pour in wine for the deceased. Sometimes for the less well off a large two-handled amphora was used as a cremation urn with a stopper above, this would be unstopped and wine poured in. The Romans also buried without cremation but would often behead to stop the dead walking; in addition they would have a coin to pay Charon the Ferryman who rowed the dead across the Styx to di inferi, the underworld, but had to be paid. The Roman Cemetery was always outside the city boundary and not attached to any religious establishment. Only infants were allowed to be buried within in the city. The early Christians tended to protect the body for eventual resurrection which was considered imminent. That is why the Catacombs of Rome were used. By the time of Constantine (AD324-337) burial had become a Christian act. God was no longer going to resurrect our earthly bodies, but we were to be in Heaven alongside Him. If the body decayed it did not matter. Gradually the idea of Municipal Cemeteries was replaced by church graveyards. The Parish System that developed in England after the Saxon occupation ensured that each person was baptised in his parish church and buried in the church graveyard. Sometimes this created problems. It has been suggested that at the height of the Black Death in 1349 St. Peter's Churchyard was so full that corpses had to be buried vertically. It soon became obvious as towns and cities grew that the urban church graveyards were no longer big enough. Unlike their rural cousins they could not extend as they were now surrounded by buildings. The idea of the Municipal cemetery was contemplated again. These were to be on open ground outside the urban confines. It was not just the crowded church graveyards in early Victorian England that led to municipal cemeteries but also various public health measures passed by an increasingly enlightened Parliament. London had the first municipal cemeteries of which Highgate was one. Derby's first was on Uttoxeter New Road opened in 1843 with access off the new turnpike which had been pitched in 1819. The Lodge and now demolished Chapel were designed by Hadfield. Joseph Barlow Robinson who had a yard on Uttoxeter New Road sculpted a great number of the monuments and gravestones.

Nottingham Road Cemetery

The gatehouse and chapels were designed in Gothic style by the architect Henry Isaac Stevens (1806-73).
The clock was made by Derby clockmakers, John Smith and Sons.

I first became aware of Nottingham Road Cemetery when taken there by my mother to visit my grandparents’ graves. My grandfather had died before I was born and my grandmother had died when was four, so in the late 1940’s and early 1950's I visited this scene of peace and quiet about twice a month. It was a magic place for someone living in Abbey Street, open spaces, grass, trees and birds singing. Later when I was about ten I would accompany Billy Boden and his dad when they went to mow the grass at the cemetery. Billy's dad kept large horses opposite our house in Abbey Street. He also had a triple gang mower that could be pulled by one horse for mowing. The gang mower would he loaded onto the cart with Billy and I holding either side and off we set up Nottingham Road. We would help to unload at the other end, but the highlight for us was catching the frogs. As the mower was pulled at two or three miles per hour frogs would jump ahead to escape the killing blades. These we would catch and load into a wooden barrel. At the end of the evening we would the mower and the barrel and traipse back to Abbey Street. Billy's dad would stop off at the Nottingham Castle public house in St Michael Lane. where Billy and I would share a bag of crisps. The next morning we would pick the best frogs out for ourselves to keep as pets and sell all the others to our school chums at 5 for a penny. Interestingly Billy’s great grandfather was also buried at Nottingham Road Cemetery (Abel Boden 19th September 1921). He worked on the railways and there is an interesting poem on his tombstone that I suggest you look at.

Early Incumbents

So when did Nottingham Road Cemetery open? In 1855 the borough allowed thirty-two acres to be set aside for burial. The land was sandwiched between Nottingham Road and the Canal. Within this area was consecrated and unconsecrated ground, the latter for Catholics. dissenters and suicides. One of the first burials was Charles Thorold who was killed in the Crimea. His burial on 24 July 1855 was paid for by his colleagues and a large memorial erected, sculpted by that same Joseph Barlow Robinson who did so much work at Uttoxeter New Road Cemetery. Unfortunately inadequate foundations for the obelisk were put in and the top had to be removed later for safety reasons.

The memorial to John Whitehurst. Plot 5928 on the west side of zone A18.

