Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Chingford Mount

  • London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery (War Grave of Thomas Seabrook)

    London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery (War Grave of Thomas Seabrook)

    One of the war grave areas at Chingford Mount Cemetery.

    I’d better start these posts by saying I haven’t selected stories from war heroes that have legendary status for whatever reason, but the other route of taking photos of graves and looking for what information I can find about the lives of the less noted. Everyone is unique and the sacrifice of their lives were all equally enormous, with a surprisingly limited amount of records about many of the war dead.

    This is the war grave of Thomas Seabrook, the son of William John Seabrook (born in Shoreditch in 1845) and Lavinia Jane Seabrook (born in Colchester in 1849). Thomas was born in Bethnal Green, London in 1881 and at the time of the 1901 census he was living with his parents and younger sister Sophia at 3 Gossett Street in Bethnal Green, being listed as working as a wood carver. Thomas had a number of older siblings though, as at the 1881 census when they lived in the same property, there was a 9-year old Lavinia, a 7-year old William, a 5-year old Elizabeth and a 2-year old Matthew.

    Thomas was a private in the 13th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, service number 34775, although I don’t know why he was in that regiment. Thomas died on 17 November 1920 at the age of 40, but there’s nothing I can find in the media about how he died. It looks like the troops from the regiment had all returned by the previous year at the latest, so I assume it was some sort of accident that took place in the UK. But, I’d like to know more…..

  • London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery

    London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery

    There’s something quite reassuring about the large ‘no’ in the above photo since it’s the entrance to the cemetery in Chingford Mount.

    This information plaque notes “developed in 1884 by the Abney Park Cemetery Company on land originally called Caroline Mount, named after the landowner. The original chapel and gate lodges are now gone, but the impressive gates, railing and gate piers survive”. The Abney Park cemetery had been created in Hackney as a non-conformist site, but it was running low on space, hence this new opening.

    It’s an enormous site, taking up just under 42 acres. It was run by a private management company who managed to go bust in the 1970s, meaning that some of the unused section of the site would have been turned into housing. Local opposition to this arrangement was quite strong, with the site eventually being taken over by the London Borough of Waltham Forest in 1977. Unfortunately, the lodges and chapel had become vandalised by this time, hence their demolition.

    The war memorial at the cemetery. There are 137 war graves from the First World War and 182 from the Second World War located around the cemetery.

    One of the avenues which was useful during my visit as the graveyard was particularly soggy in places as I tried to look for some of the war graves.

    One of the most infamous graves in the cemetery, the gravestone of Ronnie and Reggie Kray.

  • London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery (War Grave of William Henry Drew)

    London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery (War Grave of William Henry Drew)

    This is the war grave of William Henry Drew which is located in Chingford Mount Cemetery. William was born on 26 July 1909, the son of William and Anne Drew of Walthamstow.

    He was the husband of Elizabeth Blanche Drew (born on 10 August 1910) and on the outbreak of the Second World War they lived at 105 Northbank Road in Walthamstow (the property is still standing), with William working as a wholesale meat salesman. After joining the military to fight in the conflict, he served as a Corporal in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), service number 14626305.

    William died on 14 January 1947 at the age of 38. His wife, Elizabeth, died on 17 January 1989. I can’t find the reason for William’s death, whether it was ill health or linked to the work of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, which in 1947 was mostly the disposal of ammunition. Even the archive of the Royal Logistics Corp (the successor organisation of the RAOC) has no information about him. This will have to be a mystery that hopefully I’ll resolve at some point in the future….

  • London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery (Grave of Charles James Kray)

    London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery (Grave of Charles James Kray)

    Charles James Kray (1927-2000) was the older brother of Ronnie and Reggie Kray and he’s buried at Chingford Mount Cemetery next to his infamous brothers. The actress Barbara Windsor is known for her one-night stand with Reggie Kray, but she had a full-blown affair with Charles. He was sentenced to ten years in prison in 1968 and was released in 1975, saying that his name was a major problem for him after this time given the reputation that his brothers had. Kray returned to crime in the 1990s and he was sent back to prison, which is where he died.

    The grave mentions his son Gary, who died in 1996 and was the only child of any of the three Krays. Gary is buried with Reggie’s wife Frances Shea, but more about that in another post….

    The grave’s location in Chingford Mount Cemetery.

  • London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery (Grave of Ronnie and Reggie Kray)

    London – Waltham Forest (Borough of) – Chingford Mount Cemetery (Grave of Ronnie and Reggie Kray)

    This large cemetery in Chingford Mount was opened in May 1884 and covers an enormous site, still being actively used.

    I can’t claim to be a particularly huge fan of Ronnie Kray (1933-1995) and Reggie Kray (1933-2000), but they are a major part of London’s history, so I was interested in finding their grave. They have a family plot, but they were refused permission by the Home Office to come here in 1982 following the death of their mother Violet. I’m not sure that the family had any particular connection with Chingford, but this is one of the largest cemeteries where people living in the East End were buried. Incidentally, I don’t know what is in the flasks….

    For anyone who wants to watch the funeral and burial of Ronnie Kray.

    For anyone wanting to visit themselves, go in the main gate and head to the back left of the cemetery. I’ve created this professional image (I accept graphic design isn’t a strong point of mine) with a reddish circle to help find it.