London Month of the Dead - Death, Disease and Doctors

DEATH, DISEASE & DOCTORS Tower Hamlets Cemetery tour with a focus on the Medical with Kenneth Greenway on Saturday the 5th October 2023 at 11:00 am Nowadays Tower Hamlets is considered the epitome of the inner city, but in 1841, when its cemetery opened as the last of the “Magnificent Seven”, it stood at the edge of London, bordering on green fields and the inhabitants of Mile End were considered country bumpkins. As London expanded, Tower Hamlets Cemetery became the graveyard of the East End and specialised in “common” graves, where bodies were buried in communal plots for 23 shillings (as opposed to 63 shillings for a private plot). Its noted residents include early members of the Labour movement as well as victims of the Bethnal Green tube disaster of 1943 - the largest single loss of civilian life in World War Two. Following a general introduction to Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Kenneth Greenway will take you on a tour of the graveyard, focusing on those buried here who were doctors or died of disease. This will include the grave of the doctor who performed the autopsy on Jack the Ripper’s first victim and the monument to the children from Dr Barnardo’s homes, which took care of abandoned or poverty-stricken children. You will also see the graves of the numerous victims of the cholera, smallpox and tuberculosis epidemics that ravaged Victorian society. Trigger warning - elements of the tour can be gory and so it isn't recommended for children under 16. Tickets £12 including a 20% donation toward a host of restoration projects at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Kenneth Greenway Kenneth Greenway is the Cemetery Park Manager at Tower Hamlets. He began working for the Friends of the Cemetery in 2002 and is now instrumental to the conservation and development of the site for the community.

DEATH, DISEASE & DOCTORS
Tower Hamlets Cemetery tour with a focus on the Medical with Kenneth Greenway on Saturday the 5th October 2023 at 11:00 am

Nowadays Tower Hamlets is considered the epitome of the inner city, but in 1841, when its cemetery opened as the last of the “Magnificent Seven”, it stood at the edge of London, bordering on green fields and the inhabitants of Mile End were considered country bumpkins.

As London expanded, Tower Hamlets Cemetery became the graveyard of the East End and specialised in “common” graves, where bodies were buried in communal plots for 23 shillings (as opposed to 63 shillings for a private plot). Its noted residents include early members of the Labour movement as well as victims of the Bethnal Green tube disaster of 1943 - the largest single loss of civilian life in World War Two.

Following a general introduction to Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Kenneth Greenway will take you on a tour of the graveyard, focusing on those buried here who were doctors or died of disease. This will include the grave of the doctor who performed the autopsy on Jack the Ripper’s first victim and the monument to the children from Dr Barnardo’s homes, which took care of abandoned or poverty-stricken children. You will also see the graves of the numerous victims of the cholera, smallpox and tuberculosis epidemics that ravaged Victorian society.

Trigger warning - elements of the tour can be gory and so it isn't recommended for children under 16.

Tickets £12 including a 20% donation toward a host of restoration projects at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

Kenneth Greenway
Kenneth Greenway is the Cemetery Park Manager at Tower Hamlets. He began working for the Friends of the Cemetery in 2002 and is now instrumental to the conservation and development of the site for the community.