Museums of People - curated by Sheldon K. Goodman
The actor Frederick Lane had not slept well. He was preparing for another performance of Secret Service at the Adelphi Theatre on the Strand. It was a drama written by American playwright and actor William Gillette which had debuted in Philadelphia two years beforehand. In the early hours of the 16th December 1897, he was [ ]
When well-meaning cleaning and decoration instead open up a hornets nest I physically wince when I see videos on social media of admittedly good-natured, kind hearted individuals cleaning up grave stones. Mostly of the examples I’ve come across don’t have a blind clue what they’re doing (my other half is now used to my shrieks [ ]
This was more than just your average funeral. Brompton cemetery was filled with thousands of mourners. They crammed themselves in as the gun-carriage took the remains of a national hero to his last resting place. Another man whose life had been prematurely shortened by this dreadful war. His death was more than just a chance [ ]
Life lived with a bang, ended with a whimper Look at the cover image on this biography, written by Thomas Edgar Pemberton. Dressed with long, theatrical whiskers and a quizzical, confused glance this was an extraordinary gentleman, resembling a 19th century Tom Selleck, who commanded a fee of £235 a week (roughly £23,500 in [ ]
West Norwood Cemetery shared an image of one of their more imposing monuments and I countered it with the same shot, but from 1968 (courtesy of Lambeth Archives). The imposing, henge-like monument to 19th century antiquaraian John Britton. A man who wanted his own memorial to endure down the eyons. So he took inspiration from [ ]
A flat in Hampstead is up for sale. Boasting over 1,332 sq feet of living space, a private terrace and close proximity to Hampstead High Street, this top floor flat with its plain white walls, battered leather seats and eclectic set of metal map chests and chairs has an asking price of £1.8 [ ]
Taphophiles unite! A few days ago Matti Geyer, a tour guide from Berlin dropped me a message sharing his love of graveyards and cemeteries. He offered to do a short post about a cemetery that I myself had been to when I was last in Berlin one of the city s finest, in fact. Here [ ]
How one photographers secret stash fell foul of 19th century morality I was in The National Archives in February 2020 and found the allure of the microfilm readers too much to resist. So I picked up a reel, loaded it onto the reader, and took a punt to see what was on it. It was [ ]
Porto, also known as Porto Cale ( warm port , in modern translation) in Roman times, is the city that gave Portugal its name. It s a lovely city, albeit one that has probably surrendered a little too much to the needs of the tourists. Wanting to see a little more of its culture, I turned to one [ ]
Things have been a little quiet for Cemetery Club this year, and there is a reason why. Well, two reasons. Caring duties for a parent being a key one. BUT. The second reason, which is more pertinent, is that earlier this year I was approached by Hoxton Mini Press to write a book on historic [ ]