London Borough Of Richmond Upon Thames, Hammersmith New Cemetery And Mortlake Crematorium

Mortlake Crematorium

Mortlake Crematorium is a crematorium in Kew, near its boundary with Mortlake, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It opened in 1939, next to Mortlake Cemetery.

The crematorium serves the boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames in the west and south-west of London. It is managed by a board made up of three elected councillors from each of these four boroughs.

Citing it as "a rare example" of Art Deco design in the borough, Richmond upon Thames Council has described it as "a building of exceptional quality and character". Environmentalist Colin Hines describes it as "probably the most undiscovered deco treasure in London". Hilary Grainger, writing in Encyclopedia of Cremation, describes the architectural style as Italianate and the building as having "beautiful cloisters with discrete brick detailing". It has been a Grade II listed building since 2011, being assessed by Historic England as having "a distinctive Art Deco design that survives little altered in a compact and practical composition".

Location

The crematorium is on Kew Meadow Path, Townsmead Road, Kew. It is situated on the banks of the River Thames by Chiswick Bridge and in Clifford Avenue, adjoining Mortlake Cemetery (Hammersmith New Cemetery) in the angle of Mortlake Road (which forms part of the A205, the South Circular Road) and the A316 road. The nearest London Underground station is Kew Gardens. The nearest National Rail stations are Kew Gardens and Mortlake.

History

Mortlake Crematorium was built on the site of Pink's Farm, which had belonged to Richard Atwood, whose family were prominent market gardeners in the area.

It was licensed in 1936 under the Mortlake Crematorium Act 1936, thereby becoming the first to be established under its own Act of Parliament. Designed by Douglas Barton, borough surveyor to Hammersmith Metropolitan Borough Council, the building was constructed in three years at a cost of £27,000. It was also equipped with a Garden of Remembrance for the burial or scattering of ashes, and also offered panels and niches in which ashes could be deposited. When the facility was finally opened in January 1939 by Lord Horder, the then Physician to the King, he said: "You seem to have eliminated the sombreness of atmosphere which sometimes shrouds buildings such as these". After that, thre was very little change in Mortlake Crematorium's outward appearance until 1982, when Colin Gilbert, an architect from Ealing, designed additional gardens between the crematorium and the River Thames.

Notable cremations

Only people who are sufficiently notable to have individual entries on Wikipedia have been included in the list and, in each instance, their cremation at Mortlake has been verified by citations.

Among those cremated here were:

• Richard Beckinsale (1947–79), actor
• Tarka Cordell (1966–2008), musician
• Tommy Cooper (1921–84), comedian and magician
• Margaret Dale (1922–2010), dancer
• Sir Robin Day (1923–2000), political broadcaster and commentator
• Dick Emery (1915–83), comedian and actor
• Kenny Everett (1944–95), radio DJ and television entertainer
• Charles Hawtrey (1914–88), comedy actor
• Russell Hoban (1925–2011), author
• John Hutchinson (1884–1972), botanist
• Arthur Koestler (1905–83), author
• James Edgar Leach (1892–1958), Victoria Cross recipient, World War I
• Charles Lightoller (1874–1952), second officer of Titanic
• Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford (1905–2001)
• Kirsty MacColl (1959–2000), singer-songwriter
• Christopher Price (1967–2002), radio and television broadcaster
• John Profumo (1915–2006), politician, Secretary of State for War
• Sir Michael Redgrave (1908–85), actor, author and director
• Gordon Reid (1939–2003), actor
• Prince Alexander Romanov (1929–2002), member of the Russian Imperial Family
• Leonard Rossiter (1926–84), actor
• Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt (1915–2003), businessman and husband of Margaret Thatcher
• Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (1925–2013), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Alexander Trocchi (1925–84), author
• Keith Waterhouse (1929–2009), writer
• Stephen Ward (1912–63), one of the central figures in the Profumo affair

Seventy-seven Commonwealth servicemen of World War II were cremated here and their names are listed on a screen wall memorial erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the adjoining Mortlake Cemetery (Hammersmith New Cemetery). They include England rugby international Vivian Davies (1899–1941), Captain Royal Artillery.