Another early incumbent was John Whitehurst III. This one was the great nephew of the famous John Whitehurst FRS ,the founder of the Instrument Factory. He was also buried in 1855. 1865 saw the burial of Edward Foster a famous silhouettist who depicted Wellington, Scott and Byron, amongst many others, including royalty, for he had a studio in Windsor Castle and a Royal Appointment. The position of his grave is known but he has no memorial. The reason was probably poverty. He was born in 1762 so was over 102 years old when he died. He outlasted four of his five wives and 16 of his 17 children.

A modern memorial to PC Joseph Moss. Plot 3595 in zone B1.

One of the most interesting burials is that of PC Joseph Moss who was killed in 1879. He is the only recorded police officer to be killed on active duty in Derbyshire. Gerald Mainwaring from Whitmoor Hall was visiting Derby and staying at the Royal Hotel. He was drunk when he killed PC Moss. He was arrested at the Travellers Rest and the Jury was to decide whether it was murder or manslaughter. Because Mainwaring was considered a "Gent" it was a split jury and they drew lots. He was acquitted of murder and served 14 years for manslaughter.

1883 saw the death of Joseph Barlow Robinson, the man who so created monumental grave sculpture. He, alongside the rest of his family, are buried at Nottingham Road Cemetery. He was born in South Wingfield in 1821 and trained as a sculptor and monumental mason. He worked on the Houses of Parliament for Barry and Pugin before returning to Derby to set up his own business. His pattern books contained ornamental stonework "in marble, granite and stone for lawn and garden pedestals, for fountains and sundials, animals, vases and figures. Also carvings in wood for pulpits, fonts, lecterns, arms chests, reredos, communion rails, tables, military and naval carving". As well as throughout this and Uttoxeter New Road cemetery you can also see his work at Locko Park (the stairs), Chatsworth (the lions), Nottingham Arboretum (statue of Feargus O'Connor) and Elvaston Castle (east staircase). I can well remember passing his house at 11 Uttoxeter New Road in the early fifties when it was full of left over statuary from his business. Sadly it is demolished and the site is an unused office block for Trent Buses. What became of the statuary? Perhaps the same as what became of the numerous shop fronts that he did in Derby. They have gone.

Worthies

Memorials to Alderman George Holme, Mayor of Derby 1874-1875 on the right and his eldest son, also George, owner of Bath Street Mills, on the left. Plots 28972 and 29021 on adjacent rows in zone A17, close to the path on the east side.

Also many of Derby’s Mayors and Aldermen are buried at Nottingham Road Cemetery. George Holme who was buried in 1896 was a successful businessman who became mayor. His motto throughout his life was "a maximum of work and a minimum of words". Exactly the opposite of my motto. He was famous for saving Herbert Spencer from drowning when in 1832, Spencer fell into the Derwent at the age of nine whilst fishing at the Long Bridge (most will remember it as the wooden bridge that crossed the Derwent north of the weir). The water is fast there and Spencer was immediately into trouble. Holme dived in and held onto Spencer until they could be rescued by ropes before the weir. One fished off the weir in the past because the weir created extra oxygen in the water and the abattoir waste provided food for the fish.

Alcohol

George Offiler was buried at Nottingham Road Cemetery in 1899. He was founder of Derby’s last surviving brewery before the current trend of public house breweries. I do well remember going with my wooden barrow to their brewery just off Normanton Road to collect spent hops for my Dad's allotment.

George and Mary Offiler's memorial is near the path on the east side of zone A16.

Various local publicans are also buried at Nottingham Road Cemetery. They include Alice Baker who kept the White Horse on the Morledge and her husband who was publican at the Royal Standard. Together with the rest of their family they occupy a large family plot that includes her parents. Regulars at the Royal Standard paid for the monument. Interestingly Alice was sister to Reg Parnell, the famous racing driver, who had a garage at Findern.

By 1880 the Cemetery had acquired a further 18 acres and spanned both sides of the road. It now covers over one hundred acres with over 250,000 burials there. That is almost the same as the entire population of Derby.

Socialist Revolution

An unusual grave that does not mention the departed is that of Alice Wheeldon. She is buried in her aunt’s grave. Mrs Wheeldon was buried on 26th February 1919 and a report of her funeral ended up in secret Home Office files. So what had she done? The story goes that Alice was extremely radical with a fiery temper and colourful turn of phrase. As a fifty-year-old mother of four, she ran a second hand shop in Pear Tree Road near the Normanton Hotel. The whole family were conscientious objectors in the middle of the First World War. On 26th December 1916 they were approached by William Rickard, an MI5 agent who used the alias Alec Gorden, together with other secret agents all posing as conscientious objectors. Rickard made enquiries at the Clarion Club, Wardwick about a safe house for conscientious objectors and was directed to Alice. The details that have since emerged from the Home Office papers are almost farcical. Secret Home Office papers on the Wheeldon case released in November 1997 do not conclusively prove the theory that MI5 framed the family. But while there is no document that explicitly admits a set up, the papers show all the cracks in the case.

In his report. Rickard claimed Mrs Wheeldon said at their first meeting; "I have been waiting for a man with sufficient pluck and brains to come along to help smash up the bloody swines who started this war and are keeping it going." According to reports made by these secret agents posing as conscientious objectors, Alice had only known one of them for a day before she asked them to poison the Prime Minister and a cabinet minister, Arthur Henderson. Yet within 10 days she had supplied the poison curare which an airgun pellet could be dipped in and fired at Lloyd George as he played golf. The agents also stated that Mrs Wheeldon had put a message inside a mince pie asking for poison to be supplied to her so she could parcel it to London.

In order to facilitate this parcel of poison, Rickard introduced the Wheeldons to Comrade Bert who was another secret agent named Herbert Booth. Booth and a Major Melville Lee organised a search of all railway parcels, mail and telegrams thereby gathering the evidence. This showed that the poison was being supplied by Mrs Wheeldon’s daughter. Winnie and her husband, Alfred Mason, who was a chemist’s assistant living in Southampton. Eventually on 31st January 1917 the Wheeldons and Alfred Mason appeared before Derby Magistrates Court. At the trial at the Old Bailey in March 1917 Alice, her daughters Harriet (27), Winnie (30) and Alfred Mason were all charged with conspiring to murder Lloyd George and Henderson. Their defence was that the poison was to kill guard dogs to enable conscientious objectors to be freed from government camps. They would then get help to smuggle William who was Alice’s son and also a conscientious objector and eluding capture into the USA.

They were all found guilty except Harriet who was acquitted. Alice was sentenced to ten years. Winnie to five and Alfred to seven. On 2lst December 1917 in Aylesbury Prison, Alice went on hunger strike. She was transferred to Holloway Prison London but still maintained her hunger strike. The prison authorities asked her three daughters to intervene, including Nellie, who had not been implicated in the plot. A letter from Nellie dated 30th December 1917 reads "Oh mam you mustn't die - this fight is not worth your death." The prison governor sent a series of reports to the Home Office saying release was not an option as she was a very foul-mouthed dangerous prisoner with a violent uncontrollable temper. However a report to the Home Office from the Matron where she was in prison stated " it would be a danger to her life if she was force fed through a tube as she would struggle violently." Lloyd George felt that on no account should she be allowed to die in prison so on his personal instruction she was released into the care of Harriet (known in the family as Hetty) on 30th December 1917. She lived with Hetty at 907 London Road. She did not live there long for she died in February 1919 and was buried on Wednesday 26th February. The Derby Daily Telegraph of that date states "Sensational simplicity, devoid of all Christian ceremony, and an even more sensational graveside address characterised the funeral of Mrs Wheeldon, the conspirator against Mr Lloyd George, which took place at Nottingham Road Cemetery this afternoon." The newspaper report also said "Those present witnessed a son of the deceased extract from his pocket a red flag of about three and a half feet square and fluttering in the wind place it impressively and amid an oppressive silence upon what held the mortal remains of his mother. It was the red flag of socialism and it was laid by Willie Wheeldon, the conscientious objector." Then Mr John S Clark delivered a funeral oration in which he praised her and "sneered" at the living. those who oppressed her to her death, "whose name I shall not insult the dead by mentioning" (Lloyd George).

Alfred and Winnie were released for the funeral but did not attend it. They stayed out of prison afterwards. Willie emigrated to the USSR not long afterwards, where he was executed as a capitalist agent in 1927. Hetty married Arthur McManus, but she died in childbirth in 1920. McManus became fist chairman of the British Communist Party and is one of only two Westerners to be buried in Red Square as a hero of the Soviet Union. Winnie and Alfred moved back to Southampton and were eventually divorced. Their son eventually emigrated to Australia. Nobody is sure whate happened to Nellie after she married socialist leader Tom Bell. One story is, like her brother, she moved to the USSR; another is that she went to the USA.

Double Drowning

A double drowning involved a bet between Fred Hunt aged 19 and Fred Pilton aged 21. They chose to run along the parapet of St Mary's Bridge. Needless to say neither made it and both were buried in 1920. The funeral attracted so many that graves were trampled, monuments damaged and flowers scattered, despite the presence of mounted police.

Star Football Player

The death of Steve Bloomer on Saturday 16 April 1938 provided another spectacle of a funeral. Steve had been born in poverty in Cradley in Warcestershire in 1874. He moved to Derby with his parents in 1879. They first lived in Yates Street, Normanton where Bloomer attended the school in St James’ Road. From youth he was mad keen on football even against the opposition of his father Caleb Bloomer who felt that such activities would damage his son's lightweight frame. In 1892 at the age of 13 Steve Bloomer turned professional, having played for the County in the junior league. His wage was 7s 6d a week (37.5p), a far cry from what Michael Owen gets now. Over the next 22 years Steve scored 332 first class goals in 525 games for Derby and 62 first class goals for Middlesborough in 130 games. In addition there were 23 goals in 23 England games.

In 1896 Steve Bloomer married Sarah Walker, daughter of Bert Walker, a local cobbler. They had two daughters, Violet and Pat. Steve Bloomer was a lightweight standing only five foot eight inches tall with a very pale complexion yet he dominated Derby County's a early years. In 1905, at the age of 31, he went to Middlesborough, returning to Derby five years later at the age of 36. In July 1914 aged 40, he retired from playing and went Germany as instructor to Berlin Britannia FC. What excellent timing, for three weeks later Britain declared war on Germany. Steve Bloomer was interned on a converted racecourse near Berlin. There he remained until November 1918. One particularly cruel act that took place at his internment was the notification of his daughter Violet's death in the commandant’s office. He thought be was being called in to be told of his intending release. Upon his return from Germany he took charge of Derby County Reserves and then became first team coach. A specialist coach was a luxury that Derby County could not afford by 1923 and so sentiment was put aside and they released their greatest star. He then took employment as manager at Real Irun, a small amateur club near Bilbao in the Basque Country. Here he managed them so well that they won the King’s Cup beating Seville, Barcelona and finally Real Madrid 7-0 on their own ground. When he returned in 1925 he coached and wrote about junior football for the next ten years. He even played a little bit. His last known game was in 1931 when at the age of 57 he played for Belper British Legion against the boys of Herbert Strutt School. In 1937 he fell ill with bronchial trouble and Derby County responded magnificently by sending him on an Australian and New Zealand luxury cruise. He stayed in Sydney for a month with Frank Ballington, a relative of a Derby County director Bob Robshaw. He returned in late March 1938 looking tanned and fit, but died on Saturday 16th April. 1938, aged 64. Wednesday 20th saw people lining the street for his funeral.

The memorial to Steve Bloomer is not easy to find as it is in the middle of zone A20 and partly hidden by bushes.

Gypsies

There is also the large memorial covering the steps leading to the vault where Unetti Hamer, Queen of the Gypsies lies with her family. However, scattered throughout the cemetery are other gypsy graves, usually with highly ornate sculptures and angels on them. One should look for memorials with unusual names and often the word traveller on them. The reason for so many gypsies buried here is because of its central position in England and no residence rules for burial.

The memorial to Unetti Hamer and family is one of the easiest to find. Plot 4320 at the corner of zone A18 facing the entrance. The steps have been filled in to leave a level surface.

Richard Wood
Photographs by Peter Barnes