THE BROOKWOOD CEMETERY SOCIETY
Necropolis Notables
This page is used to list details of some famous or interesting people that are buried or otherwise commemorated within the cemetery grounds. Click on the links to find out more!
The Society organises guided walks during the course of the year, which feature some of these graves.
One of the most controversial public figures of the late nineteenth century. Bradlaugh championed causes like birth control, republicanism, atheism, reform, peace and anti-imperialism. His views placed him in conflict with powerful interests, institutions and people, but most of his arguments have since been vindicated. Between 1880 and 1888 Bradlaugh fought for the right of unbelievers to sit in the House of Commons and his Act of 1888 established the legal right to affirm the Parliamentary oath rather than swearing the oath on a bible. Bradlaugh was MP for Northampton between 1880-1891 and was unofficially known as the MP for India due to his sympathetic support for Indian self-government. He is buried in a family grave in plot 108.
To find out more about Charles Bradlaugh, click here
Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon
(1862-1931) 
Baron and, with his wife Lady Lucy Duff Gordon (1863-1935), survivors of the "Titanic" disaster. Lady Duff Gordon was a successful couturier. They embarked on the "Titanic" as "Mr & Mrs Morgan", and were two of only twelve occupants of lifeboat No.1 (another one of whom was Lady Duff Gordon's secretary, Miss Francatelli). The Duff Gordons are buried together in plot 25.
To find out more about the "Titanic", consult the Encyclopedia Titanica.
Anatomist and ethnologist. Knox was a distinguished anatomical lecturer, and was lecturer in Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh between 1825-41. Knox was also a leading teacher at Barclay's School of Anatomy from 1826 when he procured a number of bodies for dissection from Burke and Hare and other "body snatchers". When their crimes were discovered during 1828, Knox was implicated, but was not summonsed to give evidence. Popular feeling against him persisted and he eventually moved to London in 1842. Knox became pathological anatomist at the Cancer Hospital at Brompton. He was buried in plot 100, although the small granite block on his grave was placed there as recently as 1966.
To read a review of the life of Robert Knox, click here.
Dr Gottlieb William Leitner
(1840-1899) 
Dr Leitner was responsible for making Woking a major centre for Islam in Britain. A noted linguist and academic, he founded over 80 institutions in India and elsewhere, including the University of Lahore. In 1884 Dr Leitner founded the Oriental Institute in Woking. In the late 1890s it began awarding degrees under the auspices of the University of Lahore, but it closed for ever in the summer following Dr Leitner's death. Two reminders of the Oriental Institute survive in Woking: the Mosque and Oriental Road, named after the Institute. Dr Leitner is buried in plot 2.
To find out more about Dr Leitner, click here.
St Edward the Martyr
(c959-978/9) 
King of England 975-978/9. Edward was chosen king after some opposition, and his policy towards the church was directed by St Dunstan. St Edward was murdered at or near the site of Corfe Castle, Dorset, almost certainly by the thegns of his stepmother. Miracles were soon attributed to his original burial site nearby, and he was canonised in 1001. His body was later enshrined at Shaftesbury Abbey. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries his relics were lost. They were rediscovered in the 1930s. Many years later they were entrusted to the care of the St Edward Brotherhood, and the relics were enshrined in the Brotherhood's church in 1984. The church is signposted from Cemetery Pales.
To read more about St Edward the Martyr, click here.
John Singer Sargent RA
(1856-1925) 
American artist, who spent most of his life in London . From the late 1880s he established himself as a portrait painter, and Sargent has been described as the most fashionable artist since Lawrence. In the early 1900s he tired of "paughtraiture" and concentrated on landscapes, charcoal sketches, watercolors, and the decoration of the Boston Public Library. He served briefly as an official war artist in 1918. Sargent is buried in plot 35 (the "Ring").
To find out more about his life and art, visit
the Sargent
Virtual Gallery.
Suburban housewife and milliner. Mrs. Thompson was executed on 9 January 1923 because her lover, Frederick Bywaters, murdered her husband. At their trial, both were found guilty, the Crown "proving" her complicity through her surviving love letters to her lover. Innocent of murder, Mrs. Thompson was hanged for adultery. Both were hanged at the same time, she at Holloway and he at Pentonville. Her memorial in plot 117 was placed in October 1993 by a number of interested parties. Her grave also contains the bodies of three other women who were executed at Holloway Prison in 1903 and 1954. All the bodies were removed to Brookwood in 1971 when Holloway Prison was completely rebuilt.
To read more about Mrs. Thompson, click here.
Author, reporter and critic. She was born Cicily Isabel Fairfield, and began writing for the "Freewoman" in 1912 under the pseudonym "Rebecca West". Her first book was a study of Henry James and was published in 1916. She became the lover of H.G. Wells, and subsequently married the banker Henry Maxwell Andrews in 1930. Her novels include "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon" (1949) and "The Fountain Overflows" (1957). Her reportage includes "The Meaning of Treason" (1949) and "A Train of Powder" (1955). Rebecca West is buried in plot 81 under a simple headstone.
To read more about Rebecca West, click here. For more information
about her books, click here